Analytics + Interpretation = Success!

Do You Want To Know How Is Your Business Doing?

Nowadays, we live in internet era, where most of the businesses are heading to put their sales online due to fact that it is cost beneficial. Therefore, analysis of your online website will play crucial role in the success of the business. If you are in business that runs mainly on online sale and you want to monitor and analyze the traffic on your website. Google Analytics is just for you! Not just only it provides statistical information about your site. It provides enormous amount of analysis of the consumer that are using your website such as demographics, what are they looking for, how did they get to your web site and it will help you to expand your business.

Why Should You Use Google Analytics?

For example, if you have a high traffic in your website after having lots of advertisement but have no increase in sale, Google Analytics will tell you who is visiting your website. So, it will give you give you an idea of if your advertisement efforts have become successful to reach the desired target audience. If you are targeting very specific market, Google Analytics will tell you if they match your desired target market!

Let’s say you are spending a lot of money on advertisement in Search Engines and Social Media platforms such as Google, Facebook and Twitter. Google Analytics will tell you how your customers found your website. So, it will be your best friend to tell you if you wasted your money on ads or not!

Also, it will tell you which browsers are used by customers when visiting your website! It will tell which browser you should focus on. So, business owners can optimize their website in the best fit of the most used browser to enhance their visit on the website, which can later turn into increase in sale due to nice use of the website!

Back To SEO!

            As I talked about the importance of Search Engine Optimization in my last post, I mentioned that being findable online is the key driver of success in online sales. If the competition is strong in the field that your business is operating, probably it SEO will play the most crucial role in our business’s success. Google Analytics will be your best friend when you focus on your SEO strategy. It will provide keywords that are used by visitors in the search engines to find your website. Knowing the keywords that people are searching for will give you a heads up to focus on your SEO and to be more finable. For sure, it will have a big impact on your sales because if people cannot find you, they can’t buy from you!

Alternatives to Google Analytics!

            In this blog post I always mentioned Google Analytics and its benefits! But wait, there are other alternatives for people who do not prefer to work with Google because it’s complex and uniquitous. Clicky, Mixpanel, FoxMetrics, Open Web Analytics, KissMetrics are great alternatives for G.A. where it can fulfill the needs of consumers for the analytics of their website! Recently, Pinterest has entered analytic market to provide web analytics for its consumers. If Google is not your thing, don’t worry, you got plenty of choice!

Do Your Analysis, Do Your Interpretation

As I said, if you want to do a good job online, analyzing your web data is essential for success. The use of an analytics tool is inevitable. Companies who wish for success should successfully use the analytics tools and do the interpretation in order to come up with marketing strategies.

To finish here is a humorous video for you to watch about Google Analytics! Watch it! It will worth your time!

 

Ahmet Caner Denizman

Group 2

Protect Your Online Reputation !

In the modern world, hackers are more and more present and scared. Some are able to hack overprotec

ted websites like the ones of big companies or governments but everybody can hack a social media account.

We all know someone who has been victim of such hackers. And we also may know someone who has done it.

In this article I won’t tell you the techniques to hack a social media account but how to protect yourselves from these.

Social engineering 

When people think about hacking social networks, they are often not referring to the hacking definition we all know, which consist in using codes or backdoors in computer networks to create damage systems or even steal personal information. That’s the type of hacking used on companie’s and government’s websites

Hacking a social networks accounts requires very little skills. It’s often more considered as  psychological game than a typical hacking. You just have to use information on personal profiles to win a complete stranger’s trust. Social engineering uses psychological techniques to reach the weakest element in the information security system that are the  people themselves

To do so, you can for instance :

• Angry call a systems administrator, say you are an executive who forgot his password and needs to access his computer as fast as possible.
• Pretend to be a bank employee and call a customer asking for his credit card number.
• do as if you lost your key card and ask an employee to let you into the office.

The biggest issue with online social networks is that you can never verify that someone is indeed who they say they are. A hacker can create a free profile on a social network and make this profile matching perfectly with the target of the business he wants to hack. If the target accepts the hacker as a connection like a friend, then he often has access to information of all the other connections.

