My first ever blog: March 2011

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Topic 4 Questions

Topic Four

Analytics

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

Term visits refers to the number of people that have visited the site, page views means the number of times the page has been viewed and pages/visits means the amount of pages one person viewed on average when they visited the site. The visits for the ePortfolio were 7,586, the page views 80,898 and the pages/visit 10.66. The bounce rate represents the percentage of users who enter the specific site and then leave the site rather than viewing the pages within that site. The bounce rate for today (26/03/11) was 36.95%. this bounce rate does vary from day to day, seeming to increase the percentages on weekends. On Sunday 20^th March the bounce rate was 47.98% compared with 32.27% on Tuesday 22^nd March.

Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bounce_rate

https://www.google.com/analytics/reporting/?reset=1&id=19270945&pdr=20110224-20110326

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

The three sources of traffic are direct traffic (44.48%), search engine (30.74%), and referring site (24.78%). The main search engine which has given most traffic to the ePortfolio site is Google.

Sources: https://www.google.com/analytics/reporting/sources?id=19270945&pdr=20110224-20110326&cmp=average&trows=10&gdfmt=nth_day&rpt=TrafficSourcesReport&tab=0&tchcol=0&tst=0&tscol=v0&tsdir=0&mdet=WORLD&midx=0&gidx=0&glcnt=1#lts=1301184804225

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

The most popular web browser used to access this site was Internet Explorer (50.45%) with 3,829 clicks. This was followed by Firefox (20.11%) with 1,526 clicks, Safari (20.03%) with 1,520 clicks, Chrome (8.93%) with 678 clicks and Opera (0.11) with 8 clicks.

Sources: https://www.google.com/analytics/reporting/visitors?id=19270945&pdr=20110224-20110326&cmp=average&trows=10&gdfmt=nth_day#lts=1301185404421

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

Visitors came from 76 different countries/territories (7589 visits). The top four countries were Australia with 2,916 visits, USA with 2,039 visits, United Kingdom with 1,005 visits and New Zealand with 677 visits.

Sources: https://www.google.com/analytics/reporting/maps?id=19270945&pdr=20110224-20110326&cmp=average&trows=10&gdfmt=nth_day&rpt=GeoMapReport&tab=0&tchcol=0&tst=0&tscol=v0&tsdir=0&mdet=WORLD&midx=0&gidx=0&glcnt=1#lts=1301185641970

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.

a) Visitor information; visits, page views, bounce rate, traffic source, time on site, how often they visit your site, and how they accessed the site; keywords, search engines, countries, direct traffic and referring sites.

b) You can track all of the things listed in a. plus statistical data such as increase/ decreases in visitor information over a time period (i.e. each year)

c) You can’t track specific visitor information such as age, gender and the direct location of the user (suburb or city).

6. What do the following terms mean? These are just a few, you may like to add some more and perhaps include them on your Moodle glossary.

High bounce rate; A bounce rate is a statistical data measurement of how many people visit a website and then exit from the same page then entered on without clicking through to any other pages. The bounce rate becomes high when a large proportionate percentage of those visitors exit from the same page.

http://womeninbusiness.about.com/od/seoandinternetterms/g/What-Is-Bounce-Rate-Definition-Of-Bounce-Rate.htm

Key words: An index term, subject term, subject heading, or descriptor, in information retrieval, is a term that captures the essence of the topic of a document.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyword_(internet_search)

Average page depth: In Google Analytics, it is the average number of pages on a site that visitors view during a single session.

http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/A/average_page_depth.html

Click through rate: The click through rate is the number of users who clicked on a specific advertisement on a web page divided by the number of times that the advertisement was delivered. It is a way of measuring the success of an online advertising campaign.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clickthrough_rate

Click: click means pushing either the right or left buttons on your mouse to command the computer to do something.

Cookie: A cookie is a piece of text stored on a user’s computer by their web browser. A cookie can be used for authentication, storing site preferences, shopping cart contents, the identifier for a server-based session, or anything else that can be accomplished through storing text data.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_cookie

Impression: Impression is the viewing of a web page or internet advertisements by an internet user.

http://www.agbnielsen.co.uk/agb/index.ph

Hyperlink: A hyperlink is a reference to a document that the reader can directly follow or that is followed automatically.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperlink

Navigation: Navigation is the process of monitoring and controlling the movement from one place to another such as when a person goes to a website through an internet browser.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navigation

Page view: A page view is a request to load a single page of an internet site.

http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&biw=1600&bih=809&defl=en&q=define:Page+view&sa=X&ei=cqqOTeaNL8n4ceC0rfsJ&ved=0CBkQkAE

Session: The session refers to the amount of time spent on a particular website

Unique visitors (or absolute unique visitors): Unique visitors is how many visitors came to your site , counting each person only one for the entire time period.

http://groups.google.com/group/analytics-help-basics/browse_thread/thread/4e08a41ed825a891?pli=1

URL: URL stands for Universal Resource Locator. This is a way of identifying files on the internet.

http://www.everlands.co.uk/glossary.htm

Visitor: A visitor is a person/user who visits a site or webpage on the internet.

