Hello all
I don't understand why my blog was rejected when I applied for Google AdSense...I got an email saying "it does not meet our program criteria".
I don't have any broken links, I wrote the content by myself and referenced when applicable...
However I did emailed them asking for their reasons, but I don't think that they will respond…Nevertheless and in the mean time I will sign up with Adbrite
Your feedback is appreciated.
Regards
To write 11 topics in this blog during my literature search and review is a big achievement for me…I am hopping that there are some people out there benefiting from what I post in this blog…
your feedback is welcomed and appreciated.
SMEs marketing strategies, methods and technique should be based on AIDA,
Nevertheless SMEs should also give great attention to the followings:
Furthermore SMEs must make their potential customers aware of their web site in the first place, therefore the website should be submitted to all the search engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN, furthermore a huge effort should be taken to improve the ranking of the website in search engine listings (search engine optimization), also advertisements on search engines (pay-per-click and paid inclusion listings). In addition to advertisements on search engines their site should be advertised with websites that have similar customer demographics. Moreover SMEs should be advertising in magazines and newspapers Offline advertising.
Ineffective website security will open the door to computer and network attacks which results in damage to the technical and information assets, the consequences of all of that will be the lost of customer confidence and damaged reputation and credibility.
SMEs have to protect all of their transactions with Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology, using digital signatures, securing web servers and using an authentication system. They also have to protect their customer’s information with a privacy policy.
The following laws and acts oblige SMEs to securely keep any data about their customers from being damaged, lost or being unlawfully processed:
There are many advantages of using Oracle and they are as follow:
1.Oracle is available on multiple platforms such as Windows, all flavors of UNIX from vendors such as IBM, Sun, HP, etc. The multi-platform nature of Oracle makes it a true enterprise solution.
2.Oracle has a complete suite of products for data warehouse.
3.Retailer of data warehouse products will always write their products to support Oracle first.
4.Oracle Data Guard is one of the most effective and comprehensive data protection and disaster recovery solutions available today for enterprise data.
However there are some disadvantages of using Oracle and they are as follow:
1.Cost is the biggest argument against buying Oracle products.
2.Oracle is not simple to use and administer, which ends up costing companies more in the long run in the form of consulting fees and support staff.
3.In Oracle the Maximum number of columns in one table is 1000, however it is 3398 in MySQL and 1600 in PostgreSQL. Having said that, you might argue that no database requires 1000 columns in a table, but some big databases might do.
4.Oracle doesn’t support inserting several rows at a time in a table which will help inserting data to the database faster.
Example:
INSERT INTO tablename
VALUES (0,'husam') , (1,'ali') , (2,'jalal');
Which can be as shorthand for
INSERT INTO tablename VALUES (0,'husam');
INSERT INTO tablename VALUES (1,'ali');
INSERT INTO tablename VALUES (2,'jalal');
Nevertheless this function is supported by MySQL and DB2
References:
http://troels.arvin.dk/db/rdbms/
http://www-css.fnal.gov/dsg/external/freeware/mysql-vs-pgsql.html
http://www-css.fnal.gov/dsg/external/freeware/mysql-vs-pgsql.html
http://www.oracle.com/technology/deploy/availability/htdocs/DataGuardOverview.html
All the links above were accessed 14/2/06
PostgreSQL pronounced as "post-gress-Q-L”, is a powerful, open source relational database system which known for its reliability and data integrity, moreover PostgreSQL is considered to be the most advanced open source database system in the world. (1)
PostgreSQL has been developed in many forms since 1977 at the University of California at Berkeley, nevertheless its last version has been downloaded more than 1 million times since it’s released. (2)
Useful Features
PostgreSQL provides many features that are normally found in commercial databases such as DB2, SQL server or Oracle.
The following are some of these features: (3)
1.First of all PostgreSQL is free and distributed under the BSD license, which allows users the freedom to obtain the source code, use the program, and modify it freely.
2.Cross platform: PostgreSQL runs on all main operating systems, including Linux, UNIX (BSD, HP-UX, Mac OS X, Solaris), and Windows.
3.It is fully ACID compliant (Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, and Durability); furthermore it has full support for foreign keys, joins, views, triggers, and stored procedures.
4.PostgreSQL includes the majority of data types, including (INTEGER, NUMERIC, BOOLEAN, CHAR, VARCHAR, DATE, INTERVAL, and TIMESTAMP).
5.PostgreSQL supports storage of binary large objects, including pictures, sounds, and video. 6. PostgreSQL has a built-in language called PL/pgSQL which is similar to Oracle's procedural language PL/SQL.
7.PostgreSQL runs stored procedures in many programming languages, including Java, Perl, Python, Ruby, Tcl, C/C++, and its own PL/pgSQL, which is similar to Oracle's
8.PL/SQL.
