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The News -- 10/19/00
Websites Need to Cut the
Content
from
eMarketer
According to Byte Level Research, the average website is too large. After
studying 150 websites, Byte Level found that the average number of
kilobytes of data on a homepage was 89KB. Yahoo’s homepage has 37KB and
Lycos, 30KB. Byte Level reports that the optimum median weight (number of
KBs per homepage) is 60KB. Online trading sites boast the lightest pages
with a 54KB average, while search engines follow with a 57KB average.
Graphics-heavy sites scored the lowest ranking -- JCPenney.com has a 451KB
average, Spiegel.com a 216KB average and VictoriasSecret.com a 173KB
average.
eMarketer
New Domain Suffixes Coming Next Month
Bored with
.com and .net? Next month you may be able to choose from a new crop of
Internet domain name suffixes – from .church to .sex. I predict a scramble
for high value trademark owners to snap up real estate in .biz, .info. .web
and others. Can you imagine someone else owning Coke.biz, for example?
ICANN, the governing body for names, has received and is reviewing 47
applications for new TLDs (Top Level Domains, like the current .com and
.net for example). They range from the sublime (.mad) to the ridiculous
(.soup). The move to add new TLDs is widely seen as improving on the current
.com dominated name space. I think there will be even more confusion with
the addition of new names, especially for businesses that register under
multiple TLDs. How do you know which address to go to when Nike's got
nike.com, nike.biz, nike.air, nike.ads, nike.center, nike.commerce,
nike.fashion, and on and on?
Sure, the addresses could all point to the same site, but think of the
confusion and the dilution of the brand. The bottom line is, every business
will have to have a .com come as the only consistent destination. And this
sure doesn't solve the current problems with the .com monopoly. This week,
Madonna got control of madonna.com from a cybersquatter. In the future,
will she have to fight for madonna.sex, madonna.music, and madonna.online
as well? (BTW, I don't really think it was a good decision to give her the
domain name. She's not the original Madonna, after all.)
Stay tuned to the name drama. It promises to be interesting.
New
Scientist
ICANN listing of received TLD applications
Are eMarketplaces a Threat to SMEs?
In article
on Silicon.com, much is made of the problems of eMarketplaces for suppliers
who are small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Stephen Alambritis of the UK's
Federation of Small Businesses says (FSB) internet-based marketplaces are a
threat to small businesses. "The main threat is that the list of suppliers
is massively increased, so you could find yourself suddenly competing
against people from Italy, Greece - anywhere. We would advise SMEs to first
concentrate on selling their own personal service, their own particular
benefits, but in the long term to prepare to be part of these
marketplaces," he said.
Jaap Stavier, senior analyst at Forrester Research, agrees. He said: 'Any
benefit to suppliers from access to greater markets will be offset by a
greater ability for buyers to change supplier and lower prices. The
lowering of margins will also have a knock-on effect in the offline
world."
Granted,
this is a European take on the subject (Silicon.com is out of the UK), but
it's a concern many SME suppliers, and even their larger brethren share. If
eMarketplaces are to truly revolutionize business, they must provide a
win/win solution, and not just become a place for buyers to hammer on
suppliers to get the best prices. Much has been said about the upside
opportunity for SME businesses ‐ greater access to markets,
ability to land larger accounts ‐ but there is a real danger that
SMEs will get crowded out by newly-nimble large enterprises.
Silicon.com
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