The Star, 24 July, 2001

Most small and medium Industries (SMIs) in Malaysia have yet to go online because they lack the knowledge to promote their websites cost effectively, according to eOneNet.com Sdn Bhd .

About 87% of eOneNet.com’s eBusiness Ownership Campaign 2000 (eBOC 2000) attendees last year said that they has adopted a “wait and see” attitude until today because they don’t know how to attract people to their websites, said the company.

“The dotcom sin the either overspending on advertisements and promotions, or poor promotion and marketing,” said eOneNet.com president Fione Tan. “However no matter how great a product is, if it’s not promoted, then nobody visits your websites to purchase it,” she added.

To address this lack of marketing expertise, eOneNet.com and the National Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Malaysia (NCCIM) is organising the first International Internet Marketing Conference. Its theme is the Ultimate Secrets to Increase Revenue and Survive Online, and the conference will kick off the company’s eBOC 2001.

“In view of the global dotcom crash, a lot of the companies are cautions about investing in IT or e-Business. Hopefully, eBOC 2001 is timed right to re-ducted them,” said NCCIM senior director Zaid Ismail. “We have invited both international and local speaker to reveal the secrete of marketing and promotion - both online and offline.” Tan said.

One-keynote speakers, Robert Massa is the chief executive officer of Search King Inc and magic-city.net, who will speak on how to get the best out of search engine submission. He is the leading search engine expert in the United States, Tan claimed. Maury Zeff, the managing directors of Yahoo! Asia Pacific will be using Yahoo! As a case study to show how e-businesses can grow globally while maintaining director of a local flavour, she added.

To help the SMIs to get started, eOneNet.com would also provide participants free space at www.eBusinessCampaign.com for a year to from what it calls an
”online exhibition booth.”

One other problem faced by SMIs and “netpreneurs” is the lack of funding even if there are funds available, they do not know how to get access to them, Tan said.
Sarina Karim, MSC Venture Corporation chief executive officer, will alleviate their concern by discussing the funding and assistance programmes available in Malaysia for IT ventures, she said.

Other speakers include Madhulika Jinsi, Novelli Convergence Group president; Wayne Maloney, Xpediate Systems Ltd managing directors; and Aida Lim, AsiaTravelMart senior manager.

The three-day conference would take place on July 31 to Aug 2 at the Legend Hotel, Kuala Lumpur. The fee ranges from RM598 to RM1, 848 depending on the package chosen.