VICTORIA, British Columbia, July 27, 2000 (PRIMEZONE) -- E-Commerce is creating a marketing revolution. The World Wide Web provides an unprecedented communications reach that changes advertising potential in two, seemingly disparate, ways: 1) ads can reach a broad worldwide audience in mere seconds, and 2) they can reach specific individual viewers for the most targeted marketing imaginable.
Marketers are just beginning to take advantage of the potential offered by on-line advertising. One-third of North Americans has daily access to the Internet, and these web surfers choose to visit only those sites that interest them. The biggest problem in traditional advertising is targeting potential customers; Internet marketing provides a solution in its ability to hone in on precise demographics. Website activity is measured in "pageviews" -- the number of times any given page on a web site is viewed -- marketers can sell advertising according to how many times a particular page is viewed.
International business-to-business trade site, Worldbid.com (OTCBB:WBID) (www.worldbid.com), for example, sees 22 pageviews per minute. That means 30,000 views a day or approximately 1 million each month. What is significant about these figures in terms of new marketing strategies is that the users who are viewing these pages are interested specifically in multi-industry global trade. Rather than a public billboard that may, for example advertise hamburgers to vegetarians, each of a website's visitors has a vested interest in the trade category they are visiting on-line.
The Internet offers even more targeted advertising with emails sent to users who register in a particular business category and "opt-in" or grant permission to be sent email notifications. According to IMT Strategies, permission e-mail marketing generates higher response rates than other forms of targeted marketing, has lower costs, and achieves a significantly higher return on investment for marketing programs. Opt-in email advertising is five times more cost-effective than direct mail and 20 times more effective than Web banners, says IMT.
Worldbid.com has developed an innovative service of email trade notifications, a new Internet marketing feature abbreviated as "ETN," that takes full advantage of this technology. That is, on a strictly opt-in basis, whenever a new buy or sell trade lead is posted in a user's trade category, the user is automatically sent an email notification of that posting. Each of those emails contains an ad. Worldbid.com sends out 6 million such notifications each month.
These ETNs offer the most targeted advertising available. Ads can be targeted to users in a specific category (Worldbid.com has over 1,000 such specific category verticals -- from sewing needles to industrial chemicals). The ETN ads can also be specifically targeted to users in terms of country, type of company, and even time of day.
About Worldbid.com
Worldbid.com is an on-line, business-to-business site that brings together buyers and sellers from around the world for interactive trade.
Worldbid.com provides access to over a trillion dollars in buy and sell leads, the average value of which is estimated at $2 million, organized into 1,070 separate product and service categories. Worldbid's easy and accessible system provides 24-hour access to local, national, and international markets, enhancing competition and linking various trade sectors in 100 countries. Membership provides access to a complete business network: trade partner matching; instant e-mail notifications; on-line auction; company website and catalogue building; real-time trade news; and now trade document posting.
Shares in Worldbid.com are being traded in New York on the OTCBB, under the symbol WBID.
This news release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The Company's actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of numerous risks and uncertainties (see the Company's reports filed with the SEC). The Company assumes no obligation to update the information contained in this news release.