Week 4 Questions

1) Looking at the site usage, what does the terms visits, page views and pages/visit mean? What does the bounce rate mean and does it vary much from day to day?

A page view (PV) or page impression is a request to load a single HTML file ('page') of an Internet site. On the World Wide Web a 'page' request would result from a web surfer clicking on a link on another 'page' pointing to the 'page' in question. This should be contrasted with a "hit", which refers to a request for any file from a web server. There may therefore be many hits per 'page' view since an HTML 'page' can be made up of multiple files. Page views may be counted as part of web analytics. For the owner of the site this information can be useful to see if any change in the 'page' (such as the information or the way it is presented) results in more visits. If there are any advertisements on the page, the publishers would also be interested in the number of page views to determine their expected revenue from the ads. For this reason it is a term that is used widely for Internet based marketing and advertising.Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pageviews on Sunday 25th March, 2012

When I was searching for definition of page view I found the below definition in contrast to the one above quite interesting:

A page view is each time a visitor views a page on your website, regardless of how many hits are generated. Pages are comprised of files. Every image in a page is a separate file. When a visitor looks at a page (a page view), they may see numerous images, graphics, pictures etc. and generate multiple hits.
For example, if you have a page with 10 pictures, then a request to a server to view that page generates 11 hits (10 for the pictures, and one for the html file). A page view can contain hundreds of hits. This is the reason that we measure page views and not hits.

Conclusion: hits are not a reliable way to measure website traffic.

There is an additional potential for confusion here, because there are two types of 'hits'. The hits we are discussing in this article are the hits recorded by log files, and interpreted by log analysis. A second type of 'hits' are counted and displayed by a simple hit counter. Hit counters record one hit for every time a webpage is viewed, also problematic because it does not distinguish unique visitors.
Retrieved from http://www.opentracker.net/article/hits-or-pageviews on Sunday 25th March, 2012

A visit happens when someone or something (robot) visits your site. It consists of one or more page views/ hits. One visitor can make multiple visits to your site.

Technically, a visitor is the browser of a person who accepts a cookie. Opentracker utilizes 1st party cookie technology. By this definition, a visitor is a human being, and their actions are 'human' events, because only humans use browsers (with javascript) to navigate the internet. If a cookie is not accepted, then we use IP numbers to track visitors.Retrieved from http://www.opentracker.net/article/hits-or-pageviews on Sunday 25th March, 2012

From this same site I also found this interesting, as I did not realise that this occurred:

How to distinguish between new and returning visitorsFirst, a returning visitor is a visitor who visits your site with a 24 hour period in between.
Secondly, we measure visits, a visit is a visitor’s clickstream broken by a ten minute interval, (minimum of ten minutes). So you have a cup of coffee, and return to the site after ten minutes, this will be a second visit. Say you go to bed, and you return to the site 24 hours later; you will be a returning visitor.

Bounce rate is the percentage of single-page visits or visits in which the person left your site from the entrance (landing) page. Use this metric to measure visit quality - a high bounce rate generally indicates that site entrance pages aren't relevant to your visitors. The more compelling your landing pages, the more visitors will stay on your site and convert. You can minimize bounce rates by tailoring landing pages to each keyword and ad that you run. Landing pages should provide the information and services that were promised in the ad copy.
Retrieved from http://support.google.com/googleanalytics/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=81986 on Sunday 25^th March, 2012

A more simplified definition is below:Bounce rate (sometimes confused with exit rate) is an Internet marketing term used in web traffic analysis. It represents the percentage of visitors who enter the site and "bounce" (leave the site) rather than continue viewing other pages within the same site.
A bounce occurs when a web site visitor only views a single page on a website, that is, the visitor leaves a site without visiting any other pages before a specified session-timeout occurs. There is no industry standard minimum or maximum time by which a visitor must leave in order for a bounce to occur. Rather, this is determined by the session timeout of the analytics tracking software.
Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bounce_rate on Sunday 25th May, 2012

Viewing the stats on Google Analytics I can see the bounce rate does change every day. Exploring the definitions above I have learnt that it is unusual for the bounce rate to be the same if you have regular visitors to a website. Some visitors will browse your site and find what they need, others will not and will ‘bounce’ back out.
Based on the results in the graph below the bounce rate hovers around 80 – 100%. At times it drops to 50%. Therefore it doesn’t vary much, but it doesn’t not remain the same daily.

