online file w16.1 siemens: 100 percent e...

Chapter Sixteen: Launching a Successful Online Business and EC Projects 1

ONLINE FILE W16.1

SIEMENS: 100 PERCENT E-BUSINESSSiemens AG is a 150-year-old diversified and global manufac-turer based in Germany. The company has 484,000 employeesdoing business in 190 countries, with 600 manufacturingand research and development facilities in more than 50countries. Its product lines and services are extremely varied.Besides its own 13 operating divisions, Siemens AG hasinterests in other companies in Europe and Japan. As if itdid not have enough going on, Siemens AG is also in themidst of a four-year transition into an “e-company.”

The transition strategy works toward supporting thecompany’s multiple supply chain operations. This multilocation,cross-industry worldwide company must restructure and stan-dardize all its business practices, including the key e-supportsystems that drive operational efficiency. Deployment of thosesystems has been implemented internally and externally, usingboth major system vendors and the company’s own ITresources. Working toward success in the digital economy,Siemens is improving e-commerce readiness by standardizingbusiness processes across multiple divisions. It also is redesigningits IT infrastructure to enable integration of best-of-breedsoftware, including solutions to support e-commerce in buy-side and sell-side transactions and supply chain managementintegrated into an enterprisewide platform.

In its 2000 fiscal year, the company saw its e-commercesales and e-procurement transactions reach 10 percent of itstotal sales and purchases, respectively. In 2001, online salesincreased by 20 percent, and e-procurement grew 50 percent.

Besides the transactional e-commerce, a basic componentof the e-strategy is an easily accessible central corporateknowledge base—a companywide storehouse for continuinguse of proven methodologies that are enhanced as knowledgeis gained through the transitional process.

In order to get an overall view of its separateoperations, Siemens adopted the Supply-Chain OperationsReference (SCOR) from the Supply-Chain Council(supplychain.org). SCOR is a computerized diagnostic toolthat helps companies analyze and communicate supplychain processes and improvements among all partners.The most recent version of SCOR includes a focus ondefined e-commerce practices. The program enabledSiemens to standardize all its business processes forconsistent analysis. The company went from over 300different applications to 29. Now all employees worldwideuse the same products and processes.

Using its own SAP R/3 systems (an ERP, see OnlineTutorial T3) along with i2 Technology and IBM software for

e-transition, the company is building functional systems thatconnect with the company’s upstream and downstream supplychain partners. i2’s Supply Chain Management (SCM) suite isused for both buy-side procurement and supply chain integra-tion; it optimizes customer order function, manufacturingresources, transportation, and routing and includes collaborative features for the suppliers involved. i2’s SupplierRelationship Management (SRM) suite supports collaborationin product development and life-cycle support. It supportsdirect procurement of materials that go into product manufac-ture. Both i2 products are value chain products, not e-businesssolutions. Therefore, Siemens applied i2’s infrastructure that isused over the Internet.

On the sell side, two IBM WebSphere Application Serversand WebSphere Commerce Suite are used. These are the foun-dation of the e-business infrastructure. Commerce Suite is asell-side software that enables Siemens to make applicationsalready in place e-business ready.

By April 2002, 300,000 employees were networkedthroughout the company, 85 percent of all employees haddirect access to the Internet, and an employee portal was inuse to offer workplace aids including search engines, forms,travel booking, and settling expenses electronically.

The transformation to an e-company and the managingof change will cost Siemens around US$1.3 billion by thetime the transition is completed. Former President and CEOHeinrich von Pierer said, “This will make us faster and helpus further cut costs. . . . All of this is aimed at meetingtoday’s e-economy directly, with the promise of operationaleconomies in return.”

Sources: Compiled from Schultz (2002) and siemens.com (accessedJanuary 2007).

Questions1. Describe the drivers of Siemens’s transformation to an

e-company.

2. What changes were needed for the transition to occur?

3. Enter software.ibm.com and find the e-transitionsoftware. Describe its capabilities.

4. How is the transformation related to SCM?

5. Why does such a large company use software vendorsinstead of building its own applications?

REFERENCE FOR ONLINE FILE W16.1Schultz, G. “Building Your Private Trading Exchange.”

SupplyChainBrain.com, March 2002. glscs.com/archives/3.02.PTX.htm?adcode=10 (accessed March 2005).siemens.com (accessed January 2007).

2 Part 6: EC Strategy and Implementation

Online File W16.2 Tips for Selecting Domain Names

The following are representative tips that may help you to select a useful domain name:

◗ Make it memorable. Use the company’s name, a product name, a brand name, or a generic word that describes the product orservice.

◗ Make it easy to spell. Spelling should be simple, easy, and straightforward. Avoid trick spellings because they may well trickpotential visitors into not finding the site. Consider acquiring “near names,” too. Near names are domain names that are similarenough that customers might mistype or misspell them and go elsewhere or nowhere. For example, Google owns google.com andautomatically redirects Web users who miss an o in Google to google.com.

◗ Avoid numbers and special characters, such as hyphens and underscores, unless there is a special reason, such as putting anexisting brand name online (e.g., 7-eleven.com).

◗ Keep the domain name short while maintaining a good, sensible name. A domain name should be eight letters or less, notincluding the .com or other suffix, because short domain names are easier to remember and type. Avoid acronyms unless theacronym is well-branded as part of the company name (e.g., cnn.com).

◗ Be flexible. If the perfect domain name is already taken, then consider creative variations. For example, Ryder Rental Trucks’sWeb site is budgettruck.com, named after its distinctive yellow trucks.

◗ Think about the future; do not let the name be too limiting. For example, the original mission of classmates.com was toreunite classmates from U.S. high schools. However, the business quickly found a market in colleges and universities aswell, and then the military and the workplace. CEO Michael Schutzer acknowledges that he would choose another namehad he started the business today. “Our business is more than high school reunions,” he says. “It is a personalnetwork for reconnecting people” (Taulli 2002). Similarly, Jeff Bezos selected Amazon.com as a nondescriptive name (e.g.,not “booksforsale.com”) because he envisioned that Amazon.com would also sell CDs, videos, clothes, and many moreproducts, not just books.

◗ Give each product its own name. If the business sells more than one product or service, consider buying a domain name foreach of them. Procter & Gamble, for example, has different sites for its many products—Tide laundry detergent (tide.com) andCrest toothpaste (crest.com) are two examples.

◗ Investigate the competition. Look at competitor domain names to create both a distinctive name and one that complies withany inherent industry standard.

◗ Avoid trademarked names or otherwise plan to end up in court.◗ Consider registering in more than one top-level domain (e.g., register the same name in the .com, .org, .biz, and .info top-level

domains).

Sources: Compiled from Kienan (2001), Taulli (2002), and O’Keefe (2002).

REFERENCES FOR ONLINE FILE W16.2Kienan, B. Managing Your E-Commerce Business. Redmond,

WA: Microsoft Press, 2001.O’Keefe, P. “Buy the Ultimate Domain Name.”

webmasterbase.com/article.php?aid=865&pid=0(no longer available online).

