Chapter 4.3: Electronic Commerce Websites and Internet Marketing

Structural Firmness

characteristics that influence the website’s security and performance

Functional convenience

characteristics that make the interaction with the website easier or more convenient

Representational delight

characteristics that stimulate a consumer’s senses

1st step in starting a B2C e-commerce business

set up an online storefront that is easy to use, fast, reliable, and aesthetically pleasing.

QR codes

a 2D barcode with a high storage capacity

Search engine optimization

methods for improving a site’s ranking in search engine results.

Search advertising

advertising that is listed in the sponsor search results for a specific search term.

Paid inclusion

an inclusion of a website in a seach engine’s listing after payment of a fee.

Instream video ads

advertisemeny placed at the beginning, middle, or end of a video clip.

Impression based model

pricing is based on the number of times the page containing an ad is displayed, typically expressed in cost per thousand impressions

Pay per click models

the firm running the advertisement pays only when a web surfer actually clicks on the advertisement; the cost is typically between US$0.01 and US$0.50 per click, depending on the site, its viewers, and so on.

Pay per click model drawback

the possibility of abuse by repeatedly clicking on a link to inflate revenue to the host or increase the costs for the advertiser; this is known as click fraud.

Click fraud

repeatedly clicking on a link to inflate revenue to the host or increase the costs for the advertiser

Content marketing

a way to attract an audience by providing relevant and valuable content through various channels.

Click-through rate

the number of surfers who click on an ad

Conversion rate

the percentage of visitors who actually perform the marketer’s desired action

Exit rate

the percentage of visitors who leave the website (i.e., terminate the session) after viewing that page; in other words, it reflects the percentage of users for whom a particular page is the last page they view before moving on to a different site or closing their browser window.

Bounce rate

the percentage of single-page visits; in other words, it reflects the percentage of users for whom a particular page is the only page visited on the website during a session.

Web analytics

process of analyzing web surfers’ behavior to improve website performance