The Development of the Website - Report Example

Interim Report With the improved innovations in the field of Information Technology (IT), each and every business organization needs to take the necessary measures to tap into the online clientele. To do this, they need to embrace technology and venture into online marketing. This can grant an opportunity to increase their client base and competitiveness. However, to take advantage of the situation, the organization needs to develop and maintain an ecommerce website in which its products are displayed, promoted and sold. This paper reports on the process of the development of www.kowitiventures.com a website developed to market the electronic products sold by Kowiti Electronic Solutions. It does this by giving detailed information on the preparation, development, evaluation, challenges faced during the entire project of developing the website. Table of Contents Abstract……………………………………..…..……….…………….2 Table of Content………………………………………..…..………….3 1. Introduction………………………………..……….………………..5 2. Background…………………….………………......…..……………7 3. Literature Review……………….………………...…...…….………9 4. Works Completed…………………………….....……..………..…12 4.1 The Choice of the Website Hosting…………………….…….…12 4.2 The Choice of the Domain Name………………..….………….13 4.3 Planning of the Website Layout and Theme………..……….…14 5. Further Work…………………………………..….……………….16 5.1 Development of the Web Pages…………….………………….16 5.2 Testing the Web Site…………………….……………………..17 5.3 Promotion of the Web Site……………...…………………….18 6. Progress Review………………………..………………………..19 7. References……………………………………………………….22 8. Bibliography…………………………………………...…….24 1. Introduction Actually, overreliance on offline business alone can not help a company in the level of Kowiti Electronics Solutions to achieve much. The lucrative nature of the electronic business has made it to attract a lot of investors. Hence, there has been a mushrooming of electronic solution companies. After all, the market is open for free entrance by anyone who is interested in venturing into this line of business. To help in increasing its chances of enjoying a significant or larger share of the market, the company needs to make well-informed strategic plans. Rather than improving the quality of its products, the company should consider venturing into the online platform. The development of www.kowitiventures.com as the company’s sole website will definitely grant it an opportunity to take part in ecommerce. If properly designed, developed and maintained, the website will play a very important role in the life of the company. First it will help it to create awareness on the existence, types, values and benefits of its commodities. Besides, it will enable the company to display its ‘catchy’ brands of products that appeal most to its target clients. These will be marketing strategies that will allow the company to reach its potential and existing clients with the aim of enjoying a competitive advantage and increasing the volume of its stock turn over and profitability. This demonstrates the development of the website is an objective project that if properly executed as planned, will definitely positively impact on the prosperity of the company. However, to develop a good website for the company, a lot of measures need to be taken. In the first place, since website development is not a simple task, it will require the carrying out of an extensive research. By studying and analyzing previous researches on the subject matter, the researcher will be able to get all the necessary information that can be relied upon to produce an excellent work. Thus, informed decisions will be made regarding the right and most appropriate host and domain name to adopt. Besides, the entire project, being a very complicated one, will require a lot of time. For this reason, it should be allocated enough time to allow the undertaking of all the activities without any hurry. 2. Background As an organization, Kowiti Electronics Solutions is committed to providing exceptionally high quality electronic products: television, computer, laptops, iPad, iPhones, fridges, coolers and their accessories. However, the increasing level of competition in the electronics business has necessitated the need for creativity. This is the only way through which businesses can manage to outshine their rivals and manage to enjoy a competitive advantage over them. Therefore, to catch up with this trend, the management of Kowiti Electronics Solutions will have to exploit the online platform. This, to the management, is the most important step to be taken to revolutionize the operations of the company. In order to accomplish the goal of accessing the online community, the company will have to develop a website. By having its own website, the company will find it easier to effectively run its online business without facing many challenges. Actually, the website will provide a platform in which the company will interact with its online clients. The developments in technology have made it much possible for people to get access to the internet. Because of this, a lot of people can now use the internet to acquire information, education, and entertainment and to interact with their relatives, peers and colleagues especially through the social networks. So, when developing the website, measures should be taken to ensure that it reaches the largest number of target clients as possible. To achieve this, the project needs to be taken so seriously. Before developing, there is a need to carry out thorough studies to find out more about it. For it to be appeal to the target audiences, it should be made attractive, easily accessible and easier to use at all times. This explains why the entire project was allocated enough time to create room for the performance of all the activities that required being undertaken. Having a well developed and maintained website will be a major step towards the development of the company. The increment of its clientele base through massive online campaign will be a major milestone in the prosperity of the company. 