Taulli, T. “Dot-com Content That Works?” News.com,April 18, 2002. news.com.com/2010–1076–885735.html (no longer available online.)


Online File W16.3 Content-Related Vendors

Provided below is a list of representative content-related vendors.

◗ Documentum (documentum.com) offers robust content management products. It is especially well known for its support of thepharmaceutical and aerospace industries, where massive amounts of paper information are digitized and made available tomultiple parties, including government agencies.

◗ Microsoft (microsoft.com) offers a Content Management Server that features applications that can interoperate with theMicrosoft Office Suite and CommerceServer. Also, it fits companies using the .NET system. The software also is integrated withMicrosoft’s SharePoint portal server for complete enterprise content management.

◗ Vignette (vignette.com) is a dot-com survivor that specializes in personalization, content syndication, and portal functions. Ofspecial interest are its add-on analytical tools that help, for example, better predict customer behavior in order to createappropriate content.

◗ Interwoven (interwoven.com), another dot-com survivor, delivers content to the Web. Its MetaTagger categorization technologycreates automatic taxonomies for content.

◗ Opentext (opentext.com) is known for its Livelink. Livelink is a browser-based system that allows companies to search for andretrieve documents. It also enables workers to collaborate in real time via the Livelink MessageZone applications.

◗ Akamai (akamai.com) specializes in content delivery maximization.

Many other companies, such as Oracle, Digital Island, and IBM, also are involved in content management activities.

ONLINE FILE W16.4

E-NEWSLETTER PLANNING AND MANAGEMENTSimply e-mailing a newsletter to a private group in an e-mailprogram, such as Microsoft Outlook, is unsatisfactory becausethe size of the list will soon grow very large and becomeunwieldy. Also, there is the risk that the e-mail addresses ofsubscribers will be revealed to each other. Instead, e-maillist software, such as Listserv, Listproc, and Majordomo,owned by the Web site host can be used to compile andmaintain a list of subscribers. The software sends eachnewsletter individually so no subscriber knows who else is onthe mailing list.

Soliciting new subscribers to an e-newsletter is easy.Usually a sign-up box on the home page invites the site visi-tor to “subscribe to our newsletter” with a link to a pagethat provides details about the benefits of subscribing, pri-vacy policies, frequency of the newsletter, and sample issues.Similarly, a “send me your newsletter” check box can beincluded at the end of the order form. This process allows aWeb site visitor or customer to “opt in” to a subscription. Amore aggressive method of obtaining subscribers is to auto-matically join customers to the e-newsletter mailing list withan option to unsubscribe or “opt out.” Most customers con-sider opt out to be a form of spam; therefore, this approachis not recommended.

Over time, subscribers’ interests or e-mail addresseschange. Therefore, e-newsletters usually include an e-mailaddress or Web site link for subscribers who want to unsub-scribe from the e-newsletter. It may seem counterintuitive to

make it easy for subscribers to unsubscribe, but they willappreciate it, and a visible and automatic unsubscribeprocess minimizes management overhead.

Subscribers do not subscribe to e-newsletters justbecause they like getting e-mail, and they certainly do notsubscribe to satisfy the business’s goals of marketing theproduct or service. Instead, past and future customers sub-scribe because they believe they will receive content thatwill be of value to them. An e-newsletter offers a value-for-value exchange, where each party gets what it expects, aslong as it provides valuable information for the subscriber.

What is valuable information for the e-newsletter sub-scriber? The content of an e-newsletter needs to includeinformation—news, tips, announcements—that the sub-scriber can use. A business selling snowboards will soon losemost subscribers if the e-newsletter contains nothing butproduct information and hype about the company’s snow-boards. A more effective newsletter will contain articlesabout snowboarding as an Olympic sport, snowboard safety,and a list of regional snowboarding contests. News aboutproducts can be included but infrequently and in small pro-portion to the overall content.

The content of e-newsletters can come from Web sites,print sources, or even other newsletters as long as sourcesare properly cited or appropriate permissions are obtained.Brief summaries of news articles or press releases caninclude a link to the originating Web site, and the site

(continued)


ONLINE FILE W16.4 (continued)

owners usually will appreciate the free promotion. Web sitessuch as PRWeb (prweb.com) and Business Wire(businesswire.com) all collect press releases published on theWeb; these are a rich source of information for e-newsletters.An e-newsletter can also solicit subscribers to send in ideas,stories, and tips, with proper attribution to the contributor.The business benefits by receiving relevant content, andmost people are thrilled to see their name in print.

Making E-Newsletters PayE-newsletters are a standard feature of hundreds, perhapsthousands, of Web sites. Almost all Web site owners considerthese newsletters to be a promotion cost; that is, a pricepaid for capturing and holding the visitor’s attention. A rareexception is Fred Langa, whose LangaList Plus newsletter notonly pays for itself but has subscriber renewal rates thatwould make any print publisher green with envy.

The year was 1998. The business world was abuzz withtalk about computers, electronic commerce, and the Internet.Fred Langa, a computer journalist and editor, decided toleave the corporate publishing world and become a freelancewriter. Central to his career change was LangaList(langa.com), a free newsletter that was to promote his writ-ing business, pay for itself with advertising, and enable himto give something back to the computing community thathad supported his publishing career. In his words, LangaList’soriginal purpose was “for the e-mails to contain useful tips,tricks, and other information about using computer hardwareand software” (Hartsock 2001). The LangaList revenue modelwas ad fees from advertisers who would want to reach thenewsletter’s computer-savvy subscriber base.

From the start, both advertising and subscription num-bers grew, and LangaList was a modest success. Then the dot-com boom went bust. By late 2000, advertising revenue wasdropping fast, while expenses grew as the subscriber listpassed 150,000. The problem was how to leverage theLangaList success into a new business model.

Langa’s solution was to create LangaList Plus, a premiumcontent newsletter that generated revenue through subscrip-tions and marketed itself as an up-sell version of LangaList.The “plus” in LangaList Plus was original content that Fredfelt subscribers would be willing to pay for, plus no advertis-ing, plus a reader’s choice of versions (HTML, plain text, ordigest). LangaList Plus cost only $.11 per issue for the twice-weekly newsletter. Within weeks of its launch in January2001, 10,000 LangaList readers had paid $10 each to sub-scribe to LangaList Plus. By the end of its first year of publi-cation, LangaList Plus had almost 20,000 paid subscribers.

With a successful launch and start, the next hurdle wasgetting LangaList Plus subscribers to renew. Many e-newslettersand e-zines, such as Salon, have found that getting subscribersto take a risk on a publication is difficult, but keeping themthrough the first renewal is nearly impossible. Yet at the endof his first round of renewals in March 2002, LangaList Plus

had an 80 percent renewal rate. According toMarketingSherpa.com (2003), “In the print newsletter worldthis would be considered a very high response for B2B andalmost unbelievable for B2C.”

What can e-newsletter editors learn from Fred Langa’ssuccess? He cites the following factors as being critical tohis success:

◗ An e-newsletter should not be just a tease. The articlesand newsletters themselves should contain enough “meat”to be worth reading in their own right.

