Jillgaspard’s Weblog

To the recipient, SPAM is nothing but annoying and intrusive. To the sender, SPAM is the easiest and cheapest way to advertise their product/service, and get their brand name out there. The advertiser can send out a mass email to a large number of recipients, and all it costs them is time. It does not cost them anything to send the email and they do not waste paper. This is why SPAM is now so popular. Advertisers have realized that it is much more cost effective than direct mail or newspaper or magazine ads, as they involve printing and mailing costs.

One of the major problems with SPAM marketing is that consumers are now trained to recognize and automatically delete it. Another problem is that a majority of email servers have systems in place that recognize SPAM email, and do not let it get through to their clients’ email in-boxes. Since half of all email is SPAM, it can be determined that marketers are now abusing this services, and consumers are not responding positively to it.

The reason that SPAM email continues to this day is that there is still mail that gets through to recipients, and a small percentage of these recipients respond to these emails. In order for SPAM mail to be profitable, it needs a response rate of 0.025%. Since SPAM continues, companies must be obtaining this response rate, otherwise it would not be worth their time. Another reason that SPAM mail continues is that the legal aspect is very hard to monitor. It is hard to determine what is SPAM mail, and what is legitimate emails that are going out to clients.

I find that SPAM mail has gotten a lot better than when I first got an email address about ten years ago. I remember be bombarded with random emails from companies that I hadn’t even heard of. Now, if I receive any sort of SPAM mail, it is sent to my Junk Bx in my email. This function allows me re filter through my regular email without the hassle of dealing with SPAM mail too.

In the past years, communication over the Internet has increased phenomenally. What a user is able to do on the Internet today is far beyond what anyone could have imagined ten years ago. The use of RSS (Real Simple Syndication) has become quite popular with a lot of websites. The RSS feeds allow for content to be continually updated on a website, using the XML format. RSS allows companies and organizations to distribute their digital content to users, rather than having to have them go and look for it.

A new and very popular form of RSS is a product owned by Google, named Google Earth. This application allows for users to view satellite images of the whole world. These images can be as detailed as determining where your house is, or checking out road map directions. This RSS feed allows users to have updated information on an area in which they are interested in, or are planning to travel.

Google Earth has become a major asset to the tourism industry. It allows users to view potential travel destinations, and see what the surrounding area also has to offer. When users use the Google Earth application, they can get more that just a map location, they also have access to information about accommodation, food and travel. For example, when looking at the Tofino, BC area, you can view the different accommodations that they have to offer. Some accommodations go one step further, providing links to the hotel’s website, or providing detailed pictures.

The Google Earth application allows users to access information more easily than they did before. By providing a function which allows them to view the inquired about area. It saves them a lot of time and effort searching the Internet for the same information that they may be able to find as a link of Google Earth. Also, by having links directly from Google Earth to the applicable websites, allows users to get the information they want when they want it, instead of discouraging them from having to go through the hassle of searching the Internet.

When you ask a college student whether or not they are apart of some kind of social network, a majority of them will say yes. Social networks are the one of the most popular activities that users take part in on the internet. These networks are now used for more than just chatting about common interests, they have developed the capabilities to upload pictures, view videos, play games, and much more. Sites like mySpace and facebook have become the new way to communicate and keep in touch with friends and family.

Marketers have now realized how big the social network market really is, and they are doing everything in their power to take advantage of this marketing opportunity. Many advertisements are now geared specifically for these networks, and appear on a user’s page depending on their interests, activities, age and gender. By creating these tailored ads, marketers are increading the probability that the user will notice the ad and possibly click thru to the ad’s desired landing page. Along with it’s social advertising, facebook also has a page in which marketers can choose how they want to market to users, and who they want to market to.

 Facebook has recently come out with a new type of advertising, called social advertising, in which users can learn about businesses, brands, and products through their friends. It is almost a “word-of-mouth” type of advertisement. It also allows businesses to start up their own facebook page, and advertise their product by providing information, pictures, videos and music.

 In my opinion, it is very benefical for marketers to target users that use social networks, as they are spending a lot of time on these networks. Since some marketers tailor their ads to fit the users’ profile, they will have better luck in achieving their desired result, and a click thru to the ad’s home page. However, with facebook introducing their new social advertising, users may feel as though their social network has gone from simple and fun, to corporate and over-advertised.

How do we find consumers that are willing to interact with online advertising, and how do we differ them from those consumers that do not? When it comes to online advertising, there is a fine line between intruding on the user’s personal space and getting their attention. Even though the web allows for the online marketing to be highly targeted, consumers complain about this form of marketing much more than any other type of marketing.

Online marketing first appeared in 1994 and was very successful until 2000-2001, due to a decrease in the spending of advertising. Recently, online marketing has started to make a comeback, as there is a strong dissatisfaction with traditional media. This comeback can be accredited to less intrusive ads and rich media. Rich media allows for the consumer to interact with the ad, and allows them to see things that they wouldn’t normally in a magazine or television ad. Rich media is also said to be twice as effective as normal banner ads, as they provide an experience for the consumer, rather than just a nuisance.