Retrieved from https://www.google.com/analytics/web/#report/visitorsoverview/a6985438w36764487p36233804/%3Foverview-graphOptions.primaryConcept%3Danalytics.bounceRate/ on Sunday25th March, 2012

2) Now look at the traffic sources report. What are the three sources of traffic and where has most of the traffic come from?

Search Traffic, Referral Traffic and Direct Traffic.
You can see the traffic in the image below shows that referral traffic accounts for over half of the traffic to the site.

Below you can see the list of the different referrals, foliospaces being the highest with 113 referrals.

3) What was the most popular web browser used to access the site?

Firefox and Internet Explorer are very close competitors for the most popular. As you can see in the image below there is only 1 visit that separates them. Google Chrome is 20 visits behind. Therefore from the data below I cannot say only one is the most popular, but that Firefox and Internet Explorer are both most used to access the site.

4) How many countries did visitors to Foliospaces come from and what were the top four countries?

As per table below, there are 10 countries in which visitors came from. The top four are, Australia, Unitied States, Canada and United Kingdom

5) Having clicked every possible link on my analytics, make a few comments on (a) What you can track, (b) What you can track over time and (c) What you can’t track

I believe the data available is very useful. Especially when we spoke about web design being so important last week, using these stats you can get an idea of how successful your site is and where you may be going wrong. Even being able to see what networks visitors are using is helpful to ensure your site is going to be compatible with their software.
Based on stats of your site, over time you can make changes and track to see if the changes you making are successful. Add content and change design to see if you receive positive numbers and duration of time users spending on site, reduce bounce rate.
You cannot track survey data. What types of visitors are accessing your site? What specific information do they take from your site? As developer you can only try to pinpoint a certain age and gender. However, with the data available here you cannot really see if the visitors are within the age and gender you expect.

6) What do the following terms mean? These are just a few, you may like to add some more yourself.
High bounce rate - generally indicates that site entrance pages aren't relevant to your visitors.

Key words - can be defined as a word or words identifying something on a page

Average Page Depth - The average number of pages on a site that visitors view during a single session

Click through rate - The average number of click-throughs per hundred ad impressions, expressed as a percentage.

Click – Action of selecting a link

Cookie - A message given to a Web browser by a Web server. The browser stores the message in a text file. The message is then sent back to the server each time the browser requests a page from the server

Impression - the point in which an ad is viewed once by a visitor, or displayed once on a web page.

Hyperlink - is a word, phrase, or image that you can click on to jump to a new document or a new section within the current document. Hyperlinks are found in nearly all Web pages, allowing users to click their way from page to page.

Navigation - facilitates movement from one Web page to another Web page.

Pageview - A Web page that has been viewed by one visitor. Page views are often used in online advertising, where advertisers use the number of page views a site receives to determine where and how to advertise

Unique Visitors (or Absolute Unique Visitors) - Unique Visitors represents the number of unduplicated (counted only once) visitors to your website over the course of a specified time period. A Unique Visitor is determined using cookies.

URL - Uniform (or universal) resource locator, the address of a World Wide Web page.

Visitor – person that access a web page

Visitor Session - is a defined period of interaction between a Visitor (both unique and untrackable visitor types) and a website.

Comparison shopping - The practice of comparing prices in advance of actually shopping in order to achieve the best deals and pricing on merchandise and services. Comparison shopping is often done in anticipation of buying occasional, big ticket items.

WEEK 3 QUESTIONS

1. In two paragraphs explain why a customer centric Web site design is so important, yet so difficult to accomplish

"Customer-centric" means creating a Web site that is centered around customer wants and needs. Focusing the design of a site on customer benefits and ensuring its visitors a unique experience are key drivers of sales, loyalty, and much-desired word-of-mouth advertising. Just like walking into a store, if the customer can find what they want easily, in a reasonable amount of time, find assistance when a question arises, see the price clearly marked on the product, browse and navigate around the store if desired and not wait in long check-out lines, customers will return to that store time and time again. That store will be the customers’ first shopping preference above other competitors’ stores. Websites are the same. If the design suits all of the customer’s needs and wants, then they can ensure loyalty and repetitive business.

