E-Security

Unit IV

Client Server Network Security, Encrypted documents and E-mail, Architectural frames work for E-Commerce - WWW as architecture, hypertext publishing, Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), Information based marketing, advertising on the Internet.

CLIENT-SERVER NETWORK SECURITY

Network security on the Internet is a major concern for commercial organizations, especially top management. By connecting to the Internet, a local network organization may be exposing itself to the entire population on the Internet. Internet connection effectively breaches the physical security perimeter of the corporate network and opens itself to access from other networks comprising the public Internet.

Organizations must pay attention to security. For many commercial operations, security will simply be a matter of making sure that existing system features, such as passwords and privileges, are configured properly. They need to audit all access to the network. A system that records all log on attempts – the unsuccessful ones – can alert managers. Hackers can use password guessing, password trapping, security holes in programs, or common network access procedures to impersonate users and thus pose a threat to the server.

Client Server network security problems manifest themselves to three ways:

Physical security holes result when individuals gain unauthorized physical access to a computer. A good example would be a public workstation room, where it would be easy for a wandering hacker to reboot a machine into single user mode and tamper with the files. Hackers gain access to network systems by guessing password of various users.

Software security holes result when badly written programs or “privileged” software are “compromised” into doing things they shouldn’t. The most famous example of this category is that “send mail” hole, which brought the Internet top its knees in 1988. A more recent problem was the “rlogin” hole in the IBM RS-6000 workstations which enabled a cracker to create a “root” shell or super user access mode. It could be used to delete the entire file system, or create a new account or password file resulting in incalculable damage.

Inconsistent usage holes result when a system administrator assembles a combination of hardware and software such that the system is seriously flawed from a security point of view. The incompatibility of attempting two unconnected but useful things creates the security hole. Problems like this are difficult to isolate. So it is better to carefully build the system with them in mind. This type of problem is becoming common as software becomes more complex.

PROTECTION METHODS:

Over the years, several protection methods have been developed, including trust based security, security through obscurity, password schemes and biometric systems.

1. Trust Based Security:

Quite simply, trust based security means to trust everyone and do nothing extra for protection. It is possible not to provide access restrictions of any kind and to assume that all users are trustworthy and competent in their use of the shared network. This approach worked in the past, when the system administrator had to worry about a limited threat. Today, this is no longer the case.

2. Security through Obscurity

Most organization in the mainframe era practiced a philosophy known as security through obscurity (STO) – the notion that any network can be secure as long as nobody outside its management group is allowed to find out anything about its operational details and users are provided information on a need to know basis. Hiding account passwords in binary files or scripts with the presumption that “nobody will ever find them”.

This method was quite successful with stand alone systems. But the users are free to move around the file system, have a great understanding of programming techniques, and have immense computing power at their fingertips. Then STO becomes less effective and make this method of security useless.

3. Password Schemes

One straightforward security solution, a password scheme, erects a first level barrier to accidental instruction. In actuality, however, password scheme do little about deliberate attack, especially when common words or proper names are selected as passwords. The simplest method used by most hackers is dictionary comparison – comparing a list of encrypted user passwords against a dictionary of encrypted common words.

To counter these threats, various approaches have been suggested for creating one time passwords, including smart cards, randomized tokens, and generate a token that a computer system can recognize – the token is derived from a cryptographic function of the clock time and some initialization information, and a personal identification number (PIN) is required to complete the authentication process.

4. Biometric Systems

Biometric systems, the most secure level of authorization, involve some unique aspect of the person’s body. Past biometric authentication was based on comparisons of fingerprints, palm prints, retinal patterns, or on signature verification or voice recognition. Biometric systems are very expensive to implement.

Biometric device variations are appearing, such as system that recognize keyboard typing patterns or read infrared facial patterns from passersby using only a simple video camera for image capture.

ENCRYPTED DOCUMENTS AND ELECTORNIC MAIL

E-mail users who desire confidentiality and sender authentication are using encryption. Encryption is simply indeed to keep personal thoughts personal. E-mail is typically encrypted for the reason that all network correspondence is open for eavesdropping. Internet e-mail is obviously far less secure than the postal system, where envelopes protect correspondence from casual snooping.

E-mail software is increasingly incorporating specific options that simplify encryption and decryption. Examination of encrypted information is nontrivial each file must be decrypted even before it can be examined.

There are two schemes for e-mail encryption that are being deployed on the Internet.

