Introduction

The web, which was originally restricted to accessing the internet by a computer, is now widespread in all sectors of society in different ways and with different purposes.

Currently electronics such as cell phones, TVs, vehicles, virtual assistants, among many others, have become powerful computers and can be connected by Bluetooth or Wifi, communicating with each other, exchanging information and being part of immense data processing. 

All this transformation generates opportunities as well as challenges, as competition operates today in the physical and digital world to offer better, more advanced products, with faster delivery, reduction of waste and losses, mass dissemination, among countless other benefits that can be achieved with technological resources.

We will try to show you some directions in this vast field of the web to help you make decisions that can totally change the reality of your company, but first it is important to understand some concepts.

After all, what is the web?

The web is a network of connected computers. Even though currently any electronic device can be a connected computer, which is what we call IoT, for the internet of things, for the internet to work there are some computers with specific roles and that most of the time we don't even know about their existence, which are:

Providers: They are intermediaries that connect devices to the internet. Providers may offer connections via cable, satellite (in the case of cell phones), radio or fiber. You access the internet with a type of ticket that has a protocol called IP (internet protocol). Each connected computer has an IP and so computers are identified and connected, however, IP uses machine language and as the internet is for humans there is a way to access computers with a more readable name and here comes another important piece.

DNS servers: From the English domain name service, they are computers that translate IP into domain names (for example: www.ecowebdesign.com.br is our domain name). Generally speaking, when you type an address into your browser, such as google.com.br, your order will (through your ISP) go to one of the thousands of computers that offer a DNS list and your order will be converted to an IP. These computers are always updating their name lists and we call this DNS propagation.

HTTP servers: On the web, information, pages, data, among others, are on them. These computers respond to requests from browsers or other applications and are today one of the fundamental pieces for communication between you and other computers on the internet in general. This can work directly when accessing a website or indirectly when using an application that requests background information from a server.

Your own computer or cell phone: Your devices can play an important and powerful role on the internet, being part of data system networks such as blockchain or by sharing location and more information that supply large bases as a transit route service (in the case of Waze, for example, that knows real-time traffic information provided by users).

Applications or applications: Also known as old programs, they are software installed on computers, cell phones or used directly in the browser and allow you to interact with the internet at different levels in the most varied applications, such as: banks, maps, social networks, online tv, exchange of messages, among many others. It is increasingly common to use the internet without even realizing it, as the technical part is masked behind applications that are increasingly intelligent, such as a virtual assistant (Alexa, for example, from Amazon or Siri from Apple) or even the cell phone. that is always connected and transferring data 24/XNUMX without you noticing.

Now that some important elements have already been mentioned, even if in a simplified way, let's understand some practical ways to use the internet to benefit a company, regardless of its size.

Most common ways to use the internet in a company

To facilitate the visualization of the sector impacted by the internet, I will divide some resources divided by areas, in this case, the conventional division of the company in marketing, commercial, production and finance.

The Web in Marketing


The very characteristic of the internet through the web of making content available in text, images, videos, maps and other formats publicly makes it a communication vehicle that has gained and gains more space daily among the major media such as television and radio.

The biggest difference between the internet and conventional means of communication is that the internet is interactive, whoever sees the content interacts with it and this allows what we call navigation and also collects information to carry out in-depth studies on visitors.

The web and marketing are so integrated nowadays that there is a proper name for this junction: digital marketing.

Among the main features of digital marketing, we can mention:

Social Media

Social networks are websites and applications focused on the interactivity of users with each other. Visitors post content and interact with others' content at the same time. The social network itself controls and moderates the type of content and its display. As social networks are powered by huge amounts of data from each of its users, it is a powerful tool to promote products and services with precise segmentation. Below are examples of how social media can be used for your business:

1. Create profiles on the most famous social networks such as: Facebook, Instagram, TitkTok, LinkedIn, among others more niche;

2. Make publications on the networks according to the interests of its audience and availability of resources;

3. Track and interact quickly with your audience;

4. Add credits for privileged viewing;

5. Monitor the results of the investment in time and credits spent on the tool to understand the return on investment (ROI);

Research

The web has opened a scenario of research and expansion of knowledge that humanity did not know before the internet. Thus, the giant Google and initiatives such as Wikipedia were born. Today, searches go far beyond the browser, they are present very intelligently in applications and assistants such as Alexa, which dominates the speech search market. It is increasingly common to talk with the cell phone, vehicle, TV and computers in general.