This can be difficult to accomplish as there are many different types of customers that buy products on the web. Without face to face service it is difficult to change and improve customers’ satisfaction. On the web, a customer who is not satisfied will click out of that site and simply search for an alternative one without a second thought. A lot of customers can be lost. The design needs to suit the product or service the business is providing. This may mean additional details for courier postage services and a link to the courier the site may use when transporting large products to customers. Also, having online consultants to help customers ensure they feel confident in choosing the right health insurance for themselves and their family.

2. Define the term 'presence'. Write an additional paragraph that describes why firms that do business on the Web should be more concerned about presence than firms that operate in the physical world.

Presence

Noun:

The state or fact of existing, occurring, or being present in a place or thing.

It can be a lot harder for businesses on the web to create a web presence then a firm in the physical world. A lot of customers still want to see and feel products, try them on or try them out before they buy. Physical stores then create relationships with customers, online stores can be forgotten.
Most customers will only look online for products when physicals stores cannot fulfill customer needs or to ensure they are receiving a great price.
Therefore firms that operate online, really need to ensure they have a good web presence.

Three reasons as to why web presence is important is listed below:
1. Creating an online presence is the most basic reason for building a website. This means building a site that includes your business information, highlights what makes you special, and gives consumers a way to contact you.
2. Making your business stand out takes a more advanced strategy. Maintaining a blog that portrays your thoughts and insights can help your website stand out and help consumers better understand your business.
3. A good business website can be used to capture potential leads. As the site grows it becomes a community for customers and potential consumers. Connect with potential consumers and find a way to continue marketing to them. Your website can be the elevator pitch and your connection the long sell.



 3. “Usable Doesn’t Have To Mean Ugly 'for a web design to be truly beautiful, it has to be functional, have purpose and contribute in some way to the website’s intuitiveness, usefulness and branding. All of these things contribute to the overall effect of a design”. This is a quote from one of the articles on web design linked on Web pages that suck. Find a web page that 'does not suck' and discuss the features that make it work

http://www.redballoon.com.au/

Red Balloon is the site I have chosen to look at. Even when typing red balloon into Google, straight away you can tell this website is full of information and user friendly. Customers can immediately see what the site has to offer by the sub-category links available to them. Repeat users of the site do not need to go to the home page first, they can immediately click on the category they are after.
I believe the categories chosen for this view would be the most clicked ones, which red balloon would gather stats from and adjust accordingly.

Looking at the home page, you can see that this site is not ‘ugly’ at all. I believe it is very functional and caters for customers needs.
Customers can search by gender, and then again by relation, mum, wife, husband, sister, boyfriend and so on. I find this would be mostly useful to males needing to buy a present as it would minimize the results they would need to browse, while also giving them new ideas of gifts they may not have thought of.
The site also allows customers to search by location, state and then region. By occasion, Christmas, wedding, birthday, engagement. By experience, creative, getaways, outdoor, water sports, indulge. Customers can also sort results by price which allows you to browse gifts within your budget only. Then if all else fails and customers cannot make a decision, the site allows customers to purchase a gift card.

Once a gift card or gift is purchased, it is emailed to you in a printable version which you receive immediately. This means last minute gifts don’t need to be purchased at 24 hour stores, they can be just as exciting as sky diving or weekend away.

Red Balloon really has that their overall design can make a huge difference to their website. A great concept needs to be executed well for it to be successful, and by ensuring you assist your customers in what they need and want will help you achieve that through the web design. Red Balloon’s design markets towards any age and gender in any location. This website defiantly won’t be on the ‘web pages that suck’ list.

WEEK 2 QUESTIONS

1a) What are the four (4) main points Michael Rappa makes about search?


[What we see is just that when users are asked]
What we see is that people take a relatively rudimentary approach to search.  They put a word, or a question, or a few words in the toolbar on a search engine, and hope for the best.  They rarely know any of the specialized syntax, or logical expressions that could be used that would help narrow their search, and target it in such a way that they would more likely find more accurate results.  We’re still just at a very early stage.  And when we look at who uses the internet, and we understand that this is a kind of mainstream phenomenon.

 [We collect information about their behaviour searching]
Databases are, in a sense, an approximation, a portion of the vast amount of digital information that’s out there.  The collection mechanisms for search engines are not able to crawl and collect all of the information that’s out there, especially realizing the fact that the amount of information is growing quite fast each year.  And also a fair amount of that information is in servers and databases, which although attached to the internet, are not accessible for search engines to basically cull, and collect, and store in their own databases.

