Portals Archives - GUJRAT INDIA

Generating Maximum Inquiries Through B2B Portals

Internet is unarguably the greatest invention of all times. About 30 years ago, I doubt if anybody even imagined that internet would play such a pivotal role in our lives as it does today. The advancement in technology has made the whole world shrink into a tiny place that is accessible through computers and even hand held devices like mobile phones, palm top and others. Today, internet has become an integral part of our lives and has completely changed the way we live, we work, eat, do business, travel, etc. Today we are totally dependent on internet for everything we do.

Currently, there are billions of pages available on internet on varied topics. One can easily find hundreds and thousands of sites dedicated to any particular topic. Ranging from business to matrimony, from automobile to space research, you name it and you will get the information through the world wide web. Social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Orkut have revolutionized the way people interact with each other and disseminate information. These sites have found global acceptance not only among the youth, but also among entrepreneurs or business owners who use them for brand promotion, for announcing new product launches and marketing of their business.

Talking about business, B2B (business-to-business) portals have emerged as a viable option of promoting and doing business online in a much cheaper and cost-effective way. B2B portals, also termed as e-marketplace is a large community of buyers and suppliers listed on the site with the aim to develop and establish new business relationship and retain the existing ones. These sites provide a platform to buyers and sellers to interact and generate maximum business inquiries through the use of different tools and services offered. But how do one get maximum response or inquiries for one’s products through a B2B portal?

Below are some tips that can help one in getting maximum product exposure and good business response.

The first and foremost step that one should take is to register/ list one’s company on any leading B2B portal. The registration is free on most B2B portals. Others charge a nominal fee for listing the company. All one has to do is to fill a simple registration form and post relevant/ correct information on the company, email address, nature of business, and other details. It is important to give authentic information on the company and nature of business as that would help in getting relevant response from prospective business partners.

Though free members are offered limited services, at least one can get a hang of it before proceeding to become a paid member. After seeing the response one gets as a free member, they can opt for a paid membership to get additional services and benefits. Most B2B portals allow free users to post up to 10 products along with photographs and specifications on the site. It is important to give maximum information on your products to get good response from the buyers.

Most of the listings on B2B portals are categorized industry wise, in order to help buyers find suppliers and vice-versa, as per their area of interest. Some sites have focused on product listings with complete product details, specifications and photographs to help users easily browse different products listings under a category or sub-category.

While posting your product on a B2B portal, always try to upload the product image and give the product details, specifications, functions and other information related to the product as that may help the buyers in finding your product faster. Also mention the advantages that your product has over those offered by your competitors. It is worth mentioning the terms and conditions related to sale, shipping, packing and location of the products to increase the chances of getting good buyers response.

Those who have visited B2B portals must be aware of Trade Leads service offered by most of B2B sites. Trade Leads basically serve as a notice board for the registered users of the site where they can post buy/ sell requirements for any product and most B2B portals offer this service without any cost. All you have to do is post maximum and correct information in order to generate a response. For instance, while posting a buy trade lead, one should clearly clearly describe product requirement, quantity, delivery time, shipping destination and other vital information. If you have sample of your requirement, you can upload the sample photograph to get more specific and faster response.

One should always assess any buy requirement thoroughly before responding. Also avoid sending too many or heavy attachments through mail. Do not use short forms related to any product name and never send too many reminders to the buyer. Also try to keep your company profile updated and regularly respond to the emails received in response to your posted trade leads or company listing.

There are several other paid services offered by B2B portals such as featured products, catalogs, websites, trade fair promotion, credit reports et al. All one has to is to analyse one’s requirement and budget before opting for any paid service. B2B portals are well promoted in search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc. and thus can offer maximum visibility to any company/ products at the global level.

With a plethora of services offered, all one has to do is to make maximum and best use of B2B portals for their business propagation. A word of caution though, always thoroughly verify the credentials of any company before making any transactions or doing any business online.

Online Portals : Storehouse of information in World News, Entertainment, Online Shopping, Sports

If Barbara Tuchman claimed that “Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill.” No one would disagree with her famous quote. However, besides being a medium of conveying knowledge, books can be cumbersome and can take large amounts of time in finding information. The virtual effects of science have caused a breakthrough making the store houses of information right in front of our computer screen as opposed to a newspaper where news may be shortened for the sake of space.

The new generation has the power of online portals which provide information with a mere click. No magic, no drama just news served like a hot cup of coffee to revitalize your senses. It wasn’t that long after the Web first appeared that the first portals came into existence. Portals served and continue to serve as a important launch point for Web surfing, and although there are some special-interest portals out there that get some market share, the ones that started out early are the ones that get the lion’s share of viewership.

The magical online portals have given the world of knowledge to man’s finger tip. It covers all aspects from news, headlines, sports, entertainment, living, online shopping, articles, current events, current events, news updates.

But the portals of old were plain compared to what they are today, and what they will become in the next few years. Already a far cry from the plain, static first generation of portals, today’s Web portals take advantage of new technology to create a much more exciting surfing experience. The driving force behind all this is the pervasiveness of broadband, which allows portals to hold more rich graphics and multimedia, colorful and fun animation, and functional applets such as stock market tickers and news feeds.

