Chapter 4

Building an E-commerce Presence: Websites, Mobile Sites, and Apps

Learning Objectives | Projects and Exercises

Projects and Exercises

Project 1: Choosing a Web Host

Investigate web hosting services. What do these web-hosting services provide (e.g. how much storage space and how many e-mail accounts do they provide)? Go to Google and search for "web hosting services." Some sites to visit include Rackspace, GoDaddy, and Network Solutions. Prepare a chart comparing the features offered by at least two services. Which would you choose, and why?

Project 2: Right-Sizing a Hardware Platform

You have been asked by the CIO of Liquidation.com to help right-size Liquidation.com's hardware platform. Visit the Liquidation.com website to see what you can learn, then create a table similar to Table 4.7 on page 221.

Project 3: Optimizing Your Website

Investigate site optimization functionality offered by analytics programs such as Webtrends Optimize, Google Analytics, and Optimizely. What are the costs for such programs? What are their capabilities? How are they useful? Which would you choose, and why? Prepare a short report or presentation on your findings.

Project 4: Investigating Widgets and Gadgets

Visit either Apple-Downloads-Dashboard, or Wordpress Widgets, and investigate the widgets available. Choose one that would be useful for an e-commerce website and prepare a short report or presentation on the functionality it provides.

Project 5: Mobile Websites

Amazon is an acknowledged leader in m-commerce. If you have access to a tablet computer or smartphone, visit Amazon's mobile website and, using Table 4.12 on page 234 and Table 4.13 on page 235 as a guide, prepare a short report comparing it to the version of the site that you access on a regular desktop or laptop computer.