Website Development for Business

Lesson purpose

Lesson 10 steps back from code to the business a Website serves. Students learn how a business defines its market and brand, how e-commerce models and payment technologies work, how Internet marketing (SEO, pay-per-click, Web analytics, social media) brings visitors, and why TLS encryption and certificates make online transactions trustworthy. They then weigh the practical decisions that affect every site: selling globally, connecting to databases, front-end design and branding standards, file formats and proprietary content, indexing, bandwidth and download time, file naming, and documenting changes for accessibility and accountability.

Big idea for the day: a business site is a marketing tool first. Every technical choice — layout, file format, database, page size — should support the brand, reach the audience, and keep customers’ trust.

Learning objectives

By the end of the lesson, students should be able to:

CIW 2.7.3: Verify compliance with accessibility standards, including the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI), U.S. Section 508, and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
CIW 2.10.1: Identify uses and benefits of document and multimedia formats, including PDF, RTF, PostScript, EPS, MOV, MPEG, and streaming vs. non-streaming media.
CIW 2.10.2: Define push technology, pull technology, and visitor tracking.
CIW 2.10.3: Evaluate benefits and drawbacks of proprietary technologies such as Adobe Flash.
CIW 2.12.2: Estimate download time for Webpages.
CIW 2.12.4: Document results of Website functionality testing.
CIW 2.16.1: Define e-commerce terms, including B2B, B2C, EFT, merchant systems, relationship management, customer self-service, Internet marketing, and 3-D Secure.
CIW 2.16.3: Identify e-commerce payment models, including payment gateways.
CIW 2.16.4: Identify global issues: currencies, languages, international shipping, and legal and regulatory differences.
CIW 2.16.5: Identify the importance of SSL/TLS to transactions that contain sensitive information.
CIW 2.16.6: Identify the importance of online indexing and cataloging.
CIW 2.16.7: Define SEO and related terms (Internet marketing, organic vs. pay-per-click, Web analytics).
CIW 2.17.2: Define Web server technologies, including .NET, Django, Python, JSP, ASP, PHP, and Ajax.
CIW 2.17.3: Define database connectivity technologies (ODBC, JDBC) and explain why databases are connected to Websites.
CIW 2.19.2: Manage branding issues when developing a site (for example, logo placement and sizing).
CIW 2.21.3: Create pages that rank well with search engine spiders and work with screen readers.
CIW 2.21.4: Consult respected Web development resources.

1. Why a business needs a Website

Customers use the Web to find products and services, so a Website is essential and often the business’s primary advertising and marketing channel. Sites can also gather demographic information to tailor products. The developer’s job is to make the Web presence complement the organization.

Instructor note: every business students work for, start, or acquire will face these issues; the goal is to show how central the Website is to success.

Steps a new or changing business must take:

Identify a market need or opportunity.
Identify a unique product or service to meet it.
Define the target market.
Gather user information to improve the product and how it is marketed and sold.
Decide how best to communicate with the target market.
Establish a brand.
Decide how to advertise, including the Website and a social media presence.

Design the site around clear goals and objectives so construction has purpose and direction.

The Website Development for Business video previews the lesson: branding, the three e-commerce models, SEO, payment technologies (EFT, payment gateways, 3-D Secure), SSL/TLS and PKI, and global issues (currency, shipping and customs, language and Unicode).

2. Branding

A brand is a concept or collection of symbols — pictures, icons, logos — associated with a product, service, or person. Branding uses that brand so people remember the product over a competitor’s. A Website is a primary way to establish and maintain a brand.

A good brand is:

Simple — easy to remember.
Different — distinct from competitors; it differentiates the product.
Safe — does not offend the target market’s cultural, regional, or national sensibilities (it can still be “edgy” if the key audience accepts it).
A promise — states the product’s most important benefit.
A reflection of the company’s attributes — what customers will experience (quality, service, uniqueness).
A reflection of the company’s personality — how customers will feel; that emotional connection drives repeat business.
Appealing to the intended audience — helps customers identify with the product.

