Wendy Slopsema

CISB 204 Lesson 2

Case Problem 1: Smash Hits Recording Studio

Unique Recording has a more professional web presence although I was not impressed with it. It was complete with pictures of the studios and available recording equipment. The list of artists which have used their studios is quite impressive and may be a place I would use if and when I would think of recording an album. The things I didn't like is their logo and other homepage features made the page very busy. The spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, images that don't show up, and images used to show links which are unconnected to the links themselves, make it seem very amateurish and not at all professional.

Dog House had a worse web presence, with an inconsistent web site, with different backgrounds, different logos if present at all, but it did have a search site for different musical CDs or selections. I did like the fact that their backgrounds for the most part was fairly simple and uncluttered, but many times it looked as though it was different websites instead of belonging to the same company. Their pictures were tacky and not professional at all, it would have been better if they used real graphics and a more professional logo.

I would suggest to Janice to make sure what kind of website she would like and exactly what she wants her company to portray, something fun and frivolous, or serious and professional. Whereas a company can have fun and still be professional looking, e.g.. Coca Cola, having too much stuff can often be just that, too much stuff. Simple and clean can speak much more highly for a company and may draw a higher caliber of clientele.

CASE PROBLEM 2: Charitable Organizations

  I picked the American Red Cross because we would like our son to take a Babysitters Training Course now that he is almost 13yrs old. The National site is really neat and they had a search for "Your Local Red Cross" available by just entering a Zip Code. Our local site came up fairly quickly but it was fairly difficult to find the classes, times were unavailable, and had not been updated for a while. I was able to enter my son's name and an address for a course selection book and kind of signed him up for the course although a real registration will be coming in the mail soon. The National site was very interesting with a lot of interesting stories about how the Red Cross is helping people with all kinds of differing areas of need and tragedy to helping people with information about what to do in a power outage and how to keep perishable foods safe. It is very neat and organized, and was very informative, and was a pleasure to skim through.

2.)  Usability Testing 

Webby Award Winner and Sucky Award Winner posted on BB Feb 13th, 2001

3.)  The Nature of Communication on the Web

The thesis that I finally picked was #12. There are no secrets. The networked market knows more than companies do about their own products. And whether the news is good or bad, they tell everyone. As so many of the theses pointed toward, communication between humans is very free and honest. "Corporations do not speak in the same voice as these new networked conversations. To their intended online audiences, companies sound hollow, flat, literally inhuman. In just a few more years, the current homogenized "voice" of business—the sound of mission statements and brochures—will seem as contrived and artificial as the language of the 18th century French court. Already, companies that speak in the language of the pitch, the dog-and-pony show, are no longer speaking to anyone." Many of their points all point to the same made in #12, that the consumer market knows all about or can find out from innumerable other sources everything about a given product, and that the secrecy of a corporation only makes them inhuman and out of touch with their market with whom they hope to build a relationship with. Public Relations does not relate to the public. "Companies are deeply afraid of their markets. By speaking in language that is distant, uninviting, arrogant, they build walls to keep markets at bay. Most marketing programs are based on the fear that the market might see what's really going on inside the company."

4.) Identifying and Reaching Customers

http://www.yahoo.com/

I went to Yahoo! because I already have a personalized site there. They have asked in the past about my address and Zip Code and they provide a homepage if I want it with all the daily news articles, weather, stocks, sports, and Internet Reports that maybe of interest to me. It's really neat, and they're better than the AOL Homepage I have that doesn't do half as much. 

5.) Online Stores -- Affiliating

I went to Priceline.com  and checked out their affiliate program As an affiliate, they will pay you 1% of net revenue each time a visitor from your Web site posts a bound offer using priceline.com's airline, hotel, or rental car services. They will pay you $20.00 every time a visitor from your Web site has a confirmed sale using the New Car service. Also, you will receive a one-time bonus of $10.00 following the first month your participation in the priceline.com Affiliate Network generates a bound offer or confirmed sale. Joining their affiliate program is fairly easy join but they can either accept you or reject you for any reason and they review your website to see if it complies with their standards. They are affiliated with its authorized agent, Linkshare Corporation and you are paid on a monthly basis with differing amounts for different types of sales and incentives. They describe their process as being three easy steps:

  Fill out the easy Online Application.

  Once they accept your application, they'll provide you with all the tools you need.

If you are accepted, they consider you to be an independent contractor you will be solely and entirely responsible for any and all taxes and/or other fees or obligations associated with the receipt of your payment. 

Since I am not in a position to embark on a commercial venture, I didn't signup for it's affiliate program for my website and I think I would wait till I was actually doing something that would be doing something on a more professional basis and then perhaps take a program that has something to do with what I'm interested in, and then only after seeing what they believe in, stand for, and perhaps even (if possible) what kinds of other programs they sponsor.

6.) Domain Name System --

  Obtaining an Internet Domain Name from Network Solutions

At Network Solutions I applied for a dot.com address and the following options were given:

slopsema.com
slopsema.net
slopsema.tv
slopsema.org
myslopsema.com
e-slopsema.com
aboutslopsema.com
slopsemaonline.com
slopsemacentral.com

A .COM address is $35 dollars and .TV is $50. .NET is on sale for $30 and a .ORG is on sale for $25 for a Web site and an e-mail address can be added as well that matches my domain name or can also work with my present e-mail address.

Review of your purchase is given and also provides information about purchasing. They also provide ways in order to learn how to turn your site into an E-Commerce site by accessing free guides and free product trials for Web professionals.

  Obtaining an Internet Domain Name from FirstDomain.net

FirstDomain.net is an internationally recognized non-profit registrar organization, accredited by ICANN as an official registrar for domains in  .COM .NET .ORG    A competitor for Network Solutions and better prices for you! ONLY: US $50 per domain name for 2 years, including all CORE and InterNic fees! They offer free domain registrar services

Slopsema.com

Slopsema.net

Slopsema.org  are all available if I would wish to claim my own personal website.

  Obtaining an Internet Domain Name from BetterWhoIs.com

Part of a 6 Step Process in registering your domain name is to determine its availability below. Free email, 3-page Web site and URL Forwarding with each name registered.

These were the websites that were available for us along with a bunch of other options that were also available. These also included the last three types .ws, .tv, .cc, which were not available at some of the other sites I visited. The prices are as listed below:

$20/1 year, $20 each 1 year after
$40/2 years, $40 each 2 years after
$100/5 years, $100 each 5 years after
$200/10 years, $200 each 10 years after

Note:

At the time of renewal you may select to renew your registration for a 1, 2, 5 or 10 year term.

  7.) Specifying Style Dynamically

Wendy Slopsema

VC CISB204 -- Spring

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