The simplest definition for Cloud Computing is the one in which data and applications are served to users over the Internet. Users no longer need applications such as Outlook on their desktop, but instead use versions of these, or other applications, through a web browser. Data is, similarly, stored centrally and served up to users as and when they need it, and on any platform they choose.

Originally, Cloud Computing was an indistinct term for a vague and distant future in which computing would occur in a few remote locations without the need for much human intervention. Infinite computing resources would be available for any need at costs approaching zero. Certainly, users would not need to know or care about how the computers, their software, or the network functioned.

Cloud Computing customers do not generally own the physical infrastructure serving as host to the software platform in question. Instead, they avoid capital expenditure by renting usage from a third-party provider. They consume resources as a service and pay only for resources that they use. Many Cloud Computing offerings employ the utility computing model, which is analogous to how traditional utility services (such as electricity) are consumed, while others bill on a subscription basis.

Sharing “perishable and intangible” computing power among multiple tenants can improve utilization rates, as servers are not unnecessarily left idle (which can reduce costs significantly while increasing the speed of application development). A side effect of this approach is that overall computer usage rises dramatically.

We cycled between periods when computing was more centralized (and seemed more remote and less accessible to users) and periods when computing was right on user desktops. No one was ever satisfied. Centralized computing failed to give users enough control and was too inflexible. Distributed computing made every user his own system administrator and was very inefficient.

In the last few years, as the cost of a unit of computing power has continued to decrease – but the cost of humans with the skills to implement and manage computer systems has not – the vision of centralized computing has returned. It has taken several turns. Some computer scientists have suggested (and experimented with) a vast Grid of computers, attached via the Internet, whose power can be combined for large-scale tasks when needed. In some cases, very large computing systems can be part of these grids for specialized tasks. Others have suggested a computing utility which would provide just as much computing power as an organization needed, on an on-demand basis, much like electricity.

Eventually, as large web users such as Google and Amazon built out enormous data centers for their own purposes, they realized they could permit others to access these “clouds” of computing power at relatively attractive prices, and so began the Cloud Computing era. Today, many companies are putting together large data centers, sometimes as extensions of their own needs, sometimes just for customers to use. Originally the idea was these clouds of computing would offer processing power and storage. Anything else would be added by the customer. As the idea became more popular, additional functionality has been added. Some clouds also offer systems management. Others are actually providing a set of applications as part of the cloud.

For most organizations, a decision on Cloud Computing will be a matter of choosing which cloud to use. Many may use several, selecting different clouds for different purposes. For some large enterprises and government organizations, a cloud of their own may be an appropriate solution. This allows the organization to optimize the cloud for its own purposes and to make it available to its own constituency.

*Did You Know — According to a recent Unisys poll, security and privacy concerns are still big barriers to Cloud Computing?  A survey asked, “What do you see as your greatest barrier to moving to the cloud?”, and 51 percent cited security and data privacy. 21 percent cited integration of cloud applications with existing systems as a potential barrier.

The competition to achieve recognition on the web becomes more difficult daily. Every website battles for their place on the Internet. The most effective weapon they have for utilization is SEO – Search Engine Optimization.

Today SEO is essential for each and every business website. For people who are following new techniques and ideas to increase their sales and online rankings in search engines like Google, Yahoo, and MSN, here are some of the latest trends:

* Professional SEO Copywriting
* Image Optimization
* Content Optimization
* Flash Optimization
* Geographic optimization
* Blogging & Posting Content
* Social book marking
* Article Marketing
* Inbound links with targeted Keywords
* Video Optimization and Marketing
* Micro blogging like on Twitter

Times have changed and the clues and tricks which worked (in the past) have been exposed. Google, the star search engine does not fall for tricks. Google sends spiders or crawlers out and obtains a keyword placement through the relevant websites and creates an index of the site by analyzing its contents. It then assigns the site a page ranking status depending on how well or poorly the site has done its due diligence.