1. Privacy Enhanced Mail Standard

PEM is the Internet Privacy Enhanced Mail standard, designed, proposed but not yet officially adopted, by the Internet Activities Board to provide secure electronic mail over the Internet. PEM includes encryption, authentication, and key management, and allows use of both public key and secret key cryptosystems. The system supports multiple cryptographic tool: for each mail message, the specific encryption algorithm, digital signature algorithm, hash function, and so on are specified in the header.

Trusted Information Systems, Inc. has developed a free non-commercial implementation of PEM, and other implementations should soon be available as well. RIPEM, a program developed by Mark Riordan, enables secure Internet e-mail; it provides both encryption and digital signatures, using RSA and DES routines from RSAREF. It does not fully support certificates.

2. Pretty Good Privacy (PGP)

Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) is a implementation of public key cryptography based on RSA. It is a free software package developed by Philip Zimmerman that encrypts e-mail. Since being published in the US as freeware in June 1991, PGP has spread rapidly and has since become the de facto worldwide standard for encryption of e-mail.

PGP provides secure encryption of documents and data tiles that even advanced supercomputers are hard pressed to “crack”. For authentication PGP employs the RSA public key encryption scheme and the MDS developed by Rivest, a one-way hash function to form a digital signature that assures the receiver that an incoming message is authentic.

ARCHITECTURAL FRAMESWORK FOR ELECTRONIC COMMERCE

The software framework necessary for building electronic commerce applications is little understood in existing literature. In general, a framework is intended to define and create tools that integrate the information found in today’s closed systems and allows the development of e-commerce applications. It is important to understand that the aim of the architectural frame-work itself is not to build new database management systems, data repository, computer languages, software agent based transaction monitors, or communication protocols rather, the architecture should focus on synthesizing the diverse resources already in place incorporations to facilitate the integration of data and software for better applications. The electronic commerce application architecture consists of six layers of functionality, or services: (1) Applications; (2) Brokerage services, data or transaction management; (3) Interface, and; support layers” (4) Secure messaging, security and electronic document Interchange; (5) Middle ware and structured document interchange; and (6) Network infrastructure and basic communications services.

Application services	Customer-to- business, Business-to-business, Intra- organizational
Brokerage and data management	Order processing-mail order houses, Payment schemes- electronic cash, Clearing House or Virtual mail
Interface layer	Interactive catalogues, Directory support functions, Software agents
Secure messaging	Secure hypertext transfer protocol Encrypted e-mail, EDI Remote programming (RPC)
Middle ware services	Structured documents (SCML, HTML) Compound documents (OLE, OpenDocs)
Network infrastructure	Wireless - cellular, radio, PCs Wire line– POTS, coaxial, fiber optic

These layers cooperate to provide a seamless transition between today’s computing resources and those of tomorrow by transparently integrating information access and exchange within the context of the chosen application.

Electronic Commerce Application Services

Three distinct classes of electronic commerce application can be distinguished: customer to business, business-to-business, and intra organization.

Consumer-to-Business Transactions

This category is also known as marketplace transaction. In a marketplace transaction customers learn about products differently through electronic publishing, buy them differently using electronic cash and secure payment systems, and have them delivered differently. In light of this, the organization itself has to adapt to a world where the traditional concepts of brand differentiation no longer hold-where “quality” has a new meaning, where “content” may not be equated to “product,” where “distribution” may not automatically mean “physical transport”.

Business-to Business Transactions

This category is known as market-link transaction. Here, businesses, governments, and other organizations depend on computer-to-computer communication as a fast, an economical, and a dependable way to conduct business transactions. Business-to-business transactions include the use of EDI and electronic mail for purchasing goods and services, buying information and consulting services, submitting requests for proposals, and receiving proposals. Each year the trading partners exchange millions of invoices, checks, purchase orders, financial reports, and other transactions.

The current manual process of printing, mailing is costly, time consuming, and error-prone. Given this situation and faced with the need to reduce costs, small businesses are looking toward electronic commerce as a possible savior.

Intra-organizational Transactions

This category is known as market-driven transactions. A company becomes market driven by dispersing throughout the firm information about its customers and competitors; by spreading strategic and tactical decision making so that all units can participate; and by continuously monitoring their customer commitment by making improved customer satisfaction an ongoing objective. To maintain the relationships that are critical to delivering superior customer value, management must pay close attention to service, both before and after sales. In essence, a market-driven business develops a comprehensive understanding of its customers business and how customers in the immediate and downstream markets perceive value.

