BBC prepares UK engineering companies for e-commerce explosion
BBC prepares UK engineering companies for e-commerce explosion
Poor search engine ranking could cost UK engineering companies their share of the total online business market, which is set to reach £1 trillion a year by 2004. This is according to BBC Training and Development, which has just launched a new search engine optimisation course.
European e-commerce is expected to grow by more than 100 per cent per year. Sales of retail goods and services will increase by 140 per cent, fuelled by the 100 million Europeans who will be routinely shopping online next year. There will be even greater online sales to be had from business trade which will account for over 90 per cent of the e-commerce economy. However, this new business bonanza will not reach engineering firms who are not well placed on the search engines. Three quarters of internet users rely solely on search engines to find information, and 56 per cent do not bother looking through more than two pages of results on search engines.
"E-commerce is such a huge phenomenon now, that even if your business is missing out on a small fraction of internet traffic because of low ranking on the search engine, this could equate to thousands of pounds or more of potentially lost sales" said Charmaine Desouza, BBC Training and Development's Learning Executive (new media).
"Sometimes an almost imperceptible change to a Web site can result in a massive rise up a search engine's rankings, and this can have a significant impact on your company in a number of ways, not least increased click-throughs and greater online enquiries and sales, continued Desouza. There are also other,less tangible but equally important benefits, such as increased name recognition and awareness of your business. This in turn can build your business profile and your bottom line."
BBC Training and Development is bringing its unparalleled new media expertise in the broadcasting arena to benefit manufacturers, by launching a new search engine optimisation course. The one-day course, targeted at company web managers and web designers, aims to demystify the whole search engine process. It explores what search mechanisms there are and how they are used. It looks at how you can use non-web resources to promote your site. It tells you how to apply metatags that optimise your HTML, it explains how search engine robots work and outlines the best ways to ensure you are listed highly on the key search engines.
Practical issues such as where you can purchase domain names, how to submit your sites and developing the best internal search engine practice are also covered. It also looks at the legal issues and tells you the optimisation practices that are blacklisted by Google and the rest of the search engine gang.
For further information about all BBC Training and Development new media courses, contact: Tel: 0870 122 0216; Web site: www.bbctraining.co.uk