Tech note: settle the brand before choosing colors, navigation, or SEO strategy. For objective 2.19.2, that includes consistent logo placement and sizing — typically the logo appears in the same place on every page (usually top left, linking to the home page) at a size that is recognizable without crowding content.

3. Development and design resources

The Website is the company’s first form of advertising; marketing means presenting a product so people want to buy it from you rather than a competitor. Learn from courses, online tutorials, user groups, trade journals, scholarly writing, and reference books. The book’s samples include Website Magazine, A List Apart, Computer Graphics World, WebDevForums.com, and W3Schools.

Judge whether a resource is reputable:

Is it updated recently, or still in publication?
Are the contributors recognized experts? Search their names.
Does it push one product over all others? Vendor sites can be excellent, but balance them with skills-based sources.

Keep it simple

Most visitors scan rather than read, and so do search engine spiders. Make pages scannable:

Put the central message in the first two paragraphs.
Start headings, paragraphs, and bullets with keywords.
Write crisp text — about half the words of conventional writing — with one idea per paragraph.
Include search keywords in the main text.
Use the inverted pyramid: conclusion first, supporting details after.
Provide a navigation bar on every page and several ways back to the home page.

A stunning site may attract customers once; an easy-to-use site brings them back.

4. E-commerce models

Electronic commerce (e-commerce) is buying and selling over the Internet. Three widely used models:

Model	Who sells to whom	Example
B2C (business-to-consumer)	A business sells to consumers or end users	An online retailer
B2B (business-to-business)	A business sells to other businesses	A supplier’s wholesale ordering site
C2C (consumer-to-consumer)	Individuals sell to other individuals	Craigslist classifieds, online marketplaces

C2C sites act as matchmakers between buyers and sellers and depend on massive repeat use, so they must be extremely easy to use. Craigslist’s very basic design (Figure 10-1) still makes it obvious where to click for a city, state, or country.

Related objective terms:

Merchant system — the software and services that let a business accept orders and payments online.
Relationship management — building trust with customers through quality service and frequent contact.
Customer self-service — letting customers track, change, or cancel orders, update shipping addresses, and choose products without a live person.

5. Internet marketing and SEO

Internet marketing applies traditional marketing to the Web. Marketing terms (Table 10-1):

Term	Meaning
Branding	Creating a distinctive identity and market position; the site’s look and feel is part of it
Target market	The market sector (broad or niche) a product addresses
Demographics	The study of groups of people — interests, ethnicities, cultures, and trends (e.g., users aged 18–49)
Niche	A smaller, specialized part of the market
Mind share	Recognition created by marketing — slogans, catch phrases, sound bites
Target date	The planned release date of a product or service
Aggregator	A business that sells goods it does not own or store, letting vendors compete on its site for a percentage

Internet marketing practices:

Search engine optimization (SEO) — organic techniques (no paid ads) that raise a page’s ranking so search engines recognize its value. The goal is not just traffic or rank but a conversion — a visitor taking the desired action. Search providers sell keyword data that SEO experts can use to choose the most relevant terms.
Pay per click (PPC) — non-organic advertising: you bid on keywords to place ads high in results and pay only when someone clicks. Good for reaching a target market and generating sales leads. Most campaigns combine SEO and PPC.
Web analytics — collecting and studying visitor data to increase market share and sales.
- On-site analytics — what visitors do on your site: page views (hits), time on site, and visitor demographics, from log-analysis or tracking tools (the book names WebTrends and Webalizer; Google Analytics is the most common today).
- Off-site analytics — your potential audience: market size, competitors, market penetration, surveys, and market research.
Social media optimization — using social networks to build awareness and drive traffic: create active accounts on the major networks, post interesting content regularly, and engage the community. A strong social presence can support search visibility, mostly indirectly through links and traffic.

Currency note: the book mentions search engines using meta tag keywords; Google has ignored the keywords meta tag for years. Useful content, descriptive titles, headings, alt text, and a meta description matter far more.

