Week Five: Business Models

This week we are looking at different business models.

A business model is the method of doing business by which a company can sustain itself.

Brokerage: brings buyers and sellers together and facilitates transactions. The broker will usually charge a fee for the transaction it enables. Examples of a brokerage model is a transaction model like paypal or an auction broker like ebay.

Advertising: it is a form of promotion which uses the web to deliver messages to attract customers. The web provides content and services where the advertisements are placed in the form of banner ads.

For examples of typical web banners visit http://www.justgothere.com/web_banners/web_banners.htm   
 

Infomediary: is characterised by the capture and sharing of information. This can occur when registration is a requirement for viewing or downloading information from web sites. Data collected from this registration may capture contact details and consumption details which, when analysed, can be valuable for marketing purposes. A popular infomediary model is the reward cards retailers and supermarkets are issuing to customers that offer discounts for a certain amount of points and up to date VIP sales catalogues.

Merchant: internet based merchandising and the best example to give is Amazon.com.

Manufacturer (Direct): is when the manufacturer sells directly to the buyer. Transactions can include purchases, leases or licences. An example of this is Dell Computers.

Affiliate: A website that concentrates on retaining a certain group of people by continually up grading their services and content to meet the people’s needs and interest. Once they obtain a large number of regular visitors, they can generate revenue by adding links to merchants that the users would be interested in. Enables a firm to generate revenue streams of hundreds even thousands of items without carrying any inventories.

Above: Example of an Affiliate Model.

Community: is a method of developing online presence where several individuals and/or groups are encouraged to join and participate in ongoing interaction for a common purpose.  For   examples of thriving community models click on the following link:                                                                                                                                                                           http://www.feverbee.com/2010/11/15-examples-of-thriving-online-communities.html

Subscription: when a customer must pay a subscription price to have access to the service. This model was pioneered by magazines and newspapers but is now a common business model for many businesses.  Research shows (http://www.mequoda.com/articles/subscription_websites/the-five-most-profitable-subscription-website-business-models/?floater=99) the five most popular models for subscription are newsletters, trade associations, career advancement, personality based, downloadable library.A good example of a subscription model is  CPA Australia, http://www.cpaaustralia.com.au/cps/rde/xchg

Utility: Based on the concept of metered use where people pay for the service as they use it; like our gas and electric bills. An example of an utility model would be internet access or a telephone service via an online network.

RESOUCRE LIST:

http://ausweb.scu.edu.au/aw05/papers/refereed/featherstone/fig4.JPG

http://ecommerce.hostip.info/pages/231/Community-Model.html

http://digitalenterprise.org/models/models.html

http://ecommerce.hostip.info/pages/569/Infomediary-Model-INFOMEDIARY-MODEL.html

http://ecommerce.hostip.info/pages/157/Business-Models.html

http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/affiliate-model.html

http://ezinearticles.com/?Internet-Marketing--Various-Online-Business-Models&id=287994

THE TECHNOLOGY REPORT

Spend some time looking at the Technology report, particularly the country profiles and rankings. Use some of the data analysis tools to answer the following -

1) What is the Mobile phone use /100 population - compare Australia, USA, China, India, Your Country

2) Internet use / 100 population - compare Australia, USA, China, India, Your Country

3) Compare main strengths and weaknesses of Australia or your home country in the survey

4) What does the survey suggest to you about the Information Technology readiness of Australian business compared to Australian consumers?

Week Four: Web Analytics

Questions:

I have one of my Google Analytics pages accessible for you. Go to www.google.com/analytics/ and logon:

Then click on view report and answer the following 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?

Visits represent the number of times the website was visited, without regard to repeat visitors.

Page views represent the total number of pages that visitors looked at on our site.

Visitors represent the number of actual people that visited our site.

Page/visit is simply the average amount of pages a visitor has requested.

for example:

• If you visit the UB website tomorrow and looked at the ‘home’ page, our ‘about’ page, and our ‘contact’ page, that would count as 1 visit and 3 page views.

• If you return to UB website in one week and look at the same pages again, that will count as 1 more visit and 3 more page views. However, it will only count as 1 visitor since it’s the same person visiting twice.

• If one of your friends visits UB website today and looks at those pages on our site, that will count as 1 visit, 1 visitor, and 3 page views.

Read more: http://sporkmarketing.com/blog/376/what-are-visitors-unique-visitors-and-page-views-google-analytics/#ixzz1qYhqI3aQ


 

In regards to your bounce rate, it does vary day to day with all rates within a 20% range between 26.19% - 49.34%.