Searches bring a huge advantage to the company, as certain searches can be exactly what the company does, offers or sells. Being or not being found determines selling more or less. Digital marketing can benefit a company with search in several ways, such as:

1. Having content on the web in the form of a website, videos on Youtube, social profiles, address in map applications increases the chance of your content being found;

2. Producing quality content increases the chance that search engines will understand your business and display it better. This covers what we call MPI (Internet Positioning Marketing);

3. SEO, from English, search engine optimization, are techniques to optimize the display of your content in website format (web pages) to be better positioned on Google;

Modern

Although already mentioned before in some situations, the website is now a classic on the internet and offers some important peculiarities, for example:

1. With the website your company can have a domain, this domain is an official registered name (our domain is ecowebdesign.com.br) and can be used for various purposes, including enabling corporate emails for your company;

2. Generate links. Your site can have dozens, hundreds or even thousands of links. Links can be shared and accessed from anywhere;

3. Links accessed in a modern way such as QR Code reading can bring access to your website directly from cell phone cameras. The code can be printed and be on the companies' material;

4. The website allows interactivity through forms that can be used for various purposes of filling in profiles, scheduling, sending contact, CVs, among many others;

5. The institutional website can be used as an official vehicle for the company's communication with the public and also with customers;

6. The website can fulfill 5 very important roles as a communication agent, which are:

6.1. Branding: Publicize and propagate the company's brand with web resources;

6.2. E-commerce: Manage catalogs, payment methods for customers, shipping settings, among other features related to the processes of selling over the internet;

6.3. Support: Offer customer support in general with FAC, SAC and availability of technical catalogs, documentation and other resources;

6.4 Prospecting: Conducting prospecting. Inform visitors of your competitive advantages and offer mechanisms for them to get in touch with your company easily and directly with the commercial department;

6.5 Publishing: All major communication vehicles use the web in a powerful way to disseminate articles and news. This feature can also be used by institutional companies and smaller writing teams in general;

advertisements

Advertisements are ways to propagate your store, services, products and brands in general in a controlled and segmented way. Detailed report extraction allows you to accurately calculate ROI on the web. Among the most popular types of advertisements on the web, we can mention PPC or sponsored link as the main one.

The sponsored link (PPC) consists of the display of an advertisement and its printing will generate a cost only if they click on it. Normally, the advertiser (your company) adds credits to Google and whenever your website receives visits by clicking on these links, the amount is deducted from your balance.

Ads can use text, audio, video, animations and other formats, it all depends on the display channel, for example: ads on Instagram are different from Amazon Ads, Google Ads, Bing, and so on.

We can cite as direct advantages of advertisements:

1. Advertising starts with immediate effect after the advertisements are served and credits are inserted;

2. It is possible to segment your audience very well, for example, on Google you can determine exactly which searches will show your website or videos, in which channels or applications they will be shown;

3. Capture data for your company: When carrying out an advertising campaign on the web, it is possible to extract valuable data on behavior, visits, sales, among others that can be used strategically for the company's next steps;

Audience and public

We can consider that for a company, the audience is everyone who is within reach to get to know its brand and the audience is the people who are inclined to do business with its company.

The web, despite being made up of computers, is used by people who are constantly accessing links at different levels and it is possible to identify (in some cases with great assertiveness) the profile of people to segment them by what they want to see or consume. . In this way, using the web to speak to your audience and audience can be a great channel to meet new customers, business partners and suppliers. 

Sites specialized in professional profiles like LinkedIn can be a great gateway for your company to hire new employees, while social networks and research sites are true sources with thousands and thousands of people who can be impacted by your brand.

marketing automation


Generally speaking, marketing automation is the automatic delivery of content to people who know your company at some level. The most common ways people start receiving marketing automation content from your business are:

1. Subscribe to the newsletter or news on your website;

2. Register for an online event of your company and accept to receive news;

3. Buy on your e-commerce;

4. Send a contact and sign that you accept to receive messages;

It is extremely important to know that it is illegal to send mass messages to people without their consent and the possibility of canceling them at any time, in addition to the insecure management of data or data trading being a privacy problem. Be a professional company and only send content to those who want it and make sure that the mechanisms for canceling the same are stable and easy to use.

Once a person agrees to receive your content, there are several ways to communicate with the visitor, but before that (and most importantly) it is important to dedicate yourself to your content to outline a strategy that will qualify the person for the right products and services. See tips below to help you prepare your content:

1. Be clear about what products and services you want to sell. Have a list, preferably sorted from most to least important; 

2. Define what will be informed for each intention to purchase products;

3. Define a way to get to know your audience, see a practical example for a pet store:

Level 1: What's your pet? dog or cat

Level 2: How big is your pet? small or large

Level 3: Do you already know our delivery? Yes or No

At the end of level 3 of the journey, you can only forward promotions aimed at the customer's pet and invite him to test your delivery

4. After having the content and paths, think about the capture technologies, where the most common is the form on a landing page and which channels will be used. The most common channels are:

4.1. Email shots, mail marketing, direct mail;

4.2. Torpedoes or SMS;

4.3. Whatsapp messages;

4.4. Other messaging services;

5. There is also the option to communicate with your audience through advertisements and thus reinforce the impact of marketing automation. Tools like Google Ads can target ads according to user preferences. This activity is called a remarketing campaign; 

The web in commercial and sales

The web can be used at different levels, from a tool to send messages to the fully automated process of purchasing, paying, picking and shipping products.

