What are you doing at the moment to increase conversion rates online?
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Part 3 Implementation
Static web content
A web page view that is identical every time it is
loaded.
Dynamic web content
A web page view that varies according to user
preferences or environment constraints.
HTML Hypertext Markup Language
A standard format used to define the text and
layout of web pages. HTML files usually have
the extension .HTML or .HTM.
The delivery of e-business services via a web interface may initially appear straightforward. Everyone has heard apocryphal tales such as a 12-year-old relation creating a web site to sell
used cars. Indeed, the creation of
static web content
is straightforward as we will see. In this example, simple HTML code is used for layout and formatting of information to create
a simple catalogue of perhaps ten cars, with a web page for each that is accessed from a home page or simple menu. But imagine the situation for a real car dealership where a cus-
tomer will want to select from a range of hundreds or thousands of cars with different specifications from different manufacturers. Here, it is impractical for the user to select from
a menu of hundreds of cars. At the very least, they will expect the cars to be grouped into categories by manufacturer and perhaps sorted by age. But finding the right car through
browsing these categories could take a long time and most users will demand a basic search facility by which they type in, or select, the make of car or an advanced search facility by
which they choose the make, plus the specification such as engine size and year of registra- tion. In this case the page delivered to the user will depend on their preferences and will be
dynamic web content
. Here, it is apparent that more than simple formatting and presenta- tion is required – the site is interactive, that is to say it must accept text input from the user
and respond to the request with the appropriate information. The development process will involve coding to accept the user’s preferences, passing the request to a database, performing
a query, returning the results and formatting them for the user.
In this section we briefly introduce how simple static web pages can be developed using HTML and how scripts and databases can be used in conjunction with HTML to produce
dynamic content.
Creating static web content
HTML or hypertext markup language
, which was introduced in Chapter 3, is the standard that is most commonly used for producing static web content. HTML files can be written
Development of web-based content and services
Activity 12.2
Selecting applications software for a small business
Purpose
To aid understanding of the different factors to assess when selecting applications software and the relative importance of them.
Activity
A start-up office supplies business which specializes in supply of printers is reviewing its alternatives for different types of e-business system. Form groups with each group
selecting one type of e-business service from the list below and then discussing the importance of the nine criteria for selecting software described above. A ranked list of the
criteria in order of importance should be produced. These can be put on a whiteboard, with one type of software in each column to assess the commonality in requirements.
E-business service types:
1 Customer relationship management application.
2 Supply chain management application.
3 Employee management system.
4 Web analytics software see later in chapter.
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