Web application: Operation and maintenance

Web application: Operation and maintenance Basharat Mahmood, Department of Computer Science,CIIT,Islamabad, Pakistan.1Summary of the previous lectureTechnologies for web developmentCommunication protocolsclient-side technologiesserver-side technologiesTesting web applicationsObjectivesLevelsWeb application specificschallengesBasharat Mahmood, Department of Computer Science,CIIT,Islamabad, Pakistan.2OutlinePromoting a web applicationContent managementUsability analysisBasharat Mahmood, Department of Computer Science,CIIT,Islamabad, Pakistan.31. Promoting a web applicationThe basic question after launching a web application isHow will user find my web application?Investment in web promotion is extremely important often neglected due to budget reasonsBasharat Mahmood, Department of Computer Science,CIIT,Islamabad, Pakistan.41. Promoting a web applicationTraditional advertising channelsnewspaper ads, TV or radio commercials, posters, direct marketing etc. We should focus on ‘webvertising’newslettersaffiliate marketingSearch engine marketingBasharat Mahmood, Department of Computer Science,CIIT,Islamabad, Pakistan.51.1 Newsletters a regularly distributed publication that is generally about one main topic of interest to its subscribersgenerally distributed by e-mailEffective way towin new customersassist existing customerLargely used to create strong relations with existing and potential customersBasharat Mahmood, Department of Computer Science,CIIT,Islamabad, Pakistan.61.1 Newsletters Newsletter should offer neutral and value adding contentinformation about productProven rules:clear contentregular dispatchunsubscribe offerfrequent distribution list updatesBasharat Mahmood, Department of Computer Science,CIIT,Islamabad, Pakistan.71.1 NewslettersFor developer’s perspective:integrate a newsletter componentsupport automatic distributionshould include a link to the specific page of the web applicationBasharat Mahmood, Department of Computer Science,CIIT,Islamabad, Pakistan.81.2 Affiliate marketingAffiliate marketing means the revenue sharing between advertiser and online sales people in the way that products, services or functionalities of somebody’s web application are integrated into an affiliate’s web applicationlose of self identitystill efficient to attract visitor’s at low startup costBasharat Mahmood, Department of Computer Science,CIIT,Islamabad, Pakistan.91.2 Affiliate marketingIntegration optionssimple text linkproduct presentation containing a linkadvance shop moduleentire process in the look and feel of the affiliate siteBasharat Mahmood, Department of Computer Science,CIIT,Islamabad, Pakistan.101.2 Affiliate marketingRevenue sharing agreementspay-per-performance (only if consumer completes a transaction)banner exchangepay-per-click (affiliate is paid for a user click-trough)revenue sharing (percent-of-sale commission)Basharat Mahmood, Department of Computer Science,CIIT,Islamabad, Pakistan.111.2 Affiliate marketingBasharat Mahmood, Department of Computer Science,CIIT,Islamabad, Pakistan.12Important success factors:Use customized version with clear business terms and conditionsinstead of simple links or bannersStrong affinity of topics with affiliate websiteWin-win commercial contract1.3 Search engine marketingBasharat Mahmood, Department of Computer Science,CIIT,Islamabad, Pakistan.13Search engines are most popular service on webSearch engine marketing attempts to win relevant contacts by appearing on the search result pagescan be response of a user’s requestin form of ads1.3 Search engine marketingBasharat Mahmood, Department of Computer Science,CIIT,Islamabad, Pakistan.14Search engines are based on conventional information retrieval systemstoring and retrieving textual data repositoriesdocuments are acquired by making representation of them (index describing contents)documents are retrieved and listed on the basis of relevance of indexCrawlers are used to update data repository in search engines 1.3 Search engine marketingBasharat Mahmood, Department of Computer Science,CIIT,Islamabad, Pakistan.15Search engine submission:Instead of relying on crawler we can submit the URL manually most search engines allow manual submissionSearch engine ranking:Good ranking in search list is essential marketing aspectusers usually look