EMarketer’s report highlights the future of the portal in this light, noting that portal services will go even beyond the Web itself, into the areas of personalized desktops, and video/multimedia search. And of course, portals make their money chiefly through advertising, and eMarketer makes note of the fact that the type of advertising found on portals is also changing.

The biggest changes in the future of portal services will be its expansion beyond traditional search, something we’re already seeing with Google’s branching out into other areas. Look for all major portals to launch desktop search products, personalized search tools, and even mobile search services in the coming years.

Private portals are also gaining in popularity as a convenient way to allow employees, clients, and customers to securely access personalized information via a password-protected portal site. Healthcare portals have become a extremely useful addition to large HR organizations, which save time and money by allowing employees to log into their own healthcare accounts–relieving HR staff from having to spend time on low-priority, standard requests for information. While the IT staff may be well-equipped to handle the technical end of the portal, leaving the project entirely in their hands (and not seeking participation from other areas) is likely to result in a portal that is not aligned with the true business needs of the company. The portal must be a priority not just of IT, but of the entire company. Online portals are the new generation information provider , and yes, if Late Barbara Tuchman was alive, she would have had a different quote altogether, what say ?

B2B Portals Emerge As Holistic And Universal Trading Solution

Ever-since Information Technology came into existence, it endured to get out of its abstract self. By understanding the nuances of tangibles, which ultimately rules one’s life, the IT endured to make a cross over. It initiated the process by providing general information services, net messaging services, social networking, etc., to the global masses. But it was able to accomplish certain degree of acceptance towards this end is only through Business to Consumer (B2C) portals. It arrived with the punch line “one does not have to leave one’s shelter to survive”. Unfortunately, B2C online services were confined to end users of particular region and were not able to translate the services cost effectively to far away places due to various factors.

While B2C provided ease of getting things being in one’s home, Business to Business (B2B) websites provided services cost effectively by overcoming international trade barriers and through volume. World Trade Organization’s aim of offering multilateral trading system in the world, is best responded by B2B portals. The goal of B2B websites is to provide not just multilateral rather an universal trading system, that which will in turn allow each player, the freedom to showcase or source one’s product or service with utmost ease of doing business.

B2B websites have evolved over a period of time to address the comprehensive needs of the trading community around the globe. The innovative concept has enabled each and every business house to advertise one’s company with minimum expenditure. Most of the B2B’s provide free membership, and the premium membership comes with a price tag. But the free version is basically a trial service made available to the clients to accustom with the functions of the site in particular and to encourage them to become premium members in general. Further all the popular B2B portals empower every exporter and importer to establish a business relationship among one another by spending less time and money. Some companies use these portals even for their domestic trade.

If a trader is looking at an option of doing business through any B2B portal, it would be ideal for his or her company to register primarily as a free member and then get upgraded, once he or she is comfortable with the functions. The best recommended membership is the premium membership of any leading portals which comes with a host of ingenious features. The premium status can increase one’s company’s chances of getting genuine trade inquiries. To gain maximum exposure, one should register as a premium member of all the leading B2B portals.

The major feature of a B2B portal is that it helps one to search whatever products or services one is looking forward to sell or buy through “Trade leads”. A Trade lead is nothing but a description of the product or service which one extends to the market with an intention of selling or buying. A Trade lead further enables one to minimize the time spend on business exploration through its product or company specific search. Thus B2Bs literally help a trader to interact with businesses across the world by just sitting in one’s office chamber and keying in some words of communication.

Future of Online News Portals

No one thought that internet which began in the early 1990’s would have such a bright future that it will eventually hold such a powerful impact on our lives. Internet which is basically a global system of interconnected networks was made to serve billions of people worldwide irrespective of cast; creed or religion has today replaced many standard conventions of our daily lives. There is no surprise to the fact that most of the traditional media has also been reshaped.

For instance newspaper publishing has been remodeled to Web Sites, blogging and web feeds. When it all started, people were skeptical about the very whole idea of internet let alone forget about the news being remodeled. But as of now there are over a hundred million websites with billions of web pages. People are continuously switching to online media for news and entertainment related content, the reason being that nobody wants to pay for a thing that he/she can get foe free easily. As a result there is a constant slump (including some real big players of the industry) in the sales of the print editions of newspapers.

The online news sites often bring content that belongs to a particular geographical area but no one is complaining. For instance online gateways like India Report present select content from India. This kind of coverage gives the necessary focus which is required for such news related purposes and choice to people. The promise is reflected in the entertainment and sports section of these sites where the videos too are from local milieu keeping in mind the interests and preferences of people.

This kind of strategy of Online News Portals has a good chance of succeeding in near future with newspapers and the television media still lagging behind the online media. There will always be blogs and web feeds to supplement a newspaper or a news channel. Moreover news related content is available to the user as it happens, so no delay in reporting makes it a user friendly platform. Apart from serving news to the local public such portals are also reviving the interest of young generation in news and politics.

They continuously engage their audience by the means of polls, attracting attention with blogs and have an eye-catching photo gallery. As for entertainment these portals offer the content to the user at their convenience and in a crystal clear format with excellent sound quality making user experience an exciting one. The print and the electronic media have their task cut out. The online media have time going for them and there is no stopping them in near future also.