The current SEO trends that are running the internet market are of inbound linkages and submission to relevant blogs and forums.  The hyperlinks attached to major related websites do wonders to the credential of a website.  Submission of RSS feeds and URLs are also beneficial.

User content on interfaces have to be seriously analyzed by the core team of a website before giving the final touch to the product the site is promoting.  The keywords and tags work differently in diverse sites, and the effort has to be executed meticulously to understand the algorithms of these search engines, through several trial and errors.

Google’s roll out of “Universal Search” has changed the playing field for the future.  The watchword is “different” and that is how search engine marketers will need to think.  Search engines have been guilty of doing exactly the opposite of what online marketers try to achieve. We try and keep visitors on our websites for as long as possible with engaging content.  Search engines rocket people somewhere else within seconds of the search results appearing.

Keyword research has long been the foundation of successful SEO campaigns. Target the wrong keywords and you are doomed from the start.  How much keyword research did you do before you launched your website?

Prestige Technologies can direct you down the proper path. Through a well perceived and efficiently developed SEO campaign, Prestige Technologies will lead your business to the epicenter of where it needs to evolve, regarding your Search Engine Optimization goals.

Where in the world are you? It is possible you know where you are, but search engines such as Google do not have a clue. Owning a Top Level Domain is a good start, but even if you have this domain and you are hosting in another country, you could be confusing the issue for search engines.

How many back links do you have?  What is your Page Rank?  What do people say about you in link anchor text?  How do you find more links?  What are the most popular keyword searches?  What is your ranking on search engines?  Do you have barriers preventing your site from being crawled?  What is your page strength?  Do you know these answers?

Do you get the feeling that searching is moving up a notch?

Are you among those internet marketers who are willing to see your site in the first page of search engines when you type in your business keyword? Apart from a normal web existence, when you try for search engine positioning and SEO traffic, you should respect internet marketing as a game, and you should become trained by a professional coach! By agreeing that SEO traffic can be a game, shows you are interested in playing it.  Don’t you think it is time to start learning?

Be very keen when selecting the keyword you want to be ranked for, and then build a relevant keyword list. Common sense is the only tool which should be utilized to select your main keywords!  The links to your selected keywords, from many sources will get your website ranked well with those keywords, by putting in your hard effort. A link from any site is considered as a back link and is shown in the search engines. There are many other factors which can be shown, but search engine strategies keep changing. Among those changing SEO traffic strategies are Web 2.0, video submissions, etc.

So what does all this mean – it means you must embrace technology for all it has to offer. SEO may seem costly, but it is the undisputed technological answer to your future success.

*Did You Know – While searching for my ‘Did You Know’ fact (for this newsletter) I performed a Google search querying SEO?

Web 2.0 design is a buzz word that has meaning behind it.  If you have a site with a Web 2.0 design, then you probably have round corners, gradients, reflections, clean layout, and white space.

Simplicity is the key goal for Web 2.0 design. You want to keep your navigation, layout, and content as simple possible.  Your features only should include what is required for the user.  Keep plenty of white space and a balance of images and text.  Keeping your site simple will help your usability.

Your navigation is one of the most important features on your site.  Keep this as straightforward as possible.  Try to make it large, bold, and clean.  In regard to text – make it easy to read, and allow the user to know exactly what they are going to find.  Also make some type of motion or mouse over with your hyperlinks.  This helps users differentiate what is text and what is a hyperlink.

Web 2.0 designs concentrate more on color.  For backgrounds soft, pastels and neutral colors are a great choice.  Your colors are what attract your users to your site.  Also you can use your colors to focus your users to a specific place on your site.  Gradients also fall into this category. Gradients are a good way to blend colors into the soft fade of your white space or your background.  Gradients also are used for navigation backgrounds, text boxes, and icons.

Icons are becoming more and more popular.  However, please note, this does not mean you have to use more.  Developers are using bigger and stronger icons.  These icons have been used with text to help make a clear and visual response.  Users are very visual people.  An icon with a picture of a shopping cart for example will quickly tell your visitor this icon is where you can access the shopping cart.  This idea is effective with navigation, as well.

