BREAK THROUGH THE CLUTTER WITH AUDIO BANNERSWritten by Ronni Rhodes
"A horse is a horse, of course, of course, his name is Mister Ed!" Do any of you remember that silly jingle from television show? That's not really important anyway. What IS important is that Ed, talking horse, was quite a phenomenon back in 60's. Ed talked, reasoned and displayed traits unlike any of his animal brethren. There is a lesson here, of course. Millions of people watched Mr. Ed every week just because he WAS different. And that leads us right smack-dab into a discussion about your banner advertising campaigns. Those poor maligned banners. Once darlings of Internet advertisers, they've really been getting bad-rapped lately due to their failure to lure web surfers into clicking-thru and creating sales. But is it fault of banners or have they become so ubiquitous that surfer hardly notices them? Why don't we make those banners so inviting and entertaining that users won't be able to click fast enough? I think that content providers are too focused on consumers as "sets of eyeballs." We need to look at these people first as users and, secondly, as members of our online audience. And audiences have come to expect advertising wrapped in a very entertaining package. An essential part of that package is streaming audio. Streaming audio has become a whole new industry for Web. As more and more people listen to music online and web-based radio, advertisers are taking notice. These listeners, fondly called "streamies," are devoted Internet users and active online shoppers. They are a valuable audience as they're 70 percent more likely to have made an online purchase than a non-streamie. Arbitron Internet Information Services says that streamies are quite ready to accept web advertising in exchange for free programming, and they're more receptive and influential targets. How can we begin to use these statistics to leverage effectiveness of banner ads? Java based audio presentations can be fully integrated into your banner advertising. Why Java based, you ask? Most important is fact that no plug-in or complicated player installation is required on part of viewer. (The "impulse to click" is not thwarted by user having to take additional actions.) The size of Java files are relatively small as well thereby minimizing page load issue. And, because Java is cross platform, you can be comfortable knowing that majority of visitors will be able to enjoy presentation. Java is versatile and works well with almost any application.
| | Bad Web Design: ActiveXWritten by Richard Lowe
ActiveX uses an interesting method for enforcing security ... it doesn't. Well, that's not exactly true. What happens is when a web page requests an ActiveX control browser determines if that control is already loaded onto your system. If it is ActiveX control is executed. If not, user is asked if it is okay to install control. Additional information about where control came from and it's security implications is also included.The theory behind this security model is user knows what's best for his system. In my humble opinion, this is pure hogwash (a stronger expletive came to mind but this is a family site). Is your average web surfer really knowledgeable enough to make a decision like this? Look at it this way, by installing an ActiveX control you are assuming it is secure, won't damage your system and is bug-free. You are basically trusting completely company which created control, developers and people distributing image. Yes there are security certificates involved, but those are relatively easy to get. Also remember how many security problems have been reported involving ActiveX controls. I don't know about you, but when I get that little box stating a site wants to install an ActiveX control, my first impulse is to hit NO box, quickly followed by BACK key. This may seem a bit paranoid, but I use my computer all day long and I depend upon it for business and pleasure. Why would I want to put it at any risk for some silly little ActiveX control? The web is a huge place and there are plenty of other sites to look at.
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