Final Post - Our experience

Before this project for an e-marketing class, we had never blogged before. We did not know the rules or even how it worked. When told to start our very own blog about e-marketing from our experiences and news stories, we started off slow. If so many people are doing it, it can't be that hard.

We jumped right in and did a little research on how and where to find relevant material. This was one of the major challenges we faced when blogging. We had to ask ourselves what anyone interested in the subject would want to read and comment about. What we have posted so far are just some of the many e-marketing issues and information available. An advantage of blogging is that you have the potential to reach anyone who has access to the internet. Obviously, unless it is really popular, you're not going to be able to do that. This brings us to another challenge - getting people to read our posts. The only way we know that we have readers is through the comments we have received. This would be an example of the merits of people commenting on what we have said. Whether it adds to the conversation or generates criticism, the internet public can be involved in any blogging community. Anonymity is also an advantage of commenting. Sometimes you want to say something important, but you don't want to outright be quoted for it. When we were blogging, we felt somewhat involved in what we were commenting about. It felt like our voice was being heard and then people could converse back with us to get more information or comment back. We can imagine that most people felt the same way when they commented on others' blogs.

Blogging has some uses in the corporate setting. It would let customers and potential consumers get a better look of what the company is all about. Rather than using an impersonal way of advertising to the public, blogging would make it seem more personal. The blog could be used as a middle-man between consumers and the business - kind of like a public e-mail.

We would encourage managers to blog in their professional capacities because of the possible advantages it has. As a manager, you could reach new markets and create new business relationships through blogging about their business/product/service. Of course, as a manager, you would have to be very professional and careful about what you say. You could upset or hurt a group of people and by word of mouth destroy what you were achieving to do in the first place. It is also apparent to me that the idea of blogging isn't that mainstream yet. Getting ahead of the competitors would be very beneficial as a manager.

With blogging being one of the major components of Web 2.0, this final paper was definitely a learning experience. We are glad to have done something out of the ordinary. This could benefit us with our jobs or even aid us in doing this in the future. Whether it be informal or professional, blogging isn't as bad as we thought and will continue to grow in popularity as time goes by. We had fun doing it and we hope that you people enjoyed reading. Thanks!

Web 2.0 Websites Account for 12% of US Web Traffic

A recent article shows that Web 2.0 websites encompass 12% of all web traffic. Web 2.0 based websites have seen a 688% growth in the past two years. The top three Web 2.0 websites being used are Wikipedia, Flickr, and YouTube. 10 million internet users were studied showing differences in demographics and psychographics in relation to traditional users and Web 2.0 users. The users already participating in educational reference, photos, and video sharing are up, but it's the overall participation of internet users that needs to propel Web 2.0 into the mainstream. The article says that these websites and others are still in the early adopters stage and will still see large amounts of growth in the future. US visits to Wikipedia outnumbered those to Encarta 3400 to 1 for the week ended April 7. Needless to say, but Wikipedia is obviously doing something right to crush an old standard such as Encarta. While not many people upload pictures into Flickr (only 0.20%), traffic in the website still grows all the time. While I have never used Flickr, my use of Wikipedia and YouTube has increased in the past year. I have no proof of it, but I often find myself going to these places on the internet when trying to find a video or important reference material. All of this material was presented at the O'Reilly Web 2.0 convention.

Article: http://www.marketingvox.com/archives/2007/04/30/web-20-websites-account-for-12-of-us-web-traffic/

APPLE

The results are in and Apple net income has jumped 88% since last year. This is a huge amount and especially since until recently Apple has been on the backburner for many consumers due to the popularity of the Windows operating system. I feel that the reasoning for the jump is not only the quality of products they offer but the increased brand awareness for all consumers. Everyone knows what a mac computer is but I don't think many people considered them after they started using windows. Today though the story is changing. Many people, myself included, have been switching from the PC to the Mac. The reasons? It is probably different for everyone but I for me it was the increased brand awareness, ease of use, style, and applications available on the computer. It is somewhat weird to get aquanted with a new OS, but at the same time I am learning to do so many more things than I ever did on my PC. The article gives the increased success to the drop in flash memory prices by 45%, sale of computers up by 36%, and sales of ipods up 24% from a year ago. I think these are all amazing jumps for the company and I feel that we will continue to see the awareness and success rise.