White space is omnipresent!  Busy sites are slowly being redesigned.  Many of the big ecommerce stores are even sliming down their homepages and giving them more white space.  This is positive for the user and your usability.  Giving your page plenty of white space will give you a cleaner and more professional look.  It will make your site easier to use.

There are more techniques and elements that are included in the movement of Web 2.0 design. The biggest element to watch for is simplicity.  Nothing is written in stone and none of these suggestions have to be followed.  However, why don’t you try something new and see what happens, it might be your next big thing!

*Did You Know — The term “Web 2.0″ was coined by Darcy DiNucci in 1999.  Her use of the term deals mainly with web design and aesthetics; she argues that the web is “fragmenting” due to the widespread use of portable web-ready devices.  Her term is aimed at designers, reminding them to code for an ever-increasing variety of hardware.

The summer is over!  The kids are back in school!  Football season is here!  What does this mean?  Now is the time to plan your email marketing campaigns for the upcoming holiday season.

Before businesses decorate their stores and websites they send out emails promoting their holiday deals to their subscribers.  They send lots out of emails.  Research shows last year more than 4,700 emails from more than 100 top online businesses were sent during the fourth quarter, and companies released daily reports on strategies, tactics and trends via email. Based on this information, Emercury.net wants to produce a roadmap to the email holiday season, so companies can better formulate their campaigns this year.

Emercury.net can assist you with flyer, newsletter, and banner creation; when to begin your campaign; how much to increase your email volume; which days to send on; and how to stand out in the inbox during the holidays. Last year nearly 90% of major online businesses increased their email volume during the holiday season, with retailers boosting their send frequency by 43% on average compared to the pre-holiday period.

Standing out in the inbox during the holiday season is tough.  Formulating the right subject lines during the holidays is critical.  Emercury.net can offer you numerous examples of subject lines to employ during the various phases of the holiday season, and help you devise your subject lines for the crucial November and December months.

Remember, 2009 has flown by so far, and sooner than you know it, the holiday season will be here.  So gain an advantage on your competitors by starting your holiday email campaign planning now.  Here are some steps to help get you started:

1. Ask your team to start brainstorming creative ideas for email campaigns now. Involving your whole team in the brainstorming process will help you to develop the best, most effective campaign.  You may choose to do just one holiday campaign, or a series of emails leading up to the holiday season.  This will depend on your call to action and audience.  And do not forget what expectations you have set with your subscribers.  If they are used to only receiving a monthly newsletter from your company, do not overwhelm them with daily/weekly holiday promotional emails.  It is important to stay consistent with what your subscribers already receive, but with a holiday flair.
2. Develop your schedule. If you are doing a series of emails, when should they start?  How often should they be sent?  What is the last day you want to send an email before the holidays?  Once you have the launch date in mind, work backwards.  To meet that launch date, when does creative need to be finalized and approved?  When should email campaign testing begin to leave enough time for internal review and edits?  What date should your subscriber database be pulled and uploaded into your email platform?
3. Plan the email creative and subject line. The subject line is often a last-minute decision, but it should not be!  Planning and strategy should go into the subject line, as this is the main influencer of whether your subscribers open your email or not.  Make sure your subject line is eye-catching enough to make your email stand out.  During the holiday season, people’s email inboxes are cluttered, so it is important that your email is noticed.  The subject line should be enticing and make your recipient want to read more.
4. Work with your email service provider to ensure your sending reputation is in good standing. You can have the best subject line, creative, and timing, but if your IP reputation is poor, nobody will see your impressively crafted email.  Take time before the holidays to test your email deliverability and work on any issues that arise.  Your ESP should be more than happy to work on this in detail with you.  After all, your success during the holiday season (and throughout the year) is your ESP’s success!

*Did You Know — Last year Cyber Monday was the most popular day of the year to send retail emails, with 70% of retailers sending at least one email on that day.

