The web-based project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The web-based project - Essay Example The web-based project is aimed to sell cookies for large target audience. A cookie is a bit of software stored in the computer of a user to a web site. The cookie allows the web-site to path the movements of the user on the operator's web site. The importance of this project is that the population that can be addressed by conventional physical sales and marketing is constrained by geography, that of the Internet is constrained by the number of people who both have access to it and make active use of it (these not necessarily being the same thing). Estimates of the number of people who use the Internet vary widely, although a consensus seems to be emerging that currently tens of millions of people do indeed use the Internet.A cookie is a bit of software stored in the computer of a user to a web site. The web page provides the cookie, and the user's web browser installs the cookie on the user's hard drive. The cookie allows the web-site to path the movements of the user on the operator 's web site. Another analogy is that the cookie "brands" another computer with profile information. Two of the most popular companies allowed cookies are Netscape and Microsoft (Kalakota et al 1999).The advantage of this product is that the cookie allows the web site operator to customize the web site for the visitor's convenience. What there is no disagreement about is the type of people who use the Internet. At the moment (and this will change as the user-base of the Internet expands), they are predominantly young, under the age of about 40, male and relatively wealthy. It should come as no surprise, therefore, that the pornography industry is one of the few industries that appears to have developed a successful business model for selling on the Internet. Another key aspect of the demographics of the Internet is that every one single person using it owns, or has access to a computer (Laurent, 1998). Users are likely, therefore, to have an above average interest in technology. Comp uter companies, both hardware and software, are, therefore, also extremely well represented on the Internet. The site will benefit e-business companies and help them to monitor actions and preferences of their visitors. Yet, privacy is a serious matter in this case. Cookies gather a lot of personal information about web site users. Some web pages demand a visitor to fill out a registration form before visiting the web site (Laurent, 1998). The web site has the right to store voluntarily provided information, implant the cookie in the user's computer, and access the information anytime the visitor revisits the web site. This practice can be either positive or negative, of course, depending on the use of the information. Another aspect to consider is whether receipt of the cookie was voluntary or unknowing. Audience The main target audience is e-business companies and websites. Once a company has succeeded in getting customers to visit website, it still has to get them to buy something. This is the area in which the Internet, with its interactivity and versatility, starts to win over traditional sales methods. The virtual nature of the Internet means that a company can use different methods for achieving sales - methods that cannot be applied effectively in a physical environment. Ironically, however, most websites fail to take advantage of these methods. In this case, cookies will allow to monitor visitor's preferences and analyze their tastes (Laurent, 1998). Cookies can also allow the web site operator to improve the web site by tracking what interests visitors. The Internet marketing community calls information gained from tracking web site user's movements "click stream data". Software from NetGravity, Inc., tags web site visitors with ID numbers. Its software permits a corporation to read information on the corporation's cookie, such as how many times the visitor has visited, what he or she clicked, and how long he or she has lingered. NetGravity also permits target advertising: A web server pulls the visitor's registration number, then sends details to AdServer, which will then choose the ad to present to the