9.Scripting languages are supported through PL/Perl, plPHP, PL/Python, PL/Ruby, PL/sh, and PL/Tcl.
10.PostgreSQL supports encrypted connections via SSL.
11.It supports international character sets and multibyte character encodings.
12.PostgreSQL is highly scalable both in the quantity of data that it can manage and in the number of users it can accommodate.
Maximum Database Size Unlimited
Maximum Table Size 32 TB
Maximum Row Size 1.6 TB
Maximum Field Size 1 GB
Maximum Rows per Table Unlimited
Maximum Columns per Table 250 – 1600 depending on column types
Maximum Indexes per Table Unlimited
PostgreSQL 8.1 which is the last release includes more than 120 new features and improvements. (4)
The following are some of these new features:
1. Supports IN, OUT and INOUT parameters, which considerably increase the support of complex business logic for J2EE and .NET applications.
2. Supports database roles, which makes the management of huge numbers of users with complex overlapping database rights straightforward.
3. Supports Two-Phase Commit which allows ACID-compliant transactions across separated servers.
4. Functions have been added for obtaining server information, furthermore performing basic DBA tasks from the PSQL command line.
5. COPY Refactoring which makes loading large databases into PostgreSQL 30% faster than before.
6. Improve the buffer manager to utilize up to two terabytes of RAM.
References:
(1) http://www.faqs.org/docs/ppbook/c208.htm
(2) http://www.internetnews.com/dev-news/article.php/3562576 http://www.postgresql.org/docs/faqs.FAQ.html
http://www.postgresql.org/about/
(3) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PostgreSQL
(3) http://www.postgresql.org/docs/whatsnew
All the links were accessed in 19/3/06
There are a lot of options these days when it comes to web development scripting language, .NET, PHP, JSP and CGI etc.
However the factors that should be considered when choosing a scripting language are:
1.Cost and any licensing issues
2.Platform independent
3.Libraries of codes and community support
4. Security
I personally will go for PHP because to the following:
Cost and licensing issues
Cost here means the cost of the technology itself and the cost of hiring developers to develop the application that required.
Open source languages tend to be very cheap compares to other scripting languages which are owned and supported by large company such as (.NET by Microsoft, ColdFusion by Macromedia); example of open source languages is PHP which is freely available and supported by large community. Whereas .NET platform price (windows) is expensive compares to free PHP platform such as (Linux, UNIX, FreeBSD etc.)
In the Programming Community Index http://www.tiobe.com/tpci.htm which shows the popularity of programming languages, based on the availability of skilled engineers, courses and third party vendors, PHP in their index is in the fourth position before Perl and C#.
As about hiring developers it’s widely known that employing open source language developer such as PHP is much cheaper than hiring .NET web developer as stated in IT jobs watch website (1)http://www.itjobswatch.co.uk for example, the average salary of PHP web developer is £27,818 whereas the average salary of .NET web developer is £34,974.
http://www.itjobswatch.co.uk/jobs/uk/php%20web%20developer.do
http://www.itjobswatch.co.uk/jobs/uk/.net%20web%20developer.do
Furthermore PHP is an open source language so we don't have to worry about any licensing issues.
Platform independent (cross-platform)
Technologies such PHP and Perl run on different platforms (Windows, Linux, Unix, FreeBSD etc.) whereas .NET requires Microsoft platform and it runs only on windows operating system which is one of the disadvantages of using .NET technology.
Database support
PHP supports many databases (MySQL, Informix, Oracle, Sybase, Solid, PostgreSQL, Generic ODBC, etc.)
Security
.NET requires the use of Internet Information Services (IIS) which has a history of vulnerabilities whereas PHP runs on Apache the most used web server http://news.netcraft.com/archives/web_server_survey.html and has a good security track record, furthermore it runs on almost all available platforms. Please refer to security focus website for more details about the vulnerabilities of IIS.
http://search.securityfocus.com/swsearch?sbm=%2F&metaname=alldoc&query=iis
Libraries of codes and community support
When it comes to PHP the availability of libraries of codes is a non-issue due to the growth of PHP usages, furthermore the nature of its open source community. However the same is said about .NET and J2EE which are supported by large companies’ investment, nevertheless these companies might stop supporting any of their languages at any time due to introducing another new language as we can see with Microsoft which might stop or reduce supporting its ASP due to introducing .NET.
Therefore it is mostly business issue which determines the support or introducing any private owned development language.
Performance
In my point of view almost all the available web development scripting language do perform the same.
Finally we need to think about the unique needs of our situation and organisation when choosing a web development scripting language furthermore the availability and affordability of the related technologies, for instance (database management system, web server and operating system).
For example if we want to use .NET I will have to ask myself do I have windows operating system, IIS and DBMS which supported by .NET, if not than how do I obtain them? Are they free or do I have to pay for them? If I have to pay for them can I offered them at this moment? Is it worth the investment or not? Moreover I need to think about my understanding and comfort of using any language that I decide to use.