Online marketing has opened up a new way for consumers to interact and learn about potential purchases. There are three purposes of interactive advertising, and all play major roles in its success. The first is the actual advertisement of the brand, providing benefits of the product and getting the product name out there. The second purpose is the direct response from consumers. It allows consumers to gain more content information and enables consumers to make a transaction directly after viewing the ad. The third purpose is to retain consumers by using tactics such as promotions, contests and draws.

I enjoy the aspect of online marketing to some degree, but I have a real problem with advertising that is intrusive, and distracts me from what I am currently doing on the Internet. If only 1% of people that are exposed to online advertising, and only 5% of this 1% actually follow through with a transaction, you would think that online advertising isn’t that effective. However, if you look at how many people are actually exposed to these ads, you will see that it is a much larger number than you would think, and quite a profitable industry.

When it comes to getting your webpage out to Internet users, the more money you pay, the better. What is a better way to get people to see you webpage, than by having it appear at the top of the list on a search engine result page. In order to be at the top of the list, advertisers will buy positioning on specific keywords or phrases, enabling them to guarantee visibility of their site, and increase the chances of users clicking on their site. There are three major different pricing models that an advertiser can choose between when deciding how to advertise the site, and these are: impressions, pay per click, and pay per action. Impressions are generally used for banner ads on websites; pay per click is very common, and the pricing is based on how many consumers actually click on the link; pay per action is a new model.

The most common model is the pay per click. However, there is a major problem with this model, as 10%-15% of the clicks are fraudulent. Fraudulent clicksare often performed by human beings, or automated programs. These click frauds are done with the purpose of increasing the costs of competitors, or to increase the profit from the adclick companies.  Recently, search firms have created devices that detect and prevent click fraud, but this still has not stopped all of the fraud. This issue has to led to many lawsuits between the advertising company and the website advertisers, as they are paying for more than what they are receiving.

In my opinion, there is nothing more annoying than looking something up on the Internet and having to search through pages and pages of websites in order to find something relevant. Since a lot of these sites are only listed in the search results page due to the amount of money they have paid for keywords and phrases, it seems unfair to the user. This may be an excellent way for websites to advertise their site, but it ultimately discourages the user.

When you are searching for something on the Internet, a majority of the time you cannot be bothered to scroll through the pages and pages of results. This is why it is so important for websites to make sure that their URL comes up within the first few, or at least the first page of results. There are two different ways for websites to increase their position of the search engine results, by organic and non-organic methods. Non-organic results are those that appear on the right-hand side of search results page, and cost money. Websites pay for their URL to appear high on the results list when users are searching for certain keywords or phrases. An organic result is one that appears in middle of the result page, and their positioning is not paid for. 

In order for a website to appear at the top of list on a search engine result page, they need to make the website friendly to search engine spiders. Spiders are what detects how related the page is to the keyword or phrase that has been searched on the search engine page. When websites are difficult to navigate, or do not contain important keywords, spiders cannot identify and rank websites on a search engine result page. Another way to increase optimization on a search engine is to make sure that elements of the webpage are indexed and listed with major search engines. This includes keywords and phrases, as well as pictures and videos that are displayed on the website.

From my own personal experience, I feel that the further down the search results page, the less applicable to my search the result is. Also, when I look something up on the Internet, I don’t want to spend a whole lot of time looking at websites that may or may not be related to what I am looking for, so I normally don’t go past the first two pages of results. When it comes to whether I have a preference for organic or non-organic results, I generally only look at the organic ones. This is due to the fact that I feel that the non-organic results are simply just advertisements and won’t be related to my search.

Creating the customer experience seems to be the growing trend with websites today.  Internet users are demanding that websites provide them with the option to change the settings and preferences on a website. This option allows for the user to have a more beneficial and enjoyable experience. The most popular way of meeting the needs of the user is customization. Customization allows the user to customize the website to their personal preferences, and allows the users to get a better experience out of the website.

User personalization is changed and altered by the user, and includes aspects such as language, colour, webpage layout, and relative links. An example of personalization is setting a language on hotmail and having the language remembered when the user returns to the same website. The setting must be saved and recorded in order for this information to be remembered, which is often done in the form of a cookie. A cookie will record the user’s preferences and settings, by remembering the user’s computer’s IP when it returns to the site.

When a website offers the option of customizing their website, they appeal to a wider audience of users. If a user has the option to view a website that is in their language of choice, it may allow them to understand information easier and make their time on the site more efficient. In my opinion, I feel that website customization is a beneficial tool to have on a website. If I were not fluent in a language in which the website was created, I would have a hard time understanding the website’s content. By allowing for settings, such as language, it allows for a broader understanding, and a larger audience. On the other hand, I feel that if a website provides a user with too many settings, it takes away from the theme of the website. There is only so much that a user should be able to change, otherwise, they are the ones creating the website.