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 search engines, direct traffic and referring sites. The most traffic has come from search engines at 46.48% followed by direct traffic at 37.08% and referring sites at 16.44%

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

Most popular was Google with 43.35%.

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

85 countries visited foliospace and the top 4 countries are Australia, United States, United Kingdom and Canada

5) Having clicked every possible link on my analytics, make a few comments on:

 (a) What you can track

Visitors, visits, unique visitors, time on site, bounce rate, new visits, what country visitors are from, map overlay, visitors overview, technical profile, visitor profiles, browser profile, traffic sources overview, content overview, search engines, referring engines, direct engines, Country/Territory Detail: Australia.

 (b) What you can track over time and

All answers in question 5a

(c) What you can’t track.

Details about the user

 

6) What do the following terms mean? These are just a few you may like to add some more yourself.

High bounce rate: a high bounce rate generally indicates that site entrance pages aren't relevant to your visitors.

Key words: keywords can be defined as the specific terms used by person to search for something on the net

Average Page Depth: it is the average number of pages on a site that visitors view during a single session

Click through rate: The click through rate (CTR) measures what percentage of people clicked on the ad to arrive at the destination site.

Click: a mouse click, a succession of them is known as a clickstream.

Cookie: A cookie is a small piece of information stored as a text file on your computer that a web server uses when you browse certain web sites that you've visited before.

Cookies are commonly used when you sign up for services (such as web hosting). Cookies are also commonly used for sign in (login) features. Cookies can only be used with the Domain Name that stored them. Basically, the web server needs to use cookies in order for the web site to work correctly, and the information is nothing more than a string of letters and numbers.

Some other web sites may use cookies to track advertising to target banner ads. We do not use banner ads on our web site.

We use cookies to simply make the sign up process much easier for you to use by separating it into easy-to-follow steps. It also allows you to go back where you left off if you have any problems with your computer or Internet connection.  http://www.newideaswebservices.com/support/define/cookies.html

Impression: Impressions track how many times a webpage or element on a webpage is viewed. It is one of the standard metrics used in website analytics software. The term "impressions" most often refers to page impressions, which is synonymous with page views. Each time a page is viewed, a page impression is counted. Therefore, a single visitor can rack up multiple impressions on awebsite by visiting multiple pages.                 http://www.techterms.com/definition/impression

                                                                    
Hyperlink: A 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. Text hyperlinks are often blue and underlined, but don't have to be. When you move the cursor over a hyperlink, whether it is text or an image, the arrow should change to a small hand pointing at the link. When you click it, a new page or place in the current page will open. www.techterms.com/definition/hyperlink

Navigation: The navigation bar is an important element of a website's design since it allows users to quickly visit any section within the site.

Pageview: Each time a user visits a web page, it is called a page view. Page views, also written "pageviews," are tracked by website monitoring applications to record a website's traffic. The more page views a website has, the more traffic it is receiving. However, since a page view is recorded each time a Web page is loaded, a single user can rack up many page views on one website. Therefore, unique page views are commonly tracked to log the number of different visitors a website receives in a given time period. http://www.techterms.com/definition/pageview

Session: a session refers to a limited time of communication between two systems.

Unique Visitors (or Absolute Unique Visitors): unique page views are commonly tracked to log the number of different visitors a website receives in a given time period.

URL: Stands for "Uniform Resource Locator." A URL is the address of a specific Web site or file on the Internet.

Visitor: Visitors represent the number of actual people that visited our site.

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

Comparison shopping: comparing prices of items to ensure you get the best deal.

Google Analytics Blog
The latest news, tips and resources straight from the Google Analytics team.http://feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/tRaA

Week Three: Digital Design

Questions

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

A customer centric Web design is so important because the customers are the users of the Web site. If your site is too hard to find, too hard to navigate or just plain scary, then customer will not hesitate to search somewhere else. If you master the design of your Web site and make it easy for customers to find, use and navigate then the customer will not only return to your Website but will also share with others.
Designing a customer centric Web site is difficult because you need to know what your customers want. Organisations need to get to know their customers. Then they need to design a website that works. They need to be easy to find, easy to navigate, have a comfortable purchasing process, be trustworthy, be able to help the customer if needed and offer ways for the customer to give feedback. The website content should be accurate, up to date and in the customer’s language. http://www.customercarewords.com/customer-centric-index.html . Continual changes in technology are also difficult to keep up with.