Optimizing a page’s impact (objective 2.21.3)

Search engine bots (spiders) scan and index pages; the search company then ranks them for relevance. Factors include:

How many other sites link to the page.
How informative the page is.
How well the code is structured.
How often the content is updated.
How fast the page loads.
How mobile-friendly the site is.
Keywords in the content.
How often the site is visited and how long visitors stay.

Foundational SEO habits are also good coding habits: valid HTML5, CSS3 for presentation, and correct page structure. The same practices help screen readers.

The Optimizing Webpages video frames the rest of the lesson as front-end (what users see and interact with) and back-end (server resources that process and store input) issues.

6. E-commerce payment technologies

Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) — the general term for moving money electronically instead of on paper, from computers or mobile devices. Banks and large organizations use it for speed and security.
Payment gateway — a hardware- or software-based system between a merchant’s site and its bank (the acquirer). After a customer pays, the merchant uses the gateway to send the card information to the bank. End users do not set up gateways.
3-D Secure — a protocol used by card companies to add an extra authentication step to online card purchases, branded as Verified by Visa or Mastercard SecureCode (now Visa Secure and Mastercard Identity Check). It replaced the older Secure Electronic Transactions (SET) protocol.

SSL/TLS and PKI

SSL and TLS are not payment methods; they encrypt data transmissions to protect transactions, providing authentication, data confidentiality, and data integrity. SSL is deprecated; TLS is the current, open standard (still often called “SSL” or “SSL/TLS”). The book cites RFC 2246 (TLS 1.0); the current version is TLS 1.3. A browser shows https and a lock when TLS is in use.

Before a site can use TLS, it needs a certificate through the Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) — the people, networks, and computers that can authoritatively confirm identities so strangers can trust each other:

Digital certificate — a signed public key that verifies an identity; every TLS session requires a valid one.
Certificate authority (CA) — a trusted organization that verifies the identity of whoever requests a certificate and issues it.

Instructor note: discuss known SSL vulnerabilities and why older SSL and TLS versions are disabled today. TLS also secures other protocols, such as SMTP, POP3, IMAP, and FTP (FTPS).

7. Working in a global environment

A Website’s audience is anyone in the world with a browser. Consider:

Currency — automatically convert prices at the day’s exchange rate, and calculate taxes and tariffs.
International shipping — customs searches, fees, delays, and tariffs; a product legal in one country may be illegal or heavily regulated in another.
Language — the audience’s languages and any required characters (alphabets, mathematical or currency symbols). Use Unicode on every page — in practice, <meta charset="utf-8">. (Instructor prompt: how would you display the U.K. pound sign or Chinese characters? Unicode.) The Unicode Consortium’s Unicode Technical Committee maintains the standard.
Relationship management — trust through quality service and frequent contact, plus customer self-service.
Legal and regulatory issues — laws differ by country, including privacy laws that govern how customer data may be collected and stored.

8. Databases and Web server technologies

Sites use databases to store product and inventory information and to save what users enter in forms — opinions, preferences, auction bids, or payment details. A form must reference a Web server application that passes the input to the Web server or a database server.

Web server technologies (Table 10-3):

Technology	Key points
Perl	Long-established, platform-independent, stable; runs wherever its interpreter is installed
PHP	Popular for its simplicity and power; runs on many platforms
.NET	Microsoft’s development platform (C#, F#, Visual Basic); historically Windows/IIS-centered, now cross-platform
JSP	Java-based and platform-independent; harder than PHP or Perl but powerful and stable
ColdFusion	Adobe’s proprietary technology designed to do more with less code; runs on several operating systems
Python	Open source, readable, object-oriented; uses white space to mark code blocks
Django	Open-source Python framework for fast, database-driven development; follows DRY
Ajax	HTML, CSS, the DOM, JavaScript, and XMLHttpRequest together, updating pages without reloading
Ruby	Object-oriented language based on Perl and Smalltalk; Ruby on Rails enables rapid development

Students do not need details of each for the exam — the key point is that a Web server application is required for a form to communicate with users. And because more people browse on phones, every page must be tested on desktops and a variety of mobile devices.