Three major components of market-driven transactions are

Customer orientation through product and service

Customization; cross-functional coordination through enterprise Integration; and advertising, marketing, and customer service

Information Brokerage and Management

The information brokerage and management layer provides service integration through the notion of information brokerages, the development of which is necessitated by the increasing information resource fragmentation. The notion of information brokerage is used to represent an intermediary who provides service integration between customers and information providers, given some constraint such as a low price, fast service, or profit maximization for a client. Information brokers, for example, are rapidly becoming necessary in dealing with the voluminous amounts of information on the networks. As on-line databases migrate to consumer information utilities, consumers and information professionals will have to keep up with the knowledge, and owner-ship of all these systems. With all the complexity associated with large numbers of on-line databases and service bureaus, if it is impossible to expect humans to do the searching. It will have to be software programs information brokers or software agents, to use the more popular term-that act on the searcher’s behalf.

Information brokerage does more than just searching. It addresses the issue of adding value to the information that is retrieved. For instance, in foreign exchange trading, information is retrieved about the latest currency exchange rates in order to hedge currency holdings to minimize risk and maximize profit.

Another aspect of the brokerage function is the support for data management and traditional transaction services. Brokerages may provide tools to accomplish more sophisticated, time-delayed updates or future compensating transactions. These tools include software agents, distributed query generator, the distributed transaction generator, and the declarative resource constraint base which describes a business’s rules and environment information. Software agents are mobile programs that have been called “healthy viruses”, “digital butlers” and “intelligent agents”. Agents are encapsulations of users’ instruction that perform all kinds of tasks in electronic marketplaces spread across networks. Information brokerages dispatch agents capable of information resource gathering, negotiating deals, and performing transactions.

Interface and Support Services

The third layer, interface and support services will provide interfaces for electronic commerce applications such as interactive catalogues and will sup-port directory services-functions necessary for information search and access. These two concepts are very different. Interactive catalogs are the customized interface to consumer applications such as home shopping. An interactive catalog is an extension of the paper-based catalog and incorporates additional features such as sophisticated graphics and video to make the advertising more attractive. Directories, on the other hand, operate behind the scenes and attempt to organize the enormous amount of information and transactions generated to facilitate electronic commerce. Directory services databases make data from any server appear as a local file. In the case of electronic commerce, directories would play an important role in information management functions.

Secure Messaging and Structured Document Interchange Services

In Integrated Messaging: a group of computer services that through the use of a network send, receive, and combine messages, faxes, and large data files. Some better-known examples are electronic mail, enhanced fax, and electronic data interchange. Broadly defined, messaging is the software that sits between the network infrastructure and the clients or electronic commerce applications, masking the peculiarities of the environment. Others define messaging as a frame-work for the total implementation of portable applications, divorcing you from the architectural primitives of your system. In general, messaging products are not applications that solve problems; they are more enablers of the applications that solve problems. Messaging services offer solutions for communicating non formatted (unstructured) data-letters, memos, reports as weft as formatted (structured) data such as purchase orders, shipping notices, and invoices. Unstructured messaging consists of fax, e-mail, and form-based systems like Lotus Notes

Middleware Services

Middleware is a relatively new concept that emerged only recently. Users in the 1970s, when vendors, delivered homogeneous over the years, there developed the need to solve all the interface, translation, transformation, and interpretation problems that were driving application developers crazy. As the cry for distributed computing spread, users demanded interaction between dissimilar systems, networks that permitted shared resources and applications that could be accessed by multiple software programs. Middleware is the ultimate mediator between diverse software programs that enables them talk to one another. Another reason for middleware is the computing shift from application centric to data centric i.e. remote data controls all of the applications in the network instead of applications controlling data.

WORLD WIDE WEB (WWW) AS THE ARCHITECTURE

Web provides the functionality necessary for electronic commerce. Electronic commerce depends on the unspoken assumption that computers cooperate efficiently for seamless information sharing.

The web community of developers and users is tackling the complex problems. The web began in March 1989, when Tim Berners-Lee of the European Laboratory for particle

Physics proposed the web project for research collaboration. Information sharing has been a goal of CERN, whose members are located in a number of European countries, for many years.

The initial proposal outline a simple system of using networked hypertext to quickly disseminate documents among colleagues. There was no intention of supporting sound, video, or images in this proposal. By the end of 1990, an implementation of the web was placed on a NEXT machine at CERN. The software had the capability to edit documents on the screen using a very primitive line mode browser.