As we have mentioned in the past, we realize you have spent time and resources building your website; one you know is attracting visitors daily. However, there is a problem – you have no idea who is coming to your website and where they are clicking. The internet is a strong tool for reaching millions of potential customers, and with some simple tweaks to your site, you can discover who your potential clients are.

Basically, there are two types of leads: sales and marketing. A lead generation website should be designed with a purpose in mind – sales or marketing. Sales leads are developed based on demographic information such as age, income, education, and credit rating. Marketing leads are based on brand-specific advertising offers. Regardless of whether the site is designed for marketing or if it is for sales leads it must be well-organized. Also, offering something for free such as a newsletter or product information brochure always helps. Once the creative lead generation website has reeled in a customer, the next step is to retrieve information about the person.

Here is a simple method for converting visitors into leads, and certain ways of insuring you get the most out of your efforts.

Build Online Forms. You can easily add forms to your website, without performing a lot of heavy lifting. Online forms should appear on top of your site and capture customer data that prospects submit themselves. This means you are allowing the web to automatically generate leads for you, saving extra steps for sales and marketing personnel. Emercury.net auto generates the forms for your site, and drives traffic to your website.

Building these forms range in complexity. If you are to build a form from scratch and overlay it on your website, you will need some amount of html or design skills. However, if you leverage web-to-lead form functions in a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) product, the coding work has already been done. With pre-built web-to-lead forms, you simply choose which fields (name, e-mail, address, phone number, etc.) you wish to see in the form, and the CRM system instantly generates an html file you can append to your site.

Tie it all together. You have already made your website more valuable to your business by getting prospects to identify themselves; but web-to-lead forms can do even more. If you are using a lead form inside a CRM system, leads can be qualified faster, routed to the right agent, and used in market intelligence reports. This one-two punch of automatic lead generation, coupled with enabling sales to quickly jump on hot leads is a huge benefit. Emercury.net provides tracking, through reporting, which can be tied to your website statistics.

Incent the prospect. Lead forms are most effective when tied to some sort of promotion. Using the lead form as a registration page for a company Webinar, or placing the form in front of a download page for a white paper outlining your strengths will give prospects reasons to give you their information. You can use Emercury.net to drive the traffic to your site and use your website landing pages to determine where your visitors came from.

Choose data points wisely. One last thing to consider – do not overdo it when asking for customer information. If all you need to start a relationship is a name and email, get that person on the radar and get them on a newsletter or email campaign list. Or, sometimes just a company name and phone number will suffice in order to facilitate fast follow up calls.  The idea is to break the barriers of anonymity on your website properties, without prospects feeling like they are being have been intruded. The right balance will result in more leads, with less effort.

*Did You Know – To avoid spam emails, many businesses are completely removing all email addresses from their websites and using contact forms instead.  If you want keep email addresses on your website but want to minimise spam then email address protection will help.

It is no longer a matter of clever slogans and appealing advertisements — consumers are demanding a realtionship with their favorite companies and brands.  In today’s market, it is all about RELATIONSHIP BUILDING.

Earlier this year Jupiter Research suggested that email marketing will reach 2.1 billion by 2012. In large part, this growth will be due to consumer use of social media sites and the attempts of marketing professionals to reach this audience. According to Forrester Research, “in five years consumers will opt-in to receive more than 9,000 email marketing messages annually.”

Susan Coppersmith, Director of Sales at iEntry, Inc said, “companies that have the most success within our B2B network opt for more complex email campaigns, which include follow up sponsorships, banners, and dedicated email. They understand they need to invest in their target if they want their target to invest in them.”

Key Growth Areas for Email Marketing

One key area of email marketing that is expected to experience a vast growth is Retention Email. What is Retention Email? These emails are permission based, meaning they have been acknowledged and accepted by the recipient. Forrester reveals Retention Email is expected to account for more than one-third of all marketing messages reaching consumer in-boxes by 2014.

Where else in email marketing will you see change? In newsletters either supported by ads or opt-in ad sponsored. Due to falling print circulation, ad revenue, and readership, these kinds of newsletters are expected to experience a heavy growth cycle within the next five years.

