Investing In The Internet

There’s no denying the monumental growth of the Internet — every hour approximately 760 households join the Internet for the first time, each day 7.3 billion e-mails are sent and by 2003, the University of Texas projects a $2.8 trillion worldwide Internet economy.

The Internet arguably has become the most important communication vehicle developed in the last century. To steal a phrase from writer Ann Kerwin, just as children at the turn of last century grew up with newspapers on their doorsteps, today’s kids have wires coming through their walls to deliver information. The Internet is in many ways the perfect communication medium — it’s interactive, instantaneous, virtually limitless in size and it is becoming increasingly affordable and accessible.

So accessible, in fact, that you can be assured if your customers aren’t online already, many of them will be within the next few years. Judging by the number of PCO websites, it’s clear pest control professionals realize that a commitment to electronic communications and e-commerce is essential to growth in the 21st century.

Likewise, we at PCT realize that our customers — you, the reader — are becoming increasingly Internet savvy. That’s why we’ve made the bold move of investing tremendous time and resources into making our website, www.pctonline.com, the leading vertical portal in the professional pest control market.

If you haven’t visited our site lately, I encourage you to do so. Over the last two months we’ve made significant changes, including adding daily news updates, a weekly e-mail newsletter, energized discussion forums, interactive training modules and MSDS/label databases. And these features are just the start of what we have planned.

We realize that in the fast-paced digital age, PCOs will need instantaneous information, a community of colleagues with which to share ideas and more efficient ways to handle the day-to-day challenges of operating a business — all of which can be facilitated by the web.

As a result, our company has made e-communications a top priority. By adding a full-time staff devoted to developing PCT Online, combined with the long-standing editorial excellence of PCT Magazine, we’ve set out to fulfill the industry’s ever-changing informational needs.

PCT Magazine and PCT Online work hand in hand to provide our readers with the depth of content and range of services they need to more profitably run their businesses. And ultimately that’s what the Internet is all about — making business and life a more profitable experience.