http://www.theage.com.au/news/security/cybercrims-turn-attention-to-home/2006/10/23/1161455636392.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

SBW123

Under the caption “Future Trends” discuss three small business online future trends from your perspective.

Online shopping going mobile is one of the trends that have been developing. Now users of these mobile technologies such have mobile phones, PDAs etc with internet connection can purchase things or shop online. This may sound interesting and convenient, but from my perspective, it is not going to be as popular as traditional shopping and shopping using a home computer. Look at it this way, people that use PDAs or mobile phones would not sit in a café to browse through an online catalogue and purchase something, well maybe a few but not as much as compared to the amount of people using home computers to purchase things online.

Global competition is another major future trend in the Ebusiness sector. Since the whole world is connected via the internet, and thousand maybe millions of online businesses are competition with each other, not only having competition domestically but globally. In relation to global competition, a trend called grow or perish could occur. Since the competition is so large, the Ebusiness would either grow or perish, in other words succeed or fail in which case many business have gone bankrupt and some have succeeded.

Small Business Websites

Tutorial Notes 13

Under the caption “Future Trends” discuss three small business online future trends from your perspective.

Develop 2-3 paragraphs for each trend, using your own words.

Future Trends

Global competition: Global competition is now more than ever a strong competitive aspect and all e-businesses strive to aim at the global market as more and more people surf the net everyday.

Global competition will continue to grow in a trend due to the fact that internet capacity grows everyday and its more efficient to sell online than using the old store front model. Best of all, businesses can reach the outer audience (international audience) and can just sell their product or services online.

Online shopping cart trends: Small businesses these days are starting to pick up the smart and cost effective way of marketing their products to the customers. Now that with e-commerce enables access to global markets, businesses now try to establish themselves globally through the world wide web and a shipping system.

Unlike the old store front models of selling, e-businesses can have a 24/7 labour-less intangible seller. Time investment into a shopping cart system would help gain profit and promote the business as well.

In the future shopping carts will be available to mobile phones as now mobile phones are becoming increasingly versatile and are able to be used to go online.

Deregulated Markets: Deregulating in markets involves removing restrictions and regulations which a market follows. It’s hoped that if a market is deregulated, it will encourage efficient operation of the market (Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deregulation).

This trend is slowly and surely become common, this trend is applied to auction sites as restrictions and regulations which a market follows is deregulated and flows of items are sold digitally online to avoid problems and encourages an efficient operation.

The sole purpose of deregulating a market is to make the market have better competition. Better competition will make businesses want to operate at a better level, and make their prices lower to try and beat their competitors. It’s a trend which could increase to help make businesses compete better and more efficiently.

Under the caption “Future Trends” discuss three small business online future trends from your perspective.

Develop 2-3 paragraphs for each trend, using your own words.

Some of the future trends for small business would include some of the following:

Mobile Shopping: This sort of trend is starting to pick up the pace in recent years, mainly because of the amazing technology that comes up every day. Now things are smaller and more powerful than before therefore able to do many things which couldn’t have been done three or four years ago. For instance now mobile phones work as digital cameras; PDA’s have now fused with mobile phones and are able to go online, and surf on the net.

Mobile shopping is relatively new compared to the rest of the online business technology, and it is growing fast. Now there are many people who do manage their business through their mobiles.

Selling ‘virtual goods’: Things which do not exist in real life but only inside the computers, example of this would be the online program/game called ‘second life’, in this virtual world people create items, and other different things and then are able to trade it with other players, people are able to buy houses, chairs, guitars, and all sort of things. Another example could be mmorpgs in which people create virtual characters and gain experience to level-up, they also gain gold and items which makes them more powerful. People are starting to sell this items and gold for real money to newer players which don’t want to go through the whole process. This is what is called the sale of virtual goods, selling things which do not exist in reality but only on a computer in exchange for money.

Small businesses will start online: One of the most important trends that people have omitted is the fact that there will be lots and lots of small businesses that are and will start online. Nowadays with the trend that everyone has to have their own business to succeed in their financial life, doing so online will be one of their first choices. This number would increase rapidly in the following years, due to the fact that creating a business online requires a minimum capital and also allows the business to be ‘viewed’ by the whole world.

Small Business Websites

Tutorial Notes 12

1.                     Why do companies need to carry out website performance analysis?

It is done to see how the website is doing and the website statistic of what is viewed, when it’s viewed and what products or information are most viewed so that things could be improved.

