VC Star MySpace presence

I think that the Ventura County Star should create a MySpace page that does not represent the page of a newspaper at all. I think that they should ad pictures of bands or events that the VC Star may have sponsored, and they should have links to and give information about different sporting activities and concerts going on in the area.
They should also post blogs about specific bits of information that the teenage generation may be interested in. For example, that a certain band is playing in the area, or that there is a special event going on at the Janns Marketplace. These blogs will drive traffic to the MySpace page because teens will see something of interest to them when they sign into their MySpace page, and therefore they will click on it to look for more information about that topic.
The MySpace page should also have links to VC Stars own webpage designed for the teen market. This way when customers go to the MySpace page they can click on a link for more information which will take them to the VC Star teen site, which will have more information about related topics and other things that may be interested to that teen market. Although this will not work for all customers, most teens spend a lot of time on the internet, and are not afraid to click on a few things to find more information about a topic that they are interested in, as long as there is enough information available to drive them to that site.
Information on the site should be descriptive enough to tell customers what information is available, but vague enough to get them to click on it to find out more. This way a lot of traffic will be generated through the VC Star teen site.

VC Star SWOT analysis

Strengths - 1. available funds for research and development
2. Tech savvy employees who understand website development?

Weaknesses - 1. Not much knowledge of target consumers' needs.

Opportunities - 1. Large, untapped market of young impressionable consumers.
2. Vast amounts of space on the Internet.
3. Target consumer spends countless hours online.
4. Plenty of interesting content that they can provide to consumer.

Threats - 1. Target consumer not interested in information.
2. Company viewed as dry and boring by target consumers.

Bad Web Designs

I think that Jakob Nielsen has some interesting points about how bad web designs can cost an organization, but I do not agree with everything that he had to say. For example, I agree that it is easier to naviagte a 2D site than a 3D, but I feel that depending on the target consumer it may be more important to develop a 3D website. The younger, more tech saavy individuals may be more inclined to support a company with a 3D website because they feel like they are ahead or with the times technology wise. Although it is somewhat more difficult to navigate a 3D site, to those who have experience with sites like that may be impressed by it. Nielsen mentions that companies will lose customers who do not want to navigate a 3D site, but he does not take into account those customers who would prefer a 3D site to a 2D site. To be the devil's advocate on this topic, I feel that a company could gain customers by having a high tech, 3D site, and therefore they would lose some customers but gain others, so depending on their target market, they could increase revenues or get the same amount that they would with a 2D site.
Also, about his discussion of the NY Times website with their links to other articles, he is not taking into account the customers who prefer to read through the newspaper for its reading value. Some customers may prefer to read the entire business section, no matter what the next article is titled. I do agree, however, with his idea that there some opportunity cost of using that for a link with no information on it. I think that it would not hurt to add information, but I do not think it is as detremential to the organization as Nielsen tries to make it seem.
I agree with Nielsen that the design that is worst for a business is the Jazz website becuase they do not have any descriptive information about the concert or the band. By adding information or sound clips, they could definately increase sales for their concerts because even people who do not know the band will possibly buy tickets instead of just those customers who know the band very well.

iTune's Survey Results

The results from my iTune's Survey are in, and they are that for the most part the trend seemed to be that most people did not care whether or not the iTune's software was changed. From reading the results it seemed as though people had not thought about it being changed, but when the question was brought to their mind, certain features seemed more appealing. For example, a majority, 56.3% of the people who took my survery said that they would use iTunes more often if it displayed song lyrics. Also, 44.9% of the people who took my survey said that they would use iTunes more often if it had a feature that alerts you with new releases. Overall, it is my opinion that many people had not thought about the idea of iTunes changing its software, but if they were to, these features would be something that could be added.

iTunes Survey

Please take my survey
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=RVfCs5BZ0m7zbH1jOjQbbw_3d_3d

Social Bookmarking

http://del.icio.us/orheinf

Some of these bookmarks are the pages that I use everyday, some are just random pages that I feel like I look at fairly often.

Startup.com

The most compelling thing from Startup.com was how fast they were able to get the company running and then how long it took them to launch the site. It seemed to me that they were able to get the funding for the company fairly quickly, and they did a very good job of doing it. Then it seemed like developing the site took a fairly considerable amount of time. I have never built a website and do not know how long it takes, but I felt that there was a lag time in the video where not a lot was happening in the company and I feel like in the end it hurt them. Also, how quickly the company fell apart was a bit of a suprise to me. I feel like everyone had a big ego and wanted everything done their way which ultimately lead to the downfall of the company.