The impact of social media websites on email marketing cannot be overlooked. As a matter of fact, in large part, social media sites are reinforcing the growth spurt of email marketing. Many companies will be searching for ways in which to integrate email marketing campaigns and social media sites. The key will be to reach an audience that demands personalization and novelty, just like technology consumers are ever changing.

One thing is certain, email marketing is a sure fire way to reach consumers! According to a study conducted by Epsilon and ROI Research -
84 percent of recipients liked receiving email from companies with whom they have subscribed to their e-newsletters.

A Successful Email Marketing Campaign

A successful email marketing campaign will not only entice your consumer to take action, it will keep them coming back for more! Consider the following when conducting any email marketing campaign: track your campaign, consider spam filters, dazzle with subject lines, provide valuable content, and lastly provide timely content. Remember, an email marketing campaign is more than an email and much more than advertising, it is an attractive and informative way of letting consumers know about your company’s services.

*Did You Know - online advertising contributes $300 billion to the U.S. economy. It generated $3.4 billion in 2008.

Here are the most common reasons we end up having to shut down an agency’s client for too many SPAM complaints:

• Old lists (Surprise factor) – If your client has been collecting email addresses on their website for years, and this is their first email campaign to the list, there will be people who do not remember the client – (“Who the heck are you, and how did you get my email address?”). These people will report you for SPAMMING. You want to avoid the surprise factor as much as possible with email marketing.
• SPAM traps – Some ISPs take very old email addresses they assume are not being used anymore, and they post them to public websites. Then they wait for SPAM-bots to scrape them, and SPAM them. As soon as they get SPAM to one of these “SPAM trap” addresses, they block the SPAMMER. This is why you never send to a list more than a year or two old. It is also why you should never buy an email list, and why you should never scrape emails off of websites. The effect of hitting a SPAM trap is devastating and fast.
• Tradeshow lists – When people attend a tradeshow, they usually buy their tickets online. They submit their email address. The tradeshow host then gives their email address to the companies who exhibit at the show. Companies can theoretically use this list to find prospects that plan to attend the show, and reach out to them. That is fine, as long as the communication is one-to-one. But if they send an email campaign to the entire list, it is SPAM, and they will get reported for it.
• Outlook address book dumps – This one is extremely common with small businesses that do not have big fancy customer databases. They just manage everything in their Microsoft Outlook Address Book. The problem is their address book does not let them export a list of “only my customers” or “only people who opted in for email marketing.” It exports everybody, including “grandma, the guy I met at a tradeshow three years ago, my tech support who I emailed two years ago, and my ex-wife.” These people will report you for SPAM. But it is not limited to small businesses. You may tell your client, “Okay, we’re prepping the big email campaign now. I’m going to need your customer email list.” Your client will then ask their entire company sales team, to “Give me your lists of customers by close of business, so we can get our exciting email newsletter out!” Guess what that sales team is going to do. They are going to dump their entire address book out and send it. They are not going to spend the time to sort out opt-ins vs. non opt-ins.
• Sales force dumps – This is similar to the “Address Book Dump” above, but at least you have some sort of classification (theoretically) of email lists. Be on the lookout for clients who dump all their different lists into one big one. Ask them if they combined their prospects list, leads list, qualified leads list, customer list, and subscriber lists, then tell them how dangerous that is.
• Purchased lists – It is a real no-brainer that purchasing 30 million emails from some seedy, offshore company is a dumb idea. The thing is most clients buy lists from local networking organizations, or tradeshows, or publications they advertise in. They sound innocent, and totally legit. And sometimes, the intent of the list seller is to let you send one-to-one communications (not SPAM). But the reality is most people buy those lists to send unsolicited bulk email. So ask your client if the list was purchased. If it was purchased, then whoever sold them the list needs to send the bulk email. Or, the client needs to send totally different emails, one at a time. Unacceptable responses to this include, “But this list is all legit”, and “But this list is all opt-in”, and “But this list was very, very expensive”, and “But this list came from a reputable industry source that everybody knows.”
• Organization lists – Your client may be a member of a realtors’ organization, or a local business group. Organizations will often give you their membership directory whenever you join. This is for one-to-one networking. It is not mass subscribing them all to email marketing. The most vicious SPAM complaints can come from these lists, because often your client’s competitors will be members of the same organization.
• Chambers of Commerce lists – When you see a small/new company that has an inexplicably large email list, it is probably from their local chamber. Again, the lists they give out are for one-to-one networking with other business owners, not mass email marketing.
• Lists from their previous ESP– If you are helping a client switch from another email service provider to Emercury.net, make sure they are exporting the latest clean version of their subscriber list. Some clients will mistakenly export their entire list of subscribers (even those who previously unsubscribed, or bounced). Sometimes it’s because the they use does not give them the opportunity to download a “clean” list. We do not know if that is just poor functionality or if they are trying to lock people in. In those cases, you will need to download the full list, plus the unsubscribe list, and the bounce list, and then clean them manually before importing.