Hundreds of people throughout the world have contributed by writing and modifying web software and documents. The project reached global proportions by the middle of 1993 with the introduction of the NCSA Mosaic – a multimedia front end to all the information served by the web.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The web architecture is made up of three primary entities: client browser, web server and third party services. The client browser usually interacts with the www server, which acts as an intermediary in the interaction with third party services.

The client browser resides on the user’s PC or workstation and provides an interface to the various types of content. For instance, if the user retrieves a graphics file from a web server, the browser automatically starts up the graphics files are available – JPEG, GIF, TIFF, BMO, among others. The browser has to be smart to understand what file it is downloading and what browser extension it needs to activate to display the file.

Web server functions can be categorized into information retrieval, data and transaction management, and security. The third-party services could be other web servers that make up the digital library, information processing tools, and electronic payment systems.

HYPERTEXT PUBLISHING

Hyper Media on the Internet (called distributed or global hypermedia) has accelerated sharply following the success of the web and browsers such as the NCSA Mosaic. This success has been aided by more powerful workstations, high resolution graphics displays, faster network communications, and decreased cost for large online storage.

Hypertext versus Hypermedia

Hypertext is an approach to information management in which data are stored in a network of documents connected by links. These links represent relationships between nodes. A hypermedia system is made of nodes (documents) and links (pointers). A node usually represents a single concept or idea. Nodes can contain text, graphics, animation, audio, video, images or programs. The nodes, and in some systems the network itself, are meant to be viewed through an interactive browser and manipulated through a structure editor.

Nodes are connected to other nodes by links. The node from which a link originates is called the reference or anchor, and the node at which a link ends is called the referent. The movement between nodes is made possible by activating links, which connect related concepts or nodes. In the web, links are not types. Links can be either referential or hierarchical. Hypertext is a very simple concept based on the association of nodes through links.

Hypermedia contains links not only to other pieces of text but also to other forms of media – sounds, images, and movies. Images themselves can selected to link to sounds or documents. In short, hypermedia combines qualities of hypertext and multimedia.

Benefits of Hypermedia Documents

Hypermedia documents are much more flexible than conventional documents. For example, one can read a hypermedia article just as one reads a conventional newspaper article. However, once also read the sections in different order depending on what captures the reader’s interest.

Hypermedia documents are also convenient. Hypermedia documents offer sound, video sequences, animation, even computer programs that execute when the links are selected.

Hypermedia links and nodes can change dynamically. Information in individual nodes can be uploaded, new nodes can be linked into overall hypermedia structure, and new links can be added to show new relationships.

Hypermedia systems are taking off as a new class of document authoring and management systems.

These systems allows people to create, annotate, link together, and share information from a variety of media such as text, graphics, audio, video, animation, and programs.

ELECTRONIC DATA INTERCHANGE (EDI)

EDI can be used to electronically transmit documents such as purchase orders, invoices, shipping notices, receiving advices, and other standard business correspondence between trading partners. EDI can also be used to transmit financial information and payments in electronic form. When used for affecting payments, EDI is usually referred to as Financial EDI and Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT).

As the EDI is fast, accurate, & economical in handling business document, more and more companies are adopting this method to increase the efficiency of the organization. It is the paperless exchange of information by using E-mail, Electronic Bulletin Boards, Electronic Fund Transfer & other similar technologies. It is also known as “Paperless Trading”.

Electronic data interchange is the electronic transfer from one computer to another computer processable data using an agreed standard to structure the data.

BENEFITS OF EDI

Computers have speeded up the production of invoices, purchase orders, etc. When these documents are produced by high-speed printers, however, they must still be detached, inserted, and mailed; copies must also be filed by the originating organization. Originals must be physically transported to the addressee, opened, carried to the appropriate individual within the addressee organization, and processed, which usually entails keying of the data into an MIS system, manually.

The use of EDI eliminates many of the problems associated with traditional information flow, which are mentioned below.

EDI helps organization by automatically processing information.

EDI reduces associated expenses of storage, printing, postage, mailing and recycling EDI minimizes data entry errors, improves accounts payable/receivable times as processes become streamlined and can be used for forecasting.

Your business cycle is improved and stock levels are kept constantly up to date and visible.

EDI transfer ensures real-time processing and eliminates times associated with manually sending, receiving and entering orders.

EDI reduces the time it takes your staff to manually create invoices and process purchase orders.