Lead Capture

Leads, as described above, are the people who provide their contact details through the website. 

Leads are great prospects for salespeople as they have already shown interest in what the company offers. Selling to those who are interested is much better and easier.

In addition to the friendlier sale, the lead also leaves its history on the website, which reveals to the seller which product they want and the desired form of contact (usually a person who gets in touch by email also wants to receive the contact in the same channel, for example).

sales flow

By systematizing sales control through software, the company can extract detailed sales reports by period, individual salesperson data, products and more. This control is important for the company and does not necessarily need the web, however, the union of lead control with the sales flow increases campaign performance, website results and the real impact on the company. To have this control, you must have mapped the sales flow, see an example:

1. Let's assume that for every 1.000 times the site appears on Google, it receives 100 clicks to access the site. This means that the site has a CTR (impression/click) of 10%;

2. For every 100 visitors to the website, 10 contact the company. This site has a 10% conversion rate;

3. For every 10 contacts received, salespeople return the contact and sell to an average of 5;

4. Each buyer spends an average of R$500,00, that is, this is the average ticket for web sales;

In this rule, we know that it is necessary to appear on Google 1.000 times to sell R$500,00, that is, the company earns R$0,50 for each impression on Google or needs to appear on Google 200 times for each sale. This is the best way to see the impact of the web on sales, through sales flow control.

Automated sales (E-commerce)

E-commerce, popularly known as a virtual store, is a type of website or application that allows you to carry out the entire purchase process online. As the virtual store also performs online control of orders, it is very practical to generate sales reports.

There are several ways to work with e-commerce and different levels, here are some situations that may be more consonant with your type of business:

1. Use marketplaces: It is usually the simplest way and with the lowest initial investment. The store creates a profile on a sales site such as Mercado Livre and registers its products. 

2. Use a shared platform: This proposal also has a low initial investment and it is common for it to be an entry option to get to know the world of e-commerce. Companies that offer a platform in the Sass format (software as a service) charge a monthly cost for you to create your store, register products and control sales. As long as the platform meets the needs of the company, this option can be very cost-effective.

3. Integration with marketplaces: In this format, the company does not necessarily need to have a virtual store, as it will use its registration and product control to integrate with marketplaces such as Mercado Livre, Amazon, Magazine Luiza, among others. The sale will be carried out with the integrated website and its updated product and stock catalog via the integration API. The cost of this investment can be considerable since it needs adjustments to the current system and maintenance of the integration.

4. Creating a shop: Despite being the most widespread format, the investment for its real operation is medium or high. Creating an online store involves acquiring an entire development and maintenance process that can be carried out within the company or through a service provider. Creating an online store can be more difficult and challenging than opening a physical store, however, it can also be more profitable.

5. Dropshipping and multichannel: Speaking more generally, dropshipping consists of the centralization of the sales process, exclusively, where suppliers send products directly to buyers, thus freeing the company from operational costs of inventory, logistics and storage, can be an alternative to increase the product catalog without necessarily increasing expenses. Working multichannel is, in short, using more than one solution. It is important that the entrepreneur knows and understands several fronts to understand which is the best for his company and for that nothing is better than testing, that is, creating profiles in marketplaces, having his own store, integrating systems and exploring the most online advertising to take full advantage of each situation for your company.

CRM

Unlike the previous items, where the web is used to create pages that will somehow collect data or make sales, CRM is associated with control and not with public links.

From the English Customer Relationship Management which in literal translation CRM means customer relationship management. Using a CRM adds intelligence and control to business processes.

Despite the peculiarities between different CRM applications, it is common to find all customers' records, interaction history and contact segmentation (usually at the customer level and what they want to buy).

The use of a CRM can revolutionize a company, since salespeople can work collaboratively, better understanding the customer's profile and working in line with marketing activities, promotions, among others. There are situations in which the CRM itself warns the seller to contact people because they are at the time of purchase.

To use a CRM it is necessary to think about some items, where the main ones are:

1. Customer base maintenance: How customers are entered and updated. If the CRM is supplied manually, integrated into the system, by tables. The correct feeding of the CRM is what will make it an intelligent base or not to add to the commercial.

2. Training: It is very important (as with any software) that salespeople are able to use the tool in their daily lives. If the CRM is difficult, laborious to operate or complex, its implementation is not feasible, however, a trained team can always solve problems faster and take more advantage of the tool's features.