2.                     What are the differences between back-end standards and front-end standards?

Back end would be customer related and front end would be customer interaction related.

3.                     Give examples of some of the standards that could be used as benchmarks for website performance analysis.

It would be the common standards such as, network management standards, database management standards, software integration and payment processing.

4.                     Why is supply chain as essential for e-business as it is for the traditional business? Discuss.

Supply chain is essential for all sorts of business since goods have to be delivered to the customers.

5.                     What are the “Terms of Delivery”? Explain.

CIF and FOB.

6.                     What does “CIF” stand for?

Cost insurance and freight.

7.                     If you place an order for a CD with a US website, what would you regard as a reasonable time-frame for the order to be fulfilled? Discuss.

A reasonable time frame would probably be week if the cd is ordered in the US and mailed to Australia. If the US website has a sub company or affliated company in Australia, it could then be ordered from the Australian company and delivered within a shorter time frame.

8.                     What is “colour coordination”? Give examples.

Colour coordination would be the types of colours used on a website. Such as RMIT’s blue black and red colour coordination.

9.                     Do you feel that human involvement is required for CM (Content Management) or it can be accomplished fully through the use of content management software? Discuss.

The software is used to assist users and it is not automatic.

10.                Give examples of intra-industry benchmarks for websites.

11.                List and discuss some of the Website Performance analysis techniques.

Criteria based, SWOT analysis and webqual.

Tutorial Notes

Week 11

1.                     What are the essentials for a shopping cart? List and discuss.

Database linkage, product catalogue and payment system integrated.

2.                     When designing a shopping cart? What are the necessary features to consider?

Product and service categories, navigation bar and map and dynamic updates.

3.                     Give examples of dynamic updates to a shopping cart

Since products are updated dynamically from a database. If an item is sold out, the quantity of that particular product in the shopping cart would state sold out.

4.                     What is ISC? Explain with examples.

The shopping carts can be linked to VANs, ERP supply chain management system and JIT enabled.

5.                     How can ISC improve the JIT?

It would make things run a lot quicker and userfriendly.

6.                     What are the differences between B2B and B2C shopping carts? Discuss.

B2b shopping carts have a high degree of customization, restricted access and in-built customer service option where as B2C shopping carts would be similar to B2B’s but lower degree of cutomization.

7.                     What is the relationship between the shopping cart and the physical storefront?

Common database, integrated supply chain management and shared management processes.

8.                     What are the key features of “Good” and “Bad” shopping carts?

Good features would contain extensive product lists, integrated payment options and in-built account management facilities and Bad features would be unsorted product lists, no direct links to payments and poor stock management at the back-end.

9.                     Can you develop a shopping cart? What are your technical/skill requirements?

Yes it is possible to, requirements would be the development software and knowing how to link the database to it.

10.                What are the differences between the back-end and the front-end of the shopping cart? Discuss/

Backend shopping cart- monitoring stock level, transaction accuracy, distribution and delivery and accessibility control. Front end would be the final price calculation and interaction between the business and customers.

11.                 Identify the elements of a back-end of the shopping cart.

Monitoring stock level, transaction accuracy, distribution and delivery and accessibility control.

12.                What is an “Intelligent” shopping cart?

Sensitive to price changes, pricing may vary depending on the market conditions.

Small Business Websites

Tutorial Notes 10

Exercises

1.                      Research, and write comments on, the PayPal Australia payment option

Paypal basically works as a middle person. This service is for transactions between customers and sellers. How does it work? First off both users buyers and sellers have to create a paypal account. Buyers would then have to deposit money into the account via credit card or bank transfers. There would be a transaction option where buyers can enter details of the seller so that payment could be made. This payment option would be recommended since it’s cheap, user friendly and easy to use. There is a slight transaction fee and free withdrawal fee to banks if it’s more than $150.

2.                      Research,  and write comments on, the BPay payment option

Bpay payment allows users to pay bills online or any form of payments that it supports, such as electricity, phone bills etc. The bill or invoice would be a bpay code which you have to type in before the payment and this would be needed to make the payment.

3.                      Research,  and write comments on, the POSTbillpay payment option

POSTbillpay can be done via the internet, phone or in person. On the invoice they would be a postbillpay code which you have to type in online or phone. This payment option is similar to Bpay.

