EXPERTS LINK CYBER-SAVVY TO ON-LINE SUCCESS.

Byline: Ron Meyer Special to the Daily News

There is no doubt the Internet's explosive popularity is causing many business owners to ask themselves, ``Is the Internet right for my business?'' With millions of consumers coming on line every month, the potential is truly staggering. The problem is, with the medium being so new, and so few experts on the subject, many businesses don't know how to go about putting together an effective presence. Ron Meyer and Ralph Murston of Internet Plus Marketing, a firm specializing in setting up companies on the Internet, answer some typical concerns:

Why are so many businesses taking a closer look at the Internet today? Why now?

The concept of the Internet is not new, but it has recently become important to business owners because of its popularity. About 40 million people access the Internet, with 1 million to 2 million new people coming on line every month. When you combine the ability to reach a growing mass audience numbering in the millions, it's easy to see why so many businesses are clamoring to climb on board.

So what advice would you give a business owner who wants to get his company on the Internet?

Our best advice would be to seek a competent, qualified Internet consultant - someone who knows how to put together an effective, profitable presence. That will probably take some searching. You need to find someone who has an intimate knowledge of Web design, understands how to build an appealing site, and most importantly, shows step by step how to implement the necessary marketing methods essential to drive traffic to your site.

What about using a company brochure or already developed advertisement for the site?

That kind of approach is being used by many business owners, but they are really shackling the effectiveness of their site. You have to understand the mind-set of the Internet users. They aren't on the Internet to browse through ad after ad. They are there because they want to get information on a topic that is important to them. The successful business model gives a market something of interest to establish a relationship, and then the company can offer its product or service. Take Goodyear's Web site, for example. Their site contains a lot of good, useful information for someone looking to buy tires. They can learn what to look for when purchasing a tire, what all those funny letters and numbers on the side of the tire mean and what tire would be best-suited for their needs.

So the content of the site is important. But how does a business owner get people to visit the site from among the thousands to choose from?

Good question, and this is where you can see how having an experienced Internet consultant on your team is important. He needs to have a deep understanding of how to generate visits to your site, because even the most compelling and attractively designed Web site will fail miserably without a steady stream of customer traffic. The most obvious method is getting listed in all of the major search engines. Unfortunately, many novice marketing efforts end there. The savvy professionals unleash a diverse arsenal of traffic-building methods to get people to visit a site. Promoting to the Usenet news groups, cross-linking with other sites, purchasing links from high traffic sites, promoting via e-mail mailing lists and getting free listings in cyber-malls are a few of them. They are all very easy to implement, once you know how.

Any parting words of wisdom?

Yes, to those businesses sitting on the fence, don't wait any longer. Start your learning curve early and get your site up now while the Internet is still in this mammoth growth stage.

MEMO: Ron Meyer of Simi Valley and Ralph Murston of Austin, Texas, met while cruising the Internet. The men founded Internet Plus Marketing in 1995 to assist other businesses in using the Internet for marketing.