◗ The e-newsletter should have a personal tone, more like aletter from a friend than a generic magazine article.

◗ Labor-intensive newsletter and site features are mini-mized. For example, of the approximately 150 e-mailresponses per issue, the vast majority are answered with aform letter on an FAQ topic.

◗ Everything is made “dead easy” for the subscribers.Subscriptions can be paid in a number of ways, includingpostal check, online credit card, fax, and PayPal. When theExcite@home ISP went under, hundreds of subscriber e-mail addresses became invalid. In response, Langa gavethem tools on the LangaList Web site to easily switch theirsubscription address, which not only impressed readers butavoided his having to manually process the changes.

A series of friendly renewal letters emphasize the valueLangaList Plus subscribers receive, including downloadablearchives, a private Web site, 18 special issues, donations tocharity, and “almost 100 LangaList Plus issues comprisingover 325,000 words” (MarketingSherpa.com 2003).

Fred Langa sees e-newsletters evolving into threegroups. First are the truly free newsletters that are eithersupported by volunteer labors of love or sponsored as part ofan ongoing Web site promotion. Second are those that insertadvertising in between content. Third are the very few thatreaders directly support in some way. Langa has these wordsof advice for aspiring e-newsletter editors: “The prevailingthinking is that ‘people won’t pay for content.’ But somepeople will pay for some content: Manage that equationcarefully, and you’ve got a viable business” (Hartsock 2001).

Sources: Compiled from Hartsock (2001), MarketingSherpa.com(2003), and langa.com (accessed February 2007).

Questions1. What distinguishes LangaList Plus from LangaList? How

do these differences add value so that subscribers arewilling to pay for LangaList Plus?

2. How has Fred Langa used interactive features to attractand retain newsletter readers?

3. Do you agree that “some people will pay for somecontent?” Explain.


Online File W16.5 Suggested Rules for Effective Content Writing

◗ Write scannable text. Web site visitors do not read pages, they scan pages to find the information they are looking for (Morkesand Nielsen 1997). Headings, graphics, links, lists, and tables will catch visitors’ eyes, while large, uninterrupted blocks of textwill be ignored.

◗ If long sections of text are required, break the text into sections with clearly noted headings, use small paragraphs, and insertrelevant graphics to break up the text. If there are more than two or three screens of text, create separate pages and lead thereader through them with a More . . . or Next link. Above all else, always write concisely, using perhaps half the word count ofconventional writing or less (Morkes and Nielsen 1997).

◗ Begin each page or section of text with a sentence or short paragraph that grabs the reader’s attention and compels them tocontinue reading. This leading sentence may ask a question, propose a provocative thought, or introduce a startling statisticwhile telling the reader what they will discover by reading what follows.

◗ Write in a tone and with language that reflects the purpose of the material. Promotional material may be written lightly withmany adjectives that highlight the features of the product or service. Write privacy, security, and disclaimer policies in a moreformal language to show that the business takes these seriously. Write product support information clearly, simply, and factu-ally so that the reader will easily understand it and be able to act on the advice given.

◗ Achieve consistency in site content by using a style guide that specifies, for example, whether the style “e-mail” or “email” willbe used throughout the site.

◗ If proper appearance of the text is absolutely necessary (e.g., a form to be filled out) or to reduce the possibility of losingintellectual property (e.g., a research report), make the material available in a PDF (Adobe Acrobat) file.

◗ Create compelling links that encourage a reader to click. Avoid the infamous “click here.” Instead, provide short descriptionsthat tell the reader why he or she should click and include adjectives to enhance the benefit. For example, “to order click here”is poor, “fill out an order form” is better, but “to get your copy now, use our quick and easy order process” is best.

◗ External links can offer good content for visitors and, after all, no Web site is an island. However, be sure external links do notfunnel the user out too quickly (e.g., consider carefully any external links on the home page). Also, set external links to openin a new window so the path to the originating Web site is not lost.

◗ Do not use phrases that date fast, such as “soon,” “currently,” “next Christmas,” or “last month.” For example, a Web page thatdescribes a new service that was launched “last month” will be wrong in 30 days or less, but a page that describes that serviceas being launched in June 2003 will always be correct.

◗ Avoid material that is not highly valued by customers. An employee list is unnecessary and becomes out-of-date fast. Instead,list only key individuals (e.g., chief executives, customer support manager, press contact) by name and phone number onappropriate pages. Similarly, visitor counters and when the page was last updated have fallen out of favor in recent years. First,this is almost always strictly optional, nonessential information for visitors. Second, if the page is updated infrequently orreceives few visitors, the information sends a negative message about the Web site and the business behind it.

REFERENCES FOR ONLINE FILE W16.4Hartsock, N. “Interview: Fred Langa.” ibiz Interviews.com,

March 2001. ibizinerviews.com/fredl1.htm (no longeravailable online).

langa.com (accessed February 2007).

MarketingSherpa.com. “Newsletter Gets 80 Percent PaidRenewal Rate with a Four-Part E-mail Campaign.” 2003.marketingsherpa.com/sample.cfm?contentID=2001(no longer available online).

REFERENCES FOR ONLINE FILE W16.5Morkes, J., and J. Nielsen. “Concise, Scannable and

Objective: How to Write for the Web.” 1997 available atuseit.com/papers/webwriting/writing.html (accessed July 2007).

Nielsen, J. “Top 10 Mistakes in Web Design.” 2005. useit.com/papers/webwriting/writing.htm (accessed January2007).


Online File W16.6 Content Management Pitfalls and Their Solutions

REFERENCES FOR ONLINE FILE W16.6Byrne, T. “Top Six Content Management Pitfalls.” PC

Magazine, September 17, 2002.Nielsen, J. “Top Ten Mistakes in Web Design.” 2005.

useit.com/alertbox/9605.html (accessed January 2007).

Problem or Pitfall Solution

Picking content management software before developing Convert some of the resources currently being expended solid requirements and the business case on software evaluation to a deeper examination of the

company’s own content and business needs.

Not getting a clear mandate from the top to proceed Get business leaders onboard; you will need their strategic direction and a mandate for change.

Underestimating integration and professional service needs Budget two to four times the cost of software license for consulting, customization, and integration.

Hiring inexperienced developers to integrate and extend Hire good developers with content management software the software experience to implement mediocre software. This is

always preferable to excellent software in the hands of novice integrators.

Depending entirely on an outside company to make changes Involve your own technical people closely in the initial to the system development, even if you are outsourcing the integration.

Do not skimp on training.

Thinking your migration will be painless despite what the Start to prepare yourself for a content management system content management system provider tells you by cleaning up your HTML code and organizing your

content. This takes longer than you might think!

Sources: Compiled from Byrne (2002) and Nielsen (2005).


Online File W16.7 Catalog Content Management Options

Companies have five basic options for managing catalog content:

1. Do it yourself. This option is satisfactory for small buyers with few suppliers or large buyers that purchase from fewsuppliers. The cost per line item is about $30. The cost for a catalog containing a large number of products can easilybe $1 million or more for the first year.

