INTERNET MARKETING

Internet Marketing

Internet Marketing

“With increased globalization of the world economies? for most enterprises? market opportunities seem to be endless these days. This in turn? of course? causes heightened competition among the players in order to achieve better performance. Consequently? departing from the traditional commercial strategies and tactics? innovative managers are looking for unique ways to compete more effectively on a local? regional and global basis. The information superhighway is what many business leaders say will make these visions a reality in everyday business (Conlin, 2009).

The information superhighway is being shaped by advances in digital telephone networks? interactive cable television? personal computers? online services and? finally? the Internet. These technological advances will inevitably change the face of business as we know it today. For most organizations? the information superhighway offers an abundance of opportunity. The Internet? in particular? provides corporate America with a broad and vast communications network that is driving the formation of a huge global electronic marketplace. The purpose of this article is to narrate the impact of the Internet on the marketing aspects of businesses as of today? its future? and how businesses can use its unlimited potential to their advantage (Conlin, 2009). The Internet? also known as the International electronic network? began in 1968 by the Advanced Research Projects Agency of the Department of Defense (Dedy, 2010). Originally? known as the ARPAnet? the Internet was started as an experimental network connecting different university computer centers throughout the country. In the 1980s? ARPAnet was broken into two distinct networks called Milnet and NSFnet. Milnet was used primarily for government purposes? while NSFnet? funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF)? was used to support education and research. The NSF promoted NSFnet's use within the realm of higher education institutions and succeeded in establishing more than 3?000 institutional inter-networks by 2001 (Dedy, 2010). Its beginning as a not-for-profit facility intended to support the educational community has evolved into a global enterprise. The NSF continues to fund and promote the academic backbone which is now managed by Advanced Network Services? a consortium comprised of IBM? MCI and Merit. However? as a government agency? its charter makes it inappropriate for NSF to condone use of the NSFnet for the purposes of private business. This has resulted in a number of private concerns forming commercial network backbones. These network backbones provide access to the NSFnet but do not rely on it for connectivity. Commercial network backbones provided by UUNET Technologies International? Performance Systems? and General Atomics? are but a few of the providers in the USA through which companies may access backbone services that permit and promote business usage (Dedy, 2010).

The combination of NSFnet and commercially available backbone services forms what the Internet is today - the world's largest collection of decentralized computer networks. There are over 30?000 estimated computer networks connecting more than 1.5 million computers to one another. Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) is used by all of these networks as the standard communication protocol through which data communication is ...