9. Front-end issues

The front end is the interface; the back end is the Web server, network, and databases. Front-end issues are mostly layout issues, and they come first — if the home page looks good, visitors keep exploring. A well-built page should:

Be accessible to all users, including people with hearing or vision impairments.
Use attractive images and graphics — wisely, because too many clutter a page.
Keep links and content current.
Use tables for tabular data, not to lay out pages.
Present carefully designed forms.
Connect securely to databases.
Use current technologies suited to the page.
Be easy to navigate, with no dead ends.
Provide alternative text navigation — for example, text links alongside an image map, since some users turn images off and search spiders cannot read an image-only page.

Remember the obstacles you cannot control: which browser people use, where they go on the page, and how fast their connections are.

Site maps

A site map summarizes the site’s structure. A useful one has:

A topical hierarchy — sections outlined visually, starting from the home page. Do not rely only on a graphic; provide text.
Accurately named sections — so users find what they need.
Search capability — a search box on (or linked from) the site map page.

A good site map comes from planning; building it after the site is finished means planning steps were skipped.

Creative design and branding standards

A marketing specialist’s main goal is name and brand recognition (think of the Mercedes-Benz hood ornament or McDonald’s golden arches) and mind share (slogans such as “Intel Inside”). The main tool is a branding standard — a comprehensive set of marketing goals and strategies. The developer’s job is to reinforce it: match the site’s look and feel to the company’s stationery, posters, and ads, and work in its slogans.

Branding meetings with other departments usually cover target markets, market messages, media choices, color combinations, sales strategies, and technologies.

Audience development

Ways to attract and keep visitors: standard features (well-placed video, audio, and active content), unique features from the team and other departments, the company’s familiar logos and images, coordination with traditional marketing materials, tracking visits to improve weak areas, analyzing statistics (for example, to increase time spent where revenue is earned), and customer input gathered through sales and marketing.

Technique	What it is	Benefit
Push technology	Automatically sends information to a list of customers who asked to receive it, until they unsubscribe (e.g., a mailing list server). Unsolicited push is spam.	Customers automatically receive new product information; sales- and marketing-driven
Pull technology	Sends information only when the user requests it (downloading a file, checking email, visiting a page)	Demand-based and immediate
Visitor tracking	Records how many visitors come, how long they stay, and how often they return, using cookies or server log files	Feedback for improving content, navigation, products, and marketing

Tracking raises privacy obligations: tell visitors what you collect (a privacy policy) and follow applicable consent laws.

Portals and wikis

A portal (also called a gateway) is a centralized access point to other sites.
- Vertical portal (“vortal”) — focused on one interest or field (e.g., CNET, Slashdot, Zillow); intranets and extranets are vertical “corporate portals.”
- Horizontal portal — links to many unrelated interests (e.g., Google).
- Portals may offer email, chat, forums, stock information, and search. They help users find the best sites quickly and help businesses attract customers and position their brand.
A wiki (pronounced “wicky,” from the Hawaiian wiki wiki, “very quick”) is a site any permitted visitor can edit in a browser using wiki software, which generates HTML pages. Pages can be locked while others stay open. Wikis are written in a simplified wiki markup (the book says LaTeX, which is a different typesetting language). Examples: the Portland Pattern Repository (the first wiki), Wikipedia, and Memory Alpha.

Documenting changes (change management)

Keep a written record of every change to the site. It helps you remember what changed in the code and pages, confirm that security updates were published, provide evidence of good-faith accessibility efforts, and show that departments’ requests were completed. This is also how you document the results of functionality testing (objective 2.12.4): what was tested, on which browsers and devices, what failed, and what was fixed.

Accessibility standards (objective 2.7.3)

Know the three standards named in the objective:

W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) — publishes the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), the international technical standard for accessible pages (and ATAG from Lesson 9).
Section 508 — the U.S. Rehabilitation Act requirement that federal agencies’ electronic information be accessible; its technical rules align with WCAG.
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) — U.S. civil rights law; courts and federal agencies apply it to websites of businesses and public entities, including colleges.

Verify compliance with automated checkers plus manual testing — keyboard-only navigation and a screen reader — and document the results.

