athensforfree How to have fun in Athens for free or with low budget!

Monday 23 March 2009

Take it or leave it for free!

www.xariseto.com connects people who want to give their stuff for free and people who need them. The only prerequisite for the web users is to be consistent and gentle. Each web user can choose to read the offers that take place in his/her own town.

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Technological Components for www.tzaba.gr

Existing Technological Components

Static Web Banners
Enter other sites information
Access to similar sites enabling low cost offerings
Increase site popularity and add
more value

On line lowest gas prices information
Find low gas station in Athens
Looking for the best buy option
Increase site value and sustain operations from indirect sales revenues.

Customer Database
On-line member’s registration
Enable online Membership registration and renewal.
Increase number of Members community
Enhancing site core vision bring together the “buy/enjoy for free” enthusiasts. Strengthening the social networking
power

Digital Catalogue with daily offerings
Display all daily low cost offerings in various fields
Increase value on offered services/events and enables online access information
Sustain operations from indirect sales revenues

Membership system
Online transactions
Enable online sales process. Also collect information about the transactions that customer undertake including details of payment cards used.
Mainly to sustain operations from sales revenues, but also to identify popular products and general enhance of marketing activities

Navigation menu
Find the low cost offerings in a structured way
Increase value on various offerings per category and provides ease of navigation
Increase user’s experience value and help ease of access to related information

Forum Member ID Code
Forum Member Identification
Enable online Membership and renewal of membership.
Forum members can bring new ideas/proposals, interchange ideas and strength community value

On Line Gaming
On line free gaming
Attract young people and increase popularity among the ages of 15-23 years
Create a new market segment and increase the related awareness

Future Technological Components

Cookies:
Identify and evaluate User behaviour
Monitoring the popularity and frequency of access for the website, understand visitors preferences
Increase operations efficiency by introduction of new products and services based on user’s preferences

Search Engine
Search for low cost events/products/services
Increase value of the total site offerings
Drive, site operations and increase indirect sales revenues

Embedded Google map
Enable online directions/locations for the community venues
Enabling ease of access to events and venues.
Increase site value

Pop-ups
Provide ad-hoc info on the selected spot
Provide on the spot info without interfere with users selection
Sustain site effective operations

mailto:xxx@tzaba.gr
Providing e-mail account
Create users awareness and ease of off-line communication
Optimise site value and bring more value to the entire society

Technological components of YOUNG&BROKE

In order to offer its core benefit, “the feasibility of saving money”, Y&B has chosen to use basic web technologies and provide the created content on line. Investing on HTML, HTTP and CSS, Y&B has accomplished to maximise its coverage while keeping its cost and risk to a minimum. Email service constitutes the key communication channel between Y&B and its stakeholders. To reinforce the validity of its donation system, it uses also Paypal. Through RSS, Y&B upgrades its service keeping its visitors and -also important- the friends of its visitors up to date. Facebook is a unique opportunity for the site to target at young people and create a community that participates in the content creation and in the promotion of the brand. As an alternative social network, Twitter reinforces the viral marketing strategy of Y&B preventing it from being accused of spam. Through Digg keeps community informed about larger pieces of new postings.

Technological components of kariera.gr

Technological Components that Enable Business Activity & their Strategic Importance
Search Engine
Find Goods
Increases value on products and. Increases value on products and services by online gathering of users’ preferences.
Increase operations revenues from sales via introduction of new products and services or elimination of non attractive goods or activities.
Customer Database
Online members registration
Enable online Membership addition.
Increase Members so to bring together candidates and employers , promote more products, Increase its bargaining power towards suppliers and for synergies
Digital Catalog
Display Services
Increases value on products and services and enables online sales process.
Sustain operations from sales revenues but with cookies utilization also for marketing activities.
Cookies
Identify Users behavior
Monitor the popularity of the website, understand what pages visitors are looking at, how often visitors come to the site and identify sources of new business
Increase operations revenues from sales via introduction of new products and services or elimination of non attractive goods or activities.
Shopping payment system / Shopping basket
Online transactions
Enable online sales process. Collect information about the transactions that customers undertake including details of payment cards used.
Sustain operations from sales revenues, but also to identify popular products and general enhance of marketing activities
Embedded Google map
Enable online directions for the job exact addresses
Increase value by simplifying navigation to job vacancies.
Brings value so to promote sales and sustain operations from sales revenues.
Navigation menu
Find the content that the users desire
Increase value on products and services and enables online sales process.
Sustain operations from sales revenues but this happens with cookies for marketing activities.
Static Banners
Advertise events, offerings or hiring now section
Promotes events, services and specific job ads so to increase value and sales.
Brings value so to promote sales and sustain operations from sales revenues.
Links
International Branches
Increase value on site’s brand name and acceptance.
Brings value to the brand and increases its competitive advantage.
HTTP Protocol over SSL
Secure transactions
Enable security for the online sales process. Increase confidence for the online transactions.
Sustain operations from sales revenues.

