Week 4.

• Looking at the site useage, 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 - A single visit, otherwise known as computer terms as a 'hit' is a single users complete stay on a website, from when they load the page, until they leave the page.
• Page Views - Websites contain a number of different pages, when a user visits the website and browses through the pages, each page looked at is known as a page view.
• Pages/Visits - This measures how many pages a users looks at before the exit the site.
• Bounce Rate - This measures how many users exit the website without viewing anything other then the first page they reach.     

• Now look at the traffic sources report. What are the three sources of traffic and where has most of the traffic come from? 
• Uniform Resource Locator (URL): the user types the website out in the URL address bar on their browser.
• Search Engine: The user finds the website via the use of a search provider, for example, Google
• Referring Websites: Users visit the website from clicking a link on another website. Statistics show that referring websites phave majority (44.9 %) of users accessing the site come from.
   

• What was the most popular web browser used to access the site?
• Internet Explorer, from Microsoft is the most used web browser.
  
  Internet Explorer 3,194 45.23%
  Safari 1,732 24.53%
  Firefox 1,373 19.44%
  Chrome 711 10.07%
  Opera 25 0.35%
  

• How many countries did visitors to Foliospaces come from and what were the top four countries?
• This website had had 7,062 views from 62 countries. The US, Australia, UK and Canada make the top 4.
  
  1. United States 2,823     9.71     00:07:16     42.61%     50.09%
  2. Australia 2,390     12.65     00:10:14     23.64%     28.83%
  3. United Kingdom  731     9.62     00:09:07     25.31%     43.23%
  4. Canada 205     15.18     00:11:55     30.73%     37.56%
   

• Having clicked every possible link on my analytics, make a few comments on 
• What you can track?
• What you can track over time? 
• What you can’t track?

• Google analytic provides some great tools for users and website owners.This includes the types of browsers being used, the time spent on the website, their location. This can help a website owner/administrator to review Google analytic data and see what parts of their website is and are not successful and perhaps remove any redundancies.
  The service cannot track age or gender, which means a website owners cannot determine their audience via this service.
  

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

• high bounce rate: Many users who are not staying on the site and are leaving after the first page.
• key words: Single words that can be used to describe a site.
• Average Page Depth: the average amount of pages viewed on a single visit by a user
• click through rate: Determines the amount of clicks on an add compared to the amount of views
• click: By 'clicking' a link, it can take you to another location on the web.
• Cookie: Small text based file that stores information that is stored on the computers hard drive, browsers and websites utilise cookies
• Impression: The effect of a website over the user.
• Hyperlink: A hyperlink helps a user navigate to a website.
• Navigation: This is the menu system of a web page, provides all available links on the site, and perhaps links to another site. to help users user their web page.
• Pageview: a view from a single user on a single page
• Session: the total time a user spends on a single website
• Unique Visitors (or Absolute Unique Visitors): a unique visitor is a visit to the website by 1 user regardless if they visit the site more than once, only 1 visit is counted.
• URL: Uniform Resource Locator, help users remember the website without remembering the IP address of the website
• Visitor: a single user to the website
• Visitor Session: a single visitors total time on a website
• Comparison shopping: comparing prices from different e businesses to find the best price.

Week 3.

• In two paragraphs explain why a customer centric Web site design is so important, yet so difficult to accomplish.
• It is important to consider a number of things when designing a website. Some of the consideration included the detail and architecture of a website. A web designer has to ensure that when a customer visits their site, that the feel welcomed and enjoy the aesthetics of the website. It only takes 1 minor flaw in a website for a customers to go elsewhere. A web designer should also think about the design of the sites interface using design elements such as typography, colour and page layout. It is important for a web designer to break away from traditional methods of designing a site and try create something new. 