If you don’t build a website to meet the needs of your target audience, it won’t be worth your while. The consumers are what makes the website successful, and if the website doesn’t appeal to them, it will not succeed. Building an effective web presence is the first step to meeting the needs of the target audience. Online marketing relies very heavily on a website to make its presence known and effective. This means that there must be emphasis on delivering what the consumer wants, and  how they want it. In some cases, the only touch point between the consumer and the company/product is the website itself. The website must be able to provide a positive experience , as they are no longer receiving the physical aspect of the purchasing or information receiving process.

There are eight key points to consider when a company is designing a website, including: design, product, interactivity, service, reassurance, ease of use, relevance, and performance. Before any of these eight aspects are applied to a web site, a designer need to be able to determine a purpose for the web site. The purpose of a web site includes the site’s goals, the target audience, design issues, and tone. All of these need to be determined first, in order for the the designer to obtain the ability to intrigue and entertain the consumer with their site.

I my opinion, if a web site does not interest or inform me within the first five seconds of viewing, I’m moving on to another site. A site needs to be flashy enough to make me feel as though the designer has put in time and effort, and wants the consumer to have a positive experience. I like to be at a site that gets to the point, and doesn’t provide too much filler. On the other hand, I need a site that can provide me with information easily, and is easy to navigate. By being able to know what a consumer wants, and what they don’t want is the most important part to building an effective web site. If a consumer gets what they need, they will return, which will only make the site more profitable.

Capturing and retaining the interest of a consumer is the most important aspect of online marketing. This integral part is what ultimately makes or breaks a website. By measuring a website’s marketing success, companies are able to analyze and fix problems current problems. Two popular systems which perform both static and realtime analysis are Web Analytics and Clickstream. Both of these applications measure aspects such as website traffic volume, conversion rates, where the consumers are coming from, profitability, and what consumers do within the website. The benefit to using these systems is that the data is automatically collected and free from bias. This information is then displayed in a spreadsheet layout, allowing for marketers to analyze results with ease.

However, the aspect that needs to be examined the most is the website’s conversion rates. There are two different types of conversions that are measured, conversion and attrition rate. Conversion rate is the percentage of visitors that make the final step of purchasing or registering with the website. Attrition rate is the percentage of visitors that get lost at page transition; examples are shopping cart abandonment, and leaving once personal or financial information is required.

By measuring  important aspects such as conversion and attrition rates, it allows marketers to know where they need to improve within the website. So then the big question is how to increase conversion rates, and make the overall profitability of the website increase? From my own personal experiences, I feel that a website becomes defective when issues such as information gathering , lack of information, and ease of use arise. These issues defer a visitor from wanting to continue further, as they do not want to take the time to do more work than they have to. When a visitor doesn’t get the desired result from a website, they become unhappy and ultimately decrease the website’s profitability. This becomes a big problem, as marketers need to keep visitors at the website for as long as possible, in order to be successful.

The overall question is how to we measure website success? Do we measure it by the profitability of the company/website? Or do we measure it by how happy the visitor is? The answer is a combination of the two. By making the visitor happy, it makes the the website profitable, and therefore successful.

Everytime you open up your internet browser, your every move is being carefully watched and recorded. Consumers have been growing aware of this, and are feeling as though their security may be becoming increasingly jeporadized. They feel that by sharing personal information with one website/marketer, it will be shared with all websites/marketers. This ulimately leads to the fear of an invasion of their privacy, or even their lives.  

In 2004, the government created new legislation, called PIPEDA (personal information protection and electronic dadts act), that all businesses and other organiztions had to comply by. Meaning that websites/marketers cannot sell consumer information to third-parties without the permission of the consumer. However, it still seems that marketers are trying to get their hands on this consumer information at any cost.

Not all websites want to obtain this information and sell it for a profit, some sites need the information for delivery or statistical purposes, or they want to better the consumers’ experience. In most cases, this is not what the consumer sees.

On the other hand, some websites take it too far by making a consumer provide personal information too early on in the process. Forcing the consumer to provide information in order for them to continue within the website. A good example of this is the Quality Foods website. This then forces the consumer to provide false information, which is of no use to the website/marketer.

http://qualityfoods.com/

Due to the lack of trust on the internet, there have been third-party companies created, such as verisign and etrust. These companies certifie that the website/company is not selling consumers’ personal information for their own gain. Company trademarks are displayed on secure websites, which makes the consumer feel that they can trust that their information will stay secure and private.

http://www.verisign.com/verisign-business-solutions/merchant-service/index.html

In today’s society it is so hard to give out personal information to just anyone. There is always the fear in the back of our mind that by doing so, it is going to backfire. I guess this is the risk that we take in exchnage for the convenience of the internet; but as security issues arise, there is always someone out there trying to fix them.

This site explains ways for consumers to protect themselves on the Internet: http://www.selfseo.com/story-19455.php