Small Business Websites

Tutorial Notes 9

1.                     What are the 3 elements of commercial websites?

The 3 elements would be functionality, informational content and emotional appeal.

2.                     How do you define emotional appeal?

It would be hard to measure and it is often irrational.

3.                     What are the biggest limitations of the emotional appeal?

The biggest limitation would be the understanding of those that are irrational which makes it hard to measure.

4.                     Is emotional appeal more effective in B2B or B2C settings? Discuss

B2C since it’s towards customers and this would affect the customers emotions.

5.                     What are the possible ways of measuring effectiveness of the emotional appeal? Discuss.

It would probably be feedbacks written by the customers to the business.

6.                     What is the Relationship between informational content and functionality?

Interdependence, integration is essential and often poses a major problem for companies as content is developed by people other than web developers.

7.                     Would you Use Microsoft Word for Web Content Development? Discuss.

No since it’s not a web authoring too, other softwares such as frontpage or dreamweaver would be recommended.

8.                     Give examples of content friendly applications

Frontpage and dreamweaver.

9.                     Discuss the limitations of these applications web-development-wise.

If there are plenty of contents, it would be hard to organize them.

10.                What are the key differences between primary, secondary and supporting content?

Primary would be instrumental in keeping the website up and running, key sections of the website and requires regular updates. And secondary would be policies, faq and static information.

11.                Why it is so difficult to classify links is either informational content or functionality?

It is because the informational contents of the links can also be updated and changed.

Exercise

Identify and locate three small-business websites and make your own observations about their content and functionality. Provide sufficient information for a reader to quickly comprehend the nature of the business and what services/products it is offering - the URL is a must.

For preference, select Australian-based businesses.

www.noodlebox.com.au

Contents observed are good, good informations website and good functionality.

www.ebay.com.au

Plenty of informational content and good functionality.

www.rmit.edu.au

Information contents are there and very bad functionality.

Small Business Websites

Tutorial Notes 8

1.                     What is informational content?

It is a way of categorizing the different types of information.

2.                     Can you regard a shopping cart as an element of informational content?

Shopping cart would not be considered since it is not in any way categorizing information.

3.                     Give examples of different facets of informational content.

Marketing function, product description and site navigation.

4.                     What does the term “integrated content” mean? Discuss.

It includes text wrapping, process descriptions and consistency with map.

5.                     What would you regard as ‘appropriate” language to use on a B2C website? Discuss?

Using appropriate language, using proper grammer etc.

6.                     Should the language differ for a B2B Website?

It shouldn’t be, since dealing business either with customers or business, informational would be shown appropriately.

7.                     What is a “Text Wrap”?

It’s an automated function where text are formatted to fit into a certain area including graphic images.

8.                     What is the relationship between informational content and website map?

Informational content are information detailing what is there whereas website map is showing the user whereabouts things are.

9.                     What is the difference between static content and dynamic content?

Static would be contents that are updated manually usually once in a few days whereas dynamic content are updated real time and regularly.

10.                What are the most essential elements of informational content for commercial websites? Discuss.

News links, Faqs, layout management etc.

11.                What is content customization? Give Examples.

It is which of how the business wants to customize the contents of the website.

12.                 Why is self-censorship important? Who is legally liable for materials published online?

So that private information of customers or users would not be used in a wrong way.

13.                Give examples of “sensitive” content.

Adult material, religious issues and drugs.

14.                What are the key principles for content authoring?

They are often outsourced and relevant to the company’s business activities.

Small Business Websites

Tutorial Notes 12

1.                     Why do companies need to carry out website performance analysis?

Website performance analysis is done in order to determine how successful and effective a company website is. If a website isn’t successful and doesn’t provide any benefits for the company, then there is no need for it to stay. Through website analysis companies can track the amount of clicks on a certain link in their website and concentrate that into a marketing strategy to maximize information or profits.

2.                     What are the differences between back-end standards and front-end standards?

Back end standards refer to the activities that occur behind the webpage. These are activities which the user of the webpage doesn’t see. Examples of back-end standards include Payment processing, database management and security measures. Front-end standards refer to the activities which occur on the actual webpage, and these activities can usually be seen by the user.

3.                     Give examples of some of the standards that could be used as benchmarks for website performance analysis.