3. Literature Review According to a research conducted by Nielsen, J. & Tahir, M. (2001), the existence of a free market structure has made it much easier for businesses to enter the market. This has resulted into a very stiff competition in the market since any investor is free to enter into a market and quit whenever without any hindrance. It is for this reason that Proctor, K. (2011) says that the competition has risen in the recent past especially in certain businesses that are perceived to be so lucrative. May be, a similar position might be applied to justify the reasons for the increase in the number of investors in the electronic business. Just like Owiti Electronic Solutions, several established and up coming organizations have invested in the business. So, the competition has become so stiff to the extent that only the best will survive. In this case, being the best implies adopting strategies that can help in winning the confidence of the clients to consider the business as the best alternative in the market. According to Gleick, J. (2011), the changing dynamics in the corporate scene has necessitated business organizations to be creative, dynamic and responsive in their approach. The same sentiments are repeated by Zwicky, E.D, Cooper, S. & Chapman, B. (2000) who argues in favor of novelty as a key pillar for any business. The ideas expressed by these scholars are right because they show a clear picture of what really happens. As a result of the societal transformations, businesses need to come up with management and planning strategies to enable them cope up. Otherwise, they might be rendered obsolete and uncompetitive, a very unfortunate situation that might make them to collapse and die completely. The development of www.kowitiventures.com will be a direct response to the technological changes in business. It will help in making the company to have a place in the online arena which has now become so popular with many people. As Kotler, P. (2009) and Chaudhury, A. & Jean-Pierre, K. (2002) argue, ecommerce has imminently contributed to the development of business in the contemporary society. Despite basing his argument on the development of ecommerce websites, Laudon, K. & Guercio, T. (2014) holds a contrary view. To them, social network sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Skype and My Space have to be thanked for such impressive achievement. In their opinion, these scholars say that even if businesses have ecommerce websites, they can not achieve much without linking them with and popularizing them using social network sites. In fact, Allen, T. & Morton, S. (2007 assert that at least 20% of all ecommerce sales take place through the social network cites. It is for this reason that the project will not be considered complete without linking the website to the company’s Facebook, Twitter and Skype accounts. As said by these scholars, they will facilitate the marketing of the website especially to the users of these social network sites. To develop an excellent website is not a simple task. Shelly, G. et al. (2001) says that it is a very sophisticated activity that requires adequate preparation right from the beginning up to the end. This is an accurate observation because the entire process encompasses research, consultation, development, testing and evaluation. Since all these activities need to be properly coordinated, it is recommended to consult widely and enlist the support of a professional. Besides, the process should not be hurried, but be given adequate time to give room for the full discharge of all the activities. Therefore, it means that if it is poorly planned, it can be crippled by challenges that might otherwise be prevented. In this regard, the project will be cautiously undertaken to ensure that every single activity is done at the right time using the most recommended resources and strategies. 4. Works Completed The following activities were undertaken during the development of the ecommerce website: 4.1 The Choice of the Website Hosting After making the decision to develop a website for Kowiti Electronics Solution and making all the necessary preparations, the first major activity that was performed was the identification of the right and most appropriate host to use. Since there was a choice on whether to use a free or paid host, it became apparent that a paid host had to be used. This was preferable because it would be the most appropriate for the company. As an established organization, Kowiti Electronics Solutions requires a spacious and stable website that can effectively accommodate all its preferred contents without any hindrance. This might not be achieved by acquiring a free host because it has a lot of weaknesses. Despite being absolutely free or cheaper, free hosts restrict websites on the amount of content to put in the websites. Meaning, if it is chosen, the company might not be free to operate its ecommerce business as planned since it will not have adequate space to enable it insert and up date its contents to meet its full capacity. The company needs to have a spacious website with enough bandwidths because it has a lot of products to post and keep on up dating in its websites after every single day. Moreover, free hosts might hinder the company from placing adverts on its page. Rather than banning ads in the sites, free hosts can opt to spam web sites with their own