Thus, the major defense against social engineering is awareness. If you know that social engineering hackers exist, you can be more careful about what you post on your online profiles an what you can trust. If you’re familiar with common social engineering scams, you’ll recognize them and act before it’s to late.

Social hacking

Social engineering is the easiest way usable to take control of a social network account, anyone can do it and steal personal information but some real hackers with their backdoors techniques and their ability to turn a software against you can use their talents on your social media account stealing your passwords and your personal data such as your credit card number.

Here are some advices to avoid this kind of situation and to make the hackers’ way to your personal data more difficult.
– Have a clean machine:
Having the latest security software, web browser, and operating system are the best defenses against viruses and other online threats.
-Make long and strong passwords : We’ll never say it enough, combine capital and lowercase letters with numbers and symbols to create a more secure password.
-Unique account and unique password: having only one unique password for every account helps to thwart cybercriminals.
– Throw the suspect mails to avoid hackers to enter your computer.

Conclusion

In order to avoid social hacking and social engineering, the easiest and more efficient way is to be aware of the threats and to  be careful about what your doing online.

Here is a little video that resume with 3 easily usable strategies the way to protect yourself from hackers.

Lucas B
Group 2

The Mobile World

It is becoming increasingly obvious that the world is now a mobile world and businesses need to adapt their strategies to this. In order to do this there are two different ways that businesses can connect with their customers in the mobile world; mobile websites and mobile applications. Both provide a great platform and have different benefits.

Mobile Applications
Mobile applications are any kind of software application that is developed to operate on any smart phones, tablets or other devices. Mobile applications allow businesses to get even closer to customers. With over 70,000 existing mobile applications, even business has no reason not to get involved. Mobile applications are a great way for businesses to get their customers more engaged in their brand. From example, I recently downloaded Jaime Oliver’s mobile application which provides recipes and instructions on how to cook a variety of dishes.

Mobile Websites
Mobile websites are similar to regular computer websites except that they are designed to fit on a mobile device. People in this generation always have their phones on them, and they are not necessarily always near a computer. This is why mobile websites are becoming so increasingly important. I regularly use my smart phone to search for various things and it makes it easier for me when the website is modified properly to fit my phone. I have recently been using empire theaters mobile website to look at movie times and they provide an excellent mobile website that is easy to use and understand. The textbook “Online Marketing” by Brian Sheehan provides a great list of the 10 best principles to follow for mobile websites.

10 Principles of Great Mobile Websites:
1. You need to have one.
2. Make sure it actually works.
3. Solve a real problem.
4. Maintain a laser focus.
5. Content is king, but in small bites.
6. Simplify, but don’t over-simplify.
7. Make your site findable.
8. Make your site device aware.
9. Remember the user’s details.
10. Break free from .com thinking.

Mobile Websites vs. Mobile Applications
The advantages of mobile websites are that they are immediately available because unlike mobile applications they do not need to be downloaded and are readily available. Another advantage for mobile websites over applications is that they are more compatible across all types of mobile devices, where as applications need to be created uniquely for each device. As well, when it comes to upgrades a mobile application needs to be downloaded by the user which is more difficult for the business. Mobile websites are generally the better choice for most businesses, but there are times when mobile applications are the better choice. Mobile applications provide interactivity, personalization and can also be accessed when there are no internet connections.

Conclusion
Overall, both mobile websites and mobile applications are important for businesses. I believe that while mobile applications are more interactive and personal, mobile websites are more useful. They are more available and easy to understand for both the business and the customer. However, I do think that mobile applications and mobile websites are both here to stay and all businesses cannot afford to overlook this aspect of marketing.

This infographic provides further insight into the benefits of building a mobile application versus the benefits of building a mobile website.

