Cookies And Internet Privacy Essays - Internet Privacy,

Cookies And Internet Privacy Cookies and Internet Privacy March 14, 1999 What is a Cookie? Netscape's Client Side State definition:Cookies are a general mechanism which server side connections (such as CGI scripts) can use to both store and retrieve information on the client side of the connection. The addition of a simple, persistent, client-side state significantly extends the capabilities of Web-based client/server applications.Kington, Andy, Andys HTTP Cookie Notes, Available from http://www.illuminatus.com/cookie_pages/ [modified 6 June 1997, cited 14 March, 1999] In English, this means that webservers can create web pages that will customize from user to user. By saving these preferences on your computer, the web page can reload appearing to your chosen options. This is accomplished by retrieving the cookie, through your browser, when you access the web page. Where cookies and privacy clash The problem with privacy begins with the cookie revealing personal information that you do not wish to be available. Your browser is probably revealing more than you might want: which computer you are coming from, what software and hardware you are using, details of the link you clicked on, and possibly even your email address. Junkbusters, How Web Servers' Cookies Threaten Your Privacy, [Online], Available from http://www.junkbusters.com/ht/en/cookies.html, [written 11 December, 1998, cited 14 March, 1999] By receiving this information, the webservers could sell it as part of an advertising database resulting in both electronic and paper junk mail. Legislative action has been enacted to curtail the illegal use of personal information. The WWW offers a wide variety of communication, information and interaction. Cookies provide for necessary customization. But the Internet is not outside the law. Existing regulations, targeted at protecting personal information, limit the use and application of cookies. Current cookie usage violates such norms. Content providers continuing to use cookies that violate these regulations and browser producers unwilling or incapable of bringing their products into accordance with these laws both risk legal liability. It should be their concern to avoid legal action; and it should be our concern to safeguard our privacy. Mayer-Schoenberger, Viktor, The Internet and Privacy Legislation: Cookies for a Treat? , West Virginia Journal of Law and Technology, [journal online], Available from http://www.wvjolt.wvu.edu/wvjolt/current/issue1/articles/mayer/mayer.htm, [cited 14 March, 1999] Another possibility of potential privacy violition is cookies retreiving information from other locations on your hard drive. The safety of personal information stored on the user's hard drive has also been of concern in the cookie debate. Concerns have been raised about the possibility of cookies being written that would allow access to other information that the user has stored. Pitt, Andrew, Internet Privacy: The Cookie Controversy, [online], Available from http://www.cookiecentral.com/ccstory/cc3.htm, [cited 14 March, 1999] What can we do to minimize our risk I feel that the best way to minimize your risk is to be careful with allowing sites to place cookies in your system. This can easily be accomplished by changing your internet settings to allow manual confirmation of each cookie. You can prevent any cookies from being sent to your system using the browser options. In Internet Explorer 4.0, choose the View, Internet Options command, click the Advanced tab and click the Disable All Cookie Use option. In Netscape 4.0, choose the Edit, Options command, click on Advanced and click the Disable Cookies option. After that, no cookies will be stored on your system. You will need to turn cookies back on if you want to use any online services that require them. You can also choose the option to prompt you before accepting a cookie, but at many sites you will be continually closing the warning dialog box. http://www.ciac.org/, INFORMATION BULLETIN I-034: Internet Cookies, [html], [12 March, 1998, cited 14 March 14, 1999], Available from http://www.ciac.org/ciac/bulletins/i-034.shtml This can become tedious with the number of sites using cookies today. Another option is to download a cookie management program from any one of the shareware sites on the Internet. Most search engines have links to a shareware site My third option is to simply limit which sites you choose to view, only go to sites you know are safe. Computers and Internet

Organizational Fad or Fantasy Example

Organizational Fad or Fantasy Example Organizational Fad or Fantasy – Assignment Example ï » ¿ In your opinion, are teams an effective way for organizations to manage work and get the most out of their employees? Teams are critical in influencing organization performance in two ways; teams can help an organization to achieve incredible results or a team that does work may cause disruption of failure to the organization goals. In this sense, a team would enable an organization to achieve a given goals when its constitution reflects on the perspective of the organization. Conversely, team management has similar features to those observed in an organization. In essence, teams are effective ways that an organization can use to manage its employees. The process of constituting a working team should evaluate the employees who intend to work under the banner of a given team (Ashkanasy, et.al. (2000). This process does not only influence the ability of the team to perform, but also manageability of the team. In most cases, the composition of a team considers the following the skills of the team and the task which the team should perform. Critics have observed that organizations, which have embraced the teamwork attitudes, do not only achieve a given task, but enables their employees to advance their visibility in the organization (Hayes, 2002). When management anticipates delegating some of its duties, the best way to introduce the above is through creation of teams. While delegation enables the management to offer opportunity to leaders and some employees to release their leadership abilities, delegation is effective when working in teams. Teams enable management to influence the behavior of its employees. Large organizations usually develop structures in which various departments work towards meeting a given target. In this sense, the organization delegates the duty to the team leaders. Working within these teams enables the firm to monitor the activities or the behavior of its employees. Conversely, some critics have observed that teams may not deliver the objective of the firm when they do not have specific mission to accomplish. In some cases, some employees may resist the formation of teams. Ideally, many firms develop teams and abandon them after accomplishing a given task. However, some critics have noted that teams tend to be successful when the management and the team coordinate their activities (Lipton, 2002). The management should monitor the activities of the team as well as the motivating it. This enables the team to build the team spirit that is essential in accomplishing the objectives of the firm. Employees tend to demonstrate a sense of belonging. This attribute is critical because it influences individual ability or reaction towards a given action. It is arguable that teams enable employees to work as a group as well as sourcing information from the management. Since teams comprises of a given number, identifying the problems or challenges facing a team is quite easy (Harvard Business School Press, 2010). This enables the employees to express their views in relation to the task they perform. In conclusion, teams may enable an organization to achieve incredible result when its composition considers the tasks and the ability of the employees composing the team. References Ashkanasy, M. N. et.al. (2000). Handbook of Organizational Culture and Climate. London: SAGE. Harvard Business School Press. (2010). Managing Teams. Pennsylvania: Harvard Business Press. Hayes, N. (2002). Managing Teams: A Strategy for Success. New York: Cengage Learning EMEA. Lipton, M. (2002). Guiding Growth: How Vision Keeps Companies on Course. Pennsylvania: Harvard Business Press.

NUTRITION RELATED DISEASE Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 3

NUTRITION RELATED DISEASE - Research Paper Example Nutrition on other side can be defined as food that works in the body; components that are required in the body so as to grow, reproduce, and live a normal healthy life. Foodborne illness also known as foodborne disease is the term used to refer to symptoms associated with consumption of contaminated foods (Duggan, Walker and Watkins 179). Food poisoning entails eating contaminated foods as a result of poisons, or disease causing micro-organisms. On the other hand, nutrient related diseases are diseases that result from deficiency of some nutrients in the diet or over-consumption of some nutrients. According to Berdainer, Dwyer and Feldman, safe food is the major concern of all living things as well as food industry. Safe food contributes immensely towards protecting living things from foodborne illness. Additionally, observance of food safety contributes immensely towards reducing the rate of immortality as a result of consumption of contaminated foods. Safe food also entails taking in good diet. In tandem to this, consumption of safe food lowers the cases of nutrient related diseases. Food contamination is among the key elements that contribute to health problems. In most occasions, it is caused by the presence of unwanted micro-organisms, chemicals and physical elements in food. Food contamination is very crucial because it leads to occurrence of food borne illness. For instance, it is through consumption of bacteria as a result of food contamination that one develops gastrointestinal problems. Food contaminants have also the potential to cause death if not controlled in ti me. For instance, it is evident that typhoid leads to death if not treated effectively. Food additives are ingredients added to the produced food in order to increase its shelf life, enhance its flavor or change its physical appearance. Despite their contribution to successive maintenance of the quality of food, it is evident that they also cause some problems to people who are

Business perposal Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Business perposal - Research Paper Example It provides catering services delivering various kinds of delicious food items to the plates of the customers. The business in this regard specializes in vegetarian food items and non-vegetarian food items as well. In addition, according to the request of the customer the company also renders its services in terms of continental food items at a competitive price in the market (Hirshleifer & Et. Al., 2005). Apart from catering services the company, also organizes event for its customers belonging to the commercial and the general market as well. In this case, the company manages the event location, the decorative measures, and both the fooding and lodging services if demanded. In addition, the company also renders transport services to its customers while organizing such event. Moreover, the company specializes in organizing small or big events in various occasions, but excels in organizing business conferences. The company renders its services in various price ranges considering the comfortability of the customers and the competitive environment in which the business firm operates. Consequently, the prices are based on certain variables, such as the total number of guests, the food items selected to be served on the occasion, the venue of the event, and the time duration of the event that can range from a half day to even two days. Based on all these variables, the average pricing structure of the company ranges from a minimum of $25 per person and a maximum of $140 per person for general customers. However, for the commercial customers the pricing structure ranges from $30 per person to $220 per person (Hamster Internet, Inc., 2011). Notably, the pricing structure mentioned above does not include extra charges of tip, i.e. inclining the customers’ to their discretion. The additional charges also take account of taxation adhering to the legal rules and regulations prescribed by the regulatory bodies. The services in this regard not only accounts the

