Plans For Developent the Bahamas (Online that is)

Boy, there is so much potential with this thing we call the Internet. i encourage everyone I talk to, especailly my clients and friends who have businesses. Get online! Now! It's not about just having a website to show off to friends or customers, even though a good looking website is definitely good. But its more about reaching out to your entire market.

Things are so limited when u rely on in store sales. Of course there are business that depend on face to face methods, but the majority of the businesses out there spend too much time marketing and advertising the hard way.

I have a big plan for the Bahamas (my home country) and allowing the businesses there more exposure and services using the internet.

I've noticed that there have been more and more new startups in the Bahamas that have peeked their heads out to the online market. A few of them are 242 Bahamas and BahamasLocal.com just to name a few.

I like what they are doing and there is so much more potential there. Some of the things I think are really needed and soon in the Bahamas online network are:

1. Credit card processing for online businesses - Right now, there aren't any companies that provide this service and if there is, then they are not well advertised online. Maybe there is one and they may do a good job advertising back home, but they need to have their online presence established. No company like that yet. Maybe this is inspiration to one of you to get that started.

2. Lead Generation - As far as I know, this is not being used at all in the Bahamian market (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_generation). I still see/hear that people are buying subscription advertisements online. That is good for a while but how are you breaking down that traffic? Are you tracking it and actually making a decision on whether it's a good advertising spot? If so, is there any way you can make it work for you more?

So many businesses in Nassau can benefit from this. One day online advertising will put newspapers out of business. Saving the environment and reaching more people at the same time. And even better, is buying a "lead" and being able to directly relate how much it cost you to get that lead and how much you made from it.

3. Making business changes based on Conversions etc - Maybe most of my work back home was not as number driven as the busiesses that I've been involved with since, but I think this is something that will really help. And once again, there are not many good ways to track conversions from a newspaper ad or from a subscription advertisement. Teck Interactive Media provides lead generation to many different types of businesses. We know that our clients' goal is to generate business and clients of their own. We have a sales team that will help you come up with new ideas and concepts for generating new business and ways to track if it's working and changes that can be made to enhance conversion rates.

4. Come up with the General Websites for the country - This is something that will have to be done over time. Things like ForRent.com, Cars.com or even 1800Flowers.com are good examples. This does relate to having the ability to make sales online through credit/debit card processing. In the Bahamas, people have to basically drive everywhere to get most of the information they want. Websites like this will also be beneficial for the environment. Less people have to be out traveling and congesting the streets and business owners are still getting the business they want without the need for newspaper ads, expensive billboard signs or marketing efforts that leave them clueless to whether it worked or not.

 

 

I'm sure that things are changing for the better in Nassau especially. We need to get all of those other islands in tune with the capital. During these hard economic times, we need to be creative with the ways we are able to make it through. Nothing is too big for us to accomplish even thought we are a small speck on the earth. We can still make a big difference through our thoughts and our creativity.

Leave comments and tell me what you think and if you have any other ideas that can be added to this list.

Leave a comment


Your email address will not be revealed on this site.

Your URL will be displayed.