Traditionally the marketing mix is co-ordinated so efficient product, price, promotion and place strategies are developed for products purchased over the counter. The internet is changing the way we sell our products and services. That’s a fact. Consumers now use the internet to research and purchase products/services online. Organization now needs online strategies to attract and retain customers. The e-marketing mix considers the elements of presenting the marketing mix online.

Online, this immediate tangibility disappears. But, is that a disadvantage? E-commerce sales are increasing at extremely high rates. Why? What does buying products online offer over one to one sales? Firstly there are clear online facts about the product you are purchasing. The buyer knows immediately about product features, the facts, not sales persons assumptions. Electrical store offers clear information on products and their specification, consumers know what they get if not there is a customer service number where they can find out more. The buying process is also customized for returning visitors, making repeat purchases easier. Organizations can also offer immediately ancillary products along with the main purchase. As mentioned in marketing mix section, pricing is always difficult to do and must take into account many considerations.

Traditionally pricing was about finding about your costs, discovering how much consumers are willing to pay, taking account competition pricing then setting your price. The internet has made pricing very competitive. Many costs i.e. store costs, staff cost have disappeared for complete online stores, placing price pressures on traditional retailers. The internet gives consumers the power to shop around for the best deal at a click of a button. Such easy access to information helps to maintain prices within the online world.

E-pricing can also easily reward loyal customers. Technology allows repeat visitors to be tracked, easily allowing loyalty incentives to be targeted towards them. Payment is also easy online credit cards use allows for easy payments. One of the biggest changes to the marketing mix is online purchasing. Consumers can purchase direct from manufacturers cutting out retailers totally. The challenge for online retailers is to insure that the product is delivered to the consumer within a reasonable time. Location is important within our place strategy.

Online location can refer to where links are placed on other websites. Promoting products and service online is concerned with a number of issues. Having a recognizable domain name is first stage towards e-promotion. Most organizations today have some form of webpage used in most if not all advertisements. Placing banner advertisements on other web pages is a common form of e-promotion. Banner ads must be placed where potential customers browse. Web public relations are another approach to promoting online. News worthy stories based on product or service launches can be placed on the company’s webpage, or WPR articles sent to review sites for consumers to read. Hopefully this form of online promotion will pull the consumer in. Direct email is a popular and common form of e-promotions, although slowly becoming the most hated my many consumers. Organizations can send e-leaflets to hundreds and thousands of respondents, hoping a small percentage will reply.

To summaries e-promotion includes: Banner promotion, Web public relations (WPR), E-leaflets and having a domain name. The e-marketing mix must work together and support each other if the company is to have a successful online marketing strategy.

You can learn a lot just by looking at VoIP ratings. The quality of provider’s service is reflected in a rating. Ratings are typically given from one to five with a full five being the highest. The best VoIP providers would naturally be those that fall within the 3.5-5 ratings.

However, it’s not good to rely on VoIP ratings alone. If you are a careful subscriber, you would normally base your decision on more than just the numerical rating. VoIP rating sites should contain a couple of other pieces of information. Here are some things that you should look for in a VoIP rating site:

- Ratings should come with reviews. Some people may not be comfortable about reading lots of text. Sometimes, it’s tempting to just take a rating for what is. Then again, you should want to know why particular providers have such a rating. You can get the reasons from the review text.

- Raters and reviewers should also be publicized by these rating sites. This is important because you do not want to read reviews and ratings from ghost writers. Some sites could publish bogus reviews with the hidden intent of actually getting customers for a particular provider. Legitimate raters and reviewers may be real technology experts or actual VoIP users.

- VoIP ratings should also have basis. This is especially so if the ratings are provided by technology experts. How exactly do they rate providers? Are the providers actually tested or used? Do raters only base ratings based on what they read too about these providers. First hand information should always be preferred when referring to ratings and reviews.

- Reviews should contain not only advantages but disadvantages as well. You would want a fair and balanced view about providers. One that only praises a provider is of no practical use to you. You would want to know the pitfalls of signing up with a particular provider and what you should watch out for.

- It would help if a rating site also has a list of provider services. Of course, you can always go to the provider’s web page to check what they have to offer. It would be very convenient for you however if you happened upon a review site that has all the necessary details. This will make side by side provider comparison much easier for you.

- Another important thing in a ratings site is the price list. It is true that the price should never be your sole basis for deciding. The price still really matters though. It would help if expert raters and reviewers considered the price alongside the features in determining whether a provider can give a good deal.

Unbiased Ratings – You may not always be able to come across independent VoIP ratings. The ones that really are independent however can really offer you great help when deciding on a VoIP provider. Take some time to research on good independent raters before you sign up with a provider.