EDI eliminates paper trails and ensures paper usage is kept to a minimum.

Another advantage in the use of EDI is that it generates a functional acknowledgement whenever an EDI message is received, and it is electronically transmitted to the sender. This acknowledgement states that the message is received.

It is most suited in areas where any of the following characteristics exists.

A large volume of repetitive standard actions.

Very light operating margins.

Strong competition requiring significant productivity improvement.

Operational time constraint.

Trading partners request for paperless exchange of documents.

LIMITATIONS OF EDI

Cost of Implementation: It is true that EDI provides massive cost savings benefits but for small businesses re-designing and implementing software applications to fit in EDI into current applications can be quite costly. Such limitations of EDI must be considered if you plan on implementing such system.

Electronic System Safety: EDI also necessitates substantial investment in computer networks and security systems for maximum security. Any EDI system installed would require protection from hacking, malware, viruses, and other cyber security threats.

Preliminary Setup Consumes Time: Not only is the implementation of EDI system expensive to install, but it also consumes a considerable amount of time to set up the essential parts. Thus, such limitations of EDI can hinder fast-tracking of services if urgently required.

Several Standards to maintain: Numerous businesses looking to implement EDI also consider the several standards involved. These limitations of EDI do not allow small businesses to exchange data with larger establishments that make use of latest edition of a document standard. Some known measures include ANSI ASC X12, GS1 EDI, HL7, TRADACOMS, and UN/EDIFACT.

Suitable Backup System: EDI implementation also requires regular maintenance as the business functionality is highly dependent on it. Some robust data backup system is needed in case of system crash or for statistical purpose. Such limitations of EDI can cost some substantial amount to implement.

THE NEW AGE OF INFORMATION-BASED MARKETING

Interactive marketing brought on by electronic commerce will change the roles of small business, retailers, manufacturers, and media companies.

Retailers versus Manufacturers

The role of Retailers and manufacturers are fast reversing in electronic commerce. Now days, retailers have an advantage over manufacturers because they can measure customer response and get first crack at the broadest range of information. Indeed, point-of-sale (POS) scanning systems have played a major role in shifting power from manufacturers to retailers, as large innovators like Wal-Mart have amply proven.

Information based marketing can offer manufacturers and retailers a means to do market research and customer prospecting; to establish branch loyalty, market presence, and distribute redeemable coupons; and to create customized product bundles.

Retailer’s vs Manufacturers have the following methods:

Market research and customer prospecting

Market presence method

Product or services building method

Information-based products pricing and priority method

Target and Micro Marketing:

Electronic commerce, technology has put target and micromarketing within the research of small business. It gives information to the micro marketers not only about its own business but also consumer’s information. Consumer target is two-way flow of communication between seller and buyer. Direct mail and telemarketing are two fast growing ways to micro market. Technology is an essential tool in micromarketing. There are two main types of micro marketing:

Direct-relationship micromarketing is aimed at stimulating sales at retail establishments through direct contacts with consumers.

Direct - order micromarketing is focused on selling products directl y to consumers in their homes or businesses.

Small Business versus Large Business:

The key distinction between small and large business remains access to national and international marketing for advertising purposes.

Regulatory and Legal implications of Cyberspace Marketing:

Today, exorbitant advertising cost represents the barrier to reaching the customer effectively. Internet and other networks plays good role in advertising. The major difference between the internet and other I-way advertising media are ownership and membership fees. Due to the empowering effect of internet-facilitated advertising however, the balance of power between large and small companies may change in future

ADVERTISING ON THE INTERNET

Internet advertising has been around since 1994, but things have changed quite a bit in the last quarter century. From simple banner ads to pop ups, to now video production ads. Internet advertising provides businesses with billions of opportunities to reach target customers via computer and now mobile phones.

Internet Advertising Channels: Search, Social and Display

Internet advertising can split into three categories: search, social and display.

Paid Search:

Search advertising, also known as paid search and search engine marketing (SEM), are online ads that appear in search engine results on platforms like Google AdWords or Bing Ads.

So, whenever a person uses a major search engine to look up a certain product, search advertisements are the ones that will be appear in the top areas of your Google or Bing search.

For example, if I wanted to buy a dog bed for my French bulldog Nigel, I could Google “dog bed” and get the results

As you can see, paid search advertising is solely focused on intent-based results! You are marketing with the intent to buy!

This is a great way to advertise because you’re giving the potential customer products and services they want! This leads to high conversion rates and value.

