Trust me!!!

When people build a website or blog for some particular purpose or issue, mostly, they want to share their ideal, information or opinion from their website or blog with other people. And further purpose, they hope their website is able to become popular and acceptable by other people(Krauss 2008).However, how to let website or blog to become popular and acceptable, the key point is to build potential trust and trustworthiness. Trust and trustworthiness are human motive or potential behavior to believe in something or also pay devoted spirit to support some specific objectives. Both of them are able to extend the credit to people’s relationship and make people deserve to follow the main point(Young 2007).

People trust sources which are genuine and other people who have encountered similar circumstances as the one they are facing (Krauss 2008). An online study reveals that consumer opinions posted online and brand websites are among the trusted sources for online consumers (Anon 2008). Thus, a company website or a blog-site should have review section or a testimonial section for people to post their experience who have used the service/ product in past. Some recent statistical facts which show company’s good results would be effective in posing the authenticity of the company. Comments by independent experts on the subject (products/services) that company deal

s with are highly trusted (Krauss 2008).For example, for the company manufacturing furniture; any review or positive comments by an independent expert on the furniture manufactured by the company, if poste

d on the website would be highly beneficial in building trust in consumers.

Factors responsible to create trustworthy websites

Credibility on website is essential as it pushes consumers to register on the websites and also resort to other services offered by the company(Brian et al. 2003).

Website visitors visit websites to both get information on a product/service and eventually decide to purchase. The purchase act however can be determined or influenced by the presence of certain factors.

Presentation

Presentation here refers to the design and format of the website. A good use of colours, words and images can grab attention. The element of professionalism can be questioned by certain aspects such as grammatical errors, use of certain typefaces, and useless information/animation (Brian et al. 2003)

Navigation

This refers to the ease at which consumers can browse easily on the website i.e by being able to go directly to the area of interest and extract the required information or detail (Brian et al. 2003). For instance, a home product retailer selling furniture such as kitchen items, office items, bathroom equipment will need to segment the items to fall within a particular group on the website so it can facilitate browsing and save the time of the c

onsumer who wants to buy a particular item i.e. if a consumer wishes to purchase an office table, chair etc all he needs to do is to click on the “Office items” column and have a variety to pick from(Krauss 2008).

Therefore, websites should be configured in a way to improve and ease browsing. This aspect makes a website credible.

Speed The ability of a website to give immediate results upon a click renders it reliable and trustworthy. For it considered effective and saves the consumer’s time. There is nothing as annoying than to have a website which requires a 1 or 2 minute hold before releasing search results(Young 2008).

Fulfilment: By actually applying what is said on the website instils trust. A lot of Company websites have lost their credibility because they said something on the website but did not apply it in practice. In other words, they failed to fulfil “their promise” (Young 2008). An example can be indicating on your Company website that it offers free delivery regardless of the items bought but not actually doing as said. This calls for contradiction and consequently, results to lack of trust (Brian et al. 2003).

Transparency

The website should be projecting the real image of the comapany website. It must reveal some information such as history, work ethics, reason the company was build which is true and thus portray transperancy, which would start the process of handshaking with the online customer or client (Bradley 2006).

Some other ways suggested by avangate bloggers to maintain credibility on a website is by:

-Publishing photos of real people on your website(like the team you are working with)

-Giving your contact details online

-Responding to as many emails as possible

-Provide clients with quick answers to their queries and needs

-Rendering it useful to visitors by being informative

-Updating the site regularly

-Putting testimonials of satisfied customers

-Paraphrasing or quoting brilliant minds (Aavangate bloggers 2007).

Creating Trustworthiness in Foot Ball websites

Manchester United Football Club Website - sign of trust

The manchester United Football club website is one of the best websites in terms of factors such as presentation, navigation, fulfillment, transperancy and hence worth trusting.

The site is well designed with consistent use of white, red and black colours and consitent use of colour white for the text.

It is very easy to navigate on the site with tabs and links and search boxes which are very user friendly. The club wants to show transparency through all the facts and the cover storeis about the club. The club mentions opinions from neutral sources as newspapers. To tell the user about what the club wants to communicate they have palyer interviews and recent information such as match fixtures, player transfers, newsletter. The websites delivers brilliantly on the fulfillmant aspect by providing offers and membership discounts. The details are mentioned clearly and in a very warm style(Manutd 2008).