*Did You Know – ISPs want to reduce the barrage of unwanted e-mail sent to their users, permission-based or not. Spam complaints are the number-one factor that harms deliverability with major ISPs.

Whenever a client sends a bad email campaign, their recipients will click the “Report Spam” button in their email programs. Most people think nothing of it.  They figure it just teaches their Spam filter to throw away the email.  But what really happens behind the scenes is this:

1.     A complaint is sent to their ISP (like AOL, Yahoo, Comcast, Earthlink, etc).  The report has a copy of the email in it.
2.    The ISP scans the emails header, and tracks down the originating server (if you use Emercury.net to send the campaign, the ISP traces it to us).
3.     The ISP sends us a feedback loop (FBL) warning.
4.     If an email campaign causes too many Spam complaints (about one per thousand recipients), the ISP blocks future emails from the sending server.

Feedback Loops (FBL) like the one described above are being used more and more by large ISPs.  The reason is simple.  ISPs are dealing with billions of pieces of Spam daily.  They cannot sort through what is legit and what is not. Technology can only sort through so much.  So they put the ultimate decision in the hands of the recipients. If a recipient says it’s Spam (even if they opted-in for it) then it is spam.  That is the end of the story. Of course people make mistakes, which is why they set thresholds for complaint levels before blocking senders.  But the point – technical and legal definitions of Spam do not matter anymore. All that matters are what recipients think is “unwanted”. So your clients better be sending material people specifically requested.

This is why email marketing services (like Emercury.net) are setup to receive FBL alerts from ISPs, and then we automatically clean complainers from your list.  Too many complaints from one campaign, and we can get blocked. And since you are sharing our system with many other users from around the globe, we have to be rigorous about monitoring FBL complaints.

You know how they say “You are more likely to die in a car accident than a plane crash”?  The same concept applies with abuse complaints.  You may think your client is safe and sound as long as they are not sending nasty pharmaceutical or online gambling Spam. But it is far more likely you will get blocked by ISPs because of complaints from your own subscribers about seemingly innocent newsletters. So it is important to know what makes people complain, and how to prevent it.

*Did You Know - a safelist is an email mailing list that people join (of their own free will) which enables them to send email offers to all the other members in exchange for agreeing to receive email from those other members. So you get to mail, but you have to agree to receive mail too. And no one gets spammed.

Warning Signs Your Client Is Spamming
A guide for creative professionals (with clients who misbehave) –
Part I (of MANY)…

Emercury.net is an email marketing solution originally created in 2002, to help creative agencies (web developers, freelancers, advertising agencies, etc.) to send professional HTML email campaigns, on behalf of their clients.

We have helped numerous agencies assist their clients with email.

Unfortunately, we have had to shutdown many agencies for their clients’ bad email marketing practices: sloppy list management, poorly designed emails, purchased lists, and old lists. These bad practices get the client and the agency reported for Spamming, and sometimes they get blacklisted. In some cases, we have seen their mistakes tarnish their reputation and follow them even when they move around from server to server, or switch email marketing services.

