Homework for next time
Next class is 2 weeks away
Syllabus change
sessions 7 and 10 switched
session 7 is now about site promotion
session 10 is now about measuring success for a web site
We will also spend some time reviewing final projects in class, critiquing
Homeworks:
Next Class (2 weeks away)
Reading:
Chapters 4 and 5
1 page Web Site proposal
include:
What the site will be about (online magazine)
What the field is like now, ie who else is out there providing this kind of site
Why readers would visit your site as opposed to the competition
How you will get the content
(paid writers, user submissions, collect elsewhere on the net)
How you will host the site
(geocities, isp, your own hardware)
How you will design the site
(think about the 2D design as well as the structure/navigation)
Think about your audience and how the design needs to be appropriate for them
How you will produce the site
(paid html editor, yourself using frontpage)
What other services, if any, your site will provide
(ecommerce, community)
Mid-semester evaluations
Final Projects:
Due April 14th, by email
Web Site
Create a site with a unifying theme with at least 5 pages of content
Web Site Proposal
Write up a proposal, at least 4 pages, for a new content-based web site
How the site will make money (or at least pay for itself)
(subscription, advertising)
How you will promote the site
(search engines, paid advertising)
A timeline for all the steps
A rough budget for all expenses
CyberTimes
“Print Shops Move Online as Paper Endures in a Digital Age”
Distribute, then print
print on demand at the desktop publishing level
when, how, and why might you use such a service
“E-Commerce Report”
If you were in the position of working with quasi-private information, how would you use it without compromising your audience?
If you are going to see ads anyway, wouldn't you prefer to see an ad for something that you might actually want to buy?
Homework from last time
PREDICTION ONE: A Few Major Conglomerates Will Dominate The Mass News Business, Each With TV, Print, And Web Outposts
PREDICTION TWO: Local News Stations Will Thrive, But Only If They Beef Up Coverage And Have Strong Online Off-Shoots
PREDICTION THREE: TV And The Web Will Finally Converge But In Unexpected Ways
PREDICTION FOUR: Newspapers Will Be An Endangered Species Unless They Embrace The Web And Ever-More Targeted Communities
PREDICTION FIVE: Half Of The Country's Book Purhases Will Be Made Online
PREDICTION SIX: The Number Of Magazines Will Grow Despite The Glut Of Media And The Rise Of The Web
PREDICTION SEVEN: The Current Music Radio Format Will Be Nearly Obsolete While News/Talk Channels Grow Stronger
PREDICTION EIGHT: The Lines Between Editorial And Advertising Will Blur More Than Ever
PG Daly's Managing Intranet Content
intranet
Realistic description of online publishing
'advertorial'
HOSTING YOUR SITE
Site needs:
Content
Design
(programming)
Production
Host
Hosting Concerns:
Price
Control
Ease of use
Unique identity
Options
- Freebies (Tripod, GeoCities, ISPs etc.)
Free and Easy, but limited control and limited identity
- nonvirtual (http://www.mindspring.com/yourname)
- subdomain (http://yourname.mindspring.com)
You get a directory / file storage area on a shared web server.
Similar to virtual, but you don't have to register a domain name with internic (save 35 / year)
Your domain name does not get it's own IP address. (you could share with 100s)
Cheapest option (usually free) best for those just starting out/testing ideas
PROS: Free! Easy, Come with many great services built-in -- like guestbooks, shopping carts, mailing lists, chats, discussions
CONS: not serious, limited space, limited bandwidth, annoying ads, don't get your own URL, less access to special features, shoddy performance at times, inflexible in general.
- CyberMalls / Web storefronts
For selling, not publishing, but mentioned in the book.
You just dump your content, they put it up. Usually in a bare-bones template.
- Web Presence Provider
Fairly cheap, greater control, and unique identity, but requires more technical knowledge.
This is really the way to go.
Very competitive pricing, expandable levels of service, dedicated monitoring and tech support.
- virtual (http://www.yourname.com)
Your own Domain, Your own IP address pointing to your directory on a shared server.
- fake virtual (http://www.yourname.com)
Your own domain name, but NOT your own IP address,
you are sharing it with multiple domains (you could share with 100s)
There is an invisible 'redirect' where the server figures out where to send things
(problems for older browsers and special applications - get a blank page with "continue"
More common among the really bargain basement hosts
(more common than the book suggests)
Be aware of which one you're getting
- dedicated or co-located (http://www.yourname.com)
Even more control at a greater expense and requiring even more knowledge
You own the computers and software, but it is located at / maintained by the provider.
Useful if you already have the equipment, or have special needs.
Most expensive, the best option for those deciding between hosting themselves and outsourcing
- Your Own Hardware
Complete control but requires an experienced staff to maintain the equipment.
You buy the hardware and software, and install, configure, maintain everything yourself.
PROS: You have complete control, can make it very robust. You can include industrial strength applications like search, database, etc.
CONS: Very expensive, Time and staff intensive, Monitor it 24/7/365
Samples:
pair.com
Spectrum of sophistication
1) Hobbyist
Get freebie site
Use HTML converters (Word) or free html editors
Create static HTML files
Promote site on all search engines
Use link exchange, web rings, and banner exchange services - free
2) Beginner
Buy domain name
Rent cheap hosting space ($6/month for ftp access and little else)
Learn HTML or use HTML editor
Create static HTML files
Set up affiliate programs
Send out press release
3) Advanced
Upgrade account ($20/month for cgi services)
Add more interactive features
and real advertising (or subscription)
Buy advertising space on other web sites
Seek venture capital
4) Professional
Consider 'porting' site to a 'database-driven' site with 'dynamically-generated' HTML pages
Set up 'content-sharing' with big sites
Set up advertising campaign
Getting the Domain Name
Once you have a host selected, then it's time to register a Domain Name.
Domain names are important, like the 800#'s of the Web.
'business.com' recently sold for $8million
Owners feel they will be able to save at least $8 mil on advertising over the next several years because their name is so easy to remember.
gif.com vs gotham2go.com
gif.com gets 4,000+ hots a day without any promotion, from people expecting to find something.
cybersquatters
people buy 'good' names hoping to sell them later
government found it illegal to do so with company names
although a company does not have the right to claim a name
a company can sue for its name only if 'bad faith' has been demonstrated
CBS's The Nashville Network wanted to sue The Network Network for tnn.com
Morgan Stanley/Dean Witter wanted to buy msdw.com,
Man bought msdw.com, gave it to his son who used it for 'my super-duper website'
The Internet uses numerical addresses, the DNS offer more easily remembered names.
How to get one
1. Go to the internic.net page (or register.com)
2. Research your name using whois
3. Get the addresses of two local name servers from your ISP
4. Complete an Internic template (three contacts - admin - billing - technical)
5. Submit template (options for additional security available)
6. If ok, Internic adds information to whois database and "zone files"
7. Invoice is sent
When Network Solutions was the olny organization authorized to distrbute domain names,
they used to be $35/year (with contracts of at least 2 years)
But recently the government decided to give about 30 companies the ability to sell names, and they can be found for a little less now.