adverts which might not be necessarily related to the company and its products. Therefore, it is clear that the company had to opt for its own Standard Web Hosting. After conducting a thorough research on website development, it was agreed that no other host would be used in the project. It was only the Standard Web Hosting that would suit the company most. After all, Kowiti Electrical Solutions is an established company which has enough resources to acquire, develop and maintain a paid host. It is appropriate to be used in the project as it will result into an amazing website. Apart from providing enough space to accommodate all the required information, it will deliver enough bandwidth for the site and grant the company an opportunity to post and contents of its choice without an unnecessary control by the host. 4.2 The Choice of the Domain Name After identifying and signing up with the preferred host, the next task to be performed was to make the choice of a domain name to use for the website. Here, several factors had to be considered to ensure that a good URL is chosen for the company’s website. The first consideration to be made was the company’s name. It was agreed that the domain name to be identified had to be reflective on the company’s real name. Thus, it was necessary to settle on www.kowitiventures.com as the company’s website. Being that it contains the name of the company; the domain name can be easily identified by those who want to know about the company. It is so friendly and easier to access using the Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, Google Chrome and any other browser that might be available for use. Since the domain name resembles the company’s real name, it can be used as a marketing tool for the organization. It can be a unique kind of branding that the company can enjoy especially if the memory of the URL stick on the memory of the targeted audience. However, while undertaking all these activities, arrangements were made to use money to secure the domain name. Payment and subscription arrangements were considered because it was a necessity at this stage. Indeed, the identification of such a simple domain name was so advantageous to the company. Once the website would have been fully developed, no much effort would be used to promote it because the clients would easily identify with it. 4.3 Planning of the Website Layout and Theme Actually, www.kowitiventures.com is an ecommerce website. Meaning, it ought to have a proper design that suits its role as a commercial site that would be used to promote the company’s products. With this in mind, the next activity to be done after identifying the domain name was to design the layout of the site and start adding contents into it. As an ecommerce website that would exclusively for business purposes, it had to be equipped with a very good logo. The use of a conspicuous, colored and appealing logo would help it to attract many people into it. The more they get access to it, the more they would become used to it. All these were made possible by the fact that the site had appealing navigation tools that suit it as a commercial website. 5. Further Work Since this is just an interim report that does not cover the entire project, it also provides a detailed report on the following activities that are still incomplete, but need to be completed: 5.1 Development of the Web Page Content After designing the layout of the website, enough time will need to be taken to study and understand much about Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and Hyper Text Mark Up Language (HTML) techniques. Such knowledge will be used to comprehend the expected outline and structure of the pages appropriate for this particular website. What will follow thereafter is a gradual addition of web pages one after another. Here, only relevant information about the company and its products will be posted. The publication of the web content will be done using File Transfer Protocol. However, before then, the content needs to be properly written and thoroughly proofread to ensure that no grammatical, spelling or any type of error was committed. In fact, the editing of the information will be necessary because it would help in identifying any mistake that might damage the reputation of the company and give a chance to its competitors to outshine it. To ensure that target audiences are adequately informed, the publication process will be made continuous. Meaning, it will be done on a daily basis in order to bring new information and update the audience on the latest information available for their consumption. 5.2 Testing the Website After a successful completion of the above activities, the next thing to be done is to test the website. This simply refers to the carrying out of the assessment of all the activities completed so far. It should begin from evaluating if the web host chosen is appropriate for the kind of the site being developed. Since it is an e-commerce, it needs to use a host that does not cause any interference in the choice of the content or impose limitations on the amount of bandwidth and space to be utilized by the site. Therefore, with all these factors in mind, the evaluation process of the host will be properly done as it will help in finding out if the host used is appropriate for the kind of project being undertaken. The other component of the project to be tested is the domain name chosen for the website. As a business organization, Kowiti Electronic Solutions needs to establish a very good website that can help it in marketing itself to its clients. However, for this to be achieved, the website should have a domain name with which it can be easily identified. So, the testing will be done to find