References:
Usage Stats of PHP for March 2006: 21,439,178 Domains, 1,277,736 IP Addresses http://www.php.net/usage.php
http://www.tiobe.com/tpci.htm
http://www.itjobswatch.co.uk
http://www.itjobswatch.co.uk/jobs/uk/php%20web%20developer.do
http://www.itjobswatch.co.uk/jobs/uk/.net%20web%20developer.do
http://news.netcraft.com/archives/web_server_survey.html
http://search.securityfocus.com/swsearch?sbm=%2F&metaname=alldoc&query=iis
All the links were accessed in 19/3/06
Relational databases are designed for on-line transactional processing (OLTP) and is usually used to track real-time information furthermore permit us to modify data (add, change or delete data). (1)
Whereas data warehouse is transforming and loading data from source systems into the data warehouse, which means it is read only database, include years of summarized data, used meanly for reporting purposes and to help in the decision making.
Therefore Data Warehouse is (2)
1.Time Referenced (hold years of data)
2.Subject-Oriented (group data by subject rather than by activity)
3.Non-volatile (read only)
4. Integrated
Using Data Warehouse During Times of Change.
If any organization wants to have comparable history throughout a long period then a data warehouse will be best answer to create comparable data to current performance. Because data warehouse can store historical data which will be very useful when it compares with the current data. (3)
Another use for data warehouse is analyze data to spot trends
Data warehouse could help any business analyzes data to spot trends, uncover problems or for example identifies which customers are about to stop their contract, and then decide in what type of action the organization has to take to stop these customers from leaving, to be able to do all the above the organization needs a data warehouse which collect data from the operational databases, for instance, the sales databases, the customer service databases, the order management databases and so on.
Links accessed May 4, 2006
Hello all
I have good news…my first cut proposal was accepted by my supervisor, however I was asked to look at Web 2.0 and its contributions to my research problem…
Ok here are some of my findings and recommendations, after conducting literature search and review of E-marketing strategies, tools and techniques.
1. Products and price variety
The product variety is a key issue that determines a potential customer’s willingness to use your site. If visitors need to visit another website to find the products they are looking for then they may never return to you, therefore online business must provide differentiated product range and offer a complete service, rather than simply being the cheapest or most convenient source for a particular product.
2. Customisation and bundling
Online businesses should differentiate their the products and services in order to attract customers and build long term relationships, this should include, customisation and bundling which means offering a combination of products or services that the individual consumer needs at attractive prices.
3. Site design
The Internet is the primary point of interaction with the customer; therefore design is a crucial concept to attract new customers.
4. Ease to use websites (usability)
Sites must be easy to use and navigate, designed logically, so that a first time visitor can find all the products that is of interest, with the minimum number of clicks.
5. Customer acquisition
Customer acquisition is an important element of the online strategy...In further post I will elaborate on this and explain how to Identify and deploy effective and economical e-marketing strategies, tools and techniques for online businesses to improve their competitiveness and to enable them to strengthen their online presence.
5. Customer retention
Customers can switch loyalty online easily and quickly therefore enhancing loyalty through loyalty programs is an essential to any online business.
Customer retention can be achieved by the following:
1.Loyalty programs to increase customer retention.
2.Regular communication with site users either through newsletters or more personalized messages, to build their loyalty and build share of mind in a crowded marketplace.
6. Customer service differentiation
Online business should give their great attentions to customer’s feedback and the ability to respond rapidly to customers concerns.
They should for example invest in Live Text Chat system that enables customers to interact by text with customer service representative.
Hello again
I am still looking for a SME to do my project about; I emailed few in the last couple of days but no replies yet!!
A friend suggested starting an online business and do the E marketing plan for it...I am now thinking about this suggestion and in the mean time I will still try to contact some SMEs.
Ok there is something else I would like to add here…I might not post all my findings, my literature search and review in this blog because it is a dissertation at the end of the day, and I don’t want to be penalised and accused for plagiarism if my project is being copied and used in another sites…
Hello
Internet Marketing for SMEs is a project I am undertaking for my MSc Electronic Commerce at Middlesex University.
I will be blogging about it…so don’t forget to add this blog to your favourite if you are interested in internet marketing and employing effective and economical e marketing strategies, tools and techniques.
My dissertation title is:
Employing effective and economical e marketing strategies, tools and techniques for SMEs.
Study Area Review:
Online marketing strategies, tools and techniques
Aim:
Identify and deploy effective and economical e-marketing strategies, tools and techniques for SMEs to improve their competitiveness and to enable them to strengthen their online presence.
Objectives:
Research Methodology:
Case study, action research and survey methods.
Project Type:
Problem solving which will involve improving the efficiency and effectiveness of existing approaches, or developing different approaches and theories in different situations.
Resources Audit
Project planning
