Thursday, March 10, 2011

E-Business in Moldova

More and more Moldovan customers prefer to buy and sell things online rather than going to markets and outdoor fairs. Today we are going to visit three of the most popular websites and rank them in the criteria below. At the end of the lesson you will have to decide which website is the best option for e-business in Moldova and explain why. I. Give the sites a score from 1 to 5
( 1 being unsatisfactory, 2 - poor, 3 fair, 4 - acceptable and 5 outstanding. )
999.md e-bun.md Makler.md
1) Which website has the best structure? (How clear is it from the home page what the site offers and where you can find the necessary information?)
2) Which site has the best visuals: icons, pictures, banners, etc
3) Ease of access - which website is the most user-friendly? (how easy is it to find the right product for clients, especially those who are not advanced Internet users)
4) Variety of services (which site offers a wider variety of products and services?)
5) Product information (which site offers a more detailed information about the products or services to be provided?)
Add up your scores and decide which site is the leader on the Moldovan market. Explain why.

II. Now, please write a short list of recommendations for each site - what can be improved / changed / enhanced / adapted / added / removed ?
Contrast and Compare: Check the Best Business Websites in 2010-2011 and compare with the Moldovan ones: 20 Best Business Websites
III. Next, let's read the expert opinion about what makes a good business site. Chose the article you like best and create a short 350 word summary.
Article 1: 35 Deadly Website Sins That will Kill Your Business!
Article 2: What makes a good business?
Article 3: 14 Steps to Good Business Website Design
IV Watch the video "Did you know 5.0" and write down the most interesting statistics.


9 comments:

  1. I think the most worth suggestions to create a successful website is the article about 14 steps to Good Business website Design. It will help us to create a successful business step by step. First of all choose a domain name that may be the same as your business or gives an idea of what you are doing or you may use a keyword that will give a chance of your site to be found. To design your home page goes next because it is the most important page, it will create the first impression of your site. Your message should be clear, so divide it into sections and mark with headers, to make it interesting upload some colorful image that captivate your visitor’s attention, nevertheless it should be simple and clearly communicates your website’s purpose and goals. The about us page should offer your costumer a little more information about your business also you can place a map of where you are located to create a very professional feeling, all you should remember is to keep the text in short paragraphs. The last page you should have is contact us page the best way to contact you directly, this requires your phone number or email address that may be prominent on the page with different font styles. Your visitors came to your site to see what you had to offer so keep advertising ratio 25% or less. Do not design the site for you so don’t distract potential users with blinking text or auto play video or audio. Image background is not a professional image and make a slow page-loading times. Put as few clicks as possible so not to get tired the customer, but try to avoid too much information on one page. Always include a menu on the page this will help one to start all over again and click to another page he is interested. Use the standard font and contrasting colors with text. If you seem you cannot cope this than involve a professional that knows for sure all underlined above.

    ReplyDelete
  2. What makes a good website?
    It is very difficult to develop a website for a business, because you have to focus on the usability of the site, providing pertinent information quickly and simply by easy navigation.
    You need to pay attention both to the backend and the front-end ,including functionality that allows the site grow with the business. There are a lot of factors to consider, but undertaking the web progress smartly makes it easy to have an updated site.
    Why do you need a website?
    You should establish clear short term and long term goals for the website at the beginning. Usually small businesses use their website to inform the existing and future customers, while some SMEs want to expand their website, to enable marketing initiatives and e-commerce. So, you need to focus on your goals during the development process of the website.
    Working with a website designer
    To develop a professional and fully functional site it is better to work with an experienced website designer. You should make a research and look at the designer’s previous work, speak to their clients in order to understadnd if they correspond. You should prepare too, by finding 4 or 5 examples of websites you like and remark what appeals to you and what you dislike.
    KISS
    Once your goals have been established and your web design team is in place, it’s time to start thinking about the design. At the beginning you could be tempted by big-impact ideas, but the KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid!) principle is indispensable when it comes to web development.
    Is important to focus on simplicity and consistencity. It means you need to make it simple for the users to navigate, to explore and acomplish their objectives. It is also important to integrate consistent design, navigation and language on each page, making it easy for users to move forward and ”dig” into the site further.
    Websites are part of your business; it is often the first impression your customers and clients have. Think of your website as your reception area: if it is welcoming, well designed and ordered, it expresses a sense of professionalism. (352 words)

    ReplyDelete
  3. In my opinion, 2 best business sites are 999.md and Makler.md, because these are the most popular and known in our country. “Makler. md “ has a great reputation because they have a newspaper, too. It is comfortable for many people, who don’t have computers at home, to post or to look for a product or any services. On the 999.md site, you can find or sell everything you want. You can register for free and (why not) make your own little business .These sites gives possibilities to find something you want but don’t find in the market or even to buy at a lower price. Like I mentioned before, it is comfortable, cheaper and accessible