2. Let the suppliers do it. Most suppliers do not like to modify their catalogs to meet the buyer’s format. A few suppliers mayagree to do so. This solution is not feasible when involving many suppliers.

3. Buy the content from an aggregator. Some companies standardize and aggregate content across industries. The result maybe in a standard format that large buyers want. The buyers then host the content on their servers. For smaller companies thatcan host and manage content, this is a viable option. The problem is that the content is not customized to the buyer’s needs.Furthermore, the buyer is expected to keep the catalogs up-to-date. Also, updating through aggregators can be expensive.

4. Subscribe to a vertical exchange. Vertical exchanges can be an excellent platform for occasional spot buys and for one or afew commodities. The problem here is that one buyer may need to visit many exchanges to find everything it needs. Finally,most vertical exchanges do not offer customized views or negotiated prices, nor do they enable integration with a buyingorganization’s e-procurement applications.

5. Outsource to a full-service Internet exchange. A full-service exchange connects many suppliers with many buyers andoffers comprehensive catalog services. These services may include cleansed, standardized, and categorized supplier catalogcontent; online content maintenance and update tools; robust search capabilities, including quick searches, category brows-ing, and advanced attribute-based searches; buyer-specific “virtual private catalogs” with negotiated pricing information;and seamless integration with ERP and other Internet procurement systems or Web portals using a single sign-on. However,this option may be expensive, and it may be difficult to find an exchange that will meet all the special needs of every buyer.

ONLINE FILE W16.8

A SIMPLE LINEAR WEB SITE STRUCTURE

TutorialIntroduction

ExecutiveSummary

BusinessDescription

MarketAnalysis

CompetitorAnalysis

MissionStatement

BusinessGoals

ProjectObjectives

CompetitorAnalysis

Grid

Operations

EXHIBIT W16.8.1


Online File W16.9 How to Organize and Label Web Sites and Web Pages

Listed below are suggested guidelines regarding the organization and labeling of Web sites.

◗ Obey the three-click rule. Visitors should be able to find what they are looking for within three clicks from the home page.The exception to the three-click rule is getting to the home page. Here, the one-click rule applies—every page on the siteshould have a link that takes the user back to the home page.

◗ Place the most important content at the top of the page. Newspaper editors put the most important information—the pre-mier story, an eye-catching picture—“above the fold” of the front page. They do this because they know that many readersmake a decision to buy the newspaper based on the information they see at first glance. The same principle applies to Webpages: Visitors should be able to find the information they are looking for in the first screen. Put product pictures, prices, nav-igation aids, mission statements, and a list of FAQ questions at the top of their respective pages. Place less significant infor-mation such as product specifications, shipping details, external links, and contact information “below the fold.”

◗ Keep pages short. Most pages should be two or, at most, three computer screens in length. Long pages are confusing to the readerand take a long time to download. If necessary, break long pages into several pages and at the bottom of each page provide linksthat lead the visitor forward to the next page and back to the previous page. Alternatively, on naturally long pages, such as a FAQpage, outline the material at the top of the page and use internal page links to move the visitor to the material quickly and easily.

◗ Keep page layouts simple. Consider dividing the page into columns or a grid pattern to deliver different types of informationconsistently (e.g., a site table of contents on the left, promotion and advertising material on the right, page content in the center).Use different sizes of graphics (but rarely large) and short blocks of text to draw the eye to the main offerings on the page.

◗ Do not create barriers. A “splash page” as the home page usually has a large welcome graphic and requires the visitor to click“enter” to access the site. A splash page is a barrier to information visitors came to get so do not use it. Similarly, well-designed sites do not force visitors to register in order to tour the site or browse the product selections.

◗ Follow commonsense publishing rules. Most of the same design principles that work well in printed text also work wellon Web pages. For example, use text effects such as bold, italics, all caps, and underline sparingly in order to increase theirimpact, and use white space to increase readability.

◗ Make the primary content easy to find. Links to the primary content of the Web site—a product catalog, list of services,directory of information—should appear in the navigation bar on each page and in appropriately placed links in page content.

◗ Show the products in many ways. Make it easy to search for and display items based on price, size, model, alphabetically, and so on.

Online File W16.10 How to Have Successful Web Site Design and Navigation

◗ Use small lists and menus. In designing navigation aids such as a navigation column or a site map, group items together ingroups of five or less. The human brain handles multiple small lists better than a single long list. So, for example, six lists offive options each is a better navigation design than a list of 30 options.

◗ Do not rely entirely on graphics for navigation. Using graphics for navigation can look very stylish, but graphics take timeto load, will not appear on browsers with graphics turned off, and are high-maintenance items to alter as the Web site changesand grows. If a graphical navigation aid is included, make sure an alternative text-only aid is available as well.

◗ Make the home page easy to find. Include a link to the home page in the most prominent position in a navigation bar or nav-igation column. This is helpful for visitors who are lost in the site and critical for visitors who land in subpages of the site fromsearch engines or external links.

◗ Integrate navigation into content. In addition to standard navigation aids, do not miss opportunities to put navigation sug-gestions in the content itself. For example, in addition to “contact us” in the navigation bar, include “contact our staff in theUSA, Canada, or UK” in product information and similar pages.

◗ Avoid frames. Frames can be useful for navigating large sites, but they create numerous usability problems. Pages created withframes are difficult to bookmark and print; search engines cannot identify them; and they are difficult for the browser backbutton to handle well. Most Web designers agree: Do not use frames unless absolutely necessary, especially when alternatives,such as navigation columns, achieve the same result with fewer problems.

◗ Follow accessibility guidelines. Design the site to be accessible to all users, regardless of physical ability or the way they usethe Internet. The World Wide Web Consortium (w3.org) has created a series of guidelines for making sites accessible for indi-viduals with visual, audio, neurological, and physical disabilities. A side benefit is that by designing a site for these users, thesite also becomes more usable for visitors who are accessing the site with mobile telephones or low-bandwidth modems, whoare in a noisy environment, or who have different learning styles (Peck 2002).


Online File W16.11 Guidelines for Using Colors and Graphics

Listed below are suggested guidelines for successful Web site design and navigation.

◗ Use standard colors. All colors should be one of the 216 Web-safe colors specified by hexadecimal notation (e.g., #FFFF99 forpale yellow).

◗ Follow color standards. Most visitors expect dark text and blue, red, or purple links because these tend to be the browser stan-dards. If you change this color scheme, do not pick a scheme that will confuse the visitor. For example, if colored text is impor-tant, avoid blue because visitors may interpret this as an unfollowed hyperlink. For the same reason, minimize the use ofunderlined text.

◗ Use complementary colors. Never mix the primary colors of red, green, and blue in text and background. Generally dark text(not necessarily black) on a light background (but not white) is the easiest to read.

◗ Specify the background color. If the background color is left to the browser’s default color, it will not distinguish the site. TheBGCOLOR tag allows a designer to control the color in most browsers, except when the visitor has specified a preferred back-ground color. When selecting a background color, the operative word is “background.” The color should be unobtrusive andcomplementary to the colors in the logo, text, and graphics in the site.