Technological components and business needs of Forfree.gr

Technological components of Forfree.gr

When you enter the website Forfree.gr you see a banner with various categories such as music, theatre, dance, cinema, exhibitions etc. and there is a search engine where you can select a category, an area or even to put a key word in order to find fast what you are looking for. For instance, if someone is interested in theatre, can select the category ‘’Theatre’’ and then a new page will open where all the theatre performances are presented. Also, under the search engine there is a calendar which provides all the events etc. and you can select per day or per week. This could be characterized as an Advanced search option, because when someone is interested in findings for the day after tomorrow can select that particular date and see all the events. It is not a chaotic list of events where you have to search for a specific event in a specific date. I could say that this search engine is very well structured.
Furthermore, underneath the search engine you can subscribe in forfree.gr by inserting your name and your e-mail in order to receive newsletters with all the events and services that are for free or for low budget.
The initial page of forfree.gr also includes daily proposals. For instance, there is a Header with the date ‘’Friday, 10th April’’ and below they are listed events and services for this specific date. When you scroll down you see another Header ‘’Weekly Proposals’’. Next to this, forfree.gr provides you two more options like things to do for less (i.e. discount cards, bazaars etc.) and walks in small neighbors of Athens.

Some of the basic web design principles of forfree.gr are:

Primary audience:
Forfree.gr offers a big variety of things you can do for free or for less and they might be very interesting for its target group (14 – 35 years old).

Purpose of the site:
Forfree.gr is the first Greek website which is specialized in providing interested information about events or services that are held in the city of Athens and are for free or.. for less!

Type of content:
The content of forfree.gr is text and pictures. Usually there is a picture for every event or service that is mentioned in the site. Also, some ads have pictures but in general, there is no sound or music or videos in the site. In my opinion, if there was sound in the site, it would be a fun experience and the stay of the user would be more pleasant. Furthermore some of the texts include links. Under every event or service you can see comments of other users, you can write your own comment, you can print it or you can send it to a friend.

Information provided on the home page:
In the homepage of the forfree.gr site, there is a tab where you can only see the mission and the purpose of the site. There is no info about the people who created this website. There is contact information which includes the address, the email contact and the names of those who are responsible for the content of the site. Also a copyright notice is included as well as the terms of use.

Content:
It is said that the content is the key to a good site. The content matches the purpose of the site, it is well organized and it seems to be spellchecked. The language of the site is the Greek one and there is no option for another language, i.e. the English one. In the future the administrators of the site should include the option of the English language because Athens is a touristic city and also, there are foreign students that study here. The information provided is current, daily, weekly and monthly.

Page design:
Forfree.gr website does not include a ‘’ back to home link’’, it uses a consistent template on each page and color scheme is limited. The background is white and the main color that is used is yellow. Important information is near the top. Also avoids the long lists of links, categorizes lists in smaller chunks and provides internal tags. They could make the website more personalized by giving to the user the choice of setting his/her settings about the font size and style.

e-CRM
We can define e-CRM as activities to manage customer relationships and should offer communication and information on the right topic, in the right amount, and at the right time that fits the customer’s specific needs.
An example of a tool that is used in e-CRM is the personalized web pages where customers are recognized and their preferences are shown. This is not happening in forfree.gr. and it can be considered as a disadvantage for of the website because of the competition. We should notice that e-CRM has become a requirement for survival and it is very important.

How can Forfree.gr increase its“popularity” and its competitive advantage..?
The main focus of a business such as an e-commerce website is to earn profits, and do business. An e-commerce website is designed to serve the purpose of doing competitive business over the Internet. It is the way the business moves over the Internet. At least 85% of people looking for services on the Internet find websites through search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and MSN. The higher a page comes up in search engine results, the greater the traffic that is directed to a website.
Steps for increasing popularity:

1. Directory Submission
By the directory submission the website can get one way links easily. There are two types of web directories one is free and the other is paid. Some popular directories are Like DMOZ, Google Directory, Yahoo Directory and Lycos.

2. RSS and News Feeds
This is one of the best ways to promote a website. By this a website kept fresh in the search engines and the rss displays all the information about the website and for every page. You can submit the website feeds in other websites and link with the website also. The rss feeds also improve the interlinking of the website.

3. Interact with your readers
If someone leaves a comment on the site, you can make a reply or even take it one step further and visit their site and reply there. If you get an email from a reader, you should reply back in a timely fashion. Readers of the site will appreciate this and will be much more inclined to visit and comment again as a result.