Vision and Rationale Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Vision and Rationale - Assignment Example They do not achieve the core objective of cleaning the teeth, which is performed by the tooth paste and the tooth brush. Therefore, due to the lack of substitute products for this purpose, it is eminent that the market for this product is existent and sustainable. Tooth brushes were first invented in China, where the Chinese used the soft pig hair on the neck to make tooth brush bristles (Segrave, 2010). In Europe, the use of tooth brush started in France in the early eighteenth century. However, tooth brush was first patented in America by H. N. Wadsworth in 1885, after which many American companies embarked on the production of tooth brushes (Jones, 2010). The bare facts is that, tooth brushing in America and many other countries was not a common phenomena, until the soldiers who had gone to fight in world war II came back having adapted this habit. The same happened with tooth paste, which was not used until the 1800s, although the Chinese and the Indians had different substance t hat they used as tooth paste (Segrave, 2010). Rationale for selecting the product Tooth paste and tooth brush have become a necessity for man since a century ago, owing to the health dangers posed by unclean teeth to an individual. Thus, this product comes in the market to serve a basic need that the society has had for decades, only that, it has become increasingly inconvenient for people to pack a box of tooth brush and another one for tooth paste whenever they want to travel. Therefore, the introduction of this new product, which seeks to function both as a tooth brush and a tooth paste dispenser, could not have come at a better time. It will solve the incontinences people have, through allowing them to travel with only one product, which will dispense tooth paste and brush their teeth too. On top of serving as a duo product, this new product will also ensure the maintenance of high health standards, through ensuring that an individual does not use more or less tooth paste while brushing his/teeth. This is because; the product will be designed such that, through a single twist of the base of the brush, the recommended amount of tooth paste will be dispensed. Therefore, there is no way in which individuals will use more or less of the tooth paste, unless they twist the base of the brush more than once, since each single twist dispenses the recommended amount of the tooth paste. Company goals The goals of the company is to solve the problem that the society has, which is that of inconveniencies, associated with the use of tooth brush and tooth paste dispense as different products. Therefore, the company’s goals are: Meet the market need for a teeth cleaning product, which combines the functions of dispensing tooth paste and brushing the teeth. Provide the markets with a convenient product, which is packed singly, yet serving duo functions, for the ease of travel. Saving the people valuable time, through providing the market with an exclusive product th at saves the time used in using the tooth paste and the tooth brush as different products. Strategies to achieve the goals The strategies to achieve the goals will be to design the product such that it has a section that hold tooth paste, at the base of the brush, a lock which prevents the tooth brush from being dispensed accidentally and a dispensing tunnel, through which the tooth paste is dispensed from the base of

