The Online World, Odd de Presno [simple ebook reader txt] 📗

several countries.

(4) Compare your competitors with your own company and industry.

Items: stock prices, profits, revenue, etc.

(5) Regularly monitor companies and their particular products.

(6) Watch trend reports about your industry. Search for patterns and

possible niches.

(7) Save what you find on your hard disk for future references.

Can you get everything through the online medium? Of course not! Don't expect to find production data, production formulas, detailed outlines of a company's pension plan, or the number of personal computers in a company. Such information rarely finds its way to public databases.

Intelligence by fax

Financial Times' Profile has Fax Alert. Predefine your interests using search words. Stories will be cut and sent to your personal fax number whenever they appear. Price depends on the number of characters transmitted.

Other online services offer similar services.

The Bulletin Board as a sales tool

Many companies - large and small - use bulletin board systems as a marketing instrument. Here is an example:

The San Francisco-based Compact Disk Exchange (Tel.: +1-415-824- 7603) offers a database of used CD records. Members can call in to buy at very low prices. They can sell old CDs through the board or buy from other members. (1992)

Marketing and sales by modem

The Americans have a gift for this. You meet them in online forums all over the world, in person or through agents, and especially in computer oriented conferences and clubs.

Their main strategy is reference selling. Make key customers happy, and make sure they tell others. In Chapter 5, I told you what happened when a member wrote about his upgrade to a 425 megabytes hard disk in CompuServe's Toshiba forum. It made me place my order with his preferred seller. One common sales strategy is to be constantly present in relevant conferences, and spend a generous amount of time helping others. This takes time. By proving competence and willingness to help, you build a positive personal profile. This profile is the key to business, information about competitors and other benefits. To drop quickly into a conference to post an "advertisement," is a waste of time. The message may be read by some, but chances are that you will be criticized (in public) for having 'polluted their environment' with a commercial message. Besides, the volume of information in the best conferences for your marketing effort is probably too high to make traditional advertisements worth the while.

Electronic mail

Here is a list of other useful applications of electronic mail:

* to distribute quickly lists of important prospects to your sales force, * to avoid lengthy telephone conversations, * to receive order information faster and more efficiently than by traditional mail or fax, * to distribute quickly reports and memos to key people all over the world, * to send new prices and product announcements to customers, * to exchange spread sheets and analyses between users of personal computers.

If this isn't enough, ask for information from the International Business Network at 70724.311@compuserve.com (or, at 70724,311 on CompuServe).

Chapter 12: Practical tips

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Quick transfers with a minimum of errors - Rescuing lost files - Copyright and other legal matters - Unwritten laws about personal conduct - Privacy - Fax services weigh less than your printer - File transfers through the Internet

Speed and safety

Read about MNP, CCITT V.42, and V.42bis in appendix 2. These are popular methods for automatic error correction and compression of data. Compression gives faster transfers of data.

To use them, your modem must have these features built-in. They must also be enabled in the modem of the service that you are calling. Compression is particularly helpful when sending or receiving text, for example news stories and messages in conferences. They ensure faster transfers. They are not of much help when transferring precompressed texts and programs. They may even make file transfers with protocols like ZMODEM, Kermit, and XMODEM impossible. If this happens, temporarily turn off the MNP and V.24/V42bis settings in your modem (more about this in appendix 2). Some online services let users retrieve conference messages using a special get or grab function. This function often comes in two versions: * Grab to display: New messages and conference items are received in an uninterrupted stream without stops between items. Retrieval of text can happen at maximum speed. * Grab to compressed file: New messages and conference items are selected, automatically compressed and stored in a file. This file is then transferred using ZMODEM or similar protocols. Some services offer unattended online work with a variation of the "get compressed file" method. Read about 'offline readers' in chapter 16 for more about this. The more advanced your software is, the more time it will take to learn how to use it. The rewards are lower telephone costs, faster transfers, and less time spent doing technical online work. Recommended.

Different needs, different solutions

Frank Burns of the American online service MetaNet is spokesperson for the strategy SCAN - FOCUS - ACT.