The web in production

The role of software has not only become fundamental within companies, but also its integration with other systems (such as notifications and mobile applications in general), making these tools great competitive differentials in the control and planning of resource optimization.

Production control


Production control is carried out by applications that allow controlling, among other items: stock; feedstock; supplies; employee records; time spent on steps; progress of the processes, among others.

When well structured, the control can notify the purchasing department about the need for more raw materials, receive orders with production demands from sales and notify the dispatch of items that are ready to be shipped.

In an increasingly competitive scenario, having refined control is a duty of companies to establish themselves in the market and offer more accurate answers to their customers.

Project management

Not restricted only to production at the industrial level, control is also fundamental in the management of activities and projects. Project management apps are a great weapon for tracking activities, checklists, and events. Collaborative applications allow those involved to act in real time in the activities, checking progress, facilitating and optimizing the management of the process as a whole.

messaging application

Even if the concept is simple and applications like Whatsapp are part of our daily lives, knowing how to use messaging, groups, file storage resources, among others, is essential to save time and optimize communication in the company, see some simple examples :

1. Whatsapp Business is a free Whatsapp tool and allows you to use more resources (with a corporate focus);

2. Classifying the contacts with the company's departments can help to organize in a virtual way how the company is divided and find responsible;

3. Creating official communication groups can considerably speed up how information is disseminated in the company;

4. Group calling features can quickly resolve issues by allowing you to create quick meetings between multiple people;

5. Using Whatsapp web is a great alternative for those who work with computers and notebooks;

6. Don't limit yourself to Whatsapp, also test other applications to see if the features add to your company;

Regarding Whatsapp, specifically, it is important to emphasize that the company needs to guide and train the team to use Whatsapp in the way they want on a daily basis. It is common for companies that do not allow the use of cell phones (except in very specific situations) to be strategically later than the others, since cell phones are the main means of internet connectivity and also the fastest way for the company to communicate with an employee. .

The web in the financial sector

The impact of the web on the financial sector is no different from the others, to the point of fully optimizing processes and integrating them with the rest of the company, whether to generate collections, control payments, send notifications, among others.

Receipt of payments

The way companies receive payments has changed a lot over the years (especially in recent years with PIX) and it is possible to improve this process a lot in general, see examples:

1. Replacing classic formats that normally generate a lot of cost (such as boletos) for PIX can significantly impact the company's revenue;

2. Allow receipts by links or QRCode make people's lives easier by making the receiving process more accessible and faster;

3. The machines are on the web, you don't need a physical machine, necessarily. It is possible to generate payment links via card with services such as Google Pay, PagSeguro, Mercado Pago, among others;

4. Integration between systems to manage payments optimally can save many hours of repetitive work and allow your team to focus on what is most important;

5. Notifications, working together with payments, facilitate the sending of invoices, vouchers and receipts, increasing your company's confidence;

Payment is a fundamental operation for the company and making it easy and, preferably, almost imperceptible (like credit card signatures) reduces the bureaucratic processes of the company. The entire payment service, even using applications, is carried out over the web.

Financial control

It is possible to use software of all sizes today to control from simple inflows and outflows to complex management of receivables, expenses, ROI (return on investment) and much more. When we specifically deal with the web and financial control, there are some points that are interesting:

1. The main feature of the web is connectivity, so having an ERP connected to a virtual store, control of purchases and receivables can help to centralize financial operations to facilitate control and understand what is happening in the company;

2. As the web is essentially collaborative, using shared tables (like Google Docs [now Workspace Spreadsheets]) helps to spread information to be worked on among several people;

3. The web is on mobile and payment notifications via calendar or with triggers in the systems can help make quick decisions. For example: The CFO can receive SMS notifications whenever goals are reached;

Spend reporting and optimization


By having an organized control, you are creating a database that can be studied, visualized and compared to find opportunities to optimize the company's expenses.

By creating a bridge between investment values, inputs and operating costs through a graph, it is possible to assess whether a certain activity is profitable or not for the company. 

The web also provides modern data analytics capabilities such as machine learning and business intelligence (BI) that can detect patterns and point out automated cost-saving opportunities.

Finally, the web with its sharing nature facilitates real-time visualization of financial activities in graphical formats, providing reports that (previously were manually created) live for better analysis and understanding of the business.

Conclusion


The web is everywhere connecting activities carried out on computers, cell phones and electronic devices in general. 

It is a reality in the lives of people and companies. As a business owner, director or manager, it is essential to know its impacts and opportunities to have more competitive advantages. 

Think of the web in marketing, commercial, production and finance to organize your applications in different areas and, above all, focus on understanding the connectivity that the web provides to stand out in this fully integrated and wallless world. With the web your business can go further.