Publishing an ICT Project

 What is an online platform?

Online platform is a base of technologies designed to run within an online environment and provides interactive online services. The different online platforms that can be used to upload and publish ICT project are the following:

File Manager - It is an uploading tool web interface that allows users to manage their files and folders. 

a. Google Drive is a service offered by Google that allows you to store and share files online.  

b. Dropbox is a personal cloud storage service (sometimes referred to as an online backup service) that is frequently used for file sharing and collaboration.

Website Management - It is an integrated set of tools that allows teams to create, design, develop, launch, manage, administer, and monitor website contents. A web management system that handles content as well is Web Content Management System (WCMC). It is a specific kind of Content Management System (CMS) that provides website authoring, collaboration, and administration tools that help users with little knowledge of web programming languages or markup languages create and manage website content. A content management system (CMS) is an application that is used to manage web content, allowing multiple contributors to create, edit and publish web content.

a. WordPress - Is a free and open-source content management system (CