The Almost Infinite Data on the Web
There is a growing trend among organizations to gather information from the web and to use that information for their best interest. In business, the web and the internet’s infrastructure are very vital sources of active information that keep a business alive and competitive.
The World Wide Web, or simply the Web, is composed if of all public Web sites connected to the Internet worldwide. It is a system of Internet servers providing links to other documents, graphics, audio, video files, company information, address, email address, employer and employee contact information etc.
The ease in access, compounded by the almost limitless universe of data, makes the web a very attractive source of customer leads that can potentially translate to revenues and profits.
Web Data Mining
Data mining, the extraction of hidden predictive information from large databases, is a powerful new technology, a very important tool to any organization aiming to maximize its access and use of information from the web.
Web Data Mining in particular, is a technique used to crawl through various web resources to gather vital information, enabling the organization to generate leads, promote business, understand market dynamics, etc. It is often done through various data mining tools, from the simple software, to the highly specific for detailed and extensive tasks of sifting through more information to pick out finer bits of information.
The use of Web data mining is not limited to gaining business information. Â It also aids companies in making predictions and decisions for business development, work-flow, production processes and more. And because of the widespread reach of the web through the internet, web data mining is very effective in lead generation.
Lead Generation through the Web
A lead is a potential customer, one who has indicated interest in a company’s product or service. Online, a lead is often defined as a person that completes a landing page, a webpage on a company’s website, with a form through which a potential customer supplies contact and business information in exchange for free information provided by a company, such as articles, videos, etc.
Another way of generating leads from the web is through the use of data mining tools, some of which are presented below.
Web Data Mining Tools to Help Generate Leads
- Website download software is used to copy website content from web pages in the internet, to a hard drive. Downloaded website pages can be viewed later from a hard drive to search for the required data or information.
- Extract text software allows the user to dig out data in an easier way, by helping extract text from any website currently in use or from multiple websites at the same time, taking a short amount of time with accurate text data results.
- Data Grab program sifts through a website or database for a specific kind of information, to quickly form enough of a base information useful in generating leads. It acts as a ”œstrainer”� of data from the internet.
- Article or website scraper is useful in extracting tailored data from the Internet, an automated system that can weed through vast amounts of information to find the specific data needed.
Other Ways to Generate Leads Online
Maximizing a company’s online presence, below are other ways to generate more leads online.
- Make Use of Social Media: In the world of network-based social media sites, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn provide a huge base for potential customers.
- Drive Referrals: Most Internet users are compelled to visit new web sites through referrals. A business must provide customer service worthy of a referral, and implement a referral program to drive awareness of its presence.
- Use Effective Blogging:Â Good blogs create a sense of community, allowing easier access to worthwhile customers, attract new ones.
- Release Newsletters regularly: This is one of the easiest ways to keep in touch with the customer base on a regular interval.
- Host a Webinar:Â Bringing in potential customersen masse can be done via a webinar presenting a topic interesting to the target market and can be easily associated to the company’s product or service.
Searching the Web for the Best Leads
The value of data mining lies in helping the business search for the best leads to pursue. Using the web as a source, the wide expanse of data can provide marketers the information needed to better qualify leads and concentrate on prospects that are predicted to have a higher likelihood of responding to the product or service, driving revenues and profits.
– Data Czar @ DEO
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