10. File formats and active content

Web servers deliver more than HTML: images, documents, and media. Every file format has a MIME type, which maps file extensions to the applications that handle them; IANA (the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority) standardizes MIME types.

Format	Extension	Use	MIME type
HTML	`.html`, `.htm`	Webpages	`text/html`
XHTML	`.xhtml`	XML-based HTML	`application/xhtml+xml`
JPEG	`.jpg`, `.jpeg`	Photos; adjustable quality and compression	`image/jpeg`
GIF	`.gif`	Simple graphics; GIF89a animation; interlacing	`image/gif`
PNG	`.png`	Lossless images with transparency; can be animated	`image/png`
Text	`.txt`	Plain ASCII text	`text/plain`
CSS	`.css`	Style sheets	`text/css`
RTF	`.rtf`	Documents with simple formatting (bold, underline, fonts)	`text/rtf`
PostScript / EPS	`.ps`, `.eps`	Adobe’s page-description language for print-quality text and graphics; EPS embeds PostScript graphics in other documents	`application/postscript`
PDF	`.pdf`	Adobe format based on PostScript that preserves layout and graphics	`application/pdf`
Zip	`.zip`	Compressed file archives	`application/zip`
PGP / GPG	`.pgp`, `.gpg`	Encrypted files	`application/pgp-encrypted`
MPEG	`.mpeg`, `.mpg`	Audio or video	`audio/mpeg`, `video/mpeg`
MOV	`.mov`	Apple QuickTime video	`video/quicktime`
WebM	`.webm`	Open video format	`video/webm`
MP3	`.mp3`	Compressed audio	`audio/mpeg`
Ogg Vorbis	`.ogg`	Open audio format	`audio/ogg`
WAV	`.wav`	Windows native audio	`audio/wav`
Word, Excel, PowerPoint	`.docx`, `.xlsx`, `.pptx` (older `.doc`, `.xls`, `.ppt`)	Microsoft Office documents	vendor-specific types (older files use `application/msword`, `application/vnd.ms-excel`, `application/vnd.ms-powerpoint`)
Unknown binary	—	Anything not otherwise identified	`application/octet-stream`

Corrections to the book’s table: XHTML’s type is application/xhtml+xml; the official MP3 type is audio/mpeg; Ogg audio is audio/ogg; and GIF does use lossless (LZW) compression. The table also lists RealPlayer formats, which are obsolete. PDF, once proprietary, is now an open ISO standard.

Streaming vs. non-streaming media: streaming media (for example, MPEG streams) plays as it arrives; non-streaming media must download completely before it plays (as covered in Lesson 9).

Proprietary formats

Proprietary formats may need special software or plug-ins; they can enhance a site but can also exclude users. Weigh these issues (Table 10-6):

Difficulty and inconvenience — plug-ins or software may be hard to obtain, install, and manage, may be unstable, or may add security vulnerabilities.
Cost — some formats (e.g., Word) need purchased software; consider free or open alternatives.
Audience limitation — some formats limit access for people with disabilities. If essential information is in a PDF, provide an equivalent in HTML or text, and make PDFs accessible (tagged) when you must use them.

Adobe Flash is the classic example: it once added rich interactivity but required a plug-in, drained mobile batteries, caused security problems, and has been retired.

Instructor note: many back-end issues need help from others — network administrators can advise on bandwidth and on which default file names the server accepts.

11. Back-end issues

Database connectivity

Full-featured sites connect to databases so customers can search and retrieve stored information and so the business can collect and store customer data (Amazon, eBay, and IBM are examples).

Database types:

Flat file — one table, often a simple text file or spreadsheet (like a handwritten contact list).
Non-relational — data stored statically; searchable but not reorganizable into other databases. (Today “NoSQL” databases are a different, modern kind of non-relational system.)
Relational — data in tables whose fields can be cross-referenced and joined, sorted, updated, and combined; the most common type.
Object-oriented — newer, with relational capabilities plus greater storage and search efficiency.

A relational database can be one file or spread across many servers. Vendors include Oracle, IBM DB2, Microsoft SQL Server, and the open-source MySQL and PostgreSQL.

