Here are 5 questions to flex your mental muscle to. The answers and explanations are at the end - no cheating now!
RULES:
There are no trick questions. You cannot ask the audience but I welcome you to 'Phone a Friend' (and forward this article onto them!).
*Question 1:
"What happens if you submit your website to Google more than once?"
A. Nothing.
B. You are at risk of being penalised for multiple submissions
C. Your submission is bumped to the back of the queue
*Question 2:
"According to a survey conducted by AC Nielsen in December 2004 what did people state as their primary reason for doing their Christmas shopping online?"
A. Saves time
B. Better prices
C. Ability to find a more personalized gift
*Question 3:
"In Internet terms, what is a 'spider'?"
A. It's a virus that spreads using loopholes in certain web
technologies
B. It's a software tool that search engines use to retrieve
information from websites
C. It's another word for a person that browses websites
*Question 4:
"What is the industry average click through rate for banner advertisements? I.e. what percentage of all banner ads are actually clicked on?"
A. 0.39%
B. 1.39%
C. 2.39%
*Question 5:
"According to the latest research from the Computer Industry Almanac what was the worldwide online population in 2004? I.e. how many of the people, worldwide, accessed the Internet at some point in 2004?"
A. 934 million
B. 714 million
C. 579 million
**THE ANSWERS
Q.1 - "What happens if you submit your website to Google more than once?"
A. Nothing.
Google doesn't mind how many times you submit your website. However there are search engines out there that will penalise you for
submitting too often. This is what Google says about submitting to its site:
"You are free to submit as often as you wish. However, given the nature of our inclusion process your time is better spent improving
the content and links of your site."
Q.2 - "According to a survey conducted by AC Nielsen in December 2004 what did people state as their primary reason for doing their Christmas shopping online?"
A. Saves time
78% of the 1007 people surveyed gave `Saves time' as their answer when asked their reasons for shopping online. The survey findings:
Reasons for Shopping Online:
Saves time 78%
Better prices 51%
More selection 43%
Easier shipping 40%
Ability to find a more personalized gift 28%
More information available about the products 20%
What this tells us is that people no longer view the Internet as a low-cost option. So perhaps you need to take a look at your own website and focus more on making the buying process as quick and simple as possible rather than trying to cut prices to attract buyers..
Q. 3 - "In Internet terms, what is a `spider'?"
B. It's a software tool that search engines use to retrieve information from websites
When your website is submitted to a search engine the search engine sends out a `spider' to visit your site and retrieve all the information from it. The spider then returns to the search engine with all the information that is then added to the search engine's database.
The results you see when you use a search engine are not live snapshots of websites. Instead, the results show the information that the spider collected the last time it visited each website. This is why it is sometimes possible to see a link that looks fine in the search engine results and then click on it to find it no longer exists.
This is because the search engine spider has yet to revisit this website and update the search engine's records.
Q.4 - "What is the industry average click through rate for banner advertisements? I.e. what percentage of all banner ads are actually clicked on?"
A. 0.39%
The latest studies indicate that only 0.39% of banners shown are actually clicked on. With powerful graphics and enticing offers this average clickthrough rate can be improved ten-fold or more. But the point remains that advertising by using banners alone no longer appears to be viable route unless, that is, the costs of using this
method are exceptionally low.
Q.5 - "According to the latest research from the Computer Industry Almanac what was the worldwide online population in 2004? I.e. how many of the people, worldwide, accessed the Internet at some point in 2004?"
A. 934 million
It's predicted that this year the online population will hit 1 billion! Not all of these people will be your potential customers but no matter which way you look at - there has never been a better time to have a well-marketed website!
**SCORES - How Many Did You Get Right?
0 - 2: Don't forget - you learn more in this life from your mistakes than you do from anything else!
3 - 4: Well done! You obviously know your stuff or you're good at guessing!
5 out of 5: Outstanding! Top marks for you!