4. Ads are more than welcome but don’t have too many!
Revenues of the site come from banner ads or by advertising messages in the form of paid links. There are companies, radio stations, youth hostels etc., that are advertised in http://www.forfree.gr/ site in the form of a banner. Although this promotion generates money to the site by adding companies’ advertisements, you don't want your website to look like Times Square at night. Feel free to place a couple ads here and there, but don't overwhelm your readers with them. People like aesthetically pleasing sites.

5. Press Releases
Another great way to make popular a website is to submit its press releases in the other websites. By this the website is well known by the visitors. There are press releases directories where you can submit your website’s press releases.

6. Connection with social networks
Add the URL to your facebook account, myspace, etc.

7. Key Performance Indicators Can Improve E-Commerce Strategy
KPI is telling you that you’re doing a good job. If the majority of people aren’t sticking around long enough to actually subscribe then it’s a warning signal that something is wrong. Putting the KPI’s together and understanding why you’re doing it is the key to defining metrics which you can use to help you make decisions.

See also http://www.forfree.gr/

FINDINGS: YOUNG&BROKE?

Almost 5.000 miles far from Athens but just 1 click from athensforfree.blogspot.com,

www.youngandbroke.org

proposes how to experience a high life in New York for free based on the same culture.

Offering four types of information: lifestyle, eats, music, free stuff, its value proposition could be defined as "the reduce of search cost for young & broke people''. In order to create value, Y&B has adopted the infomediary model assisting sellers and buyers understand the market. It has also followed the trend of social-networking (Digg, Facebook, Twitter) trying to apply the community model.

Although frugal solutions may not imply any payment, they constitute a marketspace where companies/ organizations provide consumers with offers asking for their interest and time. As it was mentioned, in this marketspace that could be online (freebies order) or offline (free MOMA visit), Y&B plays the role of infomediary (information intermediary).

Few words are more attention-grabbing than "free" is clearly stated through an article about the rise in the use of freebies. Especially nowadays, recession makes free goods irresistible. The bad side of this popularity, however, is that web users are bombarded with offers that proved to be both cost and time consuming. In order to become trustworthy, sites have to refine their content.

Community-based business models may be the answer to this. Blog visitors can comment upon a post helping thus other visitors to decide. The chronological order, that blogs commonly use, keeps frugal web users informed about up-to-date offers. Last but not least, blogs can help sites to obtain loyal web visitors.

Nevertheless, if the blogger does not manage to recruit a significant number of members, the anonymity of few comments will devalue the content. Abusing the ability to be anonymous, some companies could promote fake offers through the blog. Moreover, the blog community could end up discussing and creating a content irrelevant to the initial one; forcing thus the web site to lose its identity.

According to Business Week, some of the best young Personal Finance blogs such as MyMoneyBlog, I Will Teach You To Be Rich already have been noticed and a few have turned into decent side businesses, generating up to $1,ooo a month from ads using Google AdSense, links from affiliates, or referrals. However, in order to succeed this a blogger should attract the correct people and inspire them to interact in the correct way.

FINDINGS REGARDING www.forfree.gr

In http://www.forfree.gr/ site you can find events for free or for low budget, information for bazaars and discount cards as well as suggestions for walks in known and unknown neighborhoods of Athens.
The categories that are included in this site are the following: exhibitions, cinema, music, theater, dance, street events, lectures, conferences and free courses and workshops.
FINDINGS
BUSINESS MODEL: ADVERTISING MODEL
The web advertising model is an extension of the traditional media broadcast model. The broadcaster, in this case, a web site, provides content (usually, but not necessarily, for free) and services mixed with advertising messages in the form of banner ads.
BUSINESS MODEL ENTITIES: Anybody that enters the site for info or sends e-mail for things to do for free or for less.
E-BUSINESS ACTIVITIES: Provides content ( things to do for free or for less) and services mixed with advertising messages in the form of banner adds or links.
Anybody that is interested for things to do for free or with low budget can enter the site and find what he wants to do in his free time. There is a big variety of services and things for entertainment and you can find them through the search engine that is provided or by selecting a category.
TRANSACTIONS TYPE: B2B, B2C
REVENUES: BANNER ADDS, PAID LINKS
The revenues of the site comes from banner adds or by advertising messages in the form of paid links. There are companies and radio stations that are advertised in the http://www.forfree.gr/ site in the form of a banner add and many youth hostels that are advertised by links.
E-MARKETPLACES: http://www.cleversee.com/
http://www.forthnet.gr/
http://www.ip-adress.com/
We observe that the site http://www.forfree.gr/ is not participating in big marketplaces. It participates in smaller portals, where you can advertise or promote your event or your service.
BLOG: NOT APPLICABLE
As far as the blog services are concerned, the http://www.forfree.gr/ site does not offer blog services. It offers a search engine which is very easy and you can find events per day, per week or per category. Furthermore everyone can send information about events in the city that have free entrance and seem interesting at events@forfree.gr.
From my point of view, there should be a blog in this web site because it would allow users to upload their comments about the events that have been to or even to make friends and make a ‘’community for free events in Athens’’. A blog offers a more efficient communication with the users and gives you the opportunity to stay aware of their preferences and their comments.

