Topic 3 - Web Development

Web Development

Case Study: 4.10 Happy Cog and Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation

1. What role did navigation and usability play in the redesign of the website?

One of the major changes was that three main areas were identified these were selecting a destination, building an itinerary and obtaining information about the city. Usability of the site was also upgraded with keeping the information on the front page to a minimum and also choosing colours that worked well. Through the adding of links to theire social media sites also makes it easier for individuals to stay in touch with the content. Along with this a great new asset to the website is the change in URL address as this gives it more visibility in the search engine and more chance of reaching mass' yet also greater chances of individuals clicking on the link.

2. Why was the addition of social layers important in the redesign?

It was important to add the social layers of facebook, twitter etc as this brings in a whole new audience and can attract a whole new demographic to the website which previously may have been unaware it even existed.These pages also offer discounts and keep up to date information which might entice previous visitors back for another visit. With the excessive use of social media these days they would have be crazy not to add them on their page as it is free and a great chance to reach a wider audience/gain publicity.

3. Why did the developers decide to consolidate the content management platforms?

They consolidated the content management platforms because they had to migrate hundreds of entries manually before hand which could lead to mistakes and failures in the website.

The process of utilising one sole content management platform (EE) meant that they could code it all together to make sure the real copy of the website wouldn’t breakdown once it had been coded. It also minimised time on making the site as tasks could be distributed greater by working on the front and back end of the pages at the same time.

4. Having considered the case study, discuss in general terms what role you now understand a website plays in an overall digital marketing strategy.

The internet has so much power in getting across to all individuals and audience types. The website is usually the first place an individual will look when trying to find specific information therefore can and should be used as an anchor point for any business. This shows why it is so important that the website is clear and easy to navigate and understand yet also be visually appealling as it is as easy as a click away to go to another website. A successful website will be able to convert some website viewers into customers and repeat customers as through market research they should understand and aim to reach their viewers desired wants and needs from the company.



Week 2 Crowdsourcing

Crowdsourcing

1.What is the definition of crowdsourcing?

Crowdsourcing is taking a job traditionally performed by a professional and distributing it to an undefined, generally large group of people in the form of an open call.

2. What is the difference between the wisdom of the crowd and crowdsourcing?

Wisdom of the crowd is when the overall crowds ideas are used for their knowledge, skills and opinions instead of just one individuals. The difference between this and crowdsourcing is that with crowdsourcing individual ideas maybe chosen from the crowd and then those specific individuals are then rewarded for their contribution.

3. What are the benefits of crowdsourcing for both consumers and brands?

There are many benefits to using crowdsourcing as a form of receiving information about products and certain solutions. Some of these benefits can include;

• Lets the consumers have their input
• It lets the consumer feel involved and apart of the organisation
• It brings with it new ideas
• Can be low cost for the organisation
• Can help build a positive relationship with the consumers
• It can reach consumers/mass' all over the world
• Its quick and easy

4. Examples of crowdsourcing:

The example found was Poptent, the link for this is http://www.poptent.net/ . This was attention grabbing as it is a video advertising site which presents concepts of crowdsourcing. This seems quite successful as it can incorporate creative and attention grabbing posts.


5. Explore the 99designs site: http://99designs.com.au/

What is your opinion and do you think there are any ethical considerations?

I think this website is very worthwhile for the person wanting a design as it gives them the chance to receive many designs all at a low cost instead of just one. The other side to it though is with the people who are actually creating the designs. They only will get paid if they win the competition and they also lose their copyright privileges once the product is accepted.

Week 1

Task 1 - Seth Godin Preface

"I don’t think you’ll learn much from this textbook.
It’s nothing specific–I actually don’t think you can learn how to market from any textbook. As marketing textbooks go, this is a very good one, but still, it’s not going to work."

The quote above is the preface of Seth Godin's book 'eMarketing' he therefore writes that he believes that marketing is not something you can learn from scratch from a textbook and that it's all about passion, nuance, experimentation and experience.

What are your thoughts?
I think what Seth is saying is that simply studying marketing and reading text books does not make you a good marketer, you need to have a passion for it and be willing to get out there and experience what marketing really is. He isn't saying that you can't learn anything from a text book, he is saying that the only way to become a great marketer is through experiences in conjunction with and to reinforce theory yet also have a passion for it and gain experience in the field yet also experiment within marketing.

5 terms that are new to me:

-Online Reputation Management (ORM): monitoring your reputation on the Internet by measuring and tracking mentions of your product or organisation and then being able to respond quickly.

-Cluetrain Manifesto: a set of 95 theses organised and put forward as a call to action for an organisation who is operating in a market place who is only newly connected.

-Crowdsourcing: is the actions of collaborative information sharing and collaborative approaches to problem solving.

-Search Engine Optimisation: Is used to improve and change a websites ranking within a search engine and the results it generates.

-Pay Per Click: An online advertising scheme on search engine websites where the advertiser only pays when someone physically clicks on their advert.

 

Task 2 - Case Study: The Best Job In The World

1. Why do you think this campaign garnered such impressive media coverage? I believe that this campaign received such impressive media coverage because of its unique aspect and innovative promotion methods such as the use of social media. It's title and ability to reach such mass audiences created such a buzz amongst the whole population especially amongst applicants and in the end basically advertised itself as thousands of applicants posted videos and blogs all over the internet.

 

2. How did Tourism Queensland and SapientNitro approach the challenge of marketing across eight international markets? They used the internet and techniques such as small display ads and links from employment websites. Mainstream press and blog articles also aided in the marketing.

 

3. What role did flexibility play in this campaign? The job decscription didn't contain any high level of qualifications or experience needed, the person simply needed to be outgoing and enthusiastic. This meant that it was flexible in the way that almost anybody could apply for the job and have a chance to get it and the process to applying was as simple as posting a video meaning it was available worldwide as a face-to-face application was not required.

 

4. How did the strategy leverage social media as a tool for engagement? People could send links to their friends via social media such as Facebook (of the webpage) and invite them to like or vote for their audition videos. This means that the website can be advertised to millions of people either directly or indirectly through the use of social media and viral advertising. This prompted more advertising agencies to embrace social media as a marketing tool through its ease of penetration to mass markets.

This is my new blog for the subject Emarketing i am completing at The University of Ballarat. I am new to blogging which could make this very interesting. Enjoy!