Structured Query Language (SQL) queries relational databases — for example, “how many projects did Sandi Stanger finish by a certain date?” A Webpage can let users run such queries: a server-side application receives the user’s input, queries the database, and returns the results. Security caution: user input must never be pasted directly into SQL; server code should use parameterized queries to prevent SQL injection attacks.

Connection methods:

ODBC (Open Database Connectivity) — Microsoft’s interface for registering a database with the operating system so components such as the Web server can read and update it. It supports SQL and all major vendors. (The book calls it Windows-only; ODBC drivers are also available for Linux and macOS.)
JDBC (Java Database Connectivity) — Sun’s Java counterpart, connecting Java programs to many databases on Windows, UNIX, and other systems.

Indexing and cataloging (objective 2.16.6)

Indexing organizes a site’s contents for better navigation and search; catalogs are collections of linked addresses that help users search in a more targeted way. Complex sites offer an internal search engine, and most Web servers (Apache, IIS) provide indexing features. For e-commerce, good indexing and cataloging mean customers find products quickly — and products they cannot find, they cannot buy.

12. Bandwidth and download time

Bandwidth is the amount of data a connection can carry, measured in bits per second. A page is more than its HTML file: the browser must also download every resource — images, CSS, and JavaScript files (Figure 10-5).

Estimating download time

Find the total size of the HTML file and all its resources (for example, 1.46 MB).
Find the connection speed (for example, 6 Mbps). The book lists typical ranges: dial-up up to 56 Kbps; DSL 768 Kbps–6 Mbps; satellite 400 Kbps–2 Mbps; 3G 50 Kbps–1.5 Mbps; cable 1 Mbps–1 Gbps; WiMax up to 128 Mbps; fiber up to 1 Gbps; 4G/LTE up to 12 Mbps. (Current 4G, 5G, and fiber speeds are often much higher.)
Convert both to bits. 1 KB = 1,024 bytes and 1 byte = 8 bits; 6 Mbps = 6,000,000 bits per second.
- 1.46 MB × 1,024 = 1,495.04 KB × 1,024 = 1,530,921 bytes
- 1,530,921 bytes × 8 = 12,247,368 bits
Divide size by speed: 12,247,368 ÷ 6,000,000 ≈ 2 seconds.

This is a theoretical figure; real speed varies with network overhead, line noise, and congestion. Test in real conditions, including the slowest connections your audience uses. Instructor note: faster Internet makes page size matter less, but some users still have slow connections.

Tech note: say bits per second (Kbps, Mbps, Gbps), not “characters per second.”

Worked example for the application project: a 1 MB page on a 1 Mbps connection is 1 × 1,024 × 1,024 × 8 = 8,388,608 bits ÷ 1,000,000 ≈ 8.4 seconds — long enough that many visitors would leave.

13. Naming Webpage files

Name pages for their content (e.g., salesform.html) and keep names reasonably short. Using lowercase letters without spaces avoids problems on servers that are case-sensitive.
Use the .html or .htm extension; ask the server administrator which the site uses. Other technologies need their own extensions, such as .jsp, .php, or .aspx.

Default documents

A Web (HTTP) server shows a default page when a visitor enters only the site address — www.company.com instead of www.company.com/index.html. The default is usually the home page. Default names depend on the server: the book notes IIS looks for default.htm and Apache for index.html; common names include index, default, welcome, and home with .htm, .html, .aspx, or .jsp extensions. Every server is preconfigured with default names, and the list can be changed — check the server documentation, administrator, or hosting provider.

HTTP 404 — File Not Found

A 404 means the server is working but cannot find the requested file — it was renamed, moved, or deleted, or the URL is mistyped (for example, www.google.com/giraffe). Outdated search engine links are a common cause. Browsers may show their own error page, and many sites create a custom 404 page with navigation and a search box to help lost visitors.

