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What
is the World Wide Web?
The
core of the World Wide Web (WWW or Web) is a special language
and set of protocols for receiving, sending, and displaying
information via the Internet. This is called HTTP (HyperText
Transfer Protocol. Contrary to what many people imagine,
the Web is not a physical entity. A good analogy might
be to think of the Internet as the telephone system, and
the WWW as the way in which you use the telephone (dial
seven digits, wait for the person to answer, speak, and
so on). The Internet is the physical network, and the WWW
is one of the ways it is used.
The
term "Web" stems from the way in which HTML
(HyperText Markup Language, the language of the WWW)
works. Hypertext is a system that enables a programmer
to make simple text interactive by allowing it to directly
refer to something else. For instance, a line of text
in an encyclopedia might define the Chesapeake Bay Retriever
as "a breed of dog originally from the Chesapeake
Bay region of the Eastern United States." The same
definition in hypertext might look this way: "a
breed of dog originally from the Chesapeake Bay region
of the Eastern United States.
What
Is Effective Marketing Communication for your web business?
The basic components of marketing are the four
Ps: Product (design and development of the product), Price
(determining the price), Place (selection and design of
distribution channels to reach a market), and Promotion
(all aspects of generating or enhancing demand for the
product, including, but not limited to, advertising). For
the most part, the marketing communications (marcom) we
are discussing in relation to the WWW focuses on the fourth
P, promotion. However, by use of the WWW, design, development,
pricing, and distribution can all be addressed.
Many
people think of marketing as simply advertising, and
although advertising is a crucial part of marketing,
it is only one aspect. We prefer an overall approach.
When we speak of marcom, short for marketing communications,
we are addressing advertising, publicity, customer service,
interoffice communications, and a whole variety of other
ways in which information is transferred.
For
the purpose of this statement, marcom can be defined
as "any and all communications that lead to the
presentation of goods or services for commercial sale." Putting
an ad in the paper is advertising; writing a press release
is publicity; visibly contributing to the local zoo is
public relations, and keeping in touch with clients is
customer relations. All of these things fall under the
umbrella of marketing.
Current
Internet Statistics— Who's Out There?
Any good marketing campaign needs to address the
issue of demographics. Demographics use statistical information
to help define a market. These statistics are generally
collected via benchmarking or surveys, which are then extrapolated
to paint a picture of the entire audience. Before we look
into the Internet itself, let's discuss how statistics
work in general.
" Four
out of five dentists use Brand-X!" Wow, Brand-X
must be really good, right? Or maybe Brand-X is sent
free to dentists, and when asked if they had used the
sample, 80 percent of the dentists said yes, they had
tried it. The statistic is still "true," but
it just doesn't have the same impact if you say "Four
out of five dentists used our free sample!" Or how
about: "Studies show, no aspirin is stronger than
Bitter Aspirin"? Well, the studies show that
no aspirin is weaker, either; aspirin is aspirin.
In
surveys and tests, the actual data and the way in which
that data is presented (the extrapolation) can vary wildly.
There is a science to statistics that is based on the
idea that by collecting enough data, you can apply that
data to the entire population. However, the science and
protocols used in statistical studies are open enough
to allow for erroneous information.
Imagine
you performed a telephone survey in which you asked people
whether they put their toilet paper on the roller overhand
or underhand. When you were finished, say you had 10,000
responses from across the United States (which is a statistically
significant number). Of the 10,000, say 75 percent of
the respondents hung their toilet paper overhand. Does
this mean that 75 percent of the people in the United
States hang their toilet paper that way? No, it doesn't.
What
this survey would show is that 75 percent of the type
of people who would have taken the time to answer the
survey hang their toilet paper that way. See the difference?
So there is a big issue concerning the way in which data
is collected, as CommerceNet/Nielsen found out.
Key
Conclusions of an Internet Usage Study
-
Over
200 million persons aged 16 and over in the United
States and Canada have access to the Internet.
-
There
is a sizable base of Internet users in the United States
and Canada.
-
Over
100 million Internet users (16 years of age or older)
- Over
30 million WWW users (36 years of age or older)
-
WWW
users are a key target for business applications.
- They
are upscale, professional, and well educated.
- Approximately
50 million people have made purchases using the WWW.
- The
Internet is skewed male in terms of both usage and users.
- Access
through work is an important factor for both the Internet
and online services.
- Internet
users average 5 hours and 28 minutes per week on the
Internet.
- Total
Internet usage exceeds usage of online services and is
approximately equivalent to the playback time per person
of rented videotapes.
- The
use of the Internet differs from that of commercial online
services.
- Internet-based
seldom represent the population as a whole.
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