◗ Use bandwidth-intensive features selectively. Animation, video, and audio clips are useful for demonstrations or promotingentertainment events, but because they require a lot of bandwidth to download and processor speed to display, they should beused sparingly, at the visitor’s discretion, in low resolution, and with streaming technology if possible. Every graphic, anima-tion, audio clip, and video should be used only if it is quick to download and worth the wait.

◗ Design for visually or hearing-impaired visitors. Make a text version of any visual or audio content available from the Website for visitors with visual or hearing difficulties.

◗ Use the ALT tag. To speed up Web access, 20 to 30 percent of Web users surf with graphics turned off. This means the browserdownloads the text, but not the graphic images unless specifically requested, so information embedded in graphics is lost. TheALT tag overcomes this problem by telling the visitor what the image is (e.g., logo, Merlina’s picture) or what it represents(e.g., site search, navigation bar). With this information, the no-graphics visitor can use the site without frustration. TheALT tag also helps visually impaired visitors because the graphic label can be picked up and read through the computer’ssoundboard.

◗ Avoid distracting features. Wild colors, overactive animation, blinking text, and similar features can irritate visitorsor distract their attention away from content. Use these only when necessary and never as a gimmick. Similarly,avoid excessive use of different fonts and colors on the page because these will make the page difficult to read andunattractive.

REFERENCE FOR ONLINE FILE W16.10Peck, N. “An Introduction to Accessible Web Design.”

webmasterbase.com/article.php?aid=952&pid=0(no longer available online).


Online File W16.12 Web Site Design Mistakes

According to Nielsen (2005), the top 10 mistakes in Web design are:

1. Use of a bad search engine in the site.2. Use of PDF files while browsing (breaking the flow).3. Not changing the color of links already visited.4. Use of non-scannable, large blocks of text.5. Use of a fixed font size.6. Use of page titles that are not found by search engines.7. Use anything that looks like an advertisement. Users have learned to stop paying attention to any ad (banner “blindness,”

animation avoidance, pop-up quick purges).8. Violating design conventions such as consistency.9. Use of new browser windows instead of simple links.

10. Not answering users’ questions (e.g., do not forget prices in product list).

REFERENCES FOR ONLINE FILE W16.12Nielsen, J. “Top Ten Mistakes in Web Design.” 2005.

useit.com/alertbox/9605.html (accessed January 2007).usability.gov (accessed February 2007).

Online File W16.13 Who Builds the Web Site

Do It YourselfInternal Web site development is the do-it-yourself option of building and maintaining the Web site with company staff. Factorsthat lead companies to develop their own Web sites include the following:

◗ Use of existing in-house expertise. Having an experienced Web designer or Webmaster on the company’s payroll is a goodfirst reason for internal development.

◗ Desire to build in-house expertise. A closely related reason is that a company may not have existing expertise on the staffbut wishes to add Web site development to the company’s skill set. In this case, the company hires new employees or trainsexisting staff members in order to build and maintain the site.

◗ Protection of proprietary technologies. If new software or an internally developed Web-based application is critical to thecompany’s EC value proposition, then a business is likely to use its own staff to protect that intellectual property and advanceits ongoing development.

◗ Tighter control and responsiveness. Especially in the maintenance stage, a company is likely to find that problem resolution,content management, and ongoing development of the site will be faster, less expensive, and more responsive if internal staffmembers are responsible for the Web site.

OutsourceExternal Web site development, or outsourcing, takes place when the business hires another firm to build or maintain the Website. Factors that tend to favor external development include the following:

◗ Speed to market. If getting online fast is critical to the company’s start-up success, an outside firm that specializes in Website construction will have the resources necessary to build the site quickly. Generally, but not always, internal developmenttakes more time.

◗ Not a core competency. Frequently, companies decide that Web site development and maintenance should not be one of theircore competencies. Outsourcing Web site development allows an online business to focus more on promoting the product,increasing sales, building business relationships, and other business activities.

(continued)


◗ Access to special expertise. Especially with initial site construction, a Web design firm is more likely to have access to all theexpertise and development tools that site construction requires. For example, a business may have competent HTML writers,but database integration or specialized programming expertise may be missing. This expertise could be hired in on an individ-ual contract basis, but it will be expensive and time consuming.

HybridThis last point suggests that the internal-or-external decision does not need to be all one way or the other. Instead, some formof partnering Web site development may be the best option. Depending on the nature of the Web site and the skills required, amixture of internal and external development to build or maintain the site is possible and may be desirable. The principaldownside to partnering is the additional overhead of contract and relationship management—managing a partnership cansometimes be more difficult than doing it all internally or externally. For a generic discussion of internal versus externaldevelopment, see Online Chapter 19.

Web Site Construction and MaintenanceDeveloping a Web site occurs over two time periods, and each period imposes different considerations on Web sitedevelopment.

Web site construction consists of the initial content creation, design, programming, and installation phases of a Web site’sdevelopment. As suggested earlier, this is likely to require a variety of expert skills that only rarely are available inside the com-pany (e.g., information architects, Web page designers, database integration expertise, and programmers). Unless the Web siteis small and offers limited functionality or one of the factors favoring internal development is especially compelling, most busi-nesses decide on external development or partnering as the best option for Web site construction.

Web site maintenance begins when construction ends. This period consists of the ongoing process of keeping the Web siteopen for business, managing content, fixing problems, and making incremental additions to the site. Building a Web site is oneprocess, maintaining it is another. Once the initial Web site has been constructed, the ongoing development and maintenanceusually can be managed internally or externally.

Managing Web Site ConstructionThe Web site construction team and online business owner are in a partnership to achieve the same goal: a well-designed, func-tional Web site that works. However, each partner also comes into the construction process with different incentives, especiallyin keeping the cost of a Web site reasonable. Some suggestions for the business owner to successfully manage this partnershipinclude the following:

◗ Start with a plan. Before interviewing Web designers, know what the goals of the site are, prepare a list of prioritized content,visit some Web sites to acquire some preferences for the overall design, and have a budget figure in mind. Having a plan willmake it easier for the designer to quickly learn what you expect and give you an accurate bid.

◗ Set goals early and stick to them. What the site intends to accomplish is the driving force behind the design. If the Webdesigner begins by talking about page layout, interesting graphics, and site architecture, go find a designer who starts with adiscussion of goals and content. Then display those goals in a prominent place and justify every feature and every page by thecontribution they make to achieving those goals.

◗ Use a fixed-price contract. A Web designer may want to be paid by the hour because then the designer is assured payment foreach hour worked. However, the buyer does not have any certainty about what the final cost will be, and there is little incen-tive for the designer to keep the hours to a minimum. The result is likely to be higher costs and delayed implementation. Usingfixed pricing, either for the entire site or per page, requires more preproduction planning, but Web sites should be designedand constructed with plenty of advance planning.