Customer Attitudes Towards Search Engine Marketing

Customer Attitudes Towards Search Engine Marketing Abstract The present study approaches the empathizing of the UK users behaviour with respect to internet when considere in presence of SEM (Search Engine Marketing) and related activities, conceiving the present dynamic role of online and connected consumer who uses the internet and Web 2.0 tools like Social and Media Blogs. An online form survey, reaching up to 100 respondents actively using social network sites like â€Å"Face book†, analyzed the respondents social, demographic and general characteristics, their online behaviour, and their level of conflict with SEM activities. It also discovered the most democratic and the most often used internet tools. The review findings were mostly consistent with same kind of studies conducted in different regions of United Kingdom and Europe .the review of gathered data enabled to find relevant kinships between variables and equating answers through age, gender, and hours fagged on the internet. The results will give all internet marketers a d egree of perceptivity into their direct users, and will allow them to make strategies to provide for the targeted segments effectively. Also, this study will give a vital point of cite for future research related to internet marketing, which will be useful believing the current trends and development of particular marketing activity. The application using PHP and MySQL was designed to get the responses from respondents. Based on the responses collected from the sample of 68, the data was found and the conclusion has been done based on this data collection. The online questionnaire was uploaded on the web on the url http://searchresults.net63.net From this URL, one can access the questionnaire and fill up personal details followed by the responses to different situations. Based on this response, the data was captured onto the database. This database (of MySQL) was helpful to fetch the details and behaviour of individuals towards different options available on the websites. Technical Plan This study is planned as following: Initially, an exploration of previous or existing research and the documented evidence found are placed in the literature review section (chapter 2). Following this is, an explanation of how the study was carried out, which includes research design, followed by sampling, data collection methods, the methods used   for analysis and limitations are discussed in (chapter 3). Furthermore, the answers to research interrogations are discussed in detail in chapter 4, with a systematic analysis of the survey results. The application was being designed using PHP and MySQL. The former was used as the programming language with the back end database support through MySQL. Their personal details followed by their responses to different options available on the web are analysed to have a study on their behaviour for different situations. Based on this approach, the important analysis was further explored. Lastly, the conclusion of our research is accomplished in chapter 5, where study findings are analyzed using the point of observation of their contact on additional academic or professional research, which may include practical testimonials, limitations of findings and other areas for further research. For the purpose of my experiment I had designed a small application which counts clicks on particular links. I developed it in PHP and used MySQL database. The address of the application was located on the link that was made available online at http://searchresults.net63.net. One can easy get an access to this link to fill out the details in an easy manner. This helped in getting responses in a thorough manner. Through this approach, all the data was collected. 100 respondents were approached at initial stages. However, due to lack of response rate, it was noted that there is the need to reduce the sample size. So, I asked 68 participants to do the experiment. Mainly I sent emails to friends. I also went to Universitys library and asked some people to do the experiment. Basically I gave the address to people and once they typed it in a browser. They had to chose gender, age range and how experienced internet users they are. Then there was a short description explaining what will happ en. Participants had to imagine that they are looking for a watch to buy and were given search results copied from google on a ‘buy watches phrase. They had to click on any link they liked. Then they had to imagine that they are looking for a new TV. Search results for ‘buy tv phrase were displayed and they had to click on any. Lastly they were given search results for ‘buy books and again they had to click somewhere. All the clicks were saved in a database. There were organic and sponsored links. I used some simple SQL queries on myPHPadmin panel to extract the numbers. Critical review Search Engine Marketing (SEM) or else Pay per Click (PPC) marketing and is usually known in literature as well and is one of three diverse types of online marketing. The remaining two are Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Banner Advertising. Precisely what they are, and how they work and advantages and disadvantages of different techniques are talked over in detail later in this report. Surveys conducted by EIAA i.e. European Interactive Advertising Association show the performance of European internet users and other online buyers or shoppers. As per their Online survey (for which around 7,008 people all across the Europe including UK, France ,Germany, , Italy ,Spain, the Nordics, Netherlands   and the Belgium were interviewed) Out of the total,76% of online buyers use search engines as a source of information. This study also stated deviations between users of the UK in particular. Before investigating the topic more closely, it is significant to define the word of SEM. Though in writing this form of marketing is frequently addressed to pay per click (also occasionally written as pay-per-click) marketing (Anderson, C., 2006). First of all a few definitions of term, to constitute the literature and will be introduced. An accurate explanation will follow later. Pay per click (PPC) is placement of small ads on the search outcome on a page for a precise keyword or set of keywords in return for a individual payment when a guest actually clicks particular ad (Battelle, J. ,2005) Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising: A technique of marketing where a company pays a certain sum of money each time somebody clicks on a small advertisement on a search engine‘s results page or a homepage and then takes to the advertiser‘s website (Brin, S. and Page, L., 1998). Pay-per-click (PPC): The payment form used for patronized search advertising. Advertisers set bid on keywords and pay in case when searchers click on the search results listing related with those keywords (Broder, A., 2002). Pay per click advertising used for search engines can be explained most easily by following: The placement of a small content only adverts on search result page which is activated by a particular keyword or phrase equaling typed in search box (Brooks, N., 2004a). Pay Per Click: A performance based model of paying for online ads whereby payments are made for each click on a displayed advert, if there are no clicks then there will be no fee and is also known as CPC i.e. cost per click and CPA is known as cost per action (Brooks, N. ,2004a). This essentially means that there exists text based advertisements and are displayed on search engines result page and are next to natural search listings. Such Text ads are fore grounded by the search engines with different names like sponsored links and are typically on right hand side of a result page, and is clearly distinguished from natural search results which are displayed on left. From time to time one or more than one of those advertisements are showed on top of list, over the organic search results, fore grounded through a different backdrop color. The advertising companies can then decide which key phrase or words searches performed by the search engine users and where their ad should appear (Fain, D.C. and Pedersen, J.O. ,2006).The main mechanism of a search engine marketing operation are defining of important keywords, and the bidding on keywords and a good quality written text ad through a good call to act. The advantage of such methods of advertising when compared to banner ads is to facilitate the advertiser as he has to pay only when someone in fact clicks on the advertisement, and not only for imitation, which a customer might not be able to see. Search engines can show up to 8 Text advertisements of sponsored links on one page. The order of what text advertisement is displayed and the position is defined by how much amount each advertiser is ready to pay for searched keyword. The framework of pay per click advertising is founded on a bidding system. One of the major advantages of pay per click method is that audience is already targeted, as the people are in fact looking for something connected to the product and what company is offering(Fallows, D., 2005) .While banner advertising on other hand shows the ads to customers who may not necessarily be interested in it. They may only be interested in website where banner ad is currently displayed and may not even look at banner ad or may ignore it since they are not interested in buying anything. In addition to this, the online marketer also has the option to target clients by country and even by area or city. This utility was published in 2004 by Google. As a result online marketing is available to nearby situated business for e.g. restaurants .Similarly international companies that want to put up for sale their products outside their region (Feng, J. ,2002). Google also takes the possibility to show the text ads not only on their search engine results pages but also on their websites, clearly displayed as ads by Google. This utility is called as content network. The online marketer has authority on websites where his text advertisements will be shown at, particularly concerning the content. Though it is very hard for online marketer to have a influence on any other fraction of campaign. In addition, the analysis of data is not very suitable, because all parameters cannot be displayed as online marketer would like them to (Feng, J., Bhargava,2007). A very significant topic while talking about pay per click ads is the differentiation among good traffic and bad traffic. This topic impacts mainly PPC-advertising, as the advertiser pay for every single click, while in banner advertising payment method used is pay per impression. The aim of a pay per click advertising operation is not only to make users click on advertisement and visit their advertised website, but also to attract people, who are interested in their product. While in banner advertising, advertiser needs to pay for every impression and no matter if site visitor sees the advertisement and clicks on it at PPC advertising, each click costs money. As a result of this, the text ad must not just try to draw as many clicks as feasible, but attract more clicks of people who are interested in product and are more probable to purchase the product. There are special methods to try to attain this goal, both on keyword related side and on the text ad side. In banner advertising, only method of getting improved converting traffic is to prefer the websites, where banner ad shall be displayed very cautiously. A danger of pay per click advertising, though, is the so called text box cecity. Internet users acquire the banner blindness following banner ads have been used on different websites frequently for number of years. The people mostly just do not realize banner ad any longer or don‘t show any interest in it at all. Banner ads are considered as a necessary evil so as to help lot of websites for offering free content. It is revered by many search engines that such a phenomenon may happen again with pay per click ads. Although the same may not happen in coming time soon, as the search engine users are really looking for something while using a search engine. They may not only read the subject of a site, and are looking for piece of information or stuff to buy or other things similar to that while using a search engine and looking at search engine results page. As a result it is very likely, that people will not actually acquire text box blindness (Greenspan, R., 2004). According to Andrew Goodman who have stated in his work in â€Å"Winning Results with Google AdWord† that international pay per click campaigns don‘t work that well. According to him the markets are too small for converting and running PPC campaigns are waste of money (Hotchkiss, G. ,2004).Another case to second his opinion is that effort for translating keywords and text advertisement in different languages is huge. On the other hand there exist products having huge consumer base. If the resources required to translate keywords and text ads are accessible, an attempt for getting international SEM movements may be a worth. This only makes sense, when a company actually sells products in relevant (Hansen, E., 2002). Buying key phrases in search engines entirely inspire the online advertising, as these infer the idea of Cost per Click -client of such type of advertising pays only when a visitor clicks on a precise advertisement (Carrera, 2009). Equating to SEO, PPC gives more control on visual aspect in search pages, due to amount bid and relevance of text ad (Chaffey et al., 2009). Alternatively of spending time controlling site codes and relevant contents, sellers can then pay for laying in search results (Sen, 2005). Carrera (2009) suggests that currently, main search engines have ad schemes related to hunts (Yahoo! Search Marketing, Google Adwords and Microsoft adCenter). When a particular visitor writes in search box, single or combination of   keywords, search page shows a set of sponsored links adopted by firms and organic search results, the ads are created by advertisers, with a upper limit of 25 characters in ad heading and 35 for text lines of ad and web address. As visible in Figure 2, advertisements are located in sponsored results region of searches -paid search (EConsultancy, 2008). Though, several sources point out many a time that consumers do not see difference among organic links and sponsored, clicking in links for query but with partial content (OConnor, 2009). In previous PPC programs, ranking of sponsored lists was founded on highest offer of cost per click for a particular keyword. But now, this is not essentially the case: search engines also need to pay attention towards relative click through rates of ads ads having fewer clicks will cut down the listing (Sullivan, 2007). This study is part of Quality Score, a idea shared by most of the search engines, and also analysis of match between keyword and occurrence of the keyword in text, historical click by rate, the engagement of searcher while clicking on ad, and also its loading speed and significance of the associated web page (Google, 2009). The main advantages of such an advertisement system is that it addresses the ads only to target that searched for those specific keywords, and the client only pays when users clicks on the ad. It also and allows the clients to change contents so as to the improve results, and plan the maximum amount of promotion investment and cost per click, and refine and control movements on a daily basis throughout search engine control panels (like Google Analytics). The advertisement stays online till the initial budget accomplishes the end (Google, 2009) and include the concept that PPC is very responsible, results are expected and are simpler to use in comparison to SEO, faster to get placed in search pages and branding effect. But it also has a negative side effect as well: it is highly spirited and exclusive costs per-click, scheming campaigns can be time downing, and many people will not trust ads (EConsultancy, 2008). Therefore, the dispute of this study is to study on how UK internet users differentiates between paid search results and organic search, and how often they click such paid results. 