Question 1

A text book publisher can sell his book chapters on-line by using 2 types of e-payment methods.

Credit card payment method: Credit card which is an electronic card with coded users, issuers and account number information embedded in the card chip. The buyer can login to the book publisher's website, view the book chapters, choose the one he or she wants place it in the shopping cart. Buyer’s input card information and the transaction is forwarded through the publishers gateway containing the publishers account information, the acquiring and issuing backs exchange information transactions and money is deposited into the publishers account, as long as the buyer's credit limit is not reached. Then the publisher sends the book to the customer by post or through web server electronically.
Charge card payment method: Charge card is also an electronic card containing coded information embedded in the card chip, it is similar to a credit card but there are no credit limits, the card holder only has to settle his balance at the end of every month. The customer login to the website, make a purchase of the book chapter and the customer and publisher's bank gateway exchange information and transaction is done.
The problem with both types of payments methods is that some people are not comfortable with on line payments because of hackers, crackers, spoofing and phishing, which are ways and means of identity and information thefts.

Question 2

A retail clothing manufacturer can use debit card as its e-payment method for office supplies. With debit card there must be sufficient amount in the retailers account for the transaction to be successful, because it is linked directly to the retailer’s bank account, payments are made usually within 48hours. It is best for small transaction like office supplies which can be pens, pencils, printing papers, ink etc.
The retail clothing manufacturer can pay for raw materials with credit card, since raw material purchase are big transactions and shipping, credit card will be best for such payments.
Customers of the clothing manufacturer both domestic and international can pay with charge cards, which is good for big transactions and shipping also same like a credit card. Domestic customers can also pay with debit cards.

Question 3

For a small on line personal business,
Web hosting service is best. These hosting companies offer wide range of hosting services with functionality to many small business with small websites and limited traffic, with no domain name, you have to use the name provided by the hosting service,;
Price – It is very cheap and some are free
Security – Limited options
Software solutions– Limited or none at all
Technical support – limited
Database support – limited or none
Free Emails are available

For medium scale on line business
Co-location is best, this is when the business has its own web server and gives it to a web hosting service or ISP to handle the server connection to the Internet. It gives constant Internet connection and security against fire, vandalism, loss of data and regulated back up. You get your own domain name with high bandwidth and technical support.
Price – expensive
Security – high
Software solutions– unlimited options
Technical support – requires higher skills
Database support - available
Complex to set up, hard to configure and debug

For large scale and huge business
Self-hosting is best, this is when the business acquires all it need to set up and manage its website, from software, hardware, technical staffs and telecommunication service. You get multiple domain names, high bandwidth and unlimited support from your staffs.
Price – very expensive
Security – very high
Software solutions – strong and unlimited options
Technical support – unlimited and requires high skills
Database support – powerful database support
Good for high traffic

Question 4

Outsourcing is sharing work load, outsourcing web hosting and site construction involves giving specific part of the web site and hosting to professional to handle. This is done by most multi-Million Internet businesses. Out sourcing is not expensive and can save lots of time.
An Internet business can choose to outsource the following;

Article writing: This is an important part of a website because it draws people to your site, it is time consuming. If this part is outsourced to a professional, it will save lots of time for you to market your business.
Graphic design: This is a technical part of the website, the right graphic can help increase sales, so it will be good to assign to a professional.
Video creation: This is another technical part of the website; this can also draw more people to your website.
Back link building: This puts your site at the top list of search engines, with a high quality back link your website will be always be on the first page Google, Yahoo or Bing. Back link is a also time consuming, so it is better to outsource it to a professional.
Website hosting: This is giving your website or server to a dedicated web hosting service, this cut cost of hosting it yourself and reduce resources.

The disadvantage of outsourcing can be:
When you outsource your web hosting you don't have much control over it, and if anything goes wrong with the hosting company for example security breach by hackers and spammers or the hosting company make a mistake or they go out of business, you will have a big problem.
Outsourcing part of the website to other also gives them access to your web site database. This can lead to your website to be hack or cracked and valuable information stolen or other improper activities.

Question 5

Small businesses should build its own website in order to create awareness of its existence to the public, since the Internet is worldwide, it will enable the business reach a wide variety of people and it is cheaper and extensive than adverts on TV, radio, news papers etc, and it will be most continent for customers and future customers.
Large businesses should also build their own website, as this will improve sales and keep customers loyal. Customers will always have access to the products and be informed regularly, and improve customer services example email options.

Question 6

Hackers can trick people into giving away user ID and passwords either by;

Spoofing: This is the process whereby a person or program pretends to be legitimate by falsifying data to get information from other users; example is using a false name or email name which is also called identity theft. Creating a fake web page which is similar to the original, to steal Ids, password, account information etc.

Pishing: This is normally done through Emails and text messaging, victims are sent messages directing them to a fake website requesting them to enter user names, passwords, credit card information etc.

References:

http://articledirectory.com/Art/513465/181/Internet-Marketing-What-is-Outsourcing-and-How-Can-it-Help-You.html

http://www.careonecredit.com/knowledge/credit-or-debit.aspx

http://www.w3schools.com/hosting/host_types.asp