Benchmarking would include: The amount of hits or users that enter the site. The amount of products sold or viewed. Database management of the data. A counting of how many registered users or members a website has. Integration of benchmarking software. Website ranking on search engines are a form of benchmarking.

4.                     Why is supply chain as essential for e-business as it is for the traditional business? Discuss.

The supply chain is essential because an e-business still hast o purchase products from suppliers as well as manage their relationships with them. An e-business also has have stock management, which every traditional business has.

5.                     What are the “Terms of Delivery”? Explain.

Terms of delivery identify the conditions and terms in which a product or service will be delivered. There are many different terms and they have a 3 letter code to distinguish the different terms.

6.                     What does “CIF” stand for?

Cost, Insurance and Freight

7.                     If you place an order for a CD with a US website, what would you regard as a reasonable time-frame for the order to be fulfilled? Discuss.

A reasonable timeframe for shipping would be 5-7 days. Transactions of money that go through internationally has to be thoroughly identified and confirm by international authority and the time frame in which Australia and U.S.A have are completely different so that factor also has to be taken into consideration.

8.                     What is “colour coordination”? Give examples.

Colour co-ordination involves processes and methods in a developing colour scheme and ways in which colour can be used most effectively. The colours of a website is just as important as the websites content, its navigation etc. Colour co-ordination involves selecting colours which will appeal to users of the website, making the website appealing to customers so that they might return.

9.                     Do you feel that human involvement is required for CM (Content Management) or it can be accomplished fully through the use of content management software? Discuss.

Human involvement should be required for CM because judgement from a computer/software is totally different from a living souls. It is not possible for a CM software to be more effective in choosing style and design as a human would do. The most important thing is when a user uses designing tools they create the site in ways that benefit them and the user the most and not what the pre-fixed templates suggest is good.

10.                Give examples of intra-industry benchmarks for websites.

-         The number of hits a website receives

-         If the website has any new features or new technology

-         Levels of user satisfaction

-         Level of user-friendliness

-         What level of customer service and support the website has implemented

-         The amount of time it takes for a customer to receive their purchased product.

11.                List and discuss some of the Website Performance analysis techniques.

Some website performance techniques would include:

-         Maximising user’s experience and satisfaction of the website

-         Understand user behaviour

-         Study and establish a competitive edge over your competitors

-         Implement new designs and ongoing reviews of the website to try and enhance the website functionality.

Tutorial Notes

Week 11

1.                     What are the essentials for a shopping cart? List and discuss.

Essentials for shopping cart are: Linking the cart to the database, product catalogue, have an integrated payment system.

2.                     When designing a shopping cart? What are the necessary features to consider?

Major factors include: Making the cart easy to update and chant. Having a navigation or map of where items and links are within the cart. Product and service differentiation and security features to enable secure transactions over the internet.

3.                     Give examples of dynamic updates to a shopping cart

Examples of dynamic updates to a shopping cart are: Changing the price of a product, updating a products specifications, changing the quantity available of a product, removing or adding a product to the cart and placing a particular product to a different category of the cart.

4.                     What is ISC? Explain with examples.

An ISC is an integrated shopping cart. They allow customers to add and link the cart to VANs, ERP and Supply management or Just in Times.

5.                     How can ISC improve the JIT?

It can improve JITs by providing more features to help with the time management involved. Since JIT is very dependent on time, an ISC will offer additional services such as VANs and ERP which will help make JIT easier and reduce time consumption, ensuring that JIT is delivered on time and not behind schedule.

6.                     What are the differences between B2B and B2C shopping carts? Discuss.

B2B shopping carts give suppliers and distributors access to use the cart and is strictly given to them only. A B2B shopping cart gives the user more customisation of a product, and there are in-built customer service features and options. A B2C shopping cart gives access to any user and there is no restricted access. They also have limited customisation options and the user has minimal customer support.

7.                     What is the relationship between the shopping cart and the physical storefront?

The relationship between shopping cart and the physical store is how well they both integrate in the business. The database used for the business products must be accurate and updated when used for both the physical store and the shopping cart. When changes are made to the database, they should be reflected in both and physical store and shopping cart. Supply chain management should also be integrated with both the physical store and shopping cart to accommodate for new stock.

8.                     What are the key features of “Good” and “Bad” shopping carts?

A good shopping cart has the following features: Extensive product lists, integrated payment options, an account manager option built withing the cart and security features and measures.