1 INTRODUCTION The topic of this explore, â€Å"Examination of UK Online Consumers sensing and Attitudes towards Marketing governed by Search Engine in context of Web 2.0† .Firstly, we need to understand what is Search Engine Marketing and is essential for contextualization of project. Carrera (2009) and Chaffey et al. (2009) have defined Search Engine Marketing as an action that affects promoting firms with the help of online search engines, to meet marketing targets by providing relevant content to users and search results, thus motivating to click on particular link. As for Search Engine Marketing Park and Kim (2008) have defined it as most measurable, strategic and governable way to build a dynamic and mutually good consumer to consumer and   also consumer to marketer communications about a certain service, product or company. It is acknowledged in field of marketing that the knowledge owned by customers, their prediction of relative conduct, and meeting expectations which is important and is key to success. As a result, internet marketers need to understand characteristics of users and internet habits of users in order to effectively find and reach target segments (Carrera, 2009; Chaffey et al., 2009). From position of consumer marketing, study of internet users and their decision making process should be based upon users characteristics and relative online behaviour. This study aims to critically find how UK online consumers comprehend and act in front of Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and other activities, and main objectives are as follows: To realize impact of internet on existing modern day marketing. To look into the current circumstance of the Web 2.0 consumer, and its role on web To realize the modern day internet Consumers conduct towards marketing To look into key concepts related to Internet Marketing, poring specifically on SEM (Search Engine Marketing). To examine the ways UK consumers comprehend SEM activities, and evaluate mental attitude towards SEM activities. To suggest testimonials for further study or schemes in internet marketing context During the procedure of secondary search, there are several key questions ,   which forms the foundation of form elaboration: To what extent trust issues are a concern when analyzing activities for internet marketing and their effectiveness? How do consumer performs searches using search engine pages and what is considered more important during the search? Why internet users choose massively the organic results retrieved from a search engine page, instead of frequented links? What incites internet users in forward marketing emails to their friends and other users? How far consumers engage in company blogs and various social network pages? How do users interact with blogs and various social network pages? From a point of view of a user, web search engines require to provide applicable and useful results in reply to some user input, usually a query. Web search engines employ dozens of factors in knowing how to score significance and to rank the found results. Typically, the internet user has no thought what factors has lead to particular result being ranked and retrieved. One exception to this is sponsored links. Many web search engines currently give at least two types of search listings for web Search Engine Results Page (SERP). First type of links is non sponsored list, which web search engine show with the help of proprietary algorithms (Hotchkiss, G. ,2006). The other type of link is the sponsored list, which comes due to a bid on phrase that searcher has entered in his query. Most of the major web search engines available today present sponsored and non sponsored listings in different areas of SERP. For this one (and frequently only one Category), searchers are informed in broader terms how these result are retrieved. Why other results are not highlighted (for e.g., anchor text, page rank)? Certainly, the causal motivation is to highlight the economic motivation that caused the sponsored listing to come into view. Study shows that web searchers are biased against sponsored links (Hotchkiss, G., 2004). Though, assuming that web searchers wish relevant and helpful results in reply to their queries and sponsored links are as appropriate as against non sponsored results, are web search engines doing the web searchers a disservice by stressing the sponsored links so prominently? 1.1 The impact of the Internet on consumer marketing Analyzing the internet with regards to consumer marketing is important to understand .A simple question which arises is: What factors affect Internet consumer marketing? According to Chaffey et al. (2009) internet has enhanced marketing as first website made in 90s was (http://info.cern.ch/) (CERN, 2008), and now, there are more than one billion users using internet regularly and the manner companies sell products or services and way consumers react has changed emphatically. Peterson et al. (1999) honor this idea, debating that World Wide Web owned maximum potential for marketing. Drawing Success in business mostly depends upon technological knowledge and further gives competitive edge and remains continuous process. There are many authors who conceive that Internet play an important major impact on Marketing mix 4 Ps: in Product Mix, digital brought different services and products (e.g. software) and further added new features to already existing ones (Carrera, 2009). Avlonitis and Karayanni (2000) admit to the fact that internet helped the discovery of user needs, cut across and product testing; In Price Mix, Carrera (2009) expresses that there is significant reduction in costs is seen, which developed firms selling products or services at a very low price, with the use of web sites for e.g. a low-cost airlines. Nevertheless, the customization of services and products allows companies to appoint premium price, as they abide by with buyers tastes and is studied in detail by (Chaffey et al., 2009); For the Place, products and services like home banking has facilitated the interaction and reduced costs in comparison to other distribution channels. Besides, the ability to continue information related to clients is much more effective than traditional transfers, dealing the Promotion, with regards to digital context and advertising adapts directly to the needs of consumers, as it collects information related to these for e.g. detection   of IP address and profile of buyer for suggestions (Carrera, 2009). Furthermore, the promotion of a service /product is now also built by C2C basis, which is very difficult to control and there are different ways to manage (Mangold and Fauls, 2009), and will be analyzed later in project. All these elements have changed the manner consumers behave with companies, thus bringing a wider choice from all the different suppliers, and are a means to selecting and purchasing of items has turned out to be easier and faster. But for long customers are engaged and confident of this new way of marketing. 1.2 Web 2.0 A paper was published by Microsoft (2007), stating that web 2.0 is changing the internet into a powerful and authoritative medium, changing the way how society believes and behaves or reacts. The report confirms that especially social networking process is gathering people from different communities, and acting as a medium for personal reflection. This is consistent And is in accordance with Fu et al. (2007), and is said that use of collaborative technologies leads to an extraordinarily fast growing community which is virtual, here people pass by and share their information. These authors have agreed on the fact that World Wide Web is moving towards social web, and users have an important role in all the aspects of business and remains to be the main focus in this study. Consumers have embraced role of an important agent, who can express themselves using new tools, like wikis blogs or social networks (Carrera, 2009). In similar manner, Cheung and Lee (2009) contend that web has moved from being mere medium of information into a medium of content creation and further sharing. Chaffey et al. (2009) further gives arguments that the widespread acceptation of high speed broadband and world-wide media experiences are more and more used to absorb consumers with each other and also with companies. More and more people discuss online and interact with products and brand campaigns, in a manner of â€Å"viral effect†. These authors are in line with Carreras definition, which suggests that by addition of Web 2.0 it enhances in promoting interaction and user yielded content using virtual community and participation of social network, content ratings and widgets and tagging. However, it remains to be seen is how users are willing to absorb the internet marketing campaigns and further motivates user to share the latter. 1.3 Online Consumers behaviour towards e-Marketing Online users mostly dont have physical comfort provided by offline stores and a communication which is face to face. This concept is related to security problems and stories of fraud and internet commerce (Chaffey et al., 2009). As a result, consumers look for evidence of trust on a website, which may include brand familiarity or site appearance and quality of content, site may have official recognition and other recommendations given by users. Ha (2004) completes this discussion, by excusing that consumers have grown more internet savvy, they now insist on interacting with firms they trust. Various other trust factors are also added like privacy (risk of giving personal information), security related with payment risks, navigation like fulfilling access to various kind of information and related to order fulfillment (Bart et al., 2005; Ha, 2004). However, there are consumers who buy only on company websites: but also have other online sources, is important to purchase choice. Following the research conducted by AOL UK (2006), about 77% of all the respondents accord that if they read a negative review about a product on internet related, it would make them think about their purchase, 42% assumed that they had to switch and move towards a different brand. One of the most important sources for online information is the search engines, which is followed closely by websites of famous brands, price comparison websites and reviews/opinions available on internet, are written by experts, customer reviews on websites. One of the important factors is that these online sources for information reduce time spent in comparing product quality which is to be done before purchase, this is a common aspect related to offline context (Huang et al., 2009). As a result, it is important to carry on here   that the trust factors has an important role related to consumers perceptions towards online marketing, also consumers need to reach for different sources related to information of products they want to buy. 1.4 Attitudes of Online Consumers Towards e-Marketing Breitenbach and Van Doren (1998) studied five distinguished kind of internet users, which are accorded by different academics to continue valid currently (Chaffey et al., 2009): organized information seekers: Those who want to get information for product or leisure, services information, that generally are not brought online Unorganized information seekers: They are referred as â€Å"surfers†, and such users want to browse and change web sites using links, looks for interesting or different things and are   more expected to click on ads or banner Organized buyers: Such users are usually get online to purchase something specific. Websites which compare various products have an important role in this case. Bargain hunters: Users who want to get offers and promotions, so as to vindicate their investment in shopping. Entertainment seekers Such users look for complete online entertainment in various contests like puzzles ,quizzes, or games for multi-player, and lik to interact with various animated features available on web site Recently, a study from EConsultancy (2004) found a similar classification for online consumer behaviour, stating it does not involve behaviours which are applied to various people on the basis of product or occasion; different individuals may react or behave differently. The report found the â€Å"Tracker† and the â€Å"Explorer† concept. But it needs to be explored in detail, and is the kind of consumer who dont have any buying intention, and is exposed to internet marketing action (like Search Engine Marketing), which may result in a conversion. 1.5 Attitudes towards search engines To conduct product or service explores, consumers mostly use search engines. These are powerful consumer tools which retrieve relevant information related to products or services. Consumers can perform quick searches which are online by simply issuing queries built up of search products or services (Kumar and Lang, 2007). However, it is very important to note that not all consumers are searching for particular products; consumers mainly want to know for information on search engines. In reality, as Smith (2009) states, Yahoo and Googles (worlds most used search engine) objective is to retrieve relevant information related to the words queried. More so, information websites forever rank higher in comparison to profit-driven sites, continuing here an important dispute for Search Engine Marketing. To understand this consumer search engine conduct, iProspect a Search marketing company in (2006) carried out a research on the way consumers use search engines. The major findings were that 62% of users only look only at first page of results and ignore the rest. Aula and Rodden (2009) accomplished this finding, by demonstrating that users assess search results very quickly and most of the times make unconscious decisions, centering mainly on first two results for a particular search as shown in (Figure 1). iProspect also expresses that when consumers do not get what they were looking for, about 41% change their search term and 82% complicate their search with other complementary words. As for prestige, it was ascertained that about 36% consider that the firms enrolled at the top of search are best brands in market. The final feeling was that comparing with sponsored area, which is between 60% and 80% and click on natural or organic listings of search page. It remains to be searched why users mostly like organic links, and reasons behind not flicking on sponsored links. 