Nothing is free

After reading professor Miyazaki's blog post for this week, I did some research on e-Commerce, its business models and how to increase profitability for websites.

Well.. first I'm going to explain what is e-Commerce because I know that not only Marketing students are reading this... so.. Basically e-Commerce is the buying and selling of goods and services over the Internet. It used to be called e-business, although some people still call it that way. 

Internet users don't usually think that there is a cost related to every Web Page they access. Even if it's a free service that is being provided, someone is paying for that. There are costs with the computers, softwares and also the maintenance of the Web Page (that takes a lot of time and expertise).

The growth of e-Commerce is just a reflection of the changes that are happening with communications and society’s lifestyle. Most people do everything online now: shopping, research, networking, even entertainment, just to name a few. With the fast-pass of today’s lifestyle, a lot of people don’t have the time to spend shopping at brick-and-mortar stores so; they do it all through the Internet.

Who doesn’t have an email account these days? And the majority of them are subscription-free. But, what most of these people don’t realize is that those companies are actually making a lot of money out of these ‘free’ services. All of us, as consumers, are paying for this in one way or the other.

Every website has a business model, just like any other type of business. And, after my research, I found what these models are. There are five main types of business models for e-Commerce, and they are:

Vanity: The simple, basic website, just like this blog. Usually used to express an individual’s ideas and thoughts. For example, a family website where they all post pictures and comments. There is no intention of revenue.

Billboard:  Where a marketer ‘promotes’ goods and services but they are being sold online. Just like a billboard on the street, where a lot of people get exposed to the product/service and become a potential buyer, for example. The website doesn’t bring revenue directly, but it’s purpose is to promote and create awareness in order to either increase or create revenue for a product or service.

Advertising: Websites where all programming is funded by advertising dollars. Very common these days, although the viewership is still hard to measure. Once a model is established to measure the exposure of the ads, this e-Commerce business model will be even more profitable.

Subscription: Where the user pays a certain fee to access the website.

Storefront: A website where a product is being sold to its users. It’s basically a ‘virtual store’ or an online version of a catalog. This is causing the supply chain to collapse because the consumers are getting the product straight from the manufacturer instead of passing it through the distributors and retailers, for example.  

Some websites combine more than one business model to achieve their goals. There are many ways to improve a website’s profit but I believe that this type of business still has a lot to develop and grow. 

Promoting a brand/product with the help of Google

Marketing a brand or a product can be very expensive. During this tough economy times, many companies are focusing on promoting their products online through search engines. Google provides a very efficient tool to promote a website/product/brand that is easy to manage and can have great results if done the right way.

The name of this 'tool' that I'm taking about is 'Google Adwords' and I decided to talk about it here on my blog because this week I found out that there are still many people in the marketing field who either do not know about it yet or do not know how to get results from it.

Google Adwords can be a great way to position a brand/product effectively, capture new and returning customers and promote on a limited budget. But, you are probably asking yourself now... How do I do this?

First of all, you need to establish your goals. You need to define what is the reason for the campaign because, as I mention earlier, Google Adwords can be a great way to position a brand/product, bring new customers or returning ones. So, establishing what do you want from the campaign should be the first step.

After you have established your goals, you need to decide how you want to do this: Whether is cost per click, monthly spend, sales or onsite time, for example. You can click here for more information on what exactly these tools are.

Then, the following step should be to create a Keyword List. The keywords should be those related to your brand/product in many different ways. For example, if what you are promoting is a steakhouse, some of your keywords can be fine dining, steakhouse, dinner in Miami, steak, just to name a few. A great tip is to include your competitors' name on your keyword list because potential customers who are looking for the same product or service will be exposed to your product. Google also helps you find some keyword ideas.

After all that is done, it will be time to get to work! Have some fun creating your campaign with Google Adwords and take the most out of it!

Advertising and the privacy of Internet users

In my opinion, most Internet users would click the icon to protect their privacy because the majority of people are becoming very concerned with privacy issues. Most Social Networks websites have been changing their privacy settings to make easier for the user to protect and choose who will be able to access his/her social network web page.

Will consumers have any clue of what this icon means? The answer relies on how this is going to be marketed to Internet users. Will advertisers create an awareness campaign to inform Internet users about this new informative ‘tool’ that will help them in regards to their privacy? If the advertisers are truly willing to make Internet users aware of their tactics to market their products, they will come up with a campaign.

Considering the crazy amount of information we are all exposed to these days, I do not believe that Internet users will spend much time reading to learn more about their privacy options. Not to mention that most people try to avoid clicking on ‘different/unknown’ websites with the fear of downloading a virus into their computers.