CIS191 Spring 2010 Comments here

To comment on the Social Networking Online Auction assignment simply add a comment to this post. Don't forget to cut and paste a copy on Blackboard for a grade.

CIS191 Late Post Assignment here

CIS 191 Late students post here by selecting "Post a comment." Post a copy of your comment on Blackboard then reply to two other students' posts on Blackboard so I can see your work.

191 Regular Start

Put your comments about Social Networking and Online Auction here if your class started Aug. 24, 2009.

Google Adwords Basic Grammar

Below is the basic vernacular for anyone who uses Google Adwords. Please take the time to familiarize yourself with these terms and try to understand them in the context of creating a paid Google Ad Campaign

Ad Rank
An ad's position is based on its Ad Rank, which is determined by your keyword(s) and Ad Group's maximum cost-per-click (CPC) times the matched keyword's Quality Score. For the top positions above Google search results, however, we use your ad's actual CPC to determine its position.
Click-Through-Rate (CTR)
Click-Through-Rate (CTR) is the number of clicks your ad receives divided by the number of times your ad is shown (impressions).
Conversion
When a user completes an action on your site, such as buying something or requesting more information.
Conversion Rate (CR)
The number of conversions divided by the number of ad clicks. Conversions can be calculated through Google and some Google Network partners. Conversion Rates can also be tracked on the hosting server independently of Google using appropriate coding techniques.
Cost-Per-Click (CPC)
The pricing structure used by some online channels to charge an advertiser each time a user clicks on the advertiser's ad. The amount is usually set by the advertiser, not by the channel.
See pay-per-click (PPC).
Daily Budget
The amount to spend on a specific AdWords campaign each day.
AdWords displays your ad as often as possible while staying within your daily budget. When the budget limit is reached, your ads will typically stop showing for that day
Destination URL
When you create your ad, you'll specify a display URL and a destination URL. The
destination URL is the exact URL within your website that you want to send users to from your ad.
Display URL
This is the URL displayed on your ad to identify your site to users. The green text in the sample ad below is the display URL. Users clicking on this ad have a clear idea of the website or landing page to which they'll be taken when they click on that ad.
Keyword
The keywords you choose for a given Ad Group are used to target your ads to potential
customers.
https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal?defaultView=3
Landing Page
An active web page where customers will 'land' when they click your ad. The web address for this page is often called a 'destination URL' or 'clickthrough URL.'
Pay-Per-Click (PPC)
The pricing structure used by some online channels to charge an advertiser each time a user clicks on the advertiser's ad. The amount is usually set by the advertiser, not by the channel.
See cost-per-click (CPC).
Prospect
A candidate: someone who is considered for something (in the context of this book, a
potential customer or client)
Return on Investment (ROI)
The benefit gained in return for the cost of your ad campaign. Although exact measurement is nearly impossible, your clickthrough rate and your conversion rate combined with your
advertising costs, can help you assess the ROI of your campaign.
URL - (Uniform Resource Locator)
The address/location of a webpage or file on the Internet.

Having reviewed the above you should have no problem understanding the following:

I recommend that in order to increase the number and quality of prospects from your adword campaigns you should always institute some means of conversion tracking through Google conversion tracking or the like. Knowing the click through rates gives you no information regarding ROI.

Translation:
The real measure of the success of an adword campaign is not the number of people that saw the ad or clicked on it but the number of people that clicked on the ad and then MADE A PURCHASE. If you can't tell which ads are generating sales and which are just getting clicks you cannot optimize your marking campaigns.

Once you have established a means of tracking your conversion rates, then you should create a series of keyword focused campaigns with minimal daily budgets and reasonable CPC so your ads will be visible on the first page and your destination URL should be directed to a landing page that reflects the product or service you are advertising.

Translation:
Once you can track sales, then you should create a series of Google Ads with low daily budgets and a reasonable cost per click that will enable your ad to show on the first page of search results and the ad should link directly to the page of your web site where your product or service is sold.