1.6 Attitudes towards Emails Following a analysis by Habeas (2008), irrespective of email and other internet threat concerns, users are still and will continue to be dependent on email, irrespective of their relationships with business organization or from each one other through web 2.0 applications. The study   has revealed that nearly 69% of total users expressed concern related to email fraud scams, and many of them do not know how can they distinguish between possibly dangerous and emails that are trustable. It also showed that majority prefer firms that offer choices and content of emails. Mintel (2008) added up users that trust emails which come from similar companies who provide relevant information with least effort. In a seminar conducted by dotMailer (2009), it was mentioned that even though the current circumstance of web 2.0 era in which consumers have the power, still email is gateway to consumers. Users today have digital lives where every single user owns an email account (or may be more t Customer Attitudes Towards Search Engine Marketing Customer Attitudes Towards Search Engine Marketing Abstract The present study approaches the empathizing of the UK users behaviour with respect to internet when considere in presence of SEM (Search Engine Marketing) and related activities, conceiving the present dynamic role of online and connected consumer who uses the internet and Web 2.0 tools like Social and Media Blogs. An online form survey, reaching up to 100 respondents actively using social network sites like â€Å"Face book†, analyzed the respondents social, demographic and general characteristics, their online behaviour, and their level of conflict with SEM activities. It also discovered the most democratic and the most often used internet tools. The review findings were mostly consistent with same kind of studies conducted in different regions of United Kingdom and Europe .the review of gathered data enabled to find relevant kinships between variables and equating answers through age, gender, and hours fagged on the internet. The results will give all internet marketers a d egree of perceptivity into their direct users, and will allow them to make strategies to provide for the targeted segments effectively. Also, this study will give a vital point of cite for future research related to internet marketing, which will be useful believing the current trends and development of particular marketing activity. The application using PHP and MySQL was designed to get the responses from respondents. Based on the responses collected from the sample of 68, the data was found and the conclusion has been done based on this data collection. The online questionnaire was uploaded on the web on the url http://searchresults.net63.net From this URL, one can access the questionnaire and fill up personal details followed by the responses to different situations. Based on this response, the data was captured onto the database. This database (of MySQL) was helpful to fetch the details and behaviour of individuals towards different options available on the websites. Technical Plan This study is planned as following: Initially, an exploration of previous or existing research and the documented evidence found are placed in the literature review section (chapter 2). Following this is, an explanation of how the study was carried out, which includes research design, followed by sampling, data collection methods, the methods used   for analysis and limitations are discussed in (chapter 3). Furthermore, the answers to research interrogations are discussed in detail in chapter 4, with a systematic analysis of the survey results. The application was being designed using PHP and MySQL. The former was used as the programming language with the back end database support through MySQL. Their personal details followed by their responses to different options available on the web are analysed to have a study on their behaviour for different situations. Based on this approach, the important analysis was further explored. Lastly, the conclusion of our research is accomplished in chapter 5, where study findings are analyzed using the point of observation of their contact on additional academic or professional research, which may include practical testimonials, limitations of findings and other areas for further research. For the purpose of my experiment I had designed a small application which counts clicks on particular links. I developed it in PHP and used MySQL database. The address of the application was located on the link that was made available online at http://searchresults.net63.net. One can easy get an access to this link to fill out the details in an easy manner. This helped in getting responses in a thorough manner. Through this approach, all the data was collected. 100 respondents were approached at initial stages. However, due to lack of response rate, it was noted that there is the need to reduce the sample size. So, I asked 68 participants to do the experiment. Mainly I sent emails to friends. I also went to Universitys library and asked some people to do the experiment. Basically I gave the address to people and once they typed it in a browser. They had to chose gender, age range and how experienced internet users they are. Then there was a short description explaining what will happ en. Participants had to imagine that they are looking for a watch to buy and were given search results copied from google on a ‘buy watches phrase. They had to click on any link they liked. Then they had to imagine that they are looking for a new TV. Search results for ‘buy tv phrase were displayed and they had to click on any. Lastly they were given search results for ‘buy books and again they had to click somewhere. All the clicks were saved in a database. There were organic and sponsored links. I used some simple SQL queries on myPHPadmin panel to extract the numbers. Critical review Search Engine Marketing (SEM) or else Pay per Click (PPC) marketing and is usually known in literature as well and is one of three diverse types of online marketing. The remaining two are Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Banner Advertising. Precisely what they are, and how they work and advantages and disadvantages of different techniques are talked over in detail later in this report. Surveys conducted by EIAA i.e. European Interactive Advertising Association show the performance of European internet users and other online buyers or shoppers. As per their Online survey (for which around 7,008 people all across the Europe including UK, France ,Germany, , Italy ,Spain, the Nordics, Netherlands   and the Belgium were interviewed) Out of the total,76% of online buyers use search engines as a source of information. This study also stated deviations between users of the UK in particular. Before investigating the topic more closely, it is significant to define the word of SEM. Though in writing this form of marketing is frequently addressed to pay per click (also occasionally written as pay-per-click) marketing (Anderson, C., 2006). First of all a few definitions of term, to constitute the literature and will be introduced. An accurate explanation will follow later. Pay per click (PPC) is placement of small ads on the search outcome on a page for a precise keyword or set of keywords in return for a individual payment when a guest actually clicks particular ad (Battelle, J. ,2005) Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising: A technique of marketing where a company pays a certain sum of money each time somebody clicks on a small advertisement on a search engine‘s results page or a homepage and then takes to the advertiser‘s website (Brin, S. and Page, L., 1998). Pay-per-click (PPC): The payment form used for patronized search advertising. Advertisers set bid on keywords and pay in case when searchers click on the search results listing related with those keywords (Broder, A., 2002). Pay per click advertising used for search engines can be explained most easily by following: The placement of a small content only adverts on search result page which is activated by a particular keyword or phrase equaling typed in search box (Brooks, N., 2004a). Pay Per Click: A performance based model of paying for online ads whereby payments are made for each click on a displayed advert, if there are no clicks then there will be no fee and is also known as CPC i.e. cost per click and CPA is known as cost per action (Brooks, N. ,2004a). This essentially means that there exists text based advertisements and are displayed on search engines result page and are next to natural search listings. Such Text ads are fore grounded by the search engines with different names like sponsored links and are typically on right hand side of a result page, and is clearly distinguished from natural search results which are displayed on left. From time to time one or more than one of those advertisements are showed on top of list, over the organic search results, fore grounded through a different backdrop color. The advertising companies can then decide which key phrase or words searches performed by the search engine users and where their ad should appear (Fain, D.C. and Pedersen, J.O. ,2006).The main mechanism of a search engine marketing operation are defining of important keywords, and the bidding on keywords and a good quality written text ad through a good call to act. The advantage of such methods of advertising when compared to banner ads is to facilitate the advertiser as he has to pay only when someone in fact clicks on the advertisement, and not only for imitation, which a customer might not be able to see. Search engines can show up to 8 Text advertisements of sponsored links on one page. The order of what text advertisement is displayed and the position is defined by how much amount each advertiser is ready to pay for searched keyword. The framework of pay per click advertising is founded on a bidding system. One of the major advantages of pay per click method is that audience is already targeted, as the people are in fact looking for something connected to the product and what company is offering(Fallows, D., 2005) .While banner advertising on other hand shows the ads to customers who may not necessarily be interested in it. They may only be interested in website where banner ad is currently displayed and may not even look at banner ad or may ignore it since they are not interested in buying anything. In addition to this, the online marketer also has the option to target clients by country and even by area or city. This utility was published in 2004 by Google. As a result online marketing is available to nearby situated business for e.g. restaurants .Similarly international companies that want to put up for sale their products outside their region (Feng, J. ,2002). Google also takes the possibility to show the text ads not only on their search engine results pages but also on their websites, clearly displayed as ads by Google. This utility is called as content network. The online marketer has authority on websites where his text advertisements will be shown at, particularly concerning the content. Though it is very hard for online marketer to have a influence on any other fraction of campaign. In addition, the analysis of data is not very suitable, because all parameters cannot be displayed as online marketer would like them to (Feng, J., Bhargava,2007). A very significant topic while talking about pay per click ads is the differentiation among good traffic and bad traffic. This topic impacts mainly PPC-advertising, as the advertiser pay for every single click, while in banner advertising payment method used is pay per impression. The aim of a pay per click advertising operation is not only to make users click on advertisement and visit their advertised website, but also to attract people, who are interested in their product. While in banner advertising, advertiser needs to pay for every impression and no matter if site visitor sees the advertisement and clicks on it at PPC advertising, each click costs money. As a result of this, the text ad must not just try to draw as many clicks as feasible, but attract more clicks of people who are interested in product and are more probable to purchase the product. There are special methods to try to attain this goal, both on keyword related side and on the text ad side. In banner advertising, only method of getting improved converting traffic is to prefer the websites, where banner ad shall be displayed very cautiously. A danger of pay per click advertising, though, is the so called text box cecity. Internet users acquire the banner blindness following banner ads have been used on different websites frequently for number of years. The people mostly just do not realize banner ad any longer or don‘t show any interest in it at all. Banner ads are considered as a necessary evil so as to help lot of websites for offering free content. It is revered by many search engines that such a phenomenon may happen again with pay per click ads. Although the same may not happen in coming time soon, as the search engine users are really looking for something while using a search engine. They may not only read the subject of a site, and are looking for piece of information or stuff to buy or other things similar to that while using a search engine and looking at search engine results page. As a result it is very likely, that people will not actually acquire text box blindness (Greenspan, R., 2004). According to Andrew Goodman who have stated in his work in â€Å"Winning Results with Google AdWord† that international pay per click campaigns don‘t work that well. According to him the markets are too small for converting and running PPC campaigns are waste of money (Hotchkiss, G. ,2004).Another case to second his opinion is that effort for translating keywords and text advertisement in different languages is huge. On the other hand there exist products having huge consumer base. If the resources required to translate keywords and text ads are accessible, an attempt for getting international SEM movements may be a worth. This only makes sense, when a company actually sells products in relevant (Hansen, E., 2002). Buying key phrases in search engines entirely inspire the online advertising, as these infer the idea of Cost per Click -client of such type of advertising pays only when a visitor clicks on a precise advertisement (Carrera, 2009). Equating to SEO, PPC gives more control on visual aspect in search pages, due to amount bid and relevance of text ad (Chaffey et al., 2009). Alternatively of spending time controlling site codes and relevant contents, sellers can then pay for laying in search results (Sen, 2005). Carrera (2009) suggests that currently, main search engines have ad schemes related to hunts (Yahoo! Search Marketing, Google Adwords and Microsoft adCenter). When a particular visitor writes in search box, single or combination of   keywords, search page shows a set of sponsored links adopted by firms and organic search results, the ads are created by advertisers, with a upper limit of 25 characters in ad heading and 35 for text lines of ad and web address. As visible in Figure 2, advertisements are located in sponsored results region of searches -paid search (EConsultancy, 2008). Though, several sources point out many a time that consumers do not see difference among organic links and sponsored, clicking in links for query but with partial content (OConnor, 2009). In previous PPC programs, ranking of sponsored lists was founded on highest offer of cost per click for a particular keyword. But now, this is not essentially the case: search engines also need to pay attention towards relative click through rates of ads ads having fewer clicks will cut down the listing (Sullivan, 2007). This study is part of Quality Score, a idea shared by most of the search engines, and also analysis of match between keyword and occurrence of the keyword in text, historical click by rate, the engagement of searcher while clicking on ad, and also its loading speed and significance of the associated web page (Google, 2009). The main advantages of such an advertisement system is that it addresses the ads only to target that searched for those specific keywords, and the client only pays when users clicks on the ad. It also and allows the clients to change contents so as to the improve results, and plan the maximum amount of promotion investment and cost per click, and refine and control movements on a daily basis throughout search engine control panels (like Google Analytics). The advertisement stays online till the initial budget accomplishes the end (Google, 2009) and include the concept that PPC is very responsible, results are expected and are simpler to use in comparison to SEO, faster to get placed in search pages and branding effect. But it also has a negative side effect as well: it is highly spirited and exclusive costs per-click, scheming campaigns can be time downing, and many people will not trust ads (EConsultancy, 2008). Therefore, the dispute of this study is to study on how UK internet users differentiates between paid search results and organic search, and how often they click such paid results. 