Wearable Tech and High Tech Clothing

Reading the article “Landscapes, Long Tails and Digital Materialities: Implications for Mobile HCI Research” was like peering into the world of tomorrow, but in reality many of the technologies discussed already exist or are close to development today. In fact there are many examples of augmented reality, peripheral computing and other technologies incorporated in consumer products today. I will use this post to highlight some of these products specifically in Fitness, Fashion and general Function.

Fitness/ Health

One of the areas where wearable tech has been around for awhile is in the area of Fitness and health.

The first product I will look at is SleepShirt which monitors an individuals sleeping habits. SleepShirt contains 2 thin-film respiration sensors that measure the movement of the shirt and body throughout the night for detection of any sleep abnormalities. SleepShirt is designed by Rest Devices.

Fashion

The fashion industry is now finding ways to incorporate HCI technology into their desgins in an effort to sell fashion with real function, such as saftey and convinence.

One such product that caught my attention was Hövding, which is essentially a scarf/hood for bike riders that releases an airbag if a collison occurs. It does this with sensors in the the can detect when an ireggualr motion occurs, such as a severe swerve or bump, and transmits information to release the airbag. On top of this it is equipped with a blackbox which will record movement 10 seconds before and up to the crash in order to examine the data and improve its product.

Function

Besides a focus on saftey, wearable tech is also aiming to make our everday lives more convienent.

An example of this is Orange Mobile’s creation of rain boots that will charge your phone as you walk. The boots use thermoelectric modules inside of a power generating sole. The downside of the boots is that about 12 hours of walking will only produce about a single hour of extra battery life…but it has still sparked discussion and interest in the idea of using technology to make products more functional.

Conclusion

The rapid improvement in technology and innovation will only further lead to the implementation of technology in our daily consumer products. This should be benefecial to us as it could improve our health, keep us safe and make everday tasks more convinient.

Sean M.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Hi All,

Can you think of a world without search engines? Imagine if there was no Google, how would you get work done? How would you search for the best pizza store in town? How would you find a way to the new sushi restaurant that you want to experience? Or get to know about the deals online? Or search for jobs?

Probably nowadays, search engines are the one of the most necessary tool of our daily lives.  We use it for almost everything, even we use the term “Google it”.

So, if the search engines are this important, what is Search Engine Optimization or SEO? Basically, it’s a tool that is helping companies to get higher rankings for specific key words in search engines. It makes sure that if somebody is searching for what you have, then you should appear in the search engine results with higher rankings.

How does “Google” filter infinite number of web pages and turn into the list that might fit best in the interest of yours? They use “algorithms” which automatically scans the internet and gives the best results to the users.  Search engines make your web site and its content attractive, relevant and visible to search engines and web searchers.

Let’s look at the brief history of SEO

• 1995 – Yahoo Launches its Web Directory
• 1998 – Google Launches, DMOZ launches this same year
• 2000 – Yahoo Drops Altavista, Uses Google’s Algorithm
• 2001 – PageRank is showed to users through the toolbar
• 2005 – NoFollow Tag Introduced
• 2009 – Google Introduces Caffeine Algorithm, a major shift in SEO.
• 2009 – Bing and Yahoo Merge
• 2011 – Panda Algorithm Update. A major step in the history of SEO
• 2012 – Penguin Algorithm Update

Why it is important for companies to do “Search Engine Optimization”? Imagine how it would be like if nobody could easily find your store of business, or even your telephone number. Most businesses could not continue for long in such a situation. Even if your business have the key words that have high traffic, high commerciality, if you do not do search engine optimization, you’ll never make it front page of Google. A decline in traffic will cause decline in sales, which will damage the business.

Now some of you may be saying: “Businesses can reach their targets by advertising, Google is not completely necessary”. Well, if your target market is easily reachable and highly involved in brand, SEO might not be really necessary but nobody can guarantee the message will reach the target market through different media outlets.

Even now, we are in an era where consumers are seeking for businesses, SEO makes much more sense to companies to implement.

Therefore, it is sensible for search engines and marketers to use this tool to reach target market, and advertise their businesses to potential customers. Google AdWords is agreat example of search engine marketing. It allows companies to reach more potential customers, and serve customers in their best interest.

