INFORMATION ABOUT THE
A - Z of LAWN BOWLS SITE

I first conceived this Lawn Bowls site early in January 1996.

Much of the basic site has been developed as the result of a learning exercise.

The concept was developed for the following reasons:

1. Having got myself 'on-line' I was fascinated by the speed with which one could get answers to questions which would otherwise have taken hours of research. My first query, having found my way around the various search engines, was about BSE or 'mad cow disease' . Try it!!

   However, I also noticed that getting on-line was not all it was 'cracked up to be' from a marketing point of view, unless one did an amazing amount of homework and self-promotion. Expecting a customer to find your site accidentally was just a non-starter, and listing it on the myriad of search engines was like expecting them to find a very small needle in a very large haystack; (always assuming that they knew what they wanted when they started looking !

2. I could see a better way to help businesses make the most of the Internet. Also I wanted to expand my business in a different direction, by learning a new skill which I could market to others by developing new sites, both in other sports and also in fields other than sport.
3. It seemed appropriate to start with a subject I know something about.
4. Information on the subject of Lawn Bowls is very limited and whatever I did had to be making a contribution.
5. Nobody else had done it in the interactive form I envisaged
6. We have been selling bowling name badges to a worldwide market for 16 years and if there was a 'spin-off' to be had whilst I was learning, then why not ?

Marketing

On my initial travels around the 'net I learned quite a few things and the major one was that getting a Web page is just the start. It doesn't matter too much where that page is sited, but it matters a great deal . .

1. that people can find you
2. that having found you they don't lose you
3. they can quickly get the information they require to order later,
   and/or
4. that they can order there and then whilst still a 'hot prospect' preferably on-line, but with other options.

A Dedicated Market Place

Ask any good marketer and he will say 'If you want to market something successfully, do it in the same place as other people are doing it'

There is no such thing as a comfortable niche that pays and where there is no competition. The fact is that the buyer goes to the place where he can expect to find a choice of the things he wants. He does not expect to find his bowling shoes at a pharmacy nor a new set of bowls at the supermarket, nor does he look in a computer magazine for the results of the National Singles. He goes to the specialists, who in turn advertise their wares in places where they know their prospective customer will look.

No advertiser worth his salt will overlook the Internet as a medium. Not just because it is so inexpensive, but because this is where his competitors will nab his customers, if his does not!

This change of attitude will become more and more apparent as the links between Internet-television-mobile phones come into picture. As more and more prospective customers have access to the medium, more and more retailers will want to peddle their wares on it. It will never take the place of specialist magazines, any more than television made any difference to their advertising revenue, but it can work in tandem with them.

An Information Service

This is the whole point of this site. As more and more people surge onto the Internet, our whole outlook on information services will change. People will demand instant information. They will enjoy the interaction which this medium facilitates. Being able to pass on their opinions and views, ask questions and get answers swiftly. Find out addresses, phone numbers, travel instructions etc. And all in an instant!

• Want to know the rules of the game ?
• Want to know the winner of a certain match ?
• Want to know the difference between types of bowls, types of measures, indoor and outdoor jacks, EBA and EBF, how to choose a set of bowls . . . the list is, of course, endless. . but pose the question and you will be able to get the answer on this site !

Well that's about it. I've have done my bit. Now it's up to the bowling community to make it work. It's YOUR input that can make this a real living entity. Put your spoke in. Have your say. Answer peoples' questions if you can. Support our sponsors and advertisers. Let this cyber-station thrive !!