Toolbox Activity 6: spending & making money online

Written by: Jonathan Briggs

November 10, 2009 [2222 views]

In this week’s activity I want students to begin to explore the world of eCommerce and if they want, to add some commerce features to their blogs. This is a big subject and we will only scratch the surface but some of the pointers I will give you will allow you to explore making or saving money yourself. In this week’s activity I have decided to put the more practical activities into Part 2 as these are more open ended (and perhaps harder) than in the previous activities.

Deadline: Monday 16th November, Midnight

Part 1: How are companies and individuals making/saving money online?

What you will do

1. Explore the difference between stores, marketplaces, affiliate schemes and revenue from advertising networks
2. Identify features of good ecommerce stores
3. Discuss why some people are still reluctant to buy online

Task 1

Visit and explore the following sites. This week really try and understand what they are offering and the differences between them. You may have been to them many times before but this time try and look at them with a professional eye rather than simply noticing they are there. Look at how flexible they are, what services they offer you as a customer or as an IT consultant. Make sure you understand the range of services that may be provided by the same company.

Amazon.co.uk
Amazon marketplace
Ebay.co.uk
Tradedoubler.co.uk
Google adwords
Google adsense
Shopify.com

Answer the following questions. Make notes as usual for feeding back in the online survey.

1. Which of the above sites could you use to sell items you no longer want?
2. Which of the above sites would you recommend to an offline shop that does not currently have a site online?
3. Which of the above sites would you recommend to a company that already has an online store to increase sales?

Task 2

1. Find 3 of the best UK online stores where you would consider buying things yourself. Don’t necessarily go for the obvious sites but research new sites you may not have been to before who are really specialist in things you use in your life.
2. What are the features of these stores that make them so good? Your answer must go beyond “low prices” and list at least 3 distinct features. These might be to do with design, content, customer service or any number of other features.

Task 3

1. Why are some people afraid of buying online?
2. How real do you think these worries are?
3. What can companies and developers do to address these worries?

Here is the link to feedback answers to part 1 of this activity.

Part 2: How can you add money-making components to your blog?

What you will do

1. Explore opportunities to add revenue generation to your blog
2. Consider the changes to your blog that would be necessary to make it a successful source of revenue
3. Discover some of the difficulties of trying to make significant revenue

Task: Find one ecommerce component that you can add to your own site.

This could be an affiliate scheme (such as Amazon Associates, Amazon aStore or Tradedoubler), an advertising network (such as Google Adsense) or a link to eBay sales that you create. Here are some specific suggestions but you may want to investigate alternatives:

http://astore.amazon.com/
https://www.google.com/adsense/login/en_GB/?hl=en_GB

Choose carefully, researching the options and deciding what fits with your site. If you are serious about keeping your blog running regularly then advertising revenue may be the best option. If you are simply exploring the options then signing up and building an Amazon aStore is probably the most interesting.

Please note that if you launch Adsense and then click on your own ads (or get your mum to click on them every hour) you will get banned and never make a penny – you have been warned!

You will need to research how to add these to your WordPress site. Here are a couple of tips:

http://www.justskins.com/wordpress-plugins/10-wordpress-plugins-for-google-adsense
Amazon Media Manager for WordPress

Please answer the following questions

1. Describe the eCommerce tools you have added to your site?
2. Why did you choose these?
3. Upload a snapshot of a part of your page to show your money making venture
4. List 3 ways in which you might have to change your site or the way you use it to maximise the money you make?
5. Why does Google ban people who click on ads on their own blogs?

Here is the link to feedback answers to part 2 of this activity.

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