A good technique for increasing ROI for your various campaigns is to create 2-3 ad variations for each keyword campaign and then track the resultant click through rates and conversions. Compare the results and invest and make changes accordingly.

Translation:
Make 2-3 variations on each ad observe the changes in the number clicks and resultant sales. Based on this information, put more money on the campaigns that make more money than they cost and change or eliminate those that don't.

Revolutionary new way to compute

Today Microsoft announced the development of a new kind of tabletop computer that operates totally through touch screen. The touchscreen part is not that groudbreaking but the way this computer interfaces with other devices placed on it is. Check it out in Popular Mechanics. Here's a video demonstration:

Flow and E-Commerce

While getting my Master's in Educational Technology at SDSU we studied Csikszentmihalyi's Flow theory as it related to Educational Gaming. It's something that also applies to the creation of a shopping Web site. The point being, if a site is too challenging (difficult to navigate, confusing) or if it's not engaging at all (boring) people won't want to go there. Finding the right mix of challenge and fun will help those who visit your site get into a "flow," a place where they are so engaged in what they are doing that they forget about time and the outside world.

Below is a segment of an article from informit.com about optimizing flow in Web design. I found it fascinating. It points out that for those serious about creating sites where people love to shop there's more to it than catchy graphics.

An Interview with Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

To find out more about flow, speed, and web design, I talked to Dr. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, who popularized the notion of flow.

Andy King: You talk about immediate feedback being a prerequisite for the flow state. How does speed of interaction influence flow?

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: If you mean the speed at which the program loads, the screens change, the commands are carried out—then indeed speed should correlate with flow. If you are playing a fantasy game, for instance, and it takes time to move from one level to the next, then the interruption allows you to get distracted, to lose the concentration on the alternate reality. You have time to think: "Why am I wasting time on this? Shouldn't I be taking the dog for a walk, or studying?"—and the game is over, psychologically speaking.

King: Responsive feedback of an activity and feelings of control go hand in hand. Can you elaborate on that?

Csikszentmihalyi: Actually it's not so much the "feeling" of control, as the fact that you can act without thinking, without interruption, and making your own choices (for example, BEING in control). If a computer program has a mind of its own, is not responsive to your commands, or is so slow as to appear to be a moron, then you are again brought back to "reality" and lose flow.

King: Has your definition of flow changed over the years?

Csikszentmihalyi: The only change has been that we found it takes above average challenges AND skills to get into flow. Also, there seem to be individual differences so that some people prefer to be in control (that is, high skill, moderate challenge) to being in flow.

King: You said that web sites should be like a gourmet meal to enable flow. Can you elaborate?

Csikszentmihalyi: What I meant is that like in a good meal, you should have varieties of tastes and textures, metaphorically speaking.

King: What do you think the key attributes would be of web sites that enable flow?

Csikszentmihalyi: The key attribute is that it should be very user-friendly and transparent at first, but one should immediately be able to find complexity in it, so as to find quickly the right level of opportunities for "action" that match one's skills. These "challenges" include the visual aspects as well as the content.

Shopping Site Design

Hoffman, Novak, and Yung performed an additional survey on web shopping using a list of features that shoppers found important on the Internet. They found customer support to be very important for a "smooth" shopping experience. Speed plays a role in a compelling shopping experience, contributing significantly to ease of contact and variety.

Variety and quality of information are important to consumers. Shoppers don't want cutting-edge technology, however. It just gets in the way of consumer goals.

Final Project Proposal

I've posted a simple e-commerce site that I built last week. It has an off site shopping cart, an asp survey form and rather graphics intensive design. This was a low cost site with basic e-commerce capabilities. The client is pleased with it. Personally, I can do much better but there was no budget for a marketing analysis or content development so encouraged them to provide better materials and then did the best I could to make it look good.

The site is located www.proshuffler.com

The product is a professional grade card shuffler which is competing with machines that cost 10 times as much.

Currently, the product is taking pre-orders the client expects to have the production models available by late June.

I was hoping to have my new site done but business has been good and I did not have the time.
I have been reformulating my entire business strategy and expect the new site to be very effective.