Using the Internet

1/8/2014

The marketer should be aware of the content available from the Web Among high-tech companies, the content is very informational, stressing technical support and downloading capabilities If the firm sells commodities such as finished hardware, the content of the site is informational with reassurance toward the inventory, availability, delivery, quality and price

1/8/2014

One of the best efforts to examine a different retailers offerings is to look at a competitors Web page, which might include:

Search products Customer service Virtual shopping cart Store locator Hyperlinks to Featured Items

A formal corporate presentation A newsroom, for press releases and news articles Career opportunities Color photography of popular merchandise

1/8/2014

Marketers are wise to understand the reasons for purchasers personally using the Web

Convenience (82%) Saving time (74%) Availability of vendor information (73%) Female users valued the notion of no pressure from salespeople (64%) slightly over vendor information (63%) Males and females both ranked convenience first Personal shopping services (16%)

1/8/2014

Another personal aspect was that of being able to personalize the home page to retrieve information from specific Web resources This selectivity of information is also available on user friendly search engine portals such as Yahoo! and Excite

The most popular selections are:

Weather Travel Sports Stocks News

1/8/2014

Consumers are welcoming the power and variety of the Webs treasury of information, and users are adapting their daily activities to accommodate their online practices Being cognizant of the search engine of choice is an important factor for the marketer to know for two reasons

The software developer can create sites designed to the lowest common denominator that most persons have the ability to access and the sites appearance is attractive without losing copy or graphics because of inconsistency among browsers The second critical decision concerns search engine popularity; which are the most used such engines that the marketer should register with?

1/8/2014

Can the marketer know too much about her markets wants, needs, expectations, or preferences?

Knowing the customers constraints (as well as the customers plateau of patience or frustration) is most valuable in giving the customer what she wants. Knowing search habits is essential to building a responsive, content-laden, and interactive Web site that draws the shopper to the merchandise without confusing the e-commerce experience Consider the hit ratio, an informal measure of the number of searches that produce successful results

1/8/2014

Besides understanding how your markets gather information, it is necessary to try to learn what they do with this information

Two of the best resources of customer opinions:

Listening to consumers expressing their opinions about product experiences, in both positive and negative usage Voicing what product features are missing from the marketplace GoogleGroups (http://groups.google.com/), is the home of hundreds of discussions about various topics The marketer can start her own discussion group, monitor consumer comments, and interject written opinions about her products

1/8/2014

While browser manufacturers promise equal performance in retrieving information, some browsers handle searches differently Web surfers are turning to Meta search sites that broadcast the search request to numerous search engines to create one list of hits Searching the Web can be quite sophisticated if the surfer uses the proper search strategy

Boolean searches are created using operators that tell the search engine what terms must be in the search string

1/8/2014

It is odd that the Internet is considered for its commercial purpose because its origin was far from that The Internet was born of academic research and communications, a culture of freely sharing and noncommercial usage flourished among the gatekeepers of the Net

1/8/2014

The academic intention of the Internet came to be viewed differently with the introduction of color, graphics, and augmented text in 1993; this enhanced research vehicle became an attractive and persuasive commercial medium as the elements matured, and more people, other than researchers and educators, discovered the boundless holdings In following the traditions of the Internet, the marketer should try to extend this cultural style and perceptiveness to the marketers site

1/8/2014

The ideal business on the Internet would build a loyal audience by providing an attractive environment in which users could discuss matters of common interest with one another and with experts Depending on the business model, the marketer could aim to build a global virtual community of people with common interests, or forge closer ties with your local, physical community

1/8/2014

Simply, Netiquette is Internet etiquette, the informal rules of behavior of the Internet Organizations develop their own Acceptable Use Policies (AUPs), a set of rules specifically for an organizations network

1/8/2014

Netiquette guidelines for e-mail, mailing lists, and Usenet newsgroups

Use normal upper and lower case letters. Avoid using all capital letters; this is known as shouting and is generally discouraged. Careful use of emoticons can help to get your emotional point across clearly
Smile (humor, happiness, encouragement) Frown (sad, disapproval) Wink (kidding, joking)

1/8/2014

Netiquette guidelines for e-mail, mailing lists, and Usenet newsgroups continued

Avoid flaming (inflammatory or antagonistic criticism) or sending insulting, abusive, or threatening remarks Remember that e-mail is not private When replying to a newsgroup posting, be sure to include the portion of the original message that you are responding to

1/8/2014

Netiquette guidelines for e-mail, mailing lists, and Usenet newsgroups continued

Always identify yourself and keep messages as brief and to the point as possible Avoid spamming When sending or posting to multiple mail lists or newsgroups, indicate that you have done so

1/8/2014

Telnet Netiquette has a set of unwritten rules that need to be followed

Do not stay on a terminal longer than necessary Help pages are provided at a Telnet site, download them to your terminal and read them after logging off

1/8/2014

File Transfer Protocol (FTP) Netiquette is important to understand as much of the problems it can cause can slow down the network

Try not to download large files (larger than one megabyte) until after business hours Use the time zone that applies to the FTP server that you are accessing, not your local time Users are responsible for checking copyright or licensing agreements for the files that they download If downloading shareware, be sure to pay the appropriate fees

1/8/2014

Messages are so sterile in black and white text displayed on a flat unemotional monitor. To add some animation and some unspoken depth to messages and conversation, emoticons or smileys found their way into online dialog
:> smile :| frown ;> wink

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