◗ Justify graphics and features. Pictures, art, sound, and video all represent escalating costs in terms of production, pagedesign, disk space, and bandwidth. Some graphics (e.g., a logo, products), features (e.g., shopping cart), and visual effects(e.g., mouseovers) are required or desirable for functionality or aesthetics. However, each of these should be justified in thecontext of the site’s goals, not at the whim of the designer. In other words, avoid “feature creep”—the adding of features thatwere not in the original plan.

Online File W16.13 (continued)


Online File W16.14 A Comprehensive Guide to Search Engine Optimization

How does SEO work? At the center of any search engine is a database of Web pages that have been indexed on criteria such askeyword occurrence and link popularity. Aptly named software called spiders that “crawl” the Web collects these Web pages,finding new Web pages and sending them back to the search engine for placement in the database. When a search engine user“searches the Web,” the results actually come from the archived database.

Search engines differ according to the behavior of the spiders (e.g., how many levels of the site are visited, how muchinformation is collected), how many pages are in the database, the amount and type of information the searcher receives,whether pay-for-placement links are included or not, and critically for SEO, the search engine algorithm used to rank pages.You can find more specific discussions of how search engines work at searchenginewatch.com andsearchengineshowdown.com.

The key to SEO is understanding the algorithms the search engines use to determine the ranking of the resultsreturned to the searcher. All search engines rely on keyword occurrence in some way. Early search engines used keywords asthe principal or sole criteria for ranking search results. In a simplified example, if a keyword entered into a search engineappeared in the page’s title, meta tags, headings, and numerous times on the page, then that page would rank high in theresults returned to the searcher. This led to search enginespamming strategies; for example, including a long list of key-words in text the same color as the background color so that the site visitor would see only blank space, but the spiderwould find numerous keywords.

In 1998, Google initiated a fundamental change in search engine ranking strategies when it introduced link popularityinto its algorithm. In addition to keyword analysis, Google counts the number of sites that link to a target site (i.e., incominglinks). Presumably, the most relevant or credible sites will have a greater number of incoming links, and those sites merithigher placement in the Google results. Today, link popularity figures prominently in the results-placement algorithms used bymost search engines.

Because every Web search begins with one or more keywords that a user submits to a search engine, choosing the rightkeywords and putting them in the right locations are critical to SEO. The following are some strategies for keyword creation andplacement (Wong 2002; bCentral 2003):

◗ Create keywords the target audience is most likely to use. Focus groups of prospective customers should be asked whatkeywords they would use if looking for the site. Also, because the site is seeking a higher ranking against competitors, inves-tigate what keywords competitors include in their titles and meta tags.

◗ Use specific phrases, not general keywords. General keywords such as vacation, stereo, and computer occur so frequentlythat they will not contribute much toward a high ranking in a search engine. Instead, use phrases such as African safari, micro-stereo, and Pentium laptop computer.

◗ Optimize the title. The page’s title is the single most important place to improve keyword SEO. Not only do search enginealgorithms place a higher value on keywords in a title, but the title also is the dominant item in most search results. Even ifa page does not get the number one placement on a Google search, being high in the rankings with an alluring title willguarantee visitors.

◗ Use meta tags. A meta tag is an HTML element that describes the contents of a Web page. A description meta tag provides abrief description of the Web site that some search engines include in their results, so be sure that you use the site’s premierkeywords in the description. A keyword meta tag tells spiders what keywords the site owner thinks best describe the page’scontent. Keyword meta tags also are useful places to put common misspellings or alternative spellings of a keyword(e.g., potatoe, colour, organisation).

◗ Use keywords early and often in page content. The content of the page must be readable to human visitors, but keyword-loaded copy helps increase search engine rankings. Use keywords in headings and in hyperlinks. Some search engine algorithmsgive higher weight to these keywords, assuming that they are more important in describing page content than normal text.Keywords should be placed high on the page because spiders from search engines, such as Google, crawl only the first 110 k ofa page. Other spiders ignore pages with very little content; a recommended page length for maximizing SEO is 300 to 750 words.Finally, spiders sometimes visit only pages in the first and second levels of a site, another reason to use a wide and shallow sitestructure.

◗ Include keywords in ALT tags. An ALT tag should describe the image but with keywords if possible. So instead of “tiger.gif”use “a tiger on a Vacation-time African safari” in an ALT tag.

◗ Avoid spider-hostile features. Search engine spiders and algorithms have a difficult time with frames, dynamic URLs, Flashfeatures, image maps, and JavaScript. Use these features only if a compelling design or content consideration requires them.

◗ Do not spam search engines. Search engine designers know most of the tactics used to spam search engines, so be honest anddo not try to trick them. A search engine can detect spamming strategies such as duplicate pages, excessive repetition of akeyword in a meta tag, tiny text, and same-color text, and the search engine will blacklist the site from inclusion in the searchengine.

(continued)


After the Web site and pages are optimized for keyword occurrence and placement, the second major step in search engineoptimization is to increase a Web site’s link popularity. Getting other sites to link to the target Web site promotes the site in twoways. First, surfers will find the link at other Web sites, click through to visit, and hopefully become customers. Second, increasingthe number of incoming links increases the site’s ranking in search engines. Some strategies for maximizing link popularity are:

◗ Create content that promotes linking. A site that simply sells products and promotes itself is unlikely to be a site otherswant to link to. Instead, create linkable content, such as product reviews, tips and hints for using the products, freedownloads, and informative articles. This content will not only promote the site to visitors but also encourage other sitesto link to it.

◗ Seek reciprocal links. In the mutual quest for link popularity, it is likely that business partners, suppliers, business associa-tions, and major customers will be happy to provide reciprocal links. At a more general level, Web sites such as linkpartners.comlist Web sites interested in reciprocal links. However, be careful to select and place these links cautiously so as not to devaluethe key business and customer links on the site.

◗ Determine what sites already link to the target site. An existing site may already have incoming links that are unknown tothe owner. Software such as MarketLeap’s Link Popularity Analysis Tool (marketleap.com/publinkpop) can reveal incoming links.The reverse link search feature of the search engines (enter link:URL in the search box) will show similar results. Once incom-ing links are known, seek links from similar sites as appropriate.

◗ Visit competitors. Linking to competitors is not advised, but a visit to a competitor’s site may reveal outgoing links that willwork equally well on your site. Search for incoming links on a competitor’s site, too, using the software mentioned earlier.When link partners with competitors are known, seek reciprocal links as appropriate.

◗ Seek highly placed links. When asking for reciprocal links, encourage link partners to place the link in the first and secondlevels of the site so spiders will find it.

◗ Seek links from well-known sites. Not all links are created equal; a link from Yahoo! or CNN will be much more valuable thana link from a friend’s home page.

◗ Do not use free-for-all (FFA) or link farms. These sites sell or give away links, but search engines ignore them because theyrepresent a form of spamming.

You can find online libraries of articles about enhancing a Web site’s link popularity at marketleap.com, linking101.com,and ericward.com.

