Promotion Assignment Task - Recommend the methods to promote the new online system

Last Session Last session we covered: The benefits of E-Commerce The drawbacks of E-Commerce

Promotion A business which uses e -commerce to trade online must also advertise. Several traditional methods can be used, such as billboards, television adverts and direct mailshots. However, the Internet provides its own advertising opportunities.

Effective use of Search Engines If you wanted to find something on the Internet, how would you do it? If you did not know the address of the website, your first thought might be to use a search engine such as Google or Yahoo. Because of this, e-commerce businesses want to be listed as highly as possible on the search engine results page, so that they are one of the first addresses that users see when doing a search. Research methods of ‘search engine optimisation’

Activity Research methods of ‘search engine optimisation’ What methods can you find? How do they work? What fee is involved? How are they different from one another?

When a search engine carries out a search on the word(s) keyed in, it does not literally search the whole Internet. In stead, enormous databases are used to store information about all the websites of which the search engine is already aware and it is this database that is searched. To build up and maintain this database, search engines use spiders to trawl the Internet. The spiders examine each web page encountered and send information back to be stored in the database. To ensure these spiders list the webpage correctly, the web developer can include meta tags in the coding for the web page. These can include a description and/or keywords for the webpage.

Example: Key terms: Spider - a bot (a program that runs on a computer 24/7, automating mundane tasks for the user) which examines websites on behalf of search engines. Meta tags - words that are put into the HTML code of the web page, but are not displayed on the screen.

BE AWARE! Spamdexxing is sometimes used to try to give a website priority in a search list. This can be repeating a phrase over and over on a site (usually unrelated to the site 's actual content ), in the hope that a search engine 's spider will pick up on it, consider it important and move it higher in a search list. Alternatively, it can be using unconnected meta tags, such as the names of other popular businesses, to try to move up the list.

If meta tags are not present, the spiders will read the content of the page and make a best guess as to what it is about. This can result in the page being listed very low in searches, so it is important the meta tags are effective. With the huge increase of the number of web pages, however, it is no longer sufficient t o rely on meta tags. Businesses often pay a search engine to ensure they are listed highly in a related search. These are called sponsored links.

Activity Make a google search for Mega Fun Land’s competitors Identify the businesses that have paid for sponsored links Identify the businesses that have managed to obtain a high position in searches. Record your results with screenshots.

Newsgroups and Forums Newsgroups normally use Usenet, a distributed bulletin board system. Newsgroups are separated into very specific topics and there is one for practically every subject. Generally they are text-based only. Forums are mostly attached to websites and discuss the topic of the site. For example, IMDb (The Internet Movie Data base) is a web site about films and has a large forum where users can discuss each individual film on the website. Typically, forums are not just text-based. They also allow for graphics, including avatars and signatures. Because they are usually used by people with a particular interest, newsgroups and forums can be used to advertise to specifically targeted groups of people. For example, a website selling computer games may advertise on a gaming forum.

Banners and pop-ups With pay-per-click advertising, adverts designed by a business are put on to other websites. The host website benefits by earning money every time a user clicks the advert, for example £0.02 per click - 100,000 clicks per week would earn £2000 for having the advert on the site. This may seem like a huge number of clicks, but it is a very tempting opportunity for a lot of websites. The pay-per-click adverts are often banners. either across the top of the website or in sidebars Pop-up adverts open in a new browser window and can be irritating for the user. Recently, there has been a rise in centre-screen Flash adverts- the animation activates as soon as the website loads. Often, these will be designed to blend in with the host site and, due to the time and expense of creating them, are usually only used by large businesses.

Spam This is the Internet equivalent of a direct mailshot. A business can use its own registered customer list (or buy a mailshot list) and then send an advert out in an to all the people on the list. In this way the business targets their message straight to the customer. However, there are also disreputable people using spam and now it is seen as a nuisance that users unfortunately have to accept as an Internet hazard. Spam has also been used to send unsavoury adverts and attached viruses. A number of services, such as Hotmail and Gmail, have spam filters which are designed to stop these types of s reaching the user's inbox. Some businesses have set up filters so that spam is immediately deleted as soon as it arrives in the server, so their employees are not troubled by it.

Site Name Businesses try to use memorable domain names so that customers will remember them and return to visit their sites. While short domain names are generally preferable, there are some such as which have proved that longer ones can also be unforgettable. Typosquatting is a form of cybersquatting, where domain names are purchased that are similar to the names of real sites or businesses, relying on customers mistyping the name. Therefore when buying a domain name it is important to think of how it could easily be misspelled and buy these addresses as well.

Activity Consider the domain name that you would recommend Mega Fun Land purchases. Would you recommend the purchase of any other similar domain names? If so what ones? Using an example from one of Mega Fun Lands competitors what domain names (if any)do they own as well as their main site? Record your findings

Direct Marketing Businesses wanting to advertise straight to the customer often use direct marketing. This method involves sending s to existing or potential customers. When a customer registers on the website their address will be captured in a database, which can be used to generate a list of the addresses of existing customers. The addresses of potential customers can be purchased from agencies that operate purely for direct marketing services. By using direct marketing, businesses can target their marketing precisely. Sometimes, it is also combined with tracking a customer's purchases and tailoring the advertising. For example, if a customer buys science fiction DVDs, they may receive a direct marketing advertising a new Star Trek™ box set. Direct marketing is sometimes considered to be spam. it is a matter of perception- if it is unwanted and a nuisance, it is spam. But if the recipient is interested in the content of the direct marketing , then it is not.

Effective User Interface The user interface is one of the most important parts of an e- commerce site. There is no point having the most amazing coding and database behind a website if the user interface is unusable.

Customer Loyalty in the Virtual Environment Due to the lack of human contact and the underlying mistrust a number of customers still have of e-commerce, it can be more difficult to ensure customer loyalty to an e-commerce site than to a traditional retail business. Loyalty can be encouraged, however, by personalising web pages, ensuring customer confidence in the site's security and always delivering on promises.