Homework for 04/24/11

Questions to answer today regarding Google Analytics...

1.) Which statistics do you feel are most important and why?
     Overall, I think the data from the "Traffic Sources"  tab would be the most useful if I was developing a new online business.  Seeing a spike in direct traffic might be an indicator that advertising through traditional print methods (e.g.; newspaper ads, direct mailers, leaflets delivered door-to-door) were being successful; and search engine results would let me know if I was including the right keywords in the metadata for my pages, to make sure people who are looking for my goods or services were successfully finding me.  Seeing which websites are referring viewers to me would also help me to figure out which other sites I might want to continue banner exchanges with, or come up with other mutually beneficial arrangements.
     The Dashboard data covering the length of visit and bounce rate would also be very useful, because it would give good indicators of whether new content or changes to the presentation of that content are helping to drive new business or keep potential customers on longer.

2.) What statistic would you like to see that may not already be there?
     I'm having a hard time coming up with statistics I'd like to see that AREN'T already on the site -- it seems to be pretty comprehensive and offer a wide range of data for any number of business models.

3.)  How can this information be used to assist in developing an organization's e-commerce strategies?
     Well, if we're talking about the hypothetical children's game/book website that I intend to develop a business plan for my final project, this site would be very helpful for suggesting to me where I could best direct my efforts for developing content.  Creating animations and games can be very time consuming and labor-intensive, so it would make sense to try to concentrate on the sorts of edutainment that people are most interested in looking at, as indicated by the number of visitors to each page and the amount of time spent there.  If kids like playing the games but aren't going to see the animated storybooks, then I can concentrated on making more and better games and limit the number of animations.  And seeing where customers who are interested in purchasing books are surfing in from would be useful, say, if I was planning a tour to promote a new print book -- I'd want to hit the markets where people seem to be most interested in my work.

Homework for Chapter 8

1.) Most electronic commerce Web sites use a three-tier client/server architecture.  In about 100 words, explain why they do and briefly describe what happens in the third tier of most electronic commerce Web sites.

The third tier typically contains databases and applications which it can use to search for, retrieve, and process information.  It then returns the content created to the web server so that the second tier can format the data to generate dynamic web pages. 

2.) Describe and briefly discuss two important measures of a Web site's performance.

One of the most important measures of a Web site's performance to measure is the number of users the server can handle simultaneously.  An accurate measure can sometimes be difficult to make, since it's dependent on the bandwidth of the Internet connection between server and client and the size of the Web pages being delivered.  The two factors to evaluate when measuring the server's capability are the throughput, which is the number of HTTP requests that a hardware/software configuration can process in a given length of time; and response time, which is the length of time it takes to process a single request. 

3.) In one paragraph, outline the main differences between a typical desktop PC and a computer that would be suitable to use as a Web server for a small web site.

Typically, a web server computer is going to have more memory, a faster processor, and larger hard drives that can access data more quickly than a desktop PC.  They will often have multiple processors.  While some servers are standalone models, most are designed to be stackable or mountable on a standard 19-inch A/V rack.  These higher-capacity computers with multiple memory and data storage units will also tend to be more expensive -- perhaps 2-3 times as much as a regular desktop model.

E2: Using the W3C link checker:

I tried using the link checker on the front page of the wbe site for one of my favorite MMORPG's, Champions Online:

http://www.champions-online.com

From this, I learned something very interesting: there is a file called /robots.txt that you can add to a web page that will (in most cases) keep web robots that are prowling the Internet from visiting your site!  You can learn more about the file (and get a copy of it, should you wish to use it in your own pages) here:

http://www.robotstxt.org/robotstxt.html

It seems like the file would have some uses, but web robots can be coded to specifically ignore the file, so it should not be used to try to safeguard sensitive data or anything like that.  The search also located a link with a malformed URL, and another link that used a method that was not supported by the link checker.

Chapter 7 Homework

1.) Why is Nissan Motor Co. so concerned about the use of the domain names nissan.com and nissan.net and how could monetary damages judgment of $10 could be justified?

The Nissan Motor Company was so concerned because the two sites represented a means of reaching potentially millions of customers who are interested in their product.  By not securing the rights to those names, it creates the appearance that Nissan is behind the times in terms of communications technology and careless in terms of maintaining their brand name, both of which would hurt the company's image in the eyes of potential customers. People who go to those sites expecting to find information about Nissan cars and instead reaching the site of the computer company might also become frustrated and look to another car company whose products are easier to find, which would also hur their bottom line.  There is also the risk of the owners using the sites to libel the company to people who might otherwise have a favorable opinion of the company.  A damages judgment of $10 million might seem excessive, until you consider how many millions the corporation spends in advertising for their products and brand name, and the potential audience reached by those two web addresses.

2.) In about 200 words, provide an outline of the ethics of the position taken by Uzi Nissan in this dispute.

Mr. Uzi Nissan has an established record, going back to when he founded his first company, "Nissan Foreign Car", in 1980 (before Datsun had even changed his name to Nissan) of naming his companies after his family name.  His current business of computer sales and consulting had virtually no overlap with the Nissan Motor Company, so there was little chance of Mr. Nissan engaging in deceptive trade practices, capitalizing on the Nissan Motors brand name for his own gain.  Since Mr. Nissan made no comments at all about Nissan Motors, he could not be said to be defaming Nissan Motors through the ownership and ownership of the domains, either.  Finally, because "Nissan" was the owner's family name, he had a basic right to use that name to represent his own products and services to the public.

3.) In about 200 words, provide an outline of the ethics of the position taken by Nissan Motor Co. in this dispute.

Nissan Motor's argument was that, in the minds of the general public, the name "Nissan" is already associated far more readily with the car company than the computer company.  As such, Nissan Motors would suffer far greater damage to their brand name and image by confused consumers being unable to find Nissan Motors' website, than Mr. Nissan would suffer by having to switch to a different domain.  Nissan Motors could also argue that because Mr. Nissan did not respond to or even acknowledge the attempts at contact by Nissan Motors' legal department, there was a legitimate concern that his intentions were not ethical for the future use of the web domains.  It was reasonable for Nissan Motors to try to protect itself from future use of the websites to confuse customers or libel Nissan Motors.

4.) If you believe that the courts' decisions in this case are fair to the parties and the general public, explain why in about 200 words.  If you believe the courts' decisions are not fair, outline a decision (in about 200 words) that you believe would be fair.

I think the courts' decisions were reasonable.  It sounded like an attempt to split the difference -- Mr. Nissan did not deserve to pay any punitive damages, since he was not using his website to confuse customers or disparage Nissan Motors; and forcing Mr. Nissan to do his computer business under a new name would keep Nissan Motors' potential customers from being confused over the names.  To avoid the appearance of might making right and a multi-billion dollar corporation steamrollering over the small businessman, it makes sense to force both companies to do business using their second choice for a website name, if they cannot come to an agreement for sale of the domain.