When all keyword and link popularity strategies have been executed, the site should be registered with Web search engines(e.g., Google, AllTheWeb) and with Web directories (e.g., Yahoo!, Virtual Library, Open Directory Project). Registering the siteinvites spiders to visit the site rather than waiting for the spiders to find the site. Search engine registration services such asWpromote (wpromote.com), Addme (addme.com), and SiteAnnounce (siteannounce.com) will do this for little or no cost, but allsearch engines have a “submit URL” box.


REFERENCES FOR ONLINE FILE W16.14bCentral. Search Engine Optimization Tips. submit-it.com/

subopt_print.htm (accessed February 2007).Wong, M. “The Thirty-One Steps to SEO.” promotion

base.com/article.php?aid=715&pid=0 (no longeravailable online.)


Online File W16.15 Listening to Customers

Web sites that practice successful CRM listen to customers through a variety of methods. Customers may provide informationovertly through surveys or contests in which they indicate customer preferences. Customers also provide valuable businessinformation through the e-mail messages they send. A business can listen to customers by following these suggestions:

◗ Mine e-mail for information. E-mail messages should not be deleted until they have been mined for valuable informationabout product performance, FAQs, and necessary improvements in the business’s processes and operations.

◗ Survey customers quickly and frequently. Customer surveys are an easy feedback tool for an online business. A survey formcan easily be created online and results can be imported into a spreadsheet or database for analysis. Unsolicited surveys canprovide rich feedback, but the results can be skewed because only individuals who have time or a complaint may complete anonline survey. One successful strategy to get more complete and accurate results is to invite a certain proportion (e.g., everytenth customer) to complete a survey, perhaps with a small incentive (e.g., $3 off their next purchase). All surveys, solicitedor not, should be short, requiring, at most, five minutes of the customer’s time. Surveys should include easy-to-answer andeasy-to-analyze multiple-choice and Likert scale (e.g., a five-point scale ranging from very satisfied to very unsatisfied) ques-tions. Such surveys should include only a few open-ended questions but offer numerous opportunities for respondents to makecomments. The most important questions should be asked first, just in case the survey is submitted incomplete. The amount ofpersonal information that is asked should be kept to a minimum.

◗ Create an e-mail list. An e-mail discussion list is a group of people who share a common interest and who communicate witheach other via e-mail messages managed by e-mail list software. Basically, visitors to the Web site sign up for an e-mail listsponsored by the site. Then, a list member with a question or a comment sends an e-mail message to the e-mail list software,which sends it to all members on the list. An individual who reads and approves all messages before they are sent to the groupshould moderate the list. The moderator should not censor communications, but inappropriate or off-topic messages should beintercepted and discarded before being forwarded to the e-mail list.

◗ Create a discussion forum. An electronic discussion (e-forum) is a portion of the Web site where visitors can post questions,comments, and answers. An e-forum has a similar purpose as an e-mail list, except that the messages are posted on the busi-ness’s Web site, not distributed through e-mail. Most message boards are moderated. The main disadvantage of a messageboard is that the participants must make an effort to visit the site and read the messages, whereas messages from an e-maildiscussion group are delivered directly to the recipient’s mailbox.

◗ Create a chat group. A chat group is a portion of the Web site where visitors can communicate synchronously. Basically, par-ticipants read and respond to messages in real time as they are typed. Few online businesses have enough Web site traffic tosupport chat groups, not to mention the cost and staffing requirements to maintain them.

◗ Sponsor a blog. As seen in Chapter 8, sponsoring a blog on a corporate Web site is an inexpensive way to educate and helpcustomers (the blog can be used for marketing purposes as well, see analytical CRM in Chapter 13).

From the business’s perspective, all four types of electronic discussion groups—e-mail lists, blogs, discussion forums, andchat groups—offer an opportunity for the business to keep track of industry news and customer concerns, to implicitly promotethe firm’s products, and to gain visibility among people who are in some way interested in what the business is selling.However, these benefits can be undermined if the business promotes its products too blatantly, if the discussion gets off trackor is spammed (thus, the need for a moderator), or if there is only a small amount of significant discussion. This last point isan important one.


Online File W16.16 Yahoo!’s 11 Steps for Starting an E-Business

Step 1 Sign up for Yahoo! Merchant Solutions. Just pick a Yahoo! Merchant Solutions package and speed through our sign-up process to get started fast. You’ll choose your store domain name.

Step 2 Welcome to Manage My Services—please explore! This is the central headquarters for your business where you can oversee:• Web Hosting and site design features• Store inventory, orders, and reporting• Mail accounts and storage preferences• Domain management

Step 3 Prepare to accept online payments. You must have a merchant account to open for business and process credit card transactions. You can sign up for an account through our partner, Paymentech, or use an existing provider. In addition to your merchant account, you can also accept person-to-person payments with Yahoo! PayDirect. Be sure to establish your payment options early so they’re enabled when you’re ready to open for business.

Step 4 Organize and load your products into the Catalog Manager. The Catalog Manager is a powerful built-in tool that allows you to manage your inventory of products, including pricing and detailed information about each item. You can enter your products one by one or upload them from a database.

Step 5 Plan and organize your Web site content. A world-class Web presence requires clear content that makes your products sound appealing and sets expectations for your customers. You’ll find it’s easier to build your store if you outline your Web site and write out the necessary content prior to building your pages.

Step 6 Start building your store! Our flexible design options make it easy for every business to build a professional, well-organized, online store where customers enjoy shopping.

Step 7 Set up back-end systems and operations. Yahoo! Merchant Solutions makes serious business seriously easy. Automatically set up tax and shipping options, integrate your online store into your existing business infrastructure, establish your checkout preferences, and more. You can also determine how you’d like to receive orders: online, via fax, e-mail, or your own servers.

Step 8 Develop your merchandising strategy. Just like a brick-and-mortar business, you need to design your online store to effectively merchandise your products. Yahoo! Merchant Solutions offers a powerful set of tools that will help you improve your product presentation and boost incremental sales.

Step 9 Open for business and attract new customers. After launching your store, you’ll leverage our comprehensive marketing services to attract customers to shop in your new online business.

Step 10 Accept and manage your orders. As soon as you open, customers can start placing orders. Depending on the preferences you’ve established, you can receive these orders via the Store Manager, your own servers, fax, or e-mail, and process the orders accordingly.

Step 11 Learn from your success and grow. Congratulations on taking the first steps toward your online goals! Now that you’ve gotten started, the best way to ensure your success going forward is to monitor your site sales and performance and to integrate this learning into your evolving business strategies.

Source: Yahoo!’s 11 Steps of Starting an E-Business © Yahoo! Inc. Reprinted by permission.


Online File W16.17 Create Sections and Items in Yahoo!’s Catalog

Here, we describe how to create sections and items in Yahoo!’s catalog. Our example storefront interface has three types ofpages: the front page, section pages, and item pages.

Items are the individual products available for sale; sections are categories of similar items. For instance, if your onlinestore sells women’s fashions and accessories, you may want to add a Black Pearl necklace as one of the items. First, you willneed to set up a section called “Women’s Accessories” and include several items under it, such as necklaces, bracelets, and ear-rings. It should be noted that an item page looks different from a section page. In the item page, an enlarged image of theitem can be found with a detailed description as well as an order button for placing an online order. A section page contains aseries of links to different items, and the size of the item image is diminished.