Interesting facts from other football clubs which results in building trust.

Wimbledon Foot ball club

The owner of Wimbledon foot ball club Charles Koppel once dreamed of shifting the club to Milton Keynes. To make things happen faster, Wimbledon Independent Supporters Association (WISA) created a forum in the club site in order to explore the views from supporters and fans regarding the shifting of the club to Milton Keynes. Lists of instructions were put up on the web site(Auty 2002).

· The Southampton Foot Ball club

The Southampton Foot ball club ran an online vote in the club site for supporters and fans in order to choose best kit for the players while playing. This was also an important way of interacting with the supporters and thus bringing trustworthiness between the club site and supporters(Auty 2002).The trustworthy towards sites made the fans well informed and helped in solving various issues and even the government look for help from the supporters in solving issues.

References:

Anon (2008) ‘It’s a matter of Trust.’Stores Magazine [online] 89, (11)18-18

Aavangate bloggers (2007) How to improve website credibility:43 steps to achieve site credibility [online] available from <http://www.avangate.com/articles/website-credibility_81.htm >

Auty, C. (2002) ‘Football Fan power and the internet: net gains?’ Journal of Aslib proceedings 54 (5), 273-279

Bradley S (2006) 'Building Trust Through Transparency'[online] available from <http://www.vanseodesign.com/blog/online-business/building-trust-through-transparency/>

Brian,C. Theerasak,T.Han,Y. (2003) Trust and ecommerce: a study of consumer perception.Journal of Electronic Commerce Research & Applications Vol.2,(3), 203

Krauss M., (2008) ‘Tenets of Trust’ Marketing News [online] 42, (9)

Manutd (2008) available from <.http://www.manutd.com/>

Young, D.(2007) Screencast; Building trust and credibility [online] available from

< http://www.grokdotcom.com/2007/10/26/trust-and-credibility-screencast/ >

ONLINE COMMUNITIES

...A Remarkable Phenomenon

The advent of the Internet as a communication medium has led to the
emergence of this new social phenomenon: online communities.(Preesce 2000:1).

According to Preece “Supporting sociability and designing usability lays the
firm foundation on which online communities can grow and thrive”.

Online communities are virtual environments which aid in information acquisition and eases communication between internet users. Online communities is all about social networking which can be segmented in two forms

• Browser based websites
• Video games

This evolution of browser based websites are important for e marketing as it has facilitated or eased online marketing practice via ways of viral marketing. Facebook for instance has recorded a huge success . Via such websites, business organisations have seized the opportunity to promote themselves. This phenomenon has raised the concept and importance of e-marketing . The main advantages of these social networking sites is to build relationships, acquire information and provision for online word of mouth (viral marketing).

On the other hand, the disadvantage with online communities are there is no control with information being posted or uploaded on the sites.

Online gaming’s are games which are played via internet. They are different from video or computer games. Online gaming includes MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role –playing game), Internet gaming, Web gaming, Online gambling, Local LAN gaming and Mobile gaming (Chen, 2005). Nowadays Marketers use electronic games in promoting advertisements. A study in 2007 indicates 33% of online users were engaged in online video games.











Consumer research shows that there will be a form of trust on direct physical experiences with a brand or company in real life. But in virtual gaming the players may or may not interact with the products or brands they see in games. Thus, games may bring players to know about more on the products while playing. Players are heavily attracted to the kind of game they play even though the sponsoring company plays a role in promoting experience to the players. A game is measured playable when it is enjoyable to play (Gao, 2005).

According to a research study conducted by Nelsen BASES and Nelsen, 82% of consumers experience games just as enjoyable with integrated vibrant game ads as without. The study on, “Consumers' Experience with In-Game Content & Brand Impact of In-Game Advertising Study,” found that in-game ads produce “a measured lift” bringing consumer awareness and opinion of the products. advertised (www.Gamasutra.com).
In-game advertising is expected to growth over the next five years, driven in large part by the rise of companies like IGA and the Microsoft-owned Massive Inc., mostly given their ability to deliver the ads directly into games played using an Internet connection. According to Yankee Group, in-game advertising will grow from a $55 to $730 million market in 2010. (http://www.mediaweek.com/).

Meyers (2007) declares that 80% of home buyers perform an online search. This justifies that all Companies should consider this fact when planning their marketing strategy regardless on whether they are engaged in online marketing activity or not.

