By Alissa Arford-Leyl
Web Wise
Personalization
Given the focus companies are putting on Web sites to take on the role of salesperson, "personalization" is one of the Internet's newest words, and one of the biggest trends in Web site design this year. Companies are trying to customize the Web experience. Many Web sites now require free registration at their site so they can easily personalize their pages. Sometimes you may be required to enter your name and password to enter a site each time you visit, other times you are recognized by your computer's Internet Protocol (IP) address or cookies.
Identifiers called "cookies" are pieces of information sent by a Web server to a Web browser. The browser software saves the cookie and sends information back to the server, tracking your movement through the site each time you visit. Cookies can contain log-in or registration information and user preferences. With this information, the server can customize what is sent back to the user and keep a log of particular user's requests. Cookies can't read your hard drive, but they can get information contained in your browser.
Personalized Sites
The Excite Web site (http://www.excite.com) is a great example of personalization. On your first visit to the Excite Web site, you will see a link at the top of the page that says, "Personalize Your Page." If you choose to personalize your page, each time you go to Excite from your computer, you are welcomed by name, and your personal choices are displayed on the page. You can register and personalize for free, by choosing the topics to be displayed on your page.
Personalize your Excite page with daily stock quotes, news, horoscopes, movie listings and much more. Television listings, including your local cable programming, can be displayed along with sports scores for your favorite teams and weather reports in the cities you specify. The "My Reminders" section lets you add in specific dates and reminds you weeks, days, or months before your event. This personalized approach makes Excite an impressive portal to the Internet.
Many news sites, like CNN (http://cnn.com) and MSNBC (http://www.msnbc.com) also allow easy personalization of their sites. If you'd rather receive a news summary via e-mail, you can sign up for their electronic news services. The messages contain an overview of the latest news with links to the full stories on the Web.
Other sites may be personalized in less obvious ways. Some pages will change according to the visitor's history at the site. If the site displays a daily fact, it can be set up to rotate through a list of facts each time a visitor goes to the page.
This same process is used regularly for online advertising. Have you ever typed in a query at a search engine on an automotive topic, and then when the page reloads with your results there is a banner ad for a car manufacturer? This is personalization at work.
At the International Automotive Technicians' Network (iATN) Web site ( http://www.iatn.net), each time you go to the Members-Only Area the banner ad changes. "We do a random rotation of the banner for each access to that page, as well as a few others on the site," said Brent Black, president of iATN. "We'll be doing a lot with personalization at iATN over the next year."
Net Numbers
According to Buck Consultants, Inc.'s third annual Web Site Compensation Survey, the percentage of companies with Web sites that focus on producing revenue more than doubled from 13.5 percent in 1997 to 36.2 percent in 1998. Purely informational sites fell from 77.8 percent to 54.6 percent. The study also found that 63 percent of companies now update their Web sites at least daily - some hourly.
ASA Web Ways
Small Business
In early 1998, a report by American City Business Journals and the Network of City Business Journals stated that 32 percent of small businesses have Internet access. Twenty-three percent subscribe to online services and 10 percent have a Web site.
Automotive shops will have ultimate contact with the customer, so dynamic Web sites are not as crucial for shops as they are for companies depending on online sales. However, having photos of the shop and key employees may influence a potential customer. As you are designing or redesigning your site, keep personalization in mind!
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