To create a section, click New Section on the row of navigation buttons on the front page. You will then see a page con-taining two fields: Name and Caption. In the Name field, enter a name, such as “Women’s Accessories,” for the section you wantto create. Additional descriptions of the section can be entered into the caption field. When the Update button is clicked, thechanges will be saved. The name and caption will appear below the store name on the front page.

We will now add an item under this section. Click New Item; you will see a total of four fields on this page: Name, Code,Price, and Caption. The name of the item, such as “Black Pearl Necklace,” is entered into the name field. The code field is whereyou fill in your item’s SKU, stock number, ISBN, or any other code (such as A1001) to identify the particular product. The sell-ing price is entered in the price field. Although filling in the dollar sign is optional, it is recommended that you clearly statethe currency in the caption field. This allows you to put in descriptive text for the item. When the Update button is clicked, theitem is created. There is no limit on the number of items that can be included in a section.

Finally, a product image or picture can be uploaded to the store by going to an item page and clicking the Image button.To select the image file to be uploaded, click the Browse button to locate the file in your local disk drive through the pop-upwindow. When the target file is found, click the Send button to upload it to the store. Accordingly, an image can be seen onthe related item page.

Creating a Special ItemTo attract more attention, put special items on the front page so that every visitor to the site sees them. This can be done byclicking the Special button at the bottom of the item page. To keep customers coming back to a site, change special items on aregular basis.

Publish Your StoreFinally, you need to make sure your online store is visible to customers. To achieve such visibility, click the Publish button onthe front page. Go to the front page of your Yahoo! store. On the list of edit buttons, click the Publish button. The buttonchanges to “published” to confirm that the store can be visited via the Internet.


Note: Purma Top Gifts is a fictitious company in Purma, a fictitious country. In preparing to launch a Web site, Purma Top Giftshas prepared the following RFQ.

Request for QuotationWeb Site Hosting and Internet Service Provision for Purma Top Gifts

Project Overview: Purma Top Gifts (PTG) is developing a Web site for online sales of premium gifts and souvenirs that arehandcrafted by native artisans in Purma. Additionally, PTG requires provision of Internet services to its office and warehouse.Based on a previously issued request for information, your firm has been identified as a potential vendor for Web site hostingand Internet service. Your prompt and complete response to this request for quotation is very much appreciated.

Scope of Work:Administration of domain name: The domain name purmatopgifts.com has been registered, and the successful vendor willbe responsible for technical and administrative maintenance of the domain name.

Web site hosting: Purma Top Gifts intends to start with a modest Web site and increase its size, scope, and features as fastas revenues allow. Specifications are as follows:

1. Initially up to 10 Mb of disk space will be required.2. Files will be written in HTML and Java. Initially, only standard e-retail features such as a shopping cart and visitor registra-

tion for an e-newsletter will be required. Later, and not included in this RFQ, Purma Top Gifts intends to introduce moreadvanced site features, including a discussion forum for customers, a back-office product catalog, customer wish lists (i.e.,a saved shopping cart), and a customer database that allows personalization of repeat visitors’ page views via the use ofcookies and dynamic generation of the homepage. These add-on features are not included in this RFQ (i.e., do not includethem in the cost quotation), but the successful vendor must indicate an ability to provide them if and when they arerequired.

3. A monthly newsletter will be e-mailed to a list of registered subscribers. The subscriber list will be compiled and main-tained at the site, and the newsletter will be individually addressed to each subscriber via e-mail list server software ownedand managed by the successful vendor.

4. Construction of the Web site and revisions will be made by Purma Top Gifts or separately contracted firms. Revisedpages will be uploaded via FTP through a secure access procedure.

5. A merchant account has been set up with a local bank, and provision for secure acceptance, storage, and transfer ofcredit card numbers will be provided by the successful vendor.

6. In the first 6 months of operation, up to 15,000 unique and repeat visitors are expected each month (each visitor willvisit one or more pages).

7. Site-use statistics (e.g., total pages, number of unique visitors, visitor country of origin, number of page views) willbe required. Include in your response to this RFQ the site-use data you normally provide and any associated costs.

8. Telephone and e-mail technical support is required. Include in your response to this RFQ types of support, hours ofoperation, and any associated costs.

9. Daily, rotating back-up of the Web site with provision for off-site storage is required.10. The site must be available to visitors at least 99.5 percent of the time during every 24-hour period.

Internet service provision: In addition to Web site hosting, Purma Top Gifts also requires provision of Internet service forits operations. Specifically:

1. Internet access will initially be via ADSL modems at the PTG offices and warehouse located at 378 Crewe Avenue inKingston, Purma.

2. The Internet connection should be robust enough to allow PTG staff to access e-mail, World Wide Web, FTP, Usenet,and ICQ.

3. Up to 10 individual (e.g., [email protected]) and service (e.g., [email protected]) e-mail accounts willbe required.

Online File W16.18 A Sample Request for Quotation

(continued)


Selection CriteriaThe selection of the ISP will be based on:

1. Ability to meet the requirements stated in this RFQ2. Hardware/software configuration and performance3. Backup, redundancy, and disaster recovery plans4. Charges for site hosting and Internet service provision5. Help desk support6. Commitment to customer service7. Ability to provide additional services as required8. Promptness and completeness of reply to this RFQ

Purma Top Gifts intends to issue a single contract for Web hosting and provision of Internet service. However, PTG reservesthe right to contract the components to different vendors, if appropriate.

Reply to Request for QuotationPlease return your response to this RFQ to the following address, no later than 5:00 P.M. local Purma time, November 3, 2006:

Purma Top Gifts378 Crewe AvenueKingston, PurmaAny questions about this RFQ should be addressed to Harkin Close, PTG Web master, at [email protected],

011-62-1-414-9674 (voice) or 011-62-1-414-9675 (fax).Include in your response:

1. A statement of commitment to provide the services listed. Fully explain any inability to provide these services and anyamended or additional services (e.g., marketing, traffic generation) you intend to provide.

2. Detailed information about your company, Internet access services, Web hosting capabilities, technical services, andcustomer support provisions.

3. An itemized list of fees for provision of service, following this format as close as possible and enclosing an explanation ofany price options for our consideration.

(a) Administration of domain name (annual fee): $_____(b) Web host: site set-up fee: $_____(c) Web host: fee to load new/edited pages: $_____(d) Web host: monthly fee*: $_____(e) Web host: technical support fees: $_____(f) Internet access: set-up fee: $_____(g) Internet access: monthly fee*: $_____(h) Other (please detail): $_____

*Explain the calculation of these monthly fees (e.g., flat fee, $ per Mb disk space, $ per Mb transferred). Include in thisexplanation any additional charges for exceeding any set limit (e.g., $ per additional Mb transferred).

Again, please feel free to suggest options or services that your firm offers that would benefit Purma Top Gifts.Thank you for your time and effort in responding to this request for quotation.


online file w16.1 siemens: 100 percent e...

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