1 INTRODUCTION The topic of this explore, â€Å"Examination of UK Online Consumers sensing and Attitudes towards Marketing governed by Search Engine in context of Web 2.0† .Firstly, we need to understand what is Search Engine Marketing and is essential for contextualization of project. Carrera (2009) and Chaffey et al. (2009) have defined Search Engine Marketing as an action that affects promoting firms with the help of online search engines, to meet marketing targets by providing relevant content to users and search results, thus motivating to click on particular link. As for Search Engine Marketing Park and Kim (2008) have defined it as most measurable, strategic and governable way to build a dynamic and mutually good consumer to consumer and   also consumer to marketer communications about a certain service, product or company. It is acknowledged in field of marketing that the knowledge owned by customers, their prediction of relative conduct, and meeting expectations which is important and is key to success. As a result, internet marketers need to understand characteristics of users and internet habits of users in order to effectively find and reach target segments (Carrera, 2009; Chaffey et al., 2009). From position of consumer marketing, study of internet users and their decision making process should be based upon users characteristics and relative online behaviour. This study aims to critically find how UK online consumers comprehend and act in front of Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and other activities, and main objectives are as follows: To realize impact of internet on existing modern day marketing. To look into the current circumstance of the Web 2.0 consumer, and its role on web To realize the modern day internet Consumers conduct towards marketing To look into key concepts related to Internet Marketing, poring specifically on SEM (Search Engine Marketing). To examine the ways UK consumers comprehend SEM activities, and evaluate mental attitude towards SEM activities. To suggest testimonials for further study or schemes in internet marketing context During the procedure of secondary search, there are several key questions ,   which forms the foundation of form elaboration: To what extent trust issues are a concern when analyzing activities for internet marketing and their effectiveness? How do consumer performs searches using search engine pages and what is considered more important during the search? Why internet users choose massively the organic results retrieved from a search engine page, instead of frequented links? What incites internet users in forward marketing emails to their friends and other users? How far consumers engage in company blogs and various social network pages? How do users interact with blogs and various social network pages? From a point of view of a user, web search engines require to provide applicable and useful results in reply to some user input, usually a query. Web search engines employ dozens of factors in knowing how to score significance and to rank the found results. Typically, the internet user has no thought what factors has lead to particular result being ranked and retrieved. One exception to this is sponsored links. Many web search engines currently give at least two types of search listings for web Search Engine Results Page (SERP). First type of links is non sponsored list, which web search engine show with the help of proprietary algorithms (Hotchkiss, G. ,2006). The other type of link is the sponsored list, which comes due to a bid on phrase that searcher has entered in his query. Most of the major web search engines available today present sponsored and non sponsored listings in different areas of SERP. For this one (and frequently only one Category), searchers are informed in broader terms how these result are retrieved. Why other results are not highlighted (for e.g., anchor text, page rank)? Certainly, the causal motivation is to highlight the economic motivation that caused the sponsored listing to come into view. Study shows that web searchers are biased against sponsored links (Hotchkiss, G., 2004). Though, assuming that web searchers wish relevant and helpful results in reply to their queries and sponsored links are as appropriate as against non sponsored results, are web search engines doing the web searchers a disservice by stressing the sponsored links so prominently? 1.1 The impact of the Internet on consumer marketing Analyzing the internet with regards to consumer marketing is important to understand .A simple question which arises is: What factors affect Internet consumer marketing? According to Chaffey et al. (2009) internet has enhanced marketing as first website made in 90s was (http://info.cern.ch/) (CERN, 2008), and now, there are more than one billion users using internet regularly and the manner companies sell products or services and way consumers react has changed emphatically. Peterson et al. (1999) honor this idea, debating that World Wide Web owned maximum potential for marketing. Drawing Success in business mostly depends upon technological knowledge and further gives competitive edge and remains continuous process. There are many authors who conceive that Internet play an important major impact on Marketing mix 4 Ps: in Product Mix, digital brought different services and products (e.g. software) and further added new features to already existing ones (Carrera, 2009). Avlonitis and Karayanni (2000) admit to the fact that internet helped the discovery of user needs, cut across and product testing; In Price Mix, Carrera (2009) expresses that there is significant reduction in costs is seen, which developed firms selling products or services at a very low price, with the use of web sites for e.g. a low-cost airlines. Nevertheless, the customization of services and products allows companies to appoint premium price, as they abide by with buyers tastes and is studied in detail by (Chaffey et al., 2009); For the Place, products and services like home banking has facilitated the interaction and reduced costs in comparison to other distribution channels. Besides, the ability to continue information related to clients is much more effective than traditional transfers, dealing the Promotion, with regards to digital context and advertising adapts directly to the needs of consumers, as it collects information related to these for e.g. detection   of IP address and profile of buyer for suggestions (Carrera, 2009). Furthermore, the promotion of a service /product is now also built by C2C basis, which is very difficult to control and there are different ways to manage (Mangold and Fauls, 2009), and will be analyzed later in project. All these elements have changed the manner consumers behave with companies, thus bringing a wider choice from all the different suppliers, and are a means to selecting and purchasing of items has turned out to be easier and faster. But for long customers are engaged and confident of this new way of marketing. 1.2 Web 2.0 A paper was published by Microsoft (2007), stating that web 2.0 is changing the internet into a powerful and authoritative medium, changing the way how society believes and behaves or reacts. The report confirms that especially social networking process is gathering people from different communities, and acting as a medium for personal reflection. This is consistent And is in accordance with Fu et al. (2007), and is said that use of collaborative technologies leads to an extraordinarily fast growing community which is virtual, here people pass by and share their information. These authors have agreed on the fact that World Wide Web is moving towards social web, and users have an important role in all the aspects of business and remains to be the main focus in this study. Consumers have embraced role of an important agent, who can express themselves using new tools, like wikis blogs or social networks (Carrera, 2009). In similar manner, Cheung and Lee (2009) contend that web has moved from being mere medium of information into a medium of content creation and further sharing. Chaffey et al. (2009) further gives arguments that the widespread acceptation of high speed broadband and world-wide media experiences are more and more used to absorb consumers with each other and also with companies. More and more people discuss online and interact with products and brand campaigns, in a manner of â€Å"viral effect†. These authors are in line with Carreras definition, which suggests that by addition of Web 2.0 it enhances in promoting interaction and user yielded content using virtual community and participation of social network, content ratings and widgets and tagging. However, it remains to be seen is how users are willing to absorb the internet marketing campaigns and further motivates user to share the latter. 1.3 Online Consumers behaviour towards e-Marketing Online users mostly dont have physical comfort provided by offline stores and a communication which is face to face. This concept is related to security problems and stories of fraud and internet commerce (Chaffey et al., 2009). As a result, consumers look for evidence of trust on a website, which may include brand familiarity or site appearance and quality of content, site may have official recognition and other recommendations given by users. Ha (2004) completes this discussion, by excusing that consumers have grown more internet savvy, they now insist on interacting with firms they trust. Various other trust factors are also added like privacy (risk of giving personal information), security related with payment risks, navigation like fulfilling access to various kind of information and related to order fulfillment (Bart et al., 2005; Ha, 2004). However, there are consumers who buy only on company websites: but also have other online sources, is important to purchase choice. Following the research conducted by AOL UK (2006), about 77% of all the respondents accord that if they read a negative review about a product on internet related, it would make them think about their purchase, 42% assumed that they had to switch and move towards a different brand. One of the most important sources for online information is the search engines, which is followed closely by websites of famous brands, price comparison websites and reviews/opinions available on internet, are written by experts, customer reviews on websites. One of the important factors is that these online sources for information reduce time spent in comparing product quality which is to be done before purchase, this is a common aspect related to offline context (Huang et al., 2009). As a result, it is important to carry on here   that the trust factors has an important role related to consumers perceptions towards online marketing, also consumers need to reach for different sources related to information of products they want to buy. 1.4 Attitudes of Online Consumers Towards e-Marketing Breitenbach and Van Doren (1998) studied five distinguished kind of internet users, which are accorded by different academics to continue valid currently (Chaffey et al., 2009): organized information seekers: Those who want to get information for product or leisure, services information, that generally are not brought online Unorganized information seekers: They are referred as â€Å"surfers†, and such users want to browse and change web sites using links, looks for interesting or different things and are   more expected to click on ads or banner Organized buyers: Such users are usually get online to purchase something specific. Websites which compare various products have an important role in this case. Bargain hunters: Users who want to get offers and promotions, so as to vindicate their investment in shopping. Entertainment seekers Such users look for complete online entertainment in various contests like puzzles ,quizzes, or games for multi-player, and lik to interact with various animated features available on web site Recently, a study from EConsultancy (2004) found a similar classification for online consumer behaviour, stating it does not involve behaviours which are applied to various people on the basis of product or occasion; different individuals may react or behave differently. The report found the â€Å"Tracker† and the â€Å"Explorer† concept. But it needs to be explored in detail, and is the kind of consumer who dont have any buying intention, and is exposed to internet marketing action (like Search Engine Marketing), which may result in a conversion. 1.5 Attitudes towards search engines To conduct product or service explores, consumers mostly use search engines. These are powerful consumer tools which retrieve relevant information related to products or services. Consumers can perform quick searches which are online by simply issuing queries built up of search products or services (Kumar and Lang, 2007). However, it is very important to note that not all consumers are searching for particular products; consumers mainly want to know for information on search engines. In reality, as Smith (2009) states, Yahoo and Googles (worlds most used search engine) objective is to retrieve relevant information related to the words queried. More so, information websites forever rank higher in comparison to profit-driven sites, continuing here an important dispute for Search Engine Marketing. To understand this consumer search engine conduct, iProspect a Search marketing company in (2006) carried out a research on the way consumers use search engines. The major findings were that 62% of users only look only at first page of results and ignore the rest. Aula and Rodden (2009) accomplished this finding, by demonstrating that users assess search results very quickly and most of the times make unconscious decisions, centering mainly on first two results for a particular search as shown in (Figure 1). iProspect also expresses that when consumers do not get what they were looking for, about 41% change their search term and 82% complicate their search with other complementary words. As for prestige, it was ascertained that about 36% consider that the firms enrolled at the top of search are best brands in market. The final feeling was that comparing with sponsored area, which is between 60% and 80% and click on natural or organic listings of search page. It remains to be searched why users mostly like organic links, and reasons behind not flicking on sponsored links. 1.6 Attitudes towards Emails Following a analysis by Habeas (2008), irrespective of email and other internet threat concerns, users are still and will continue to be dependent on email, irrespective of their relationships with business organization or from each one other through web 2.0 applications. The study   has revealed that nearly 69% of total users expressed concern related to email fraud scams, and many of them do not know how can they distinguish between possibly dangerous and emails that are trustable. It also showed that majority prefer firms that offer choices and content of emails. Mintel (2008) added up users that trust emails which come from similar companies who provide relevant information with least effort. In a seminar conducted by dotMailer (2009), it was mentioned that even though the current circumstance of web 2.0 era in which consumers have the power, still email is gateway to consumers. Users today have digital lives where every single user owns an email account (or may be more t