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 is define as ‘the state or fact of being present; current existence or occurrence’ http://www.thefreedictionary.com/presence  but ‘presence for business’ is defined as 1) The ability to detect the electronic presence of other users who are connected to the Internet, through a PC or mobile device, and whether they are available in real time. Presence services are commonly provided through applications like Finger, SMS, instant messaging clients, and discussion forums, although a number of companies are developing products in other areas that leverage presence, such as VoIP.
(2) The term Web presence refers to an individual or business having an established existence on the World Wide Web, through a Web site, e-mail, Internet advertising, blog, or a collection of Web files. Web presence. http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/P/presence.html

Businesses on the Web should be more concerned about presence than firms that operate in the physical world because they have no physical address for advertising or interaction with customers. Online businesses need to have a strong and effective web presence to attract visitors and improve chances of being found. Online visibility is critical and always check out what your competition is doing with their websites. Stay up to date with your customers needs and new technology.

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

After looking on http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com my eyes hurt from blurry unreadable text and moving butterflies.
The Walmart Website was good, easy to find and navigate http://www.walmart.com/
Harvey Norman Website was OK. Did not like how you have to contact them for a price of the lounge suites.
Amazon Web site is good http://www.amazon.com/ very easy to navigate and the search process is very quick.

While researching this week, I read that universities have the most engaging and biggest presence on the internet so I looked up Deacon University, http://www.deakin.edu.au/ . It was very easy to understand and navigate. When regarding Websites i would have to agree that less is more, basic language, easy to read text, fast and accurate search processes make excellent Web sites.

           

Week Two: Search

Part 1 - Navigation

One of the biggest challenges for businesses and customers alike is navigating the Internet.
This week please answer the following questions on your blog -

1) Listen to the podcast on Navigation which can be found on the Digital Enterprise Page        
    (Google - the digital enterprise). 

a) What are the four (4) main points Michael Rappa makes about search? 
     Please write them on your blog page. 
     
     Michael spoke of search as an ever growing vast storehouse of information.
     He explained the effects that paid placement advertising has on our searches as well as how  
     in experienced we are when searching the internet.
     The four main search components of search are:

1. Database 
2. Collection mechanism for adding data to the database.
3. Search protocol which enables users to query database.
4. Ranking algorithm that determines how results are represented to the user.                                      

     If you would like to learn more about the four components of search please visit

     http://digitalenterprise.org./index.html 

b) 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?  
    There are no right or wrong answers here, I just want your opinion.

     I do agree. I can remember as a teenager having to ask my parents for permission to use the   

     land line house phone if I wanted to call a friend, but today teenagers view having a phone as
     a human right!
     Technology has changed significantly very quickly which only leaves me with the   

     question 'I wonder what's next? Marissa spoke of voice break through happening
     in 5-10 years and vision break through in 10-15 years and I do not doubt her.
     When Marissa spoke of being able to GPS where your friends are, i thought  'that's a little bit
     creepy'....but, as a parent I thought 'Excellent!!!!'

     My personal experience reflects what Michael said about inexperienced users.
     When searching the net, I type in one word and expect Google to find me the right answer!
     If I took Michael's advice and learnt  'the syntax or logical expressions to target search
     for more accurate results', then I probably wouldn't get as frustrated.

Part 2 - History of the Internet

2) Please watch the Bill Joy video, and it will give you a good background 
    to the Internet and particularly to the emergence of the World Wide Web.

From the video - answer (on your blog page) -

a) So what are the 6 webs?

1. Here Web- which is the internet that is always with you like your mobile phone.
2. Far Web-is when you are sitting back from the screen and using                                                       a remote control like when you are watching tv.
3. Near Web-is when you are sitting at a screen like your laptop
4. Weird Web-is voice recognition which can occur in your car or                                                           with an intelligent system on your phone.
5. B2B: Business to Business- where business machines talk to                                                   other business machines with no consumer interface.
6. D2D: Device to Device- is an internet of sensors displayed in meshes network.

b) Could there be more?

         Yes, as Marissa stated in her interview, 'Nothings impossible'

c) What does it mean for business?

         Never ending opportunities of growth.

         Need to be up to date with new technologies.

         Ability to improve communication internally and externally

         Save time, money and resources

         Access at a distance

Week One - Introduction to eBusiness

Week One - Introduction to eBusiness

Topic 1 Questions.