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/Dispatch/AppleEarningsSoar.aspx

Top 25 worst websites

25. Rentmychest.com
24. IKissYou.org
23. InmatesForYou.com
22. Digital Entertainment Network (den.com)
21. Golden Palace Casino
20. Hotmail.com
19. WebVan
18. Beenz.com and Flooz.com (tie)
17. Boo.com
16. Microsoft Windows Update
15. Neuticles.com
14. BidForSurgery.com
13. Whitehouse.com
12. The Dancing Baby
11. Rabies for Kids
10. MyLackey.com
9. Hamsterdance.com
8. BonziBuddy
7. Pets.com
6. Pixelon.com
5. AllAdvantage
4. CD Universe
3. Cartoonnetwok.com
2. CyberRebate
1. MySpace.com

This is a list of the 25 worst rated sites by Dan Tynan, PC World on MSN.com. I would have to say after reading the descriptions and reasons for the ratings, I do agree that they are pretty poor sites. Some of them take advantage of users, while others are just plain crap. We have talked about cyberrebate.com in class. This site is notorious for overcharging customers for a product, then holding their money for at least 10 weeks, then banking on the hope that not many would send for the rebate, but eventually refunding the customer in full. The problem is that most of the customers did in fact take advantage of the rebate. The company went bankrupt and customers ended up receiving 9 cents on the dollar. Many of the sites come down to forgetting the key to success: Integrating new technologies with the traditional business plan and strategy. Although .com's are in a league of their own, they still need to follow traditional business rules. One interesting site is cartoonnetwok.com, at first glance it reads like cartoonnetwoRk.com but by going to the first site by accident of course the creator fills your screen with unwanted popups. So whether you agree or disagree with this list is up to you, but you have to admit that the author makes some great points about all of the sites mentioned.

http://tech.msn.com/products/article.aspx?cp-documentid=955116&page=1

Web 3.0 - Here Already?

In a recent article on Entrepreneur.com, Mark Henricks explains how the internet is already in a transition from Web 2.0 to Web 3.0. A business owner by the name of Nova Spivack has begun to plan ahead for Web 3.0. This next generation of web technology will hopefully launch his new products and ideas ahead of his competitors. The idea behind Web 3.0 is that is encompasses all of what Web 2.0 is and adds the notion of the computer and the internet working in tandem to do more work on your behalf. It will make information completely and universally integrated and accessible by everyone. Some examples of what is already being used and what is still being produced is tagging. If tags were present on all web pages and created using a set system, everything on the web would be clean and uniform making search much easier. Also, your computer's calendar could notify you when a payment has to be made or when a check will clear, making money management easier. The article points out that it will be at least 2-3 years before a lot of these options will be available.

It is apparent to me that Web 3.0 is just Web 2.0. Web 2.0 will and should touch base on these things in the future. The article doesn't explain what makes these particular advances a new "web". Whatever you want to call it, I am interested to see how people and businesses around the world will react and conform to this. The article also points out that Google is not perfect and a much better search engine will be made. I'll see it when I believe it.

Article Location: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17799339/

Buying movies online

With the popular success of music sharing and buying online, retailers are trying to beat the crowd to sell movies the same way. Already Wal-Mart.com has explored the area of online movie sales. The problems with this is idea are that even with a high speed connection it can take hours to download a movie online, the quality is poor, and some movies can't even be transferred to a DVD. With this considered it doesn't seem that the idea will take off anytime soon. The main reason for the increases emphasis on this idea goes back to what happened when music downloads started to become popular. CD sales have dropped way off since it started and retailers don't want the same to happen with DVDs. They are trying to get their online market established before it becomes a market expectation. Right now it is still considered a competitive advantage for those that offer the service, but it seems like they need to work on how the product is delivered to increase popularity. I'm sure we will see many things happen with this technology in the future and soon we may all be downloading our movies from the internet.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070409/ap_on_hi_te/online_movies;_ylt=AoHNMUhk3qXEawHiLV_r6nayBhIF

Paypal for Businesses

One of the major problems facing internet businesses is safety. If an online business is going to accept credit or debit card payment they have to make sure their service is extremely safe. It is so easy today for hackers to find a way into what is thought to be a secure network. The internet payment issue may become easier for smaller business due to the new availability of PayPal on their site. PayPal is generally associated with E-Bay, since it is only used on E-Bay right now. The new PayPal product offers express checkout, direct payment API, and virtual terminal functions. This would give businesses an alternative, safe, way to take customers private information over the internet. Althought PayPal has been successful, there are still security issues with phishing e-mails sent by hackers to try and get PayPal users information. So if we do start to see the rise of PayPal services on other sites, remember that nothing is ever 100% risk free!

