Internet Marketing in Nepal
The concept of professional web services & internet marketing is still rudimentary in Nepal. There are very few companies or freelancers who provide professional SEO (search engine optimization), and internet marketing services in Nepal. For many, SEO and internet marketing is still just a complimentary service.
The sectors that seem to understand the benefits and value of professional internet marketing and SEO in Nepal are the foreign dependent sectors, such as tourism & export business, where the competition can get tough at times due to direct competition from foreign markets. Within the domestic market, the internet, or business based on internet penetration is still negligible, and dominated by few news websites or entertainment portals. For most companies, online business still means a cheaply made website, which basically isn't any better than no website at all.
The level of online advertisements targeted at domestic market is even reflected by the advertisement awards in Nepal. These are dominated by paper ads, radio or TV ads and even street Billboard ads, but have no place for online marketing or internet advertising.
But with more and more people getting conscious of power of the internet and online business, competition is bound to happen. Until then, we could seek cheaper alternatives to the existing global internet marketing that could be targeted to local markets only. Local companies in Nepal will also need to upgrade themselves to cope with the global trends of internet marketing or develop cheaper mechanism for local SEO and internet marketing.