• 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 ensures that businesses online have an impression on the internet that consumers can find, and use as a reliable resource. Remember also that if a consumer can not find your online presence they are unable to buy your products. To be successful online, you would need to ensure that your customers keep coming back and to do this you need to create a positive impression to the consumer. One example of online presences is amazons use of physical analogy's to intrigue users to feel safe and make them come back to shop again. They do this by using tools such as 'shopping carts' and bargains. This is a way to make consumers feel like going shopping, instead of merely purchasing goods online.

• Write three paragraphs to briefly describe the things that Real Estate Agents can best accomplish through;
•  Their web sites - This allows for interaction will a greater audience and potential buyers and sellers. It allows for 24/7 viewing for real estate to website visitors, and can provide extensible and reliable information on each item. Consumers can create specific searches, such as price range, type of property and location of property.
•  Mass media advertising- narrows the complexity of users in terms of finding the house they are looking for. It shows that using mass media to advertise, that show that they can reach a larger market quickly and efficiently.
•  Personal contact - By building relationships through the buyer, seller and agents, it shows to all parties that there is a job to get done and that their agent is willing to deal with the customer one on one, to communicate and attend to any issues that they may have. This is important as it can provide buyers and sellers with a sense of security.

Week 2.


Part 1 - Navigation

• What are the four (4) main points Michael Rappa makes about search?
• Due to data being stored constantly over the internet, congestion can be caused due to irrelevant or incorrect information being stored. Search engines can find this irrelevant information in a search and could possible cause problems for the user. Search result information should be relevant and information should be correct.

• Search engines will search for relevant matches to the key words entered in the search box. Many search results will be listed but it will be the first page that will list paid placements. All kinds of data is generated from different kinds of online processes everyday, the amount of data being stored is rapidly increasing. This can cause issue for users online when using search engines. Many results that are displayed in search engines are of no value to most users.

• Further development should be made to search engines like Google and Yahoo due to finding useful and correct information can be difficult.

• Search engines such as Google and Yahoo have expanded their advertisement facilties and introduced 'Paid Placement Search' which will show the first page results of paid placements. This has expanded the opportunity for business to get their 'name out there'.

• Watch or read the Marissa Mayer interview. Write a paragraph or two, on four points made by Marissa Mayer, that you think were the most interesting or significant for business. There are no right or wrong answers here, I just want your opinion.

• Marissa mayer points out some interesting points in her interview. 
1. Firstly she dicusses how they (google) created the prototype. She goes on to say how feedback and information gathered from users help the team satisfy consumer needs. The information help the team focus on their downfalls and actions made to improve their product we carried out as a result. Business today need feedback from consumers to understand the positives and negatives of their product.
2. Mayer also spoke about advertising on the internet, and what it does for sites like Google. Google is used everyday by users worldwide, and advertisements that are on the Google site may attract a certain audience. Companies must recognise their target market and use advertisements that are relative to their audience.
3. Mayer goes on to explain that Google is accessed from any country worldwide. She mentions that some product released by google have been specifically designed to reach an audience in certain areas, stating that some products that work in India may not work so well back in the US.
4. Lastly Mayer discusses the amount of females in IT industry, and recognised that their is a need and encouragement for women to become involved. This is supported by the scholarship that is given out by UB for women in IT. One great initiative for more women to get involved.

Part 2 - History of the Internet

• So what are the 6 webs?

1.    The Near Web -  Internet you use via your PC.

2.     The Here Web - mobile Internet such as iPhones and iPads.

3.     The Far Web - Internet through HD (high definition)

4.     The Weird Web - using Internet via voice recognition. 

5.     Business to Business (B2B) - where business systems talk to each other without human interaction.

6.     Device to Device (D2D) - where devices talk to each other via data collected by sensors. 

• Could there be more?
• We have a long way to go in the IT industry. Almost anything could be possible given time.

• What does it mean for business?
• I Believe that if businesses want to survive, that they will need to be involved in the technology world. Technological advancements should be embraced by organisations as they can offer many effective and efficient resources to their business.

Week 1. 