out if the name chosen can be accepted by the target clients. Also, the test will help in finding out if the name chosen is similar to any other company. The name will only get approval if it has a simple URL that appeal to many people and can be easily remembered without many struggles. The testing will also focus on the cost of the domain name and report if it is costly or cheaper and can be sustained by the company without much struggles. Last, but not least, testing should be done on the layout of the website. As an ecommerce, the website should be designed to appear attractive. Besides, the pages should be supplied with properly written content which have standard language, right spellings and sensible words. All these should be tested if they are properly done. 5.3 Promotion of the Website The last activity that will need to be undertaken is the marketing of the website. This should be done through the use of Search Engine Optimization (SEO), social networks like Facebook, Twitter and My Space; email; or through the placing of advertisements on the broadcast, print and line media. The promotion of the website using any of the above methods can help in creating awareness on the existence of the website and how properly it can be used to benefit both the organization and its clients. 6. Progress Review The very last activity that was conducted in this project is progress review. Here, an evaluation of the completed activities was done. This was a very important process in the project because it would to help in ascertaining the extent to which the set objectives were accomplished. To do it perfectly, everything had to be checked to find out if it was appropriately done in conformity with the set standards for this particular ecommerce. The first are to be assessed was the choice of host. It was found out that a very good progress had been made. So far, the choice was a right one. The use of a Standard Web Hosting for the website was a good decision. This is a host that brought a lot of benefits to the project. It was suitable because the project requires a spacious and stable website that can effectively accommodate all its preferred contents without any hindrance. So, the host would provide enough space to accommodate all the required information. At the same time, it would deliver enough bandwidth for the site and grant the company an opportunity to post and contents of its choice without an unnecessary control by the host. This informed choice enabled the project to begin on high note and proceeded as planned. Therefore, it is clear that the choice of the host was properly done. Besides, the domain name chosen was also found out to be appropriate for the company. The choice of www.kowitiventures.com was recommended. It was a very brief and relevant URL that contains the name of the company on it. Thus, anyone who wants to access the company’s website would do so much easily. The domain name can be easily identified by those who want to know about the company. It is so friendly and easier to access using the Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, Google Chrome and any other browser that might be available for use. So, once a person types the name of the company, they would easily be directed to the site because it shares a name with the company. However, although it is commended, it did not contain all names of the company as it added the word ‘venture.’ This might be a bit confusing. In terms of design, it must be acknowledged that the website had a good layout. The use of a conspicuous, colored and appealing logo was a major step in the development of the website. It enabled it to appeal to the users. The other important thing about the website is that it was properly built. Its pages were properly built and up dated with all the necessary information. Thus, all the catchy products of the company had to be included so as to appeal to the company’s target audience. However, despite doing a good job up to this stage, there are lots of things which were still not done yet as required. These include the linking of the website to the social network sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Skype, My Space and others. Also, the other activity that would have been done is the addition of contact addresses for easier communication with the site administrator or the company’s management. Moreover, the website had to be equipped with a live chat window to enable the users to directly engage on a communication with the company’s online support team. Finally, the site, as it is now; lacks a search box, a very important feature that if included in the commercial, will help the users to search for more information by simply typing the key words. 7. References Allen, T. & Morton, S. eds. (2007). Information Technology and the Corporation of the 1990s. New York: Oxford University Press. Chaudhury, A. & Jean-Pierre, K. (2002). e-Business and e-Commerce Infrastructure. McGraw-Hill. Gleick, J. (2011).The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood. New York: Pantheon Books. Kotler, P. (2009). Marketing Management. Pearson. Laudon, K. & Guercio, T. (2014). E-commerce. business. technology. society. 10th edition. Pearson. Nielsen, J. & Tahir, M. (2001) Homepage Usability: 50 Websites Deconstructed, New Riders Publishing, Proctor, K. (2011) Optimizing and Assessing Information Technology: Improving Business Project Execution. Upper Saddle River: John Wiley & Sons. Shelly, G. et al. (2001). Discovering Computers 2000: Concepts for a Connected World. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Course Technology. Zwicky, E.D, Cooper, S. & Chapman, B. (2000). Building Internet Firewalls. New York: United States: O’Reily & Associates. Read More