Online communities indeed, may just be the required route to a Company's success.

References:

Caoili, E. (2008) ‘Nielsen: 82% React Positively To Contextual In-Game Ads.’ [online]
available from < http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=19053 > [18 March 2009]

Chen, Y., Chen, P., Hwang, J (2005) ‘An analysis of online gaming crime characteristics’ Journal of Internet Research 15(3), 246-261

Gao, Y. (2005) ‘Factors influencing user trust in online games.’ Journal of electronic library 23,(5), 533-538

Glaister, M. (2008) 'Obama taps into in-game advertising’ [online] available from
<http://www.mediaweek.co.uk/news/search/854201/Obama-taps-in-game-advertising/> [18 March 2009]


Preece, J. (2000) Online communities-Designing usability, Supporting Sociability, Journal of electronic markets.1(2) pg24 [online] available from < http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/77004226/PDFSTART >

Meyers, D.(2007) How to productively take advantage of online communities [online] available from < http://www.zillow.com/blog/how-to-productively-take-advantage-of-online-communities/2007/05/ >

Evolving Technologies

FUSION IS HERE!!!

As technology grows and develops the more advanced products or services become available for people to use. The internet has become a powerful tool over the past few years as nearly everyone interacts with the internet in one way or another (McClelland et al, 2008). Broadcasters saw an opportunity and wanted to mix television with the internet, broadcasters have now offered internet users the chance to stream programmes (McClelland et al, 2008).

Game consoles such as the Sony playstation 3 and Nintendo Wii have offered its users a method to use television to interact on the internet. Shopping channels on Sky TV also offer similar services where the subscriber can simply plug in a phone line and surf the internet on the television and purchase products from those shopping channels.

Although using the internet on a television sounds promising, quite a lot of users will still use the traditional methods to access the internet as people are sceptical about change (McClelland et al, 2008). Sony developed a home theatre pc during 2008 which costs around three thousand dollars which fuses the internet and television together, the round stylish box includes everything a standard pc will have as well as being capable of watching the television. (New York Times, 2008).

The fusion of the internet and television is still evolving and more awareness needs to be created in order for it to succeed. New hardware will keep on popping up giving people more options in how they want to access the internet.

MOBILE REVOLUTION

The passage of time has seen the evolution of technology specifically with the use of mobile phones. When mobile phones first came into existence, it was all about communication; i.e. using it as a tool or medium of communication. But as time evolved, technology improved and competition amongst mobile phone companies was on the rise.
The changes in technology led to the mobile phone options such as multimedia, camera, storage device, music download, internet etc. The use of the internet via mobile phones has been so rampant over the last few years that there is a debate on the future will see internet users using their phones to surf instead of computers. some scholars have agreed to the use of mobile phones of being more advantageous than the internet(Oliphant,1999)



Some eye-catching facts about the UK mobile market

There are almost 60 million people in UK, in which 48 million own mobile phones. According to the Mobile life European report,
• Over half of 60 million have used Bluetooth.
• 37% have recorded a video using a mobile handset.
• 27% have downloaded a music track.
• Almost half of the British mobile population (46%) has accessed the internet using their mobile.
• 25% have uploaded pictures or videos to the internet through their mobile.
• 20% of the research respondents said that they used GPRS.
• 18% watched TV or video clips.
• 9% used their mobile to pay bills.
• 8% bought products using their mobile



Mobile phones will overthrow the use of PCs because most cell phone owners, especially the younger generation prefer phones having several options amongst which there is the internet. They shall prefer surfing from their phones because of its portable advantage rather than a PC (laptop) which is more static and heavy to move about with.

The issue of privacy is another factor that shall push people to surf on their phones because the mobile phone is more personal than a pc. A laptop though having the portability can be used by many people meanwhile mobile phones is used by an individual and hence a more personal gadget.


REFERENCE

iabk.uk.net (2008) Available from

New York Times (2008)[online] Available from
< http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/31/technology/personaltech/31computer.html_r=1&scp=1&sq=Bringing%20the%20Internet%20and%20Television%20a%20Step%20Closer%20Together&st=cse>

McClelland S., Morissey B.(2008)'The Future of TV'.Media Week[online] Available from


Oliphant (1999) 'The mobile phone meets the Internet'.Wichita [online]Available from