Classroom application

Lab 10-1: Comparing pay-per-click services

Visit several PPC services (the book lists Google Ads, Bing Ads — now Microsoft Advertising — ClickPath, Miva Merchant, and Bidvertiser) and compare them on: price per keyword, keyword-generation tools, bidding options (bids vs. fixed prices), interface quality, account fees, monthly minimums, software downloads, additional features, and promotions (and whether they cost more over time). Instructor note: some sites require an account to see pricing; students can explore without signing up. Discuss which service best fits a given business.

Lab 10-2: Reviewing an SSL/TLS session

In Firefox, open an http site (the book uses http://www.ucorp.biz), click the site identity icon beside the address bar, and choose More Information — the connection is not encrypted or private.
Open an https site (the book uses https://www.msn.com) and view the same information; the connection is now secured by TLS.
Click View Certificate to see who issued the certificate, to whom, and its validity dates.

Other browsers use different menus for the same information. Discussion and target answers:

What services does the certificate provide? Authentication, data confidentiality, and data integrity.
How do certificates secure e-commerce? They authenticate the parties and let sensitive information be exchanged without first sending authentication secrets across the network.

Lab 10-3: Converting currency values

Using the XE Currency Converter, convert 500 U.S. dollars to British pounds, 500 pounds to euros, and 500 euros to another currency, then try others. Discuss:

Should an e-commerce site convert currencies automatically or manually? (Automatically — rates change constantly and errors are costly.)
How can a business adjust prices when currencies fluctuate?
Repeat the lab later: how much have rates changed, and how would that affect a European customer’s US$100 order versus a U.K. customer’s US$10,000 order?

Optional Lab 10-1: Identifying creative design and branding standards

Visit the Brooks Brothers site and the San Diego Zoo Safari Park site. For each, discuss: What message does the design convey, and which elements create it? Which target market is it aimed at? Does it use branding standards effectively to build recognition and mind share? Does it answer market demands? Answers will vary; the goal is to see design from the user’s perspective.

Optional Lab 10-2: Exploring SEO and Web analytics

Explore SEO guides (Backlinko’s Definitive Guide to SEO, Search Engine Journal’s SEO guide, and Google’s SEO Starter Guide) and analytics tools (Google Analytics and Microsoft’s advertising tools). Which fits your organization best, and which offers more on-site or off-site analytics?

In-book exercises and activity

Exercise 10-1: E-commerce models — after Section 4.
Exercise 10-2: Reviewing Internet marketing practices — after Section 5.
Activity 10-1: Defining site development terms — after Section 6 (the book also points to it after the 404 discussion).
Exercise 10-3: CGI technology and the languages used to create CGI — after Section 8.
Exercise 10-4: Web portals — after Section 9.
Exercise 10-5: Determining download time for a Webpage — after Section 12.

Case study: Planning the Site at Both Ends

Rosalie’s team has discussed the site’s look and feel; now she lists back-end questions: the developers’ environment, the server operating system, the server-side language, the Web server software, whether to use a builder such as Wix or Squarespace, and whether to self-host or use a hosting company. She learns that developers use 80% Windows and 20% Linux, the company’s servers are all Linux, developers know Python, Java, and ASP.NET (C# and some VB.NET), the site will store customer information, and the system administrators know only Apache.

Her decisions: keep Linux servers (Apache’s native platform), use Python, let developers choose their own Python tools, and build in-house rather than on Wix or Squarespace because the company has experienced staff.

Discussion prompts and target answers:

Use existing servers and operating systems? It saves money, unless the hardware or OS is outdated, which could cost more in problems.
Are current employees experienced enough, or should you hire? It depends on the team; hire if the staff is inexperienced in site development.
Third-party hosting vs. your own servers? Hosting is best when equipment is outdated or you lack the expertise and staff to maintain a server.

Extensions to raise: Java (through Tomcat alongside Apache) would also have fit the team’s skills, so “only Python” is a judgment, not a rule. And because the site will store customer information, security planning — TLS, patching, least-privilege access, and privacy compliance — belongs on Rosalie’s list too.

Application project

Calculate how long a 1 MB home page takes to download on a 1 Mbps connection (about 8.4 seconds). Is that acceptable to a waiting user?
Reflect on your own online shopping: which businesses were easy to deal with, which caused problems, which have earned your trust, and why? How could those experiences improve your own e-commerce site’s customer service?

