What is the Internet? The Internet consists of hundreds of million of computers linked together throughout the world. These inter-networked computers can "talk" to one another and send data to and forth - every single second, minute and hour. It can do electronic message or sent document the other side of the globe in 2 seconds flat.

What's the Big Hu hah About the Internet? With only a small percentage of the world population connected presently,the internet is growing leap and bound. In the USA alone, the internet transacation is worth more that US$600 billion, In Singapore, US$600 million, and growing day by day.

How can internet help me save cost? There are many way internet can help you save. Internet is run independently, you do not need to have a manpower to supervise the site. Instead of faxing your customer in black and white, you can put up your web pages information plus picture in color. This eliminates lengthy waits from prospects and customers for your company's brochure package. And they don't have to wait till you open at 9am the next morning. With a few clicks on their computer, they get to know your products. And you save administrative, printing and postage costs. Everybody in the world, who is internet connected , will be able to view and even download all this info. They can order on line, freeing you to do more productive work. It works 24 Hours for you and internet does not sleep. If you fax internationally on a regular basis, your company probably runs up a huge telephone bill every month. The best thing about the Internet is that the costs are negligible compared to traditional media such as the printed, radio and television media.

Supplement Your Promotion... We are not saying that you should stop advertising in other media. The best strategy is to supplement advertising in the printed or television media with your inexpensive electronic 'newspaper'. Consider this scenario: a customer sees a small advertisement with your Internet address in the local newspaper for your new product. The customer sees it, hit a few keys into the computer, and behold, your colour brochures on your 'newspaper' appear almost instantly in their full glory - on the prospecive customer's screen.

What's in an Internet Name, anyway? Plenty. A good Internet name speaks volumes about your company. A good example is www.Hotmail.com - almost everyone can recognize it belongs to Microsoft Corporation. This forms part of your intangible assets - 'image'. Do you want to be known as home.pacific.net.sg/~abc or www.abc.com.sg? The choice is clear. Once Your Internet Name is Gone, it's Really Gone. In the United States, many MIS and marketing people were blissfullly unaware and unconcerned when the potential of the Internet for business first emerged in 1993. They were thinking, "Let the other companies try it first. I can learn from their Internet sites later." Sounds like a clever idea, doesn't it? Two years later when the Internet finally took off, the same people were shocked to find that they cannot obtain the most suitable Internet names. They had to settle for unsavvy names that do not reflect their company in a professional manner. In Singapore, have you wondered why Singapore Airlines does not have www.sia.com and why Creative Technology does not have www.creative.com? (* Creative has since bought back the domain from the original owners since this article was written) Obviously their marketing or computer departments got into the Internet game late. There are many companies with the initials 'sia' and with names starting with 'creative'. At one stage, Creative Technology promoted their Internet name as www.creaf.com - hardly an intuitive name for a great multinational. If some smart marketing folk at Creative had pushed for www.creative.com years ago, he or she probably would have gotten a pat from the CEO today. Worse, some companies had to fork out tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars to opportunistic individuals who had applied early and held on to the company's Internet names. In almost all the cases, you cannot sue them. Even in the rare case that you can, it will be an expensive affair. What happened to these U.S. companies could happen to yours - unless you act early. No matter how unique you think your company name is, there is always a risk of losing it to another company who registers for it first. After all, millions of businesses around the world apply for domain names.

The Internet Waits for No Company. Yes, we cannot emphasize this enough - once your Internet name is gone, it is really gone. Only one company can use a specific Internet name. Apply while it is still available.