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

·      Unreliable internet coverage as well as the risk of getting a harmful virus, worm or  
       Trojan.

·      Theft of confidential data including credit cards, addresses, work documents which 
       can also lead to identity theft.

·      Our mailboxes can be invaded by unsolicited emails known as spam.

·      Not using secure payment methods when buying products over the internet could 
       result in you buying a product you will never see. I actually know of someone who
       paid over $2500 for a camera they did not receive and still to this day they have not 
       found a resolution even though they could supply the police with the person’s name
       and address.

            Retrieved on the 3/3/12 from http://www.iskiv.net/sec/en/risks.

2) Write down a definition for each:

a) E-commerce:

·       Is the buying and selling of goods and services on the internet.

             Retrieved on the 3/3/12 from
             http://www.searchcio.techtarget.com/definition/e-commerce 

b) E-business:

·        Is the conduct of business on the intranet from buying and selling products to 
         servicing customers and collaborating with business partners.Retrieved on the
         3/3/12 from http://www.searchcio.techtarget.com/definition/e-business

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

·         Buy side of commerce is when a business buys from another business like a 
          manufacturer while the sell side e-commerce is when a business sells a product  
          through the internet.

               Retrieved on the 3/3/12 from  
                 http://leishysblogs.blogspot.com.au/2009/03/topic.one.questions.html  

4) Describe the different types of eBusiness

·      B2B: Business-to-Business: commerce transactions between businesses, such as  
         between a manufacturer and a wholesaler, or between a wholesaler and a retailer     
        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B2B Cached - SimilarYou +1'd this publicly. Undo

·      B2C: Business-to-consumer:
       A transaction that occurs between a company and a consumer   
        http://www.investorwords.com/5430/business_to_consumer.html#ixzz1o8trHqUs

·         C2C: Consumer-to-consumer:
          is simply commerce between private individuals or consumers like ebay.   
           http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/E-Commerce_and_E-Business/Concepts_and_Definitions

·         C2B: Consumer-to-business:
          transactions involve reverse auctions, which empower the consumer to   
          drive transactions. A concrete example of this when competing airlines gives a  
          traveler best travel and ticket offers in response to the traveler’s post that she  
          wants to fly from New York to San Francisco.             
          http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/E-Commerceand_E20Business/Concepts_and
          Definitions

·         C2G: Consumer-to-government: consumer communications to government.

·         B2G: Business-to-government: business communications to government.

·         G2C: Government-to-consumers: government communications to consumers.

    Source: Topic 1 Introduction to eBusiness 2012 Power Point on Moodle.

·         G2B: Government-to-business: is the online non-commercial interaction     
          between local and central government and the commercial business sector,   
         rather  than private individuals (G2C), with the purpose of providing businesses  
         information and advice on e-business best practices.
         http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government-to-busines
         G2G:Government to Government, describes internal or external Government to  
         Government  data communications. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G2G Cached -
            

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

·         The mobile phone. By the end of 2007 almost every second person had one. The
          high level of competition and decreases in price has increased accessibility.

          Retrieved on the 3/3/12 from www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/statistics/ict/index.htm

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

·         Reduced costs

·         Increase efficiency

·         Improving customer communication and relationships

·         Keeping up with competitors

               Source: Topic 1 Introduction to eBusiness 2012 Lecture notes Slideshow p.18


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

·         Set up costs

·         Running costs

·         Lack of time/resources

·         Lack of skills.

              Source: Topic 1 Introduction to eBusiness 2012 Lecture notes Slideshow p.20

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

·         Increased exposure

·         Free advertising all over the world

·         Greater communications with stockholders

·         Increase efficiency

·         Great system for feedback

·         Increase profit

·         Keeping informed

9) What are some examples of Digital information??

·         Computers

·         usb

·         video camera

·         digital tv

·         ebooks

·         mobiles

·         digital camera

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

·    The Semantic Web provides a common framework that allows data to be shared   and reused across application, enterprise, and community boundaries. The Semantic Web, as originally envisioned, is a system that enables machines to "understand" and respond to complex human requests based on their meaning. Such an "understanding" requires that the relevant information sources is semantically structured, a challenging task.

·    Are we there yet? Definitely on our way, at present Google, twitter and facebook have separate privacy and policy procedures. Google is changing this so there will be only one privacy policy to cover all networks. This will enable theses site to share information about you with each other to help better understand what you want.