Findings For The Website www.tzaba.gr

Key Finding #1 The business models adopted are the following:a) Affiliate MarketingThere are web site banners where consumers by clicking company’s ads, have access to the selling companies. Whenever a customer makes a low budget purchase the affiliate partner (e.g. www.tzaba.gr) receives a commission of the purchased price. b) Find the best priceBy entering the site users have the option to specify their specific needs (e.g. cheapest gas station in neigh boor) and then an intermediate company matches the customer’s needs and provide the best alternative. c) Viral MarketingThere is a site forum where users are changing ideas, make site rating, provide comments and make proposals to other signed users for the subject matter. Therefore the site awareness is increased and used as appropriate.d) MembershipMembers of this site community can enjoy benefits and gifts from affiliate companies and donators.According to emerging business models of Rappa 2003, the community business model has been adopted since user loyalty dictates its viability.The e-business activities deployed are:- electronic diary with events of free or low cost nature- Free access to radio& tv stations- Free weather forecast service- Free internet games- Forum and community access- Access to affiliate corporations- You Tube best videos- Full list of all free daily activities in Athens area.
Key Finding #2 www.tzaba.gr is involved in market spaces. In particular the major components are the following:a) Customers: the tens of thousands of people who entering the site are potential buyers of the low cost or free products & services offered or advertised.b) Sellers: Storefronts offering on sale (discount) products & services or with very limited cost. c) Intermediary since the site is operating (in a limited, entry level) as a third party between potential buyers and sellers of goods or servicesThe type of e-marketplace best fitting in this e-business activity is that www.tzaba.gr operating as a typical Publishing portal, intended for community with special interest in buy products and services free of charge or with very limited budget in a specific location/city (e.g. Athens greater area). It provides on line search modules and the site customization is limited.
Key Finding #3 There is a blog address, http://tzaba.blogspot.com but it is inactive and with a preliminary design. Therefore we assume that there is no a blog service related with the site where community members will share ideas and comments. There is only a forum where signed users provide their proposals and comments for the subject matter of, how you can engage on free cost activities.The benefits of related blog’s services created by members of this site are:a) Interaction between users, b) Participation in peer to peer basis,c) Sharing comments about the events proposed by the sited) To process ideas and clarify thinking on certain issuese) Keep family or friends updatedf) Sharing expertise and experience with othersg) Acting as complementary to websiteh) More efficient ways of communication in enhancing quick website updates.
The limitations imposed, are the followinga) Blogs posts quality b) Regular updates efficiencyc) User’s personal information is visible to other(s), subject of potential threats of identity theft and harassmentsd) Friends relationships have suffered by extensive blogs usagee) Blogs are easy to start and hard to maintain. As a result, many blogs are not updated, thus damaging rather than enhancing the reputation of the organization or a community.f) So, far from blogs being a low cost strategy, they are a very expensive one, in that they consume remarkable time to maintain.

Findings regarding a site that is related to athensforfree.blogspot.com

Free job ads by www.kariera.gr

Adopted Business Model/E-business activities: On-line recruitment site supported by an on-line content advertising business model. Kariera.gr, broadcasts and provides content and services to jobseekers for free mixed with advertising messages in the form of banner ads. kariera.gr has two types of customers, companies and candidates so it is a B2B and B2C company.

Market Spaces & e-marketplaces: Kariera.gr acts as a third party which operates between companies and candidates as an intermediary through its website. There is a market space because all commercial activities take place over a virtual marketplace, the internet and there is no direct contact between employers and job seekers. Their communication takes place throught online services of emails, uploads of information etc.

Potential benefits and limitations of blog sevices to kariera.gr: Kariera.gr actually has a blog which came out quite recently: http://kariera.wordpress.com/ . Everyone can visit it and comment on uploaded content free. With this blog Kariera offers more communication in a less formal and indirect way. People get to know what’s new about the site and the company and on the other hand all comments and evaluation coming from customers (whether they pay or not) is what can make the difference. This interactive communication can be an excellent feedback and benefit for the company in terms of what the people who visit their website want and need to have or change. Also, if through this blog people started talking less formal about their experiences in getting a job, finding the appropriate person for the right job, going to an inteview, mistakes, opportunities etc.
But there should be some boundaries and limits in postings just to ensure that the content is appropriate.

Monday 23 March 2009

Take it or leave it for free!

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