So how do you pay for search advertising?

Paid search advertising uses a pay-per-click (PPC) advertising model, which means that every time your ad is clicked you pay the search engine for that traffic.

Paid Social

Social advertising or paid social ads are advertisements that appear on social media platforms. Social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram are paid to promote a business through boosted posts, offers and promotions.

Social ads help you target potential customers by personal, professional, demographic and behavioral parameters which allow you to reach the people who are most relevant instead of buyer intent!

An example of this would be a “sponsored” Facebook post that is used to increase the post’s presence or an Instagram advertisement:

Using paid social advertisements, you are able to use effective targeting, call to action buttons, useful tracking and analytics to see fast results in relevant platforms everyone uses daily!

Display Advertising

Display ads are the ad boxes that are on the tops or sides of a website. They can be traditional banner ads or even videos. These types of ads appear on sections reserved for paid advertising and are aimed at generating call to action.

For example, many news websites are full of video ads and clickable banner ads that are even that much more aggressive making you watch five seconds of a video before you can get into the content you came for.

Display advertisements are effective as they have a wide spread across millions of websites reached by Google’s Display Networks. These search engines share your ads to websites and apps based on keywords targeting preferences.

Online Advertising: Campaign Elements

There is much more to online advertising than simply placing an ad on the Internet and hoping for the best. The most effective advertising campaigns combine numerous interconnected elements, all of which perform unique functions to maximize the campaign’s potential. Not every online advertising campaign will have every element, but the following components of a digital marketing initiative will be common to many campaigns.

Text and Visual Ads

Google AdWords and Bing Ads offer advertisers the choice of either text-based ads or more visual advertisements, such as banners. Text-based ads are often referred to simply as PPC ads, whereas banners and similar ad formats are commonly referred to as display ads. In addition, social media platforms such as Facebook offer highly visual advertising formats that include some ad copy, which can be thought of as a combination of both. There are dozens of advertising formats available to today’s advertisers, allowing you to choose the format and advertising network that best suits the needs of your campaigns.

Landing Pages

Landing pages are specialized, optimized web pages that visitors are taken to upon clicking an ad. Landing pages can feature specific products featured in the advertisements themselves, or they may include prompts for users to provide the advertiser with more information, such as web forms. Landing pages can be used to convince prospects to complete an action, such as making a purchase, or function as another step in a longer “funnel,” such as requesting additional information or downloading a piece of content for lead generation purposes.

Call Tracking

To many advertisers, phone calls are the most valuable source of leads. For this reason, advertisers can choose to track phone calls generated from online advertising campaigns. WordStream Advisor, our comprehensive PPC and paid social management platform, offers fully integrated call tracking functionality, allowing you to determine the precise ad and keyword that prompted a prospective customer to call your business.

Sponsored Content

Many advertisers choose to utilize sponsored content as an element of their online advertising campaigns. Sponsored content can take many forms, from advertorial-style editorial content featured on websites (commonly known as native advertising), to sponsored updates on social media platforms. Both Facebook and Twitter offer advertisers this feature, with both platforms boasting a wide range of sponsored update options, such as Facebook’s Promoted Posts and Twitter’s Sponsored Tweets.

Analytics

Advertisers do not simply publish ads to the web and hope for the best – they must know exactly how well their ads are performing, and from where their traffic is coming. This is why analytics is a crucial component of any online advertising strategy. Analytics tools such as those found within WordStream Advisor offer a wealth of information about an advertising campaign, from impression share and click-through rate to cost-per-conversion and trends over time. Analytics tools are also invaluable in determining how consumers discover and ultimately interact with your website, a process known as attribution modeling.

Email Marketing

Email marketing is one of the most common elements in an online advertising campaign. Some advertisers launch email-only campaigns to highlight time-specific offers or content downloads, whereas others use email to complement their other digital marketing channels. Email marketing can be highly effective, making it a popular choice for today’s advertisers.

Remarketing

Consumers rarely discover a website and decide to make a purchase immediately. The customer journey can be lengthy and complex, and take place across multiple devices and websites over prolonged periods of time. For this reason, remarketing has become one of the most important tools in a digital marketer’s toolbox. Remarketing allows you to track users who have visited your website – but failed to convert or take action – once they leave your site, and serve ads to them on other websites. This not only significantly increases brand awareness, but also provides numerous further opportunities for the user to revisit your website and convert at a later time. Remarketing can be enabled on search and display campaigns, as well as social advertising initiatives.