A bad shopping cart has the following characteristics: No direct links to payment options, unsorted products and categories, poor stock management at the physical store and lack of security features and measures.

9.                     Can you develop a shopping cart? What are your technical/skill requirements?

It is possible for someone that is not technically computer literate to develop a shopping cart however it may take longer and implementation of the shopping cart could be deemed too difficult for a new user. A user could use a program to help them build shopping carts, programs that include all security type features and provide the user with the knowledge of the world wide web.

10.                What are the differences between the back-end and the front-end of the shopping cart? Discuss

The backend of the shopping cart includes all the activities undertaken in the store which affect the shopping cart. This includes purchasing a new products to sell, purchasing additional units of product, removing a product line, and adjusting the price of a product. The front end of the shopping cart involves activities regarding the online shopping cart itself. This includes making changes reflecting the back end activites, such as updating the price of a product on the cart, updating a products quantity, and adding a product on the shopping cart.

11.                 Identify the elements of a back-end of the shopping cart.

Elements include stock management, distribution and delivery management, managing payments and transactions and customer management.

12.                What is an “Intelligent” shopping cart?

An intelligent shopping cart has many more features which traditional shopping carts don’t have. An intelligent shopping cart not only allow user to purchase physical goods, but also digital goods. A digital good could be a movie or a song or even a program. Intelligent shopping carts also adjust stock quantity levels automatically, and they also send a warning email when there is a low amount of stock for a product. They also give the admin the opportunity to view customer behaviour. The intelligent shopping cart records what customers type in the search box, which helps the admin know what type of product is most searched and gains the most interest.

Small Business Websites

Tutorial Notes 10

Exercises

In preparation for Week 11:

1.                      Research, and write comments on, the PayPal Australia payment option

- PayPal is an online payment provider

- It enables buyers to purchase items online using a credit card or debit card

- Allows sellers to accept credit & debit cards with low transaction fees

- It can easily be added to a website’s shopping cart

- Users can also use their PayPal account for eBay

- Anti-fraud systems are also provided with Paypal at no extra cost

- It supports various currencies, such as the AUD, US Dollar, Euros and the Canadian Dollar

- A user is only charged for the service when they accept a payment

- The amount charged is based on 2 types of rates

- Standard and Merchant

- A table comparing the two rates can be found below

- Perhaps the leader and benchmark in online transactions and security

- Is very easy to use and is very secure

2.                      Research,  and write comments on, the BPay payment option

-          Bpay is an online service for consumers to pay their bills.

-          Enables customers to pay their bills online through a system that doesn’t require them to attend a post office.

-          It accepts internet banking or phone banking as a service to pay.

-          Customers can use credit cards and internet bank accounts to process payments.

-          Bpay incorporates a simple step by step view on how to pay

-          Allows Billers to set-up billing accounts that go directly to their internet fundings on bpay or their bank account.

- Its service is also very secure

Transaction fees for Bpay are:

- From debit account: 48.4 cents per transaction

- From credit card: 41.8 cents per transaction & 0.297% of transaction value

3.                      Research,  and write comments on, the POSTbillpay payment option

- Is very similar to Bpay

- It enables you to pay bills over the Internet and/or phone at any time

- Postbill pay allows people to pay off their bills using their savings account, a cheque or credit card

- Its very customer friendly because of its convenience

- Also has a very secure service

- Post bill pay doesn’t charge customer service fees over the phone

Small Business Websites

Tutorial Notes 9

1.                      What are the 3 elements of commercial websites?

Functionality, informational content and emotional appeal.

2.                      How do you define emotional appeal?

Emotional appeal is the feeling towards the product a consumer sees whilst the product is being stored or advertised.

3.                      What are the biggest limitations of the emotional appeal?

The biggest limitation to emotional appeal is the complicity to measure the factor. Due to the fact it is a feeling and not something tangible, it can only be ranked and discussed with; with other consumers.

4.                      Is emotional appeal more effective in B2B or B2C settings? Discuss

Emotional appeal is more effecting in B2C because consumers purchase products that suit their needs and wants. If a consumer needs something rather than want, they will be more likely to get the need first.

5.                      What are the possible ways of measuring effectiveness of the emotional appeal? Discuss.

Most effective way to measure emotional appeal would be through consumer surveys or study buyer behaviour attitudes towards the product.