Visitor session: Visitor session is the interaction by a site visitor. The session ends when the visitor leaves the site.

www.formicmedia.com/sem-glossary.htm

Comparison shopping: Comparison shopping is the act of comparing process of something in advance before shopping for the best bargain.

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/comparison_shopping

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Topic 3 Questions

Topic 3

Digital Design

1. In 2 paragraphs explain why a customer centric web site is so important, yet so difficult to accomplish.

A customer centric web is so important because it is ultimately centred on the customer’s needs and wants. Businesses need to focus their site on customer satisfaction and making sure that users will remember the experience they received. It is so difficult to accomplish because the needs and wants of customers are ever changing every day. Also, one person’s needs and wants may be completely different to those of another.

Businesses can’t please everyone so businesses need to realise the five basic elements that are involved with customer centric web. These are evaluating competing businesses and products, selecting the product and making a transaction, relevant information about help and contact, feedback about products and/or customer service and for customers to stay informed about the business (product updates etc)

2. Define the term ‘presence’. Write an additional paragraph that describe why firms that do business on the web should be more concerned about presence than firms that operate in the physical world.

Presence, defined by Answers.com as ‘the state or fact of being present; current existence or occurrence’.

Firms that do their business online should be more concerned because potential customers may not know about them, as the internet has billions of websites and it may not be one of the top rated results when searching for the specific product/service. This is different to firms that operate in the physical world because it is a physical object that is seen by many (passing traffic) and can get a lot more attention without effort compared to an online business. The online business will need to promote their business to the applicable target audience.

3. Write 3 paragraphs to briefly describe the things that Real Estate Agents can be accomplished through a) their web sites b) Mass media advertising and c)Personal contact

Websites; they can upload photos and all the information about current properties for sale. This allows potential customers who do not live close to the physical agent such as out of state or international clients. It also allows customers to access the information after hours 24/7 whenever they like and not have to make appointments with an agent.

Mass media advertising; by mass advertising, Real Estate Agents can advertise their company, their staff and the current properties that they are trying to sell. By mass advertising, they are setting up new opportunities for potential customers to see their displays and also gaining a greater audience that they would have achieved with physical advertising (newspapers, billboards, in the company’s’ building etc)

Personal contact; Personal contact will need to be established if there are potential buyers as Real Estate Agents would not have the same process of processing a transaction such as Amazon or EBay. Paying for such a large amount would be dangerous and unprofessional so personal contact must be made in the form of emails and video and voice calls. The Real Estate agents can then give more information on the specific property such as price (if not stated) and process the transaction manually (purchase agreements, payments), not over the internet.

References

http://www.answers.com/topic/presence#ixzz1HJEzdmuP

http://digitalenterprise.org/transcripts/design_tr.html

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Topic 2 Questions

Part 1: Navigation

Listen to the podcast on Navigation

a. What are the four main points Michael Rappa makes about search?

1. It’s a database; full of everything in the world – books, information, news, images.

2. It’s a collection mechanism for adding data into that database; generate a lot of data and can be stored for a long time.

3. Search protocol (used to query database)

4. The ranking algorithm for listing the results; there is too much information on the web so it is difficult to sort and organise what is most relevant to what the user is find.

b. Watch or read Marissa Mayer interview. Write a paragraph or two, on four points made by Marissa, that you think were the most interesting or significant for business.

§ I found it interesting to find out that Marissa said that search was still in its infancy. Even though there are over a trillion url’s on the web and Google has 2/3 share, we have still not yet managed to fully access the webs full potential in regard to search capabilities. Marissa mentioned that we are more developed in voice technology that search capability. (Mayer 2009)

§ The process of a successful idea has a process which starts with an idea. Mayer says it can come from anywhere – users, engineers, executives or just analysis of existing products. The idea then must be run through a prototype stage where it is designed, developed and then rated and given feedback from potential users. (Mayer 2009)

§ The next big idea Mayer has for Google is developing the ‘killer app’ which has a abundance of information that helps people connect with each other, find out where people are situated(GPS) and to connect with and find new contacts. The issue about this app is that too much information may be given out. Mayer comments by saying that in this modern day that users will have to decide at which level they will give up their privacy for functionality. (Mayer 2009)

§ The last point I found interesting was that Google sets aside 25% of employees in her area just for women so that it is not mainly dominated by men. She said this can build stronger influence on women in the main dominated workplace but also be a role model and hope that more women will choose to study in the computer science area. (Mayer 2009)

Part 2: History of the Internet

Watch the Bill Joy video

a. So what are the six webs

1. The near web; defined by information. In front of a computer screen, keyboard and mouse such as yahoo.

2. The far web; the experience such as sitting on the couch watching the television from a distance.

3. The here web; in Bill Joy’s opinion the most important. When the device is on a person at all times – becomes you identity (personalised mobility).

4. The weird web; most pervasive, using voice, most commonly seen in a car (voice recognition)

5. The B2B web; Business to Business. Can be business computers talking to each other. Purpose is to reduce friction and allow systems to work efficiently together.

