The Internet has turned the World into a Village

If you go back just a hundred years you could find people in villages in the UK who had never been more than a few miles outside the place where they lived and worked. To be sure life was much simpler then, but people still had to buy goods and services and to make sure they choose the right supplier they asked their friends neighbours for advice.

In the villages it was easy to find out information on the best baker of plumber, as everyone knew everybody's business and were only to keen to share the gossip. This network (for a network it was) made sure that businesses kept their noses clean as if they did not, they would soon pay the price as the news of poor service or products spread and their customers went elsewhere.

As populations grew and people became more mobile and bought more and more things, it was 'easier' to get away with poor service or goods as there was always someone that had not heard about a bad company.

Then along came the Internet and made it even easier for companies, good and bad to sell their wares, and to sell them to people many hundreds if not thousands of miles away. This early internet must have been the 'happy hunting grounds' for many an unscrupulous business and at the moment there are still some that are making good money out of providing a poor service.

But are their days numbered? As the title of the blog states, the Internet is / has turned the world back into a village as now, everybody can find out just about anything they want to know about a business and how it treats its customers, allowing them to steer clear of any that look dubious.

The thing is that at the moment, not everyone is looking around for advice before they buy. I have seen reports that state that some 90% of online shoppers do look for reviews, but I think that is a bit optimistic and that the figure for the time being at least is lower. Why do I say that, simply because of the number of people who have been caught out by companies, like crazycameras that just don't live up to their promises. I have had personal experience of them, and the reviews of others are reporting just the same issues.

This must mean, that there are many who, at the moment at least, don't look at the reviews available on line, but that figure MUST drop over time as people become more 'Internet Savy'.

Here the message for all businesses, large and small, is that you must be aware of what is being said about you and your brand and be prepared to argue your case and as importantly to improve your services so that you only get positive reviews in the first place.

In the USA, the reviews attached to local businesses are already being looked at by people using Google Maps to find local suppliers (this area being targeted by SEO companies there) and it will soon be the same in the UK and Europe.

So a note of warning to all business owners, be sure that your goods and services are the best and that your customers are happy, as if you don't the 'Information Mill on the Web Will Surely Find You Out'

More tomorrow