6.                      What is the Relationship between informational content and functionality?

The relationship is that their interdependent and integration is essential.

7.                      Would you Use Microsoft Word for Web Content Development? Discuss.

Microsoft word would be more flexible when it comes to implementing the source onto dream weaver because dream weaver allows import of Microsoft Word documents so as to enable them to copy the content onto the webpage.

8.                      Give examples of content friendly applications

Frontpage, Dreamweaver, Microsoft word and sausage software.

9.                      Discuss the limitations of these applications web-development-wise.

Limitations of these web development tools is that their sole purpose is to provide a interface to develop websites. These programs are not suitable for coding, such as javascript and XML.

10.                 What are the key differences between primary, secondary and supporting content?

Primary content requires regular updates where as secondary and supporting content does not. Secondary and supporting content is static, where as primary is dynamic. Primary content is vital for keeping a website alive, where secondary and supporting content is not as important.

11.                 Why it is so difficult to classify links is either informational content or functionality?

Because links can be applied to informational text as well as linked titles. With informational text the text can be linked and at the same time provide information about the certain page or product.

Exercise

Identify and locate three small-business websites and make your own observations about their content and functionality. Provide sufficient information for a reader to quickly comprehend the nature of the business and what services/products it is offering - the URL is a must.

For preference, select Australian-based businesses.

Review the observations of others and comment appropriately on their blogs.

Net Starter - http://www.Netstarter.com.au

Net starter offers website hosting and website making services. Their website template and content at first glance is very appealing and easy to use. Their informational content is well summarized and detailed to express their ideals to the consumers in a time and space efficient way. Links are well organized and designed; use of language is also well managed.

ASecretary: offers virtual network assistants. This website is also very good as it provides on the home page detailed information about exactly what service/s they offer and what needs they want to meet of customers.

Go4Outsourcing: offers outsourcing services in business processes such as web & software development. Another good website where it’s homepage again explains what services they offer and what needs they want to meet of customers. They have navigation on both the left and top. The left-hand side navigation splits the links into different categories, making it easier for the user to navigate around the site. The top navigation is where common links are found, such as home, contact us and help. Different categories for the business’ services are also found on the home page down the bottom.

Small Business Websites

Tutorial Notes 8

1.                      What is informational content?

Informational content are contents that explain to the user or visual explains to the user what/how the site or product is linked. It can include Marketing functions, product descriptions and site navigation.

2.                      Can you regard a shopping cart as an element of informational content?

Yes because it is a marketing function and shopping carts tend to be thoroughly explained to the customer before they are used.

3.                      Give examples of different facets of informational content.

They can be marketing functions, Product descriptions for an item and site navigation of a corporate site.

4.                      What does the term “integrated content” mean? Discuss.

Integrated content is content information that already exists that are shared amongst other users.

5.                      What would you regard as ‘appropriate” language to use on a B2C website? Discuss?

Appropriate language would should follow the content requirement which is to have clear language. Avoid technical terms, condensed writing such as KISS. Content must be carefully and thoroughly proofed – spelling and grammar.

6.                      Should the language differ for a B2B Website?

In a B2B website the language should be the same to provide a professional appeal towards the consumers and other businesses.

7.                      What is a “Text Wrap”?

Text Wrap is a term used in page layout software that refers to the way lines of text can shaped to follow the edge of a graphic.

8.                      What is the relationship between informational content and website map?

The relationship is that the informational content describes the different parts of the website map. The informational content helps the user understand why certain parts of the website are linked to each other and others aren’t. If there is no informational content on a website map, the website map would just about be useless, and it would be very hard for users to understand.

9.                      What is the difference between static content and dynamic content?

Static content is simple and easy to create, it provides the basic uses of a website and display informational content. A dynamic website however contains content that needs regular updates that include reflecting changes to the company and up-to-date with company prices/product information.

10.                 What are the most essential elements of informational content for commercial websites? Discuss.

The most essential element for commercial websites would be accuracy. If the site is not up to date with the prices and product information consumers can get side tracked and cause dysfunction in the purchasing or enquiries section.

11.                 What is content customization? Give Examples.

Content customization is content that are customized by users to suit their appeals and manage what they see. For example, a news site would have content information and allow customers to choose what they want to see by just clicking on different sections of the site.