[We’re still at a stage in which most users are fairly inexperienced about how it is to go searching for information]
We need to appreciate the fact that searching for things, although most everyone does it – only a relatively small portion have a fairly good idea about how to get the best results, and also about how search engines actually work.  Another thing that most people don’t understand is that when you search for something on the internet, wherever it is that you’re searching from – and you can search from many places to be sure – search boxes end up everywhere, including embedded in people’s browser applications – that when you search the internet, you’re in all likelihood searching one of a relatively small number of databases.  That is that those places, wherever you search, are really tied into just a handful of databases, whether it’s the Google database, or the Yahoo’s Inktomi database, or one or two others.  You’re basically searching this very small universe.

[What’s going on in the background with a particular search engine]
The fourth basic element of a search engine is what might be called the ranking algorithm for listing the results, that is once a user searches on a key word or phrase, a set of links are returned.  Frequently those links may number literally in the millions.  So the question becomes: how does one rank those results, setting aside what we talked about earlier – using paid placement. So that algorithm might be called some kind of usefulness metric that says, “Given the user has searched on this term or phrase, these are most likely the useful results that they’re looking for at the top.”

So to summarize then, a search engine is essentially four things.  It’s a database.  It’s a collection mechanism for adding data into that database.  It’s a search protocol that enables users to query the database.  And it’s a ranking algorithm that determines how the results are presented to the user.  And when we look at the various search engines that are out there, they vary on one or more of these dimensions.  This is what a search engine is all about.

Retrieved http://www.digitalenterprise.org/transcripts/navigation_tr.html

1b) Watch or read the Marissa Mayer interview. Marissa says 'search is in its infancy'. Do you agree or disagree with this statement? What is your personal experience with search?

I do agree that search, despite the progress made so far, is still in early development. I believe there is much more information and comparisons we can make when searching for information and data in the future.
Take buying a car for instance. By searching the web I should not only be able to find the car I am looking for, but make comparisons and research to ensure I am choosing the right car for my needs. All the options should be clicks away, new versus used, unleaded versus diesel, two door versus four door, brand comparison and more. Also options to guesstimate the value of your car in ‘x’ amount of years. All these options would draw people to buying more cars online and only walking into the dealership to test drive and set up loans and finance. In turn, decreasing costs to car dealerships and increasing profits. You could also use the comparison search details to see what people are looking for in cars, what are the features they are really looking for and help target that type of product.

How we search, what we use to search, where we search, what we search and who will search can only grow each day. Technology improves, people’s needs and wants grow and our demands increase as our time decreases. Fast efficient information is the key to our future. Searching must improve and grow for our lifestyles and jobs to succeed and grow.

Retrieved from http://techcrunch.com/2009/03/06/marissa-mayer-on-charlie-rose-the-future-of-google/

2a) So what are the 6 webs?
We identified six webs. Those first four—here, near, far, and weird—are distinguished by their human interface. Then we said there are clearly two more that are essentially invisible: machine to machine and server to server. That is what became known as enterprise computing.

2b) Could there be more?With differently technologies being developed every day, and new communication methods being introduced to society I believe there could be more than 6 webs. I believe it is unrealistic to think that more webs would not be developed.
Development is the future of our society, and the demand for this is great.

2c) What does it mean for business?It means more efficient, cost effective, and direct avenues to be in touch with the world. The more webs that are developed, the more access businesses give people to their goods and services.
Just like Dell, EBay, Google, Red Balloon, Facebook all successful online businesses that are used widely around the world. Just like these businesses and many others have done, development into the future is the key to success.

WEEK 1 QUESTIONS

1)      Internet risks – give examples of four things that could go wrong with a transactional web site?

Goods not arrivingMost websites now accept payment methods such as Paypal and Western Union. These services offer some protection against no show goods.

Fraudulent Payments Extensive insurance is now provided by most credit card companies who take the brunt of the majority of fraud on line. Fraud is an issue on line but it is such a low percentage that it would be a pity to deter honest shoppers and sites. If you follow common sense and basic rules fraud can be avoided.  If the website asks for details over and beyond what is required for a normal transaction i.e. DOB - back out. Another good idea is to have one specific credit card for online use with a low credit limit – minimising the risk should your details fall into unscrupulous hands. Never use a card that is linked directly to your bank account – as you could face the prospect of an empty account.