On your first visits to a new online service, you SCAN. The goal is to get an overview of what is being offered and find out how to use it most efficiently. Notes are made of interesting bulletins, databases, conferences, messages, news services, public domain and shareware programs, games, and more. Capture all of it to disk. Don't study it until disconnected from the service. Evaluate the material to prepare for your next moves: FOCUS and ACT. As you learn about offerings, users and applications, your use of the service changes. What was interesting on your first visits, lose out to new discoveries. Some applications may stay as 'regular online functions', like when you decide to read a given news report on Monday mornings. Here are some other hints: * Find out what you do NOT have to know and have enough self- confidence immediately to discard irrelevant material. Walk quickly through the information. Select what you need now, store other interesting items on your hard disk, clip references, and drop the remainder of your capture file. * Learn when and how to use people, computers, libraries and other resources. Prepare well before going online. Note that the online resource may not necessarily be the quickest way to the goal. If you want the name of Michael Jackson's latest album, you may get a faster answer by calling a local music shop. . . . * Make an outline of how to search the service before going online. If required, start by going online to collect help menus and lists of search commands (unless you already have the printed user information manual). Study the instructions carefully, plan your visit, and then call back. Often, it may be useful to do trial searches in online data, which you have previously captured to your hard disk. Do this to check if your use of search words is sensible. Who knows, you may even have what you are searching for right there. Besides, it is imperative that you use the correct search terms to find what you're looking for. Write your search strategy on a piece of paper. If you know how to write macros for your communications program, consider writing some for your planned search commands. - Few people can type 240 characters per second. Using macros may save you time, frustration and money. * It may be wise to do your search in two steps. On your first visit: Get a LIST of selected headlines or references, and then log off the service. Study your finds, and plan the next step. Then call back to get full-text of the most promising stories. This strategy is often better than just 'hanging online' while thinking. When you feel the pressure of the taximeter, it is easy to make costly mistakes. * Novices should always go the easiest way. Don't be shy. Ask SOS Assistance services for help, if available. Invest in special communication programs with built in automatic online searching features. They are designed to make your work easier. * Limit your search and avoid general and broad search terms. It is often wise to start with a search word that is so 'narrow' that it is unlikely to find articles outside your area of interest. Your goal is not to find many stories. You want the right ones.

When everything fails

Data communications is simple - when you master it. Occasionally, however, you WILL lose data. You may even experience the worst of all: losing unread private email on your hard disk.

A while ago, this happened to a friend. She logged on to her mailbox service using the communications program Procomm. After capturing all her mail, she tried to send a message. For some reason, the computer just froze. It was impossible to close the capture file. She had to switch the power OFF/ON to continue. All retrieved mail was obviously lost. The other day, I had a similar experience. After having written a long and difficult letter, something went wrong. The outfile was inexplicably closed. The resulting file size was 0 bytes. Both problems were solved by the MS-DOS program CHKDSK run with the /F option. If you ever get this problem, and have an MS-DOS computer, try it. It may save your day.

Copyright notices and legal stuff

Most commercial online services protect their offerings with copyright notices. This is especially so for database information and news.

Some vendors make you accept in writing not to store captured data on a local media (like diskettes or hard disks). Others (like Prodigy in the U.S.) force clients to use communication software that makes it impossible to store incoming data to disk. The reason is simple. Information providers want to protect their income. In most countries, you can quote from what others have written. You can cut pieces out of a whole and use in your own writing. What you cannot do, however, is copy news raw to resell to others. If an online service discovers you doing that, expect a law suit. Read copyright notices to learn about the limitations on your usage of data that you receive.

Unwritten laws about personal conduct

Some services let their users be anonymous. This is the case on many chat services. If you want to pose as Donald Duck or Jack the Ripper, just do that.

Many free BBS systems let you register for full access to the service during your first visit. It is possible to use any name. Don't do that. Use your true name, unless asked to do otherwise. It's impolite and unrespectful of the other members to participate in online discussions using a false identity. Being helpful is an important aspect of the online world. The people you meet 'there' use of their time to help you and others. Often free. The atmosphere is one of gratitude, and a positive attitude toward all members. If you use rude words in public, expect your mailbox to fill with angry messages from others. Those who respond carefully to personal attacks, will never regret it. Don't say things online that you would not have said in person. REMEMBER: Words written in a moment of anger or frustration can be stored on at least one hard disk. Your