Overall, SEO is rapidly growing to carry more and more importance for the businesses, play an important role in companies’ online success and brand awareness. Therefore, companies should leverage SEO and take into account when they plan their business strategies.

Regards

Ahmet Caner Denizman

Group 2

Can we trust the E-Commerce?

A few days ago, a friend of mine talked to me about a particular book that she liked. Then, I wanted to buy it and read it in order to give her my opinion. That is when I faced an issue; the book is French and can’t be find in Canada.

Only one option remained to me:

Buy it online.

I’m not so used to buy on the Internet yet and I was wondering about the threats of such a payment method even if it’s now a common thing.

Nowadays, it can be easier to find a product we want on the Internet and be delivered directly at home. It is also easier to sell a product online.

This is the e-commerce.

 

Basically, electronic commerce is considered to be the sales side of e-business. Also, it consists of the data exchanges that facilitate payments of business transactions. It uses the Internet at, at least, one point in the transaction’s process but it may use a wider range of technologies like e-mails, social medias or phones.

 E-commerce security

The e-commerce size is growing fast.Thus, risks and threats are also increasing with cyber crime.                                                                                                                                     Cyber crime also leads to private information disclosure.Cyber criminal exploit the vulnerability of the Internet for financial purpose. It is reported that cyber crime in general represents more than 388 billion dollars per year with a large part related to e-commerce.    In 2011 over 174 million records have been compromised and more than 95% of them was involving personal data.

These data make me be a little bit sceptical about buying online and if everybody may think that way and do not trust this online payment way, the e-commerce will bust.

But companies know how to build this trust and to improve the security of their online sales. They know what to do to make consumers buy on the Internet without thinking about cyber criminal.

Nowadays, companies have more ways to build trust with the consumer.

Here are some advices and recommendations to build trust for your online store.

• Get a good looking website design.                                                                             First impression counts a lot in online marketing.

• Use a reputable payment gateway service                                                               You need a trusted online payment system known by your costumers like Paypal or Worldpay

• Publish testimonials from your real and satisfied customers                                          It’s ten times more powerful and convincing

• Create a professional blog about your business

• Get a SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate or a third party trust mark                          In order to increase the costumer trust with more security proofs

• Tell in detail on how you rule your business

• Make your store listed as a high quality one                                                                 Not as a spam website

• Tell your clients your contact details                                                                              Your headquarters address, phone number …

• Reply ALL your e-mail inquiries                                                                                           If you do not answer you will not be taken seriously

By doing all of that, your customer will trust your website and your company. Then he or she will keep buying online.

Safe online payment is a red-button issue in the e-commerce. Here is a advertisement of Click and pay, an online payment system that emphasize on its safety.

An other fact is that nowadays, people trust more online payment than social media so we will have to monitor the new prepaid card system that Facebook launched recently in the United-States.

Finally, I think that I’m going to buy this book I wanted from France and online because according to me, the company and the website used are trustable.

Lucas Blanc

The Zero Moment Of Truth

With my mother’s birthday coming up this weekend I decided I wanted to do something special for her, and she’s always talked about having a mother/daughter spa day. So, when planning her birthday present I decided to Google spas in Ottawa, and reviews for those spas, and it influenced my decision. Because that’s what you do now, and that’s why businesses have taken such an interest in the zero moment of truth. This is the moment when you look up a product or service you’re interested in before you actually purchase it.

In the past, there was a very clear mental model for marketing which started with the stimulus where a person sees an advertisment that catches their attention. This stage still exists, but while the next stage used to be the first moment of truth which takes place at the shelf in the store, there is now a new step, the zero moment of truth. This step exists because consumers have already researched products online and made their decision before they enter the store due to consumer reviews. In a study done by Google, 84% of shoppers said that the zero moment of truth moved them from undecided to decided

Word of Mouth

With word of mouth online stronger than ever, a business’s online presence can make or break them. Pre-shopping is becoming a large part of consumer behaviour and therefore businesses need to make sure that their product or service is available to the consumer at their zero moment of truth. By doing this, their customers will find them when they are thinking about buying.