at first 10-20 results1.3 Search engine marketingBasharat Mahmood, Department of Computer Science,CIIT,Islamabad, Pakistan.16Improving ranking in search list:URL should contain description of key wordswww.travel.comTitle of the pagesome search engines include while listingKeywords meta tag:Description meta tag:Content of the web application2. Content managementBasharat Mahmood, Department of Computer Science,CIIT,Islamabad, Pakistan.17systematic and structured procurement, creation, preparation, management, presentation, processing, publication, and reuse of contentsContent’s quality is an important factor of application acceptance Up-to-date and rich content can win customers keep them visiting the web application2. Content managementBasharat Mahmood, Department of Computer Science,CIIT,Islamabad, Pakistan.18In technical viewpointshould allow non-technical persons to manage contentseither by using CMS or adding application component Should support multilingual contents As web applications are ‘global’2.1 Rate of content changeBasharat Mahmood, Department of Computer Science,CIIT,Islamabad, Pakistan.19Contents of a web application are subject to changerate of change depends upon nature of applicationUsers need the most recent dataPoor change management can lose user’s confidence2.2 Content syndicationBasharat Mahmood, Department of Computer Science,CIIT,Islamabad, Pakistan.20Content syndication means the supply of content by a syndicator for reuse in a Web application by a subscriberWe should consider the subscriber’s structure and presentation requirements 3. Usage analysisBasharat Mahmood, Department of Computer Science,CIIT,Islamabad, Pakistan.21the process of assessing and analyzing the use of a web applicationserves to measure a web application’s successYields information about users and their behavior which provides a basis for improvement3.1 Usage analysis techniquesBasharat Mahmood, Department of Computer Science,CIIT,Islamabad, Pakistan.22Web server log file:Web server maintains a log files which record all accesses to a websiteuser’s IPaccess timeuser’s request (image or HTML page)referrer (the URL user visited before)user agent (user’s browser and operating system)3.1 Usage analysis techniquesBasharat Mahmood, Department of Computer Science,CIIT,Islamabad, Pakistan.23Page tagging based methods:Live reporting tools based on page tagginggraphic or script tags are added on each page of the application which are trackedTypically maintained by third-partykeep record how many time the tag is sent or script is executed3.2 Statistical indicatorsBasharat Mahmood, Department of Computer Science,CIIT,Islamabad, Pakistan.24The success of a (commercial) Web application is typically measured by the number of visitors or accesses to the Web applicationStatistical indicators:Hits: number of elements in a requested pageincludes images, text, interactive elements etc.not meaningful because a page can have multiple elements3.2 Statistical indicatorsBasharat Mahmood, Department of Computer Science,CIIT,Islamabad, Pakistan.25Page impression: a single page or combination of pages sent to a user as a result of that user’s requestCounts pages loaded completely3.2 Statistical indicatorsBasharat Mahmood, Department of Computer Science,CIIT,Islamabad, Pakistan.26Visits: A series of one or more page impressions (within one Web application), served to one user, which ends when there is a gap of 30 minutes or more between successive page impressions for that user3.3 User behavior analysisBasharat Mahmood, Department of Computer Science,CIIT,Islamabad, Pakistan.27Statistical indicators are used to measure the success of a web applicationWeb applications need more complex analysis in order to provide basis for improvementE-commerce applications need to specifymost popular productNo. of visitors who turned into buyerswhich products are sold in groupsSummaryPromoting a web applicationNewsletterAffiliate marketingSearch engine marketingContent managementSyndicationUsage analysisTechniquesIndicatorsUse behavior analysisBasharat Mahmood, Department of Computer Science,CIIT,Islamabad, Pakistan.28ReferencesChapter 8, Kappel, G., Proll, B. Reich, S. & Retschitzegger, W. (2006). Web Engineering, Hoboken, NJ: Wiley & SonBasharat Mahmood, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan.29