Friday, February 29, 2008

Does your website AIPD?

Today I am writing about my experience in the BizPro young achievers awards 2008. I was nominated by my company (Omania E-Commerce) along with 114 people from different organizations in Oman. We had to undergo a management aptitude test. The test had different sections in which our math, extract and reasoning, vocal, and management knowledge and skills were tested. 12 people qualified to the final stage. I was a finalist. We had to talk about "Personal Development and Career Advancements". We presented to jury of different high profile corporate leaders in Oman.

I was proud to be in the final 12 among professionals from different industries and well-established companies in Oman. Being nominated was recognition. Going through the management aptitude test was enjoyable. Delivering the presentation to jury members was exceptional. Being there in the final ceremony was an achievement. I was confident that I would be one of the winners. Then I came to realize that this is not the time to win for me. There is a lot of work to be done to reach to the top.

I would like to thank everyone who supported me, encouraged me and most importantly inspired me. Four years of study in Australia and two years and a half of work experience in Oman taught me a lot about life, different people, different cultures, and most importantly that the world is no more a small village, it is now a small cafe. Yes, the world is so small. The development in technology made the difference in few years. The network of networks changed the way we perceive things, learn and most importantly live. It has become so essential and part of life.

We have a responsibility to raise the awareness of the benefits of going online, using technology and implementing e-commerce. We have to help in transforming the Omani society to a knowledgeable society, not a digital one. The technology is there. What is important is to know how to use it to produce. It is all about the knowledge.

The question is "do we all share the passion for technology and the love of the ‘e’ prefix?

I hope the answer is “we absolutely do”.

4 comments:

  1. Today i was searching on some key attributes for starting a business online and i came up with the something simmular to idea of the AIPD...

    Its very important to gain the customers satisfaction to garentee that they will come and vist your site again..

    I have summerized some of the key attributes you need to consider in an online business website..

    1. Easy to load pages that are search engine friendly.
    2. Choose the best key word that fits the site description.
    3. A newsletter that keeps the customers informed with the latest information about new products.
    4. Have an affiliate programme that allows customers to earn some cash when recommending this site and products to others.
    5. Have an email capture form, to communicate with customers online and send them feedback about their inquiries.
    6. Have a testimonial on the website for satisfied customers.
    7. Privacy policy – not to sell their name for who will miss use or SPAM.
    8. Link Popularity
    9. Have a Strategic partner ship – Ads and banner Ads.
    10. Tracking the Sales
    11. Clear invitation to Buy
    12. Have a merchant account. To collect the money
    13. Have an FAQ page- for the most frequent asked questions.
    14. Website rich in content.
    15. About Us – a special section that describes the company.
    16. Product Guarantee – Money back guarantee.
    17. Work with other sites industry – to promote for the site
    18. Have a clear market plan
    19. Present a good written copy – poor spelling and poor grammar will put off customers - copy write service.

    Finally hope you agree with me about these key attributes, and if you have any other important key attributes will be happy if you can share them with me... it will help me with my eCommerce assignment...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi T,

    Thanks for commenting on my posts, that keeps my blog alive and encourages me to write. The AIPD model is more into marketing. That is it, how would your website fit into the marketing mix of the organization and help in achieving the goals online. What you wrote about are actions, elements or attributes that a website should have.

    I will comment on the points you wrote about one by one.

    1. very important because visitors are very impatient
    2. There is a tag called "meta" that can be used in the "head" section of an HTML page to give a meaningful description to the content of the page and help to reaching your website from different search engines. To know more about the "meta" tag please visit:
    http://www.yourhtmlsource.com/promotion/metatags.html
    http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=2167931

    3. This is one good idea. You can have a page for newsletters with an option to download them in pdf format or have the newsletters as a webpage within your website. You can also give customers (visitors) the option to register their email for updates of the newsletters via email.
    4. Nice idea. Also people like to share their good experience with others. So, If you enrich the experience of your visitors, they definitely will recommend your website to others.
    5. This is what is called "Email Us" or "Contact Us" page.
    6. Get testimonials from your customers and ask them if they agree to have their say online, if they agree, it is great.
    7. Very important to have a clear one that ensure privacy and confidentiality of information.
    8. For the popular to get more popular
    9. This is a very important skill that you should learn. Linking your name and website with the big names gives you good presence.
    10. Not only the sales, but also a lot of other activities. If you can give customers the option to see what the status of their order is, they will love it and that is one value added to the other services you provide.
    11. With words like "Buy" or "Add to Cart".
    12. Of course and with the NePG (National e-Payment Gateway) and ePG (e-Payment Gateway), different e-payment options can be implemented easily in Oman, the ePG is expected to be launched towards the end of this year.
    13. This is similar to the Help menu in programs. You can also have a "Help" page and make sure to give the visitors an option to post or send you an email if they have different queries.
    14. The content depends on what you can present to your customers in relation to the products you offer.
    15. This page has to be there, it tells the visitors about the history of your company, what it does, what you vision and mission are, etc.
    16. This is also important for the customers to feel safe.
    17. If you have a good marketing plan (online and offline), people will start visiting your website and dealing with you, then make sure you provide the best differentiated service ever. You will see your reputation built up with time. It just needs time and a lot of effort.
    18. This one is important and tough because you have to know the market and your target. Only then you can tailor your actions accordingly and deliver to your targeted customers what they want (or need).
    19. These small things make the difference. Do also take a great care of translation (especially from English to Arabic). I have seen some websites and ads where translation was a real disaster and gives the wrong impression and that is something you do not want to happen.

    This is one whole post by itself T. Hope you find these comments useful. If you need anything else, I will be more than happy to help.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wowee!


    I found my techie juice online in your blog.


    Keep blogging good stuff like this.

    Your AIPD is worth testing on my blog. So any suggestions?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sangeetha,

    Thanks for your comment. Give me some time to look at your blog based on AIPD and give you my feedback.

    You will surely see useful stuff in here simply because I love the 'e' prefix.

    ReplyDelete