Luckily, most email marketing nightmares like this are preventable. You just need to know what the warning signs are, and how to deal with them.

What exactly is Spam?

Seems like a silly question. We all get Spam, and we all know what it is. But do you know the technical definition? You need to know it, so that when challenged by a stubborn client, you can easily explain why they are Spamming.

Email is Spam when it is:
1. Unsolicited (meaning the recipient did not opt-in for it), and,
2. Sent in bulk (meaning its part of a larger collection of messages that all have substantively identical content).

Source:  www.spamhaus.org/definition.html

Keep in mind those two criteria. Some clients will argue that, “I send unsolicited emails to prospects all the time from my computer.” And you can tell them that is not Spam, because it was not sent in bulk to 500 other prospects.

Some clients will tell you, “But I get Spam all the time! How come I can’t send it too?” Initially, that sounds like an extremely stupid reply, and it use to make me want to punch them in the gut. But I have learned during the years most newbie email marketers actually think Spammers are doing something that technically makes it legal and acceptable to send Spam. Like there is some kind of “Spam license” you can apply for, or “Spam system” you can use to make it okay. But if you explain to them that most Spam is actually sent illegally, via virus-infected, hijacked computers called “botnets,” they get the picture.

*Did You Know – the United States still leads all countries in Spam.  So although countries like China, Russia, and Brazil are touted as being the origin of the new wave of Spam, they have a long way to go to catch up to the United States.

Across the Board

While many of us think of databases as merely a computerized storage facility for names, addresses, and telephone numbers, the opposite is true. Today, more and more databases are being built not only to store, but to also analyze information.  No longer are they restricted to large company’s and government facilities, databases are used by online schools, commerce retailers, neighborhood salons, restaurants and a bevy of industries. As a matter of fact, databases are one of the fastest growing segments in development.

This segment of development will continue to grow, because the need to know customers will never go away. For instance, databases can contain information about a customer’s likes, dislikes, shopping patterns, family size, age groups, and much more. This can assist a retailer with target marketing and product recommendations based on age and favorites. This also can help a retailer understand any number of important factors for a customer’s satisfactory shopping experience.
But, what other advantages can a detailed database offer? Let us talk about online education, a rapidly growing industry. More and more people are turning to online courses, because they are convenient and affordable. Online education databases offer a full list of courses, course descriptions, schedules, etc. Now, online education databases offer course recommendations and on campus suggestions for courses unavailable online.

What to Do

You have decided your business will benefit from a database, now what? Very few of us know how time consuming and rigorous creating a database can be. According to an online article, “It is not wise to dive directly into a physical design without first conducting an in-depth examination of the data needs of the business.”  Furthermore, “a proper database design cannot be thrown together quickly by novices.  A practiced and formal approach to gathering data requirements and modeling data is needed.” At times the wealth of information that will be stored on a database can be overwhelming. Precision and careful attention to every single field is due; otherwise the results can be horrific.

Therefore, when approaching a development company with a database project it is imperative to have all of the information you wish to have in your database available from the beginning.  It is NEVER a good idea to leak information to your developers while the project is in progress – this can severely delay your project and frustrate all parties concerned. So, DO give all of the correct information to your development providers at the start of your project.

With the growing number of information maintained on databases there is the need for tighter security.  How many of us hesitate to put our social security number or home address on an online application? The truth is database development is becoming more secure as technological advancements occur. However, the threat to database security is very much a concern for many of us. So, PLEASE ask your development provider about security measures and precautions.   Inquiring about the security and vulnerabilities of your database is a sign you care about protecting your customers. Your project developer will understand and appreciate your concern.

*Did You Know – Web Development is the larger picture where Web Designing is just a small part of it.  Not taking away the credit from a good designed website, it cannot really answer important queries and does not provide the interactive functionalities that a good website, which is developed using the right technology can.