So, what do they mean when they are saying word of mouth online?

• Consumers talking through Facebook, Twitter, YouTube
• Review sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor
• Food blogs
• Message boards
• Seller ratings in search results

The thing that is setting this type of word of mouth apart is that it is no longer one person telling another and then that person telling their friends; it is one person telling thousands of people. The amount of people you are reaching through word of mouth online is exponential.

One of the best ways that a business can use the zero moment of truth is to look at what people are talking about and to engage and exchange. The main reason for the ZMOT is that people are looking for more information. By engaging with customers and exchanging information, you can change them from undecided to decided on your product.

I personally believe that the zero moment is truth is something that all businesses, established or just starting out, cannot afford to overlook. The buyer-seller relationship is shifting. Before, businesses were seeking out customers and finding information on them, and now the roles have switched. The best way for a business to adapt to this is to be there when customers come looking.

Cailin Sadler

Also, here’s an interesting video that provides more information on the zero moment of truth!

Hype vs. Adoption

In the article Rethinking ‘Crossing The Chasm’  by Alex Iskold, the author discusses the idea that the vast increase in high-tech products and rapid technological advances threaten the traditional view of a business ‘crossing the chasm’. He argues this by stating an abundance of products compete for the early adopters attention. And the attention of the early adopter segment is crucial as they are essentially the chain that links to the early majority and mass market.

The mention of the rapid growth of technology and competition for attention got me thinking, how do these early adopters discover new products and what makes them actually adopt them?

Sticking with the theme of rapid technology growth, I think the boom in the use of social media such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram has even further widened the competition for attention but at the same time has developed a platform for members of ALL segments in the technology-adoption curve to discuss and promote a new product. But the question remains, is discussion and ‘hype’ of a product enough? And how can this ‘hype’ be transformed into actual adoption of a new product, instead of merely discussion?

The Hype Cycle

One way to answer these questions is to examine what is known as the Hype Cycle created by Gartner Research. To my (very limited) knowledge of the hype cycle, the main purpose is to decipher the hype of new technology and to weed out the losers from the winners. The cycle consists of five parts as taken directly from Gartner’s website:

 

Technology Trigger: A potential technology breakthrough kicks things off. Early proof-of-concept stories and media interest trigger significant publicity. Often no usable products exist and commercial viability is unproven.

Peak of Inflated Expectations: Early publicity produces a number of success stories—often accompanied by scores of failures. Some companies take action; many do not.

Trough of Disillusionment: Interest wanes as experiments and implementations fail to deliver. Producers of the technology shake out or fail. Investments continue only if the surviving providers improve their products to the satisfaction of early adopters.

Slope of Enlightenment: More instances of how the technology can benefit the enterprise start to crystallize and become more widely understood. Second- and third-generation products appear from technology providers. More enterprises fund pilots; conservative companies remain cautious.

Plateau of Productivity: Mainstream adoption starts to take off. Criteria for assessing provider viability are more clearly defined. The technology’s broad market applicability and relevance are clearly paying off.

So as shown above, it is often the case that hype can over exaggerate a new technology before it is proven. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as it can potentially eliminate the weaker technologies and concentrate user focus on the more appropriate technologies. Another positive aspect of ‘hype’ is the abundance of information it can provide. As I mentioned above, social media has drastically enhanced the ability to discuss and promote a product. Using this hype, businesses will be able to better detect whom is more likely to become an early adopter of their product and therefore better target their needs via segmentation and forming persona’s.

Conclusion

So, is hype really all a new technology needs to cross the chasm? Probably not. But if looked at correctly, it can serve as an opportunity to target early adopters and concentrate their focus, which is a necessary step in creating a successful link to the mass market.

Sean McArthur

On a side note, here is an interesting (but terrible quality video) of a visual representation of crossing the chasm. Check it out!