6. The D2D web; Device to device. Embodied or meshed network, sensors self organising and sensibly manage and control. (Joy, 2005)

b. Could there be more?

Yes, I believe there can be more as technology and innovation improves, so will the different sources of web that can be invested, used and accessed.

c. What does it mean for business?

It means that there will be more ways to run a business more efficiently and can help reduce administrative costs for the business. Another view is that businesses have more access to their target market through the web via other elements such as advertisements.

References

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

Joy. B, 2005, http://ubonline.ballarat.edu.au/course/view.php?id=2240

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

Monday, March 7, 2011

Topic One Questions

Internet risks – give examples of four things that can go wrong with a transactional site?

1. Breaches of security; revealing your personal information over the internet can lead to identity theft as hackers may steal you information

2. Computer/Network crash; a computer or network crash can cause the company to seize trading until the problem can be fixed

3. SPAM; some websites have a clause in their privacy policy that a customers email may be shared with third parties to send relevant offers. This can result the customer to be bombarded with unnecessary emails and make them angry/

4. Incorrect reviews; Market competition is cut throat, so this has resulted in shopping website owners to hire goons to put biased reviews on certain products to either promote or turn away customers to benefit company sales

Source: http://www.fido.gov.au/fido/fido.nsf/byheadline/Credit+cards%3A+when+things+go+wrong+

Definitions of e-commerce and e-business

E-commerce; ‘consists of buying and selling products or services over electronics systems such as the internet and other computer networks (Wikipedia, 2011)

E-business; ‘defined as the utilization of information and communication technologies (ICT) in support of all activities of business (Wikipedia, 2011)

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_commerce and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-business

What is the difference between buy side and sell side e-commerce?

Buy side of e-commerce is when a business buys from another entity, such as a manufacturer on the intent of selling to customers. Sell side is on the other hand when businesses are focused specifically on selling their products and services over the internet on a website.

Source: http://www. Inquirer.net/infotech/oct99wk3/info_7

Describe the different types of e-business

C2C- Consumer to Consumer such as Skype

C2B – Consumer to Business such as Priceline

C2G – Consumer to Government such as customers providing information and feedback to the government

B2C – Business to Consumer such as Amazon

B2B – Business to Business such as companies purchasing stock from manufacturers to on sell the products

G2C – Government to Consumer such as local government services

G2B – Government to Business, working out things like legal regulations

G2G – Government to Government, exchanging services within the government.

Source: http://ubonline.ballarat.edu.au/file.php/2240/Topic1/Topic_1_Introduction_to_eBusiness.ppt#288,13,Slide 13

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

Mobile phones have the greatest penetration rate. This is because most people have and use regularly at least one or more phones and this amount is larger than any other digital product. ‘By the end of 2007, almost one out of two people had a mobile phone. In Europe, penetration has surpassed the 100% mark. More than one out of 4 African and one out of 3 Asian have a mobile phone. A high level of competition and a decrease in prices have been able to reduce the digital divide in mobile telephone, substantially’.

Source: http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/statistics/ict/index.html

List four drivers to adoption of sell side e-commerce by business?

- There is a reduced amount of administrative expenses because most of the business is completed online

- There is an increased amount in sales because you can sell to any person in the world 24/7

- There would be a decrease in marketing expenses because all the marketing would be online

- There would be a supply-chain cost reduction a shorter cycle in ordering and distributing products

Source: http://ubonline.ballarat.edu.au/file.php/2240/Topic1/Topic_1_Introduction_to_eBusiness.ppt#296,17,Tangible and intangible benefits

List four barriers to adoption of sell side e-commerce by business?

- The staff employed might not be as competent selling products over the internet rather than face to face

- The start up costs of setting up a business may be high and this can be a barrier in starting an e-business for some people

- A lack of knowledge can become a barrier if they do not know how to effectively run a business online

- The reluctance of staff wanting to switch to an online business rather than selling products face to face

Source: http://ubonline.ballarat.edu.au/file.php/2240/Topic1/Topic_1_Introduction_to_eBusiness.ppt#300,20,Slide 20

How might a restaurant in
Sturt Street
Ballarat benefit from an online presence?

The restaurant could benefit form having an online presence because:

- it can make potential customers aware of the restaurant if they live outside Ballarat

- Customers may stumble across this restaurant in an search engine and want to try it

- It gives customers all the information about the restaurant e.g. operating hours, the menu, photos of the restaurant and location

What are some examples of Digital Information?

Some examples of digital information are CD’s, Digital Camera’s, Mobile phones, DVD’s, digital television and Internet

Source: http://www.techterms.com/defintion/digital

What is the semantic web? Are we there yet?

The semantic web is a ‘web of data’ (Wikipedia, 2011) used on the World Wide Wed to allow users to use the information provided on the web to its full potential by searching, processing and combining information. The semantic web of a vision of information that can be sorted by machines, so all the difficult work can be done by machines for the benefits of users. We are unfortunately still in the infant stages, so it is unsure what direction the semantic web will take, but it is looking bright.

Sources: http://infomesh.net/2001/swintro/#itWorks