Articles

E-business
The Five Key Elements Of B2B Branding
Lately, I have come across a number of articles and colleagues pronouncing the demise of B2B branding. I would like to offer a different viewpoint: B2B branding is not obsolete. At the same time, it has to be redefined to fit the context of B2B today. 

E-Commerce: Your Opportunities Are Unlimited
Peter Drucker believes ecommerce will be to the Information Revolution what the railroads were to the Industrial Revolution.* To oversimplify, the Industrial Revolution was a time in which tools were produced that replaced people in the manufacture of goods. In the first thirty years, all was devoted to producing known products with machines. 

E-Business: Connecting the Inside with the Outside
As well as e-commerce, the experts also talk about e-business. The distinction between the two can be slippery. 

Electronic transactions in NZ
Businesses have been using electronic technology such as email for years to conduct their business, so what difference does the ETA make? To understand this you need to understand that most business to business dealings are governed by common law (such as formation of contracts) and electronic methods have generally been regarded by the courts as acceptable for these purposes. But there are many other transactions that are governed by statutory law... 

Online Banking in New Zealand - A Comparison
Risks that are involved with Internet based financial activity cannot be ignored and dealing with such risks must be planned meticulously. The Internet is an unstable environment where the landscape changes constantly, new threats and obstacles arise every waking hour and the issue of security reoccurring.  

Kiwis lead the world in Internet use
The study found that 75 per cent of those surveyed in New Zealand had used the Internet in the previous month, an increase from 71 per cent in 2002. New Zealand's usage rate was the highest of the 32 countries surveyed (which include Australia and the United States) 

Email Marketing
Six Steps To Selling By E-mail
Free. . . Sale. . . New . . . Hot. . . Act now! These words announce yet another e-mail sales message. We're inundated with e-mail pitches and wary of anything that sounds too good to be true. So, how do you write your e-mail sales messages so customers will open, and most importantly, act on them? 

E-Farming
A message from Helen Clarke
When asked to think about rural life, most people think of scenes of cattle and sheep set in green fields with rolling hills. But what is also true of New Zealand's rural communities today is that they are at the cutting edge of the knowledge economy, swift to adopt and adapt new technology to improve productivity and efficiency on their land.  

Getting Started
Part 1 - The Web Design Learning Process
The Internet has opened a whole New World of opportunity for all of us. With the vast amount of information available at your fingertips, it has never been easier to communicate your message to the world.  

Part 2 - Your Strategic Web Design Plan
There are millions of web sites on the Internet today with thousands more being added each day. The competition is fierce and in order to be successful, you must stay one step ahead of the game. Although designing a professional web site is an important part of your strategic plan, it is only the first step. Before you begin the actual design process, you must first determine your overall strategy and design your web site accordingly. 

Part 3 - Essential Web Site Components
Although the Internet has provided a wealth of opportunity for all of us, it has also created a breeding ground for scam artists. Internet users are very reluctant to make purchases online, and share their personal information. For this reason, you must take every opportunity to convey your professionalism -- from your web site, products and services, to your customer service, each will play an important part in your success. 

Part 4 - Web Page Optimisation
Selecting the right keyword phrases for each page of your web site is the first step towards ranking high in the Search Engines. However, it is only the first step. 

Part 5 - Writing Effective Sales Copy
A professional looking web site is a very important part of developing a profitable Internet business. However, your sales copy is just as important -- each will play a major role in your success. The key to writing effective sales copy is simply learning how to write persuasive words specifically written for your targeted potential customer. You must feel their needs and write your copy with passion, excitement and benefits.  

Who Are You? Building an Online Brand
What is a brand? There are very long definitions — in fact, there are book-length definitions that can be very confusing. But at its core, branding is a simple concept: determining what distinguishes your business, and then marketing it consistently and persistently. Your brand is your identity. 

Search Engine Optimisation
Designing search engine friendly PHP pages
PHP pages have a reputation of being more difficult (or at least different) to SEO than static HTML pages. Here’s an overview of the major issues encountered when trying to make PHP scripts rank well. While this focuses on PHP much of it is still relevant to dynamic pages in general. 

SEO - Increasing your rank with Google
Using search engine optimization to increase traffic to your web site from google and other search engines can be tricky business. With various rules defining what is acceptable search engine optimization (SEO), marketing and/or promotion; and what is not it can be difficult to determine exactly how far to go in your search engine marketing campaign. 

SEO - 7 Proven Steps to Search Engine Success
Having a good website isn't enough — you need to help people find it. The most commonly used tool for finding sites is the search engine. Unfortunately, how to get search engines to recognize and include your site on results listings isn't always clear.