Report: PayPal to start mobile pay service

Paypal, a company owned by EBay, said that they would start allowing customers to pay for their purchases uses their cell phones. Companies with certain technologies in place could transfer their bill of sale to Paypal and then have it paid through a mobile device. The service could be available as early as next year. The example given in the article said this: "A person could visit the Web site for a pizza parlor or concert-ticket vendor using the Web browser on a cell phone or other mobile device like a BlackBerry, for instance, and make a payment using PayPal, the newspaper said." Also, people will be able to transfer money via text message in the near future.

This has benefits for Paypal and the companies who support this technology. Where available, it would allow the businesses to have up-to-date ways for their customers to pay for their products and services and also have an added convenience. Paypal would also obviously benefit through increased usage of their website and services. This is just one of the many new ways Web 2.0 is penetrating our everyday lives. This and other new technologies are making out lives easier and allowing businesses like Paypal who take advantage of Web 2.0 to reach a new level of advertising and e-marketing.

Article Website: http://news.monstersandcritics.com/business/news/article_1282151.php/Report_PayPal_to_start_mobile_pay_service

YouTube Scores 'March Madness' Content Deal

YouTube and CBS signed a deal so that clips of the NCAA tournament could be played on the website. Recently YouTube, owned by Google, has come under fire due to the many copyright issues the site faces. I personally think it is good for companies to work out deals with YouTube because it is one of the latest and greatest ways to get your product advertised. The word-of-mouth advertising that results from popular YouTube clips is cheaper and more effective than alternate methods. The article says the clips will be aired on a special YouTube network and GM will be the advertising sponsor. So not only is this good for CBS and its March Madness ratings, but it is good for GM. As we have recently been studying in class the best way to get customers involved and excited about a site, or product, is to let them be involved. This goes along with Web 2.0. Since YouTube allows users to comment on the clips it gets them involved and increases the sites success. More television networks should work out deals with YouTube so that their content will be used legally and they will still be getting compensation for their copyrighted work.

Wikipedia Challenges Google and Yahoo

An article on dailytech.com discusses how Wikipedia wants to challenge Yahoo and Google with their search engines. The founder of Wikipedia Jimmy Wales says "there's nothing really special about how Google and Yahoo perform searches, and that there is a misconception about a company like Google. "The idea that Google has some edge because they've got super-duper rocket scientists may be a little antiquated now." The article goes on to talk about how the website has grown with the help of the ever growing online community. This growing group of people could have what it takes to push the boundaries of search engines past that of Yahoo and Google.

The possibility of Wikipedia coming out on top in the realm of search engines, with the help of many collections of experts and communities, has relevance in e-marketing for a couple of reasons. If it were possible to alter the way people search for information and improve upon what is considered standard, it would definitely change the way we look at the internet. A bigger market share of the search engine industry would bring more advertising and e-marketing opportunities.

Link to the Article:
http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=6413

13 Most Embarrassing Web Moments

As we all know the Internet isn't the safest place to hide secrets. It actually isn't safe at all, and unfortunately many people have to face the damage caused by embarrassing moments due to the ease of web posting. In this article it listed some of the top moments caught on the web. The article mentioned AOL's mistake of posting 658,000 users search records, and as a result they were sued. CNN was quick to pull access to pre-written obituaries of several famous people including Dick Cheney, Fidel Castro, and Nelson Mandela. For everyone that still thinks it is safe to send e-mails with no backfire, a British man had his lawyer send an e-mail to his secretary telling her she had to pay him for spilling ketchup on his pants and she decided to publicly humiliate him and reveal what he had done (he resigned, of course not b/c of the incident). The article lists several other incidents, but it just goes to prove the point that we all sometimes forget-NOTHING is safe on the Internet. So just remember next time you want to post something on your homepage, myspace, or facebook...it could come back to haunt you.

Introduction

This is our (Steve Sweet and Sarah Tebbenkamp) blog about all things e-marketing. As per a class project, we will be writing all semester about e-marketing related subjects. Please enjoy!