Trends of the Malta Insurance Market Essay -- Automobile, Insurance

Today's business world is complex, unpredictable, uncertain and volatile. One of the key elements of this volatility is the swift change all around us. Taking into consideration the motor insurance industry, changes have been also made during the years. Under motor insurance, there are three types of cover available. There is the third party only, which is obligatory as it is the least required by law; it covers your liability to third parties for damage or injury to property arising from the use of your car. In addition to third party liability cover, one can also choose to be covered and protected against damage or loss arising from fire or theft, which is known as Third party fire and theft. If you add protection against accidental damage to your vehicle to the ones mentioned above, you are covered with the comprehensive. Latest statistics shows that car ownership and traffic volume are in the rise once more and this has been the agenda of the government. The number of people owning cars has grown since 1980, thus this represents good news for car manufacturers and insurance firms alike. Also it has come at an environmental cost that there is a rise in carbon emissions. In the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) newsletter of November 2011, the section of the insurance statistical review of 2010 shows that figures released by the MFSA in respect of insurance companies in Malta show an increase of 45% in total gross premiums written over the period of 2009-2010. The accident and health group of classes recorded an increase in premiums written of 85% over 2009. The motor insurance premia increased by 39% Going back to the 20th century, motor vehicles made their first appearance, but there was no need for insurance in an... ...efore increases the number of claims. The market is developing and it has come to a point where customers can go into price comparison sites such as confused.com or moneysupermarket.com and by simply typing in a query, the consumer is presented with a variety of insurance prices from which they can acquire their insurance at competitive rates. Works Cited http://www.esurance.com/insurance-resources/senior-car-insurance-myth http://www.streetdirectory.com/etoday/negative-effect-of-globalization-pcecwf.html http://www.carinsurancehub.com/car-insurance-and-credit-crunch.php http://www.talkonce.co.uk/the-history-of-motor-insurance/ http://www.autoinsurancequote.com/articles/customization-adding-tweaks-to-your-vehicle-may-affect-your-auto-insurance.html http://www.carinsurancecomparison.com/will-customizing-my-car-affect-my-car-insurance-rates/

Whales vs Dolphins

The oceans are inhabited by various kinds of animals and plants, such as fish, cetacean (whales, dolphins and porpoises), cephalopods (octopus and squid), crustaceans (lobsters, clams, shrimp and krill), planktons, starfish, Jelly fish etc. The largest In bulk Is the cetacean order. Although whales and dolphins have different outer appearance they belong to the same order and share many similarities. First of all, they are both mammals and share similar characteristics of the anatomy.They have similar vital organs and skeleton, and they breathe and eproduce in the same way. If we scrutinize (take under scrutiny) their way of breathing, we can see that both of them breathe through blow holes which are nasal openings on top of their head. Both breathe with lungs which make them different from the class of fish. Moreover, they reproduce in the same way – by giving birth to a live young which is nourished with milk by its mothers. 80th have one calf at a time and their gestation p eriod ranges from 9 to 18 months.The calves are born tall first to minimize the risk of drowning. Then the calf Is lifted by Its mother to the surface so that It takes Its first breath. Nursing continues for more than a year. Secondly, we can spot many similarltles regarding their social behavior, vocalization and sleeping methods. Whales and dolphins live In plods which are groups of either whales or dolphins respectively. Members of the pod protect each other, feed and migrate together. The number of pods members may vary from 2 to 50. Additionally, they communicate between each other by emitting sounds i. . by vocalization. There use dfferent sounds for different purposes. Generally, these sounds are used for communication, attracting mates and localizing pray i. e. echolocation. What is more, they display similar behavior when it comes down to their sleeping methods. They are both conscious breathers and thus they cannot afford to be unconscious while sleeping because that may l ead to drowning. Hence only one hemisphere of their brain sleeps at a time, so they rest but are never completely asleep. Thirdly, they are considered to have high Intelligence and emotional empathy.Both are highly social beings and they have a complex form of communication with each other which can be defined as language. They cooperate with each other, teach, learn and even grieve. They are very protective of each other and will defend their family and pod from any potential threats. Moreover, they are able to sympathies not only with their relatives but also with other animals in need. Their possession of spindle cells indicates a possibility of high intelligence. Spindle cells are also found in humans, apes and elephants.Scientists find them to have an important role in any cognitive abilities and disabilities ranging from great perceptiveness and perfect pitch to autism and dyslexia. What Is more, in self-awareness experiments they can Identify their reflections in a mirror. To sum up, despite their different physical appearance they are strikingly slmllar. They belong to the same cetacean order and thus share many traits regarding their are compassionate, sociable animals which treat their families in a similar way we do. They are fascinating creatures and I believe that there is even more to surprise us if we explore them further.