Price and add-ons
Web sites should indicate what is included in the purchase without the fear of add-ons and additional costs to the customer. Some companies will start with a low price to hook the interest of the client and then inflate it with extras such as – Measuring costs, Installation costs, Additional Items required, Travelling costs, delivery and insurance.  The pricing structure should be clear, simple and concise.

Packaging Goods can be damaged on route to customers address, numerous vans, trucks, post offive handling etc. Goods should be packed suitably, even tried and tested by the retailer. Do not want customers complaining about quality of the goods and replacement needing to be sent out.

Shudders Direct (2012) Buying Products Online – Risks and Benefits, Retrieved Tuesday 6^th February, 2012 from, http://www.shuttersdirect.nl/articles/Buying%20Products%20online%20-%20Risks%20and%20Benefits.html

 

2)      Write down a definition for each:

a) E-commerce:
Is the buying and selling of goods and services on the Internet, especially the World Wide Web. In practice, this term and a newer term, e-business, are often used interchangeably. For online retail selling, the term e-tailing is sometimes used.
E-commerce can be divided into:

• E-tailing or "virtual storefronts" on Web sites with online catalogues, sometimes gathered into a "virtual mall"
• The gathering and use of demographic data through Web contacts
• Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), the business-to-business exchange of data
• E-mail and fax and their use as media for reaching prospects and established customers (for example, with newsletters)
• Business-to-business buying and selling
• The security of business transactions

Search CIO (2012), Definitions, Retrieved Tuesday 6^th February, 2012 from, http://searchcio.techtarget.com/definition/e-commerce

b) E-business:E-business (electronic business), derived from such terms as "e-mail" and "e-commerce," is the conduct of business on the Internet, not only buying and selling but also servicing customers and collaborating with business partners.

Search CIO (2012), Definitions, Retrieved Tuesday 6^th February, 2012 from, http://searchcio.techtarget.com/definition/e-commerce

 

3)      What is the difference between buy side and sell side eCommerce?

Buy-side e-commerce refers to transactions to procure resources needed by an organisation, whereas sell-side refers to transactions involved with selling products to customers.

4)      Describe the different types of eBusiness

Business to Business (B2B) Commerce: Involves a firm or business selling products to another firm or business via the internet.
Business to Consumer (B2C) Commerce: Involves a business selling to a customer via the internet.
Consumer to Consumer (C2C) Commerce: Both parties involved are customers trading with each other.
Intra B Commerce: Both parties involved are two persons or departments of a business unit, whereby the use of a computer network makes it possible to interact constantly.
Consumer to Business (C2B) Commerce: Involves a customer’s requests a certain product online.

Digit Smith (2012), EBusiness, Retrieved Tuesday 6^th February, 2012 from,  http://www.digitsmith.com/ebusiness.html

 

5)      Which digital technology has the highest penetration rate? Explain and source your answer.

Mobile phones have the highest penetration rate. During 2007 almost one out of two people had a mobile phone, that number presumably has only increased since.

ITU, (2011) Statistics, Retrieved Tuesday 6^th February, 2012 from, http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/statistics/ict/index.html

6)      List: Four drivers to adoption of sell-side e-commerce by business

Content- There is more detailed and in-depth information regarding the purchasing process.
Community- People can discuss anything through forums, chat rooms and blogs.
Convenience- It is available anytime.
Cost reduction- Online sales are generally priced lower.

7)      List: Four barriers to adoption of sell-side e-commerce by business

Content- There is more detailed and in-depth information regarding the purchasing process.
Community- People can discuss anything through forums, chat rooms and blogs.
Convenience- It is available anytime.
Cost reduction- Online sales are generally priced lower.

8)      How might a restaurant benefit from an online presence?

Cheap form of advertising that is available to world any time of the day. Today people like to search for places to visit and eat, as well as see reviews and photos of restaurants and view menu before visiting. By having a user friendly, impressive website with lots of customer feedback, will enhance business.

9)      What are some examples of Digital information?

Cd's
Internet
Mobile phones
DVD's

10)   What is the semantic web? Are we there yet?

The semantic web is information that is all linked in a way that it is easy to process by machines on a global scale. The semantic web is out there, however I don't think the idea of it has caught on very quickly.