Common misconceptions

“The Website is an IT project, not a marketing one.” It is usually the company’s primary marketing and branding tool.
“A logo is the brand.” The brand includes the promise, personality, and experience the logo represents.
“SEO and PPC are the same.” SEO is organic and unpaid; PPC is paid advertising.
“More traffic means success.” The goal is conversion — visitors taking the desired action.
“SSL and TLS are payment methods.” They encrypt and authenticate; EFT, gateways, and 3-D Secure handle payments.
“SSL is current.” SSL is deprecated; TLS is the standard, though people still say “SSL.”
“A lock icon means a site is trustworthy.” It means the connection is encrypted to the site named in the certificate, not that the business is honest.
“Push technology is spam.” Push is legitimate when customers opt in; unsolicited push is spam.
“Download time is just file size divided by speed.” That is only the theoretical minimum, and it must include every resource, measured in bits.
“A 404 means the server is down.” The server is working; the requested file is missing.
“PDFs are fine for essential content.” Provide accessible HTML equivalents; not every user can read a PDF.

Key terms

Brand / branding / branding standard — the symbols and concept tied to a product; using them to be remembered; the organization’s comprehensive marketing plan for that identity.
Mind share — public recognition created by slogans and catch phrases.
Demographics — statistical study of groups by characteristics such as age, income, and education.
B2B, B2C, C2C — e-commerce between businesses, from businesses to consumers, and between consumers.
SEO — improving the volume and quality of traffic by structuring content to rank well; organic.
Pay per click (PPC) — paid advertising charged only when an ad is clicked; non-organic.
Web analytics — collecting and studying visitor data (on-site and off-site).
EFT — electronic transfer of funds.
Payment gateway — the system that relays card information between a merchant and its bank.
3-D Secure — a card-company protocol that adds authentication to online card purchases.
SSL / TLS — protocols that authenticate and encrypt data; TLS replaced SSL.
PKI, digital certificate, certificate authority — the trust system, the signed credential, and the organization that issues it.
Customs — national departments controlling goods that enter and leave a country.
Push / pull technology — sending information automatically to subscribers vs. only on request.
Portal (vertical, horizontal) — a central access point to other sites, focused or general.
Wiki — a site visitors can edit collaboratively.
MIME type — the label mapping a file type to the application that handles it.
SQL — the language for querying and maintaining relational databases.
ODBC / JDBC — interfaces connecting applications to databases.
Bandwidth — the data capacity of a connection, in bits per second.
Site map — a hierarchical summary of a site for quick navigation.
Mailing list server — a server that regularly sends email to a list of subscribers.
Request for Comments (RFC) — IETF documents describing Internet protocols and standards.
Smalltalk — an early object-oriented language that influenced Ruby.

Lesson summary

A business site serves marketing: identify the market, define the target audience, establish a simple, distinctive, safe brand, and reinforce it consistently with logos, colors, and slogans.
Write scannable, keyword-rich pages with the conclusion first and simple navigation; use reputable resources to keep learning.
E-commerce models are B2C, B2B, and C2C; payments use EFT, payment gateways, and 3-D Secure, all protected by TLS with certificates from trusted CAs through PKI.
Internet marketing combines organic SEO, paid PPC, on-site and off-site analytics, and social media; valid, well-structured, fast, mobile-friendly pages rank better and serve screen readers.
Global sites must handle currency conversion, customs and shipping, legal differences, and multiple languages with Unicode.
Front-end design must be accessible (WCAG, Section 508, ADA), navigable, and on-brand; site maps, audience development, portals, wikis, and documented changes support the site.
Choose standard, open file formats with correct MIME types; provide accessible alternatives to proprietary formats.
Back ends connect to relational databases through SQL, ODBC, or JDBC, with indexing for search; estimate download time from total size in bits divided by connection speed; name files carefully and plan for default pages and 404 errors.

This is the final lesson of the book; review Lessons 1–10 to prepare for the CIW Site Development Associate exam.