Impact of Income on Purchase of Luxury Fashion Products The WritePass Journal

Impact of Income on Purchase of Luxury Fashion Products Executive Summary Impact of Income on Purchase of Luxury Fashion Products ) the luxury goods market increased by 4% in Europe in 2012, mainly attributable to high tourist spending but low local demand. Each year, more Chinese tourists visit Europe and are counted as biggest spenders on luxury products (Passariello, 2011). The marketers, in order to benefit from the emerging opportunities and promote sales of luxury fashion products, need to know the motivations of the targeted markets. The UK market is now recovering from recession and is an important market for sales of luxury fashion products. The economists suggest that as the income of consumers increases they move to quality goods from inferior goods. This is an objective explanation and the income is given as objective criteria however for luxury goods, marketers stress subjective reasons more. For example, Phau and Prendergast (2000) were of the view that how consumers perceive luxury is in subjective terms and it is their understanding of â€Å"luxury† which determines their related purchase behaviour. Marketers argue that income is not as important as a factor for purchasing luxury products. According to them Luxury goods consumption has always been a significant social practice while Berry (1994) explains that the value one attaches to luxury is a component crucial to the self-realization of a society. The marketers thus need to identify other factors that motivate the consumers to buy luxury fashions products besides income. The suggested research would study impact of income as well as important factors besides income that the marketers need to consider when developing their marketing campaigns for luxury fashion products. Dubois and Duquesne (1993) in their research found that culture is as important as income that determines the consumptions of luxury product s. 1.2 Research Aims and Objective: The research aim is to study the impact of income level on consumer decision making in the case of luxury fashion products.   The aim would be achieved by the following objectives: To review literature and understand the factors impacting consumer decision making for luxury products. To study income as a factor and how it impacts purchase decisions regarding luxury fashion products. To understand the role of income for purchase decisions by young women. To develop a framework to explain the income effect on purchase of luxury fashion products by women. To study the significance of variables other than income that has an impact on luxury purchase behaviour. To make recommendations to the companies and marketers dealing in luxury fashion products for women. 1.3 Research Question The main research question that the research would answer is: Does income influence purchasing of Luxury Fashion Products? The study would test related hypothesis such as: H1: Income is an important factor for purchase of luxury fashion products. H2: The women in different age groups have different buyer orientations towards luxury products. H3: Income if an important factor for young women in UK for consumption of luxury fashion products. H4: Income is not the main factor but value creation for older women when buying luxury fashion products. H5: Women only buy luxury fashion products when they have a high income. H6: Social motivations are more important variable for fashion conscious women in UK. H7: Luxury loving women do not consider income an important factor when purchasing luxury fashion products. 2 Preliminary Literature Review Whenever a consumer, practitioner or a researcher focuses on luxury goods, some specific characteristics of a number of luxury brands may come in mind such as Chanel suits, Cartier watches or Hermes handbags. These are all expensive, excellent quality, aesthetic heritage, design, reputation, desirability, exclusivity, inaccessibility, and personality reflection (Quelch, 2006). Quelch (2006, p.100) states that: Luxury brands are those whose ratio of functional utility to price is low while the ratio of intangible and situational utility to price is high. Besides satisfying the material needs of the consumers, the luxury goods also addresses social and symbolic needs (Wiedmann et al., 2007). Some researchers have further delineated luxury goods by comparing and contrasting their characteristics to the characteristics of mass consumption products. Riley, Lomax, and Blunden (2004) specified various features of luxury goods (e.g., Christian Dior fragrance) differing from everyday consumer goods (e.g., Dove soap). According to scholars, luxury goods are intended for niche market segments (Riley, Lomax, and Blunden, 2004). The marketers of luxury fashion products use exclusive placing, promotion, distribution and marketing segmentation techniques. On the other hand, for non-luxury products, they focus more on functionality and price. When buying luxury goods the consumers are influenced by quality, status and prestigious brands. Marketers emphasize association with heritage and craftsmanship when positioning luxury brands. Riley, Lomax, an d Blunden (2004) also explained that after-sales services and several other methods of value creation are very important in luxury goods. Hauck and Stanforth (2007) said that income effects, to some extent, the perception of luxury. For example, something might be a perceived necessity for one person while a perceived luxury for another. A popular way to identify luxury is based on five factors framework given by Phau and Prendergast (2000). These factors include brand identity, exclusiveness, high level of brand awareness; focus on customer loyalty and quality. In consumer behaviour literature the model given by Vickers and Renand (2003) explains that the purchase behaviour is determined by experiential, interactional symbolic and functional aspects for luxury goods since they are high in both social and personal identity. The non luxury products are only high in functional aspects. The model given by Seringhaus (2005) includes emotion related factors like personality and image, effective symbolic communication for brand identity and congruence with self-concept which positions luxury brands. According to Tse (1996), most of the research done on consumption strongly indicates the reflection of Western society and its impact on individualistic goals. In an individualist society, the behaviour and motivational factors of consumers when purchasing products may be fundamentally different from those in a collectivist society. Numerous scholars (e.g., Phau Prendergast, 2000) have testified that collectivist consumers have different attitudes and perceptions regarding luxury brands as compared to the consumers belonging to the individualist societies.   Wiedmann, Hennigs, and Siebels (2007) however, argued that consumer behaviour for product categories like cars, fashion and luxuries is independent of their cultures and regions. According to this school of thought, the information search and exchange are universal in nature for such kind of products.   Behaviour is an aspect of attitude derived from values and hence is associated to culture. Since attitudes are a projection of beliefs; consumers holding different beliefs about making purchases will therefore differ in their methods of searching information and making purchase decisions Personal attitude and values of a consumer has a bigger impact on their purchase behavior than their income. This means that people of same income group but different social and cultural backgrounds may have different approach towards buying luxury goods, depending upon their preferences and values. For instance the low income segment of consumers may possibly have a desire to buy only the best, as a result of which they may not buy bulk of luxury goods but quality goods. By and large, consumers can be divided into three categories on the basis of their income level: average, elite and lower class. It must be noted that though there would be a substantial difference between the purchasing power of the elite and lower class however both the classes have certain purchasing habits similar to their respective classified segment. But despite all this, it would be illogical to deny the impact of income on a consumer’s buying behavior, on both, prices and types of products. Early researchers argued that social class can be a better predictor of consumer purchase behavior than income (Keiser and Kuehl, 1972; Shimp and Yokum, 1981). Likewise, Coleman (1960 in Keiser, and Kuehl, 1972) found that while purchasing furniture, the prices of purchased goods and social class have a higher correlation than between the prices of purchased goods and income. To find the answer to the debate of income versus social class, numerous researches were conducted. The answers established the superiority of income over social class (e.g. Myers et al., 1971). According to Myers and his colleagues (1971) income had more predictive power over social class, when examining the purchase behavior of low priced goods, semi-durable and durable products, cosmetics, plus services such as travel, furniture, clothing and appliances. Sivadas (1997) also testified that income is a better predictor than social class when it comes to consumer behavior for leisure and recreational activities. Earlier consumers used to shop according to the value of dollar, which stayed limited to purchasing necessary products and services only. Modern shoppers, however, make purchases when rewarding themselves and utilize shopping as a method of â€Å"feeling good† and self-satisfaction. In contemporary society, consumers make purchases to make a statement, exhibit their personality and boost their self-image. Since the purchased goods are in accordance with the psyche of the consumers, the researcher decided to assess the pattern of consumer purchase behavior with regards to luxury products.   Some researches take income as the prerequisite, for example they study elite consumers only when studying consumption of luxury fashion products. They then use psychosocial variables to differentiate between the consumers of luxury products (Xiao and Pras, 2011). Researchers further show that even though men buy more luxury products in few cultures but the decision is influenced greatly by women. Study by Kaefer, Heilman and Ramenofsky (2012) showed that attitude of wife towards luxury products is very important and women have an impact on spending their spouses. Truong (2010) considers the role of personal aspirations and suggested that both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations are important for consumption of luxury goods. 3 Methodology 3.1 Research Philosophy: The methodology design is a very important part of any research based study. For the purpose of this research, it is suggested that a logical positivism research philosophy should be adopted. The philosophy suggests that empirical analysis should be backed by a logical analysis (Potter, 1996). Such a research would not only suggest findings but would also justify the findings using logic and literature.   Using this philosophy would add a qualitative aspect to the research and would help the reader better understand the findings and implications. 3.2 Research Approach: Research approach can be defined as the studying of a phenomenon in order to collect, transmit and produce knowledge under the examination of a researcher. Thomas (2003) noted that either of the two research approaches, i.e. qualitative or quantitative or both, can be used in a dissertation depending upon the nature and purpose of the study. Qualitative research is also referred to as inductive approach, through which one can understand the research context and the occurrence of different events. However, the drawback of this research approach is its extensive nature and that it is hard to be defined and measured. Different scholars have observed that this approach relies upon a phenomenological and post-empirical assessment of the world, which perceives that reality is constructed socially as depicted by the situational context (Bryman and Bell, 2007). The quantitative research method, otherwise termed as deductive research approach, can be largely regarded as the scientific data co llection method. The quantitative data can be effectively classified, measured and assessed due to its numerical outlook. It is framed on firm rules or formulas and follows very strict procedures for making determinations (Bryman and Bell, 2007). A quantitative approach is being used because the results can be easily generalised and presented in the form of an empirical analysis. The quantitative study would provide an objective measure for importance of income for purchase of luxury fashion products. Furthermore, significant variables other than income and the extent of dependence of consumption of luxury on them can be identified using the quantitative approach. In this research, a quantitative approach is suggested using a survey strategy. The quantitative approach would help study the significance of income as a variable in quantitative terms. A survey strategy is easy and economical, and can help collect quality data in short spaces of time (Saunders et al., 2007). The sample size for the survey is suggested to be 300 however the size can be reduced due to certain problems and limitations of research. Furthermore, as aforementioned, demographic sampling would be used. Women in UK from aged between 16-45 years would be randomly selected and contacted for the study and would be asked to fill questionnaires. This age group has been chosen because they have exposure to different levels of income as well as social motivations are different at different ages.   Furthermore, women are generally thought to be the intra-house income decision makers and consumption allocators (Bourguignon et al., 1993; Ashraf, 2009). 4 Data Collection and Analysis For data collection purposes, a researcher is provided with two techniques: primary data collection and secondary data collection.   The suggested research would be primary research and would make use of primary data primarily. As previously mentioned, a survey strategy would be employed and in accordance, questionnaires would be used as data collection tools.   The development of a questionnaire is a lengthy process however it is alongside meeting the data collection needs of the research. Prior to development of the questionnaire a framework would be designed using literature review. Using the literature review, main variables would be indentified that have an impact on purchase and consumption of luxury fashion products. For the initial literature review it is suggested to include several variables such as perceived quality, brand loyalty and social status and as such they should be studied as independent variables. Income can be used as an independent variable or a moderating variable in the study. The choice would be clearer for the researcher after reviewing more literature on the subject. Lastly, the purchase behavior would be the dependent variable. For the purpose of analysis, SPSS would be used which would make the data collection, management and analysis easier. 4.1 Reliability, Validity, And Generalisability: For any research, issues regarding qualitative or quantitative data, reliability, validity and generalisability are important factors for determining the quality. For quantitative research, the reliability and validity can be tested in quantitative terms (Creswell, 2009). For example, in the suggested study a pilot test would be conducted and using croncbach’s alpha the validity and reliability would be determined. Furthermore, using triangulation and support from literature the findings would be supported according to the logical positivism approach. This research focuses on an in-depth analysis of the purchase behaviour of women in mainland or suburban areas of the UK, whilst keeping in focus the significance of different income groups of consumers within a market. Since this study is limited to the urban markets of luxury, it might therefore be inappropriate to generalize the results of the study to beyond the urban and suburban areas of UK. Similarly the gender and age based sampling decreases the generalisability of the study. 4.2 Research Limitations The most important limitations that the researcher would need to consider at every step of research are time and capital. Besides time and finance, the scope of the research would be limited to luxury goods and the UK market. The realm of luxury goods constitutes capital goods like personal jets, real estate, luxury automobiles, and yachts; consumer services in expensive retail stores, resorts and hotels; and wines and champagne, as well as exotic vacations, travelling; and financial services such as credit cards etc., targeted at elite class consumers. However this study will keep itself limited to the superior personal fashion goods such as apparel, perfume and accessories, such as watches, handbags, shoes and jewellery. The research conducted in the future could examine the other product categories for further exploration of the luxury goods market in UK. 5 Conclusion This study is aimed at understanding and assessing luxury goods consumer behaviour. Product development, communications management, branding strategies and numerous other business activities require understanding consumer behavior, especially towards luxury products. In order for the designers, retailers and producers of the luxury products brands to benefit from the market expansion trends, they need to have a thorough understanding of the consumer behaviour of their target market. Therefore a proactive investigation of the target consumers and their purchase behaviour is necessary to derive the implications for marketers of the industry. 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