12.                  Why is self-censorship important? Who is legally liable for materials published online?

Self-censorship is important because it reduces the risk of the person breaking a law and perhaps offending other religions or countries, in which the government would have to intervene and perhaps impose a penalty on the individual.

13.                 Give examples of “sensitive” content.

Examples of sensitive content include adult material, gory material and even violence.

14.                 What are the contemporary copyright issues for websites? Explain.

Contemporary copyright laws apply to content and images. If a website or a person needs an image from a particular site, he or she must then acquire authority from that particular user unless stated.

15.                 What are the key principles for content authoring?

Content authoring is needed by businesses to make the content on their website as accurate and as best suited to their audience as possible. Key principles for content authoring include that the service is usually outsourced to a third party and is carried out by public relations professionals because of its importance.

1.                     Why do companies need to carry out website performance analysis?

To see if the company’s website has done the job which is needed to be done, and to see wether customers like it or not. It is also important to see if it is achieving the expectations.

2.                     What are the differences between back-end standards and front-end standards?

Back end standards are the standards relating to the company (software used, server downtimes, and hardware).

Front end standards are the standards relating to the customers (customer service, and satisfaction of the customers).

3.                     Give examples of some of the standards that could be used as benchmarks for website performance analysis.

Network Management Standards

Database Management Standards

Software Integration

Payment Processing

4.                     Why is supply chain as essential for e-business as it is for the traditional business? Discuss.

Because in both cases things need to be delivered to certain places and to certain people, therefore supply chain is important in all sorts of business no matter what they do.

5.                     What are the “Terms of Delivery”? Explain.

All the conditions agreed upon between trading partners regarding the delivery of goods and the related services.

6.                     What does “CIF” stand for?

Cost, insurance, freight. A pricing term indicating that the cost of the goods, insurance, and freight are included in the quoted price.

7.                     If you place an order for a CD with a US website, what would you regard as a reasonable time-frame for the order to be fulfilled? Discuss.

It would depend on the actual company, and how much time do they say they would take to deliver the product. But considering it is a business, they would do it ASAP as long as it doesn’t cost them more money, therefore taking in consideration that it is in the US, it should take approximately about 2 weeks.

8.                     What is “colour coordination”? Give examples.

To coordinate the colours of a website depending on the information that is being displayed, the place or/and to whom it is displayed. E.g. Most Chinese websites would be red or yellow because these two colours have a good impression on Chinese people, on the other hand black colour wouldn’t be as good.

9.                     Do you feel that human involvement is required for CM (Content Management) or it can be accomplished fully through the use of content management software? Discuss.

No because, CM techniques were created to help the person or the company which does the all the management of the content. It was not created to do all automatically because it would be impossible.

10.                Give examples of intra-industry benchmarks for websites.

http://www.panalysis.com.au

http://www.ifocus.com.au

http://www.thewebistheway.com

11.                List and discuss some of the Website Performance analysis techniques.

Online Order Processing

Site Design and Layout

Content Management

Under the caption “Future Trends” discuss three small business online future trends from your perspective.

Develop 2-3 paragraphs for each trend, using your own words.

Mobile Commerce

3G allows e-business to enter the next generation and will allow tourism businesses to reach more consumers at home, work or play. At the press of a button, consumers will order theatre and sports tickets, check bus and train timetables or traffic conditions ahead, lodge a bet on the horses, and book a holiday on-line.

Google and Intuit Partner to Serve Small Businesses

QuickBooks 2007 will have four different Google products directly from within the QuickBooks workflow. The four products are:

Google AdWords: Small businesses will be able to sign up for AdWords directly from the QuickBooks 2007 home page. New advertisers will get a $50 AdWords credit to advertise their businesses online.

Google Maps: Data within QuickBooks will pre-populate a set of fields in Google Maps, to create an online listing for the business.

Google Product Listings: Small businesses can automatically upload inventory information to Google Base. That way anyone shopping online will know that the business carries certain merchandise in their brick-and-mortar store.

Google Desktop: The Google Desktop search capability has been integrated into QuickBooks. Users can easily search the data in QuickBooks.

IT. Security:

Nowadays more and more companies are getting online or into E-Commerce, so security plays one of the important parts in a profession online business. New methods will arise and existing ones may be changes. Because E-Security acting a big part in online transactions, and keeping companies’ and consumers’ important data secure, more and more technologies like SSL will be intergraded into protecting small business websites.