• Internet risks – give examples of four things that can go wrong with a transactional site?
• Transactional sites, like online banking for example can have many implications.. Many of these concerning security and data integrity

1. Alot of personal and sensitive information is used while logging into a internet banking site. A user has to be aware that any information that is given out over the internet, if no secure can act as a security risk. One risk include identity theft.
2. Another risk of a transactional site can include, reliability and integrity of the information and service a site provides. If a website goes down due to technical problems, this can cause many customers to seek out a new provider and go elsewhere.
3. Problems including malware and viruses can act as a risk to both users and the site if the proper security precautions are not put in place.
4. User errors are another risk to a transactional site. If user transfers money, but the page refreshes or closes before the transaction can be completed fully. The payment may not of been made and can cause problems including overdue and unpaid bills.

• Write down a definition for each:
• E-business: Ebusiness relates to the long term goals and relationships between stakeholders over the internet. In Ebusiness, customer values are considered when making business decisions.
• E-commerce: E-commerce is simply the method of making a transaction (buying or selling) of the internet. Ecommerce is a subset of Ebusiness. Ecommerce is considered as spot buying, or by using modern technologies to make a transaction.

• What is the difference between buy side and sell side eCommerce?
• The difference betweem buy side and sell side is quite obvious. A buy side website would deal in the buying of products or services, where as the sell side business would deal in selling products or services, for example www.toyota.com.au

• Describe the different types of eBusiness.
• Consumer to Consumer (C2C)
• Consumer to Business (C2B)
• Consumer to Government (C2G)
• Business to Consumer (B2C)
• Business to Business (B2B)
• Business to Government (B2G)
• Government to Government (G2G)
• Government to Consumer (G2C)
• Government to Business (G2B)

• Which digital technology has the highest penetration rate? Explain and source your answer.
• Mobile phone technology has the highest penetration rate in the digital world with sources from International Telecommunication Union showing that during 2006, Indiea was the top country with on average 6.3 million new mobile subscribers every month. By the end of 2007, it was studied that out of 100 people, 45 people had a mobile phone.  As of 2011,  1 in 2 people own a smartphone (blog), and these figures are likely to increase in trend in the years to come.

• List: Four drivers to adoption of sell-side e-commerce by business.
• By using e-commerce a business can reach a wider audience.
• Sales and advertising cost are reduced as most administrative tasks can be completed online.
• Larger amount of information can be collected via online tools such as google analytics this would allow a business owner to view and report business and customer activity
• Alot of business processes can now be automated with the use of certain payment systems, for example, Paypal.

• Four barriers to adoption of sell-side e-commerce by business.
• Lack of knowledge with web tools, and general computer skills may put a barrier between a business and e-commerce.
• Costs including initial and ongoing site maintenance cost may be expensive.
• Some customers will find will not use online services due to trust issues that arise with online business and security. 
• Security issues is one main barrier with some business adopting online business. This can include identity theft, viruses and human and computer error.

• How might a restaurant in Sturt Street Ballarat benefit from an online presence?
• A restaurant in Sturt St Ballarat would benefit from a online presence in many ways. In most cases websites to cater for business can be cheap and easy to run. Exposure to more people via the internet may increase popularity, and by providing their menu, address and contact on the details on the site, customers can find it appealing and with order if an impression is made.

• What are some examples of Digital information?
• Digital information can be found on many types of different media. This could include photos and images, to text and not forgetting music and audio books. Today facebook's focal point is on connecting people together. This is achieved through the method of photos, and now people can 'tag' (a process when a digital label can be put onto the photo that names each person in a photo) their friends.

• What is the semantic web? Are we there yet?
• Thought up by Tim Berners Lee, inventor of WWW, URIs, HTTP and HTML, Semantic Web can be seen as the evolutionary way to connect with other people including friends and family on the internet. Semantic web would allow digital information to be shared, thus using the internet to its full potential. 

• Above is an excellent introduction and explanation of what semantic web.