    ReplyDelete
  4. What makes a good website?
    An useful and successful website can be created by working hardly on it. Sure, bright colours and funky visuals have a big influence, but there are a lot of factors that can help you to improve the website, in this way achieving the long-expected success.
    When creating a website for your business, you have to think on its usefulness and to ensure that it is easy to navigate and to find information in a simple way. Another factor is focusing on back-end and front-end of the site, so a great success have those websites which show the functionality, in this way allowing the business growth. The website makes easy to develop the business and offer new opportunities to obtain confident partners.
    Before creating a website, you have to decide which type of business do you have: in the long run or in the short run, because small businesses create a website for informing the customers about their products and services.
    You develop a professional website only if you work with an experienced website designer. It is very important to see the previous works of this designer and try to analyse them and to find some works which you like and to explain your ideas. If you have some ideas it will be easier to work and the web designer will understand you better.
    When you found you web design team, it is time to think about the design and layout of your site. During the initial stage it is easy to get down or to do some mistakes, but the KISS (Keep it Simple Stupid!) principle can help you, if you talk about web-development.
    The most significant concepts to remember during the design are simplicity and consistency. Your site must be easy to explore and to move forward and delve into the site.
    Navigating on the sites: www.makler.md, www.999.md and www.e-bun.md, I conclude that first two websites, from my point of view are designed better. The information is presented clearly, in a simple way and you can find a lot of necessary information. It contains best visuals as icons, pictures, banners and offer a wider variety of products and services.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Why is Wall Street Journal considered to be a successful business site? How does it attract visitors? What is the secret of a catching business site?
    The Wall Street Journal is a daily newspaper published by Dow Jones & Company, being the main rival of London Financial Times. The Wall Street Journal site ranked third in the “20 Best Business Websites for Entrepreneurs and CEOs” and “Top 15 Most Popular Business Websites/March 2011”. WSJ does worth its place in the tops, because it is one of the most popular and trusted source of information on the international platform, as the unique monthly visitors are estimated at 23 mln., with 400.000 online paid subscriptions.
    The site is a direct reflection of a serious and professional work, having a weighty content in a nicely organized fashion. It ranked third in both tops because of a strict obey of rules when creating a business site: advertising ratio at less than 25%,no distracting audio and video, clear message of the articles, attracting background, minimized clicking. It is very easy to access and of a great help, because it has a simple collocation and focuses on many domains. The visitor can browse on business, markets, real estate, countries and continents, life and style, stock market indices etc. One can read the “Today’s paper”, watch videos, comment on blogs and on Journal Community. The site shows commitment to the visitor by considering his opinion in the “question of the day” and “opinion” boxes.
    WSJ website does deserve the ranked third place because of following the KISS strategy: keep it simple, but with a content of a great importance for those who want to apply what they learned in class to real-world situations: from the stock market to international business, from a thought to starting up an own company.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ecaterina BorovetchiMarch 24, 2011 at 5:10 AM

    I think the best article which can help you to create a professional website is “14 steps to good business website design”. First step is to choose a domain name, which can be the same as your business name or can include a “keyword”, so when people search for something specific they could see your site. On the home page, which is the most important, you should communicate who you are, why you have a website and have a “Call to action” which is the text that tells your visitors what you want them to do next. Second page you should have is the About Us page, where you tell more about yourself or your business. It’s important that each page on the website has something valuable to offer, because people want to read something useful and interesting, that’s why you don’t have to design ‘Pretty, but Useless’. The advertising ratio should be 25% or less, because people came to your site to see what you have to offer and not somebody else. If you have some relevant video or audio on the site, you should make the visitor can play it when he wants. It is also very important to put as few clicks between the visitor and the information as possible. You should avoid putting to much information on one page, normally a page should be limited to 2 screens. It’s important to include a navigation menu on every page which helps the visitor to find the page which interests him. You should ensure the website’s readability, the website page should be no wider than the middle 66% of the screen, to make it easy to the visitors with really large screens to read the information. Contrasting colours with text, as red font on green background is irritating, so it’s important to choose a good combination of font and background. The last thing mentioned in the article “14 steps to good business website design” is that you always can hire a professional to design your website, he will take into account all written above and even more.

    ReplyDelete
  7. A business website must be easy to navigate and provide relevant information quickly and easy.
    When planning to create the website, we should clarify the business case and establish clear short term and long term goals, which need to remain front of mind during the development process. We should do some research, find some examples of websites we like and work with an experienced designer. During the initial stages, we should use the KISS principle and focus on simplicity and consistency.
    Websites should be used as an extension of your business as it is the first impression of the customers. That is why, the website should be well designed and ordered.

    ReplyDelete
  8. From the top 15 most popular business websites I liked a lot Yahoo! Finance. And I will explain why.
    When I accessed the page, first of all I observed that this website is very nice organized. The domain name is very easy to remember. First of all almost everyone knows about yahoo and second of all because there is “finance” before the word yahoo. There is no need to explain what for was created the site, because we understand what it contains from the domain name. The background is white and grey on the sides, which doesn’t make your eyes tired when you read. Another thing that I liked is that navigation menu is on every page, which makes the navigation on the website easier. It is very important to have the navigation menu on every page, because in this way the reader doesn’t have to make too many clicks to return on the first page, for example.
    When I access some sites, I see there too much advertising and sometimes these ads appears from nowhere in the middle of your page. On this site the advertising ratio is kept under 25% and the only things which are advertised are yahoo products.
    In fact this site is a good example for people who want to make good business sites. It is very easy to navigate on, you can find everything you need with minimum number of clicks and at last but not at least, there you can find a lot of interesting information.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Same site from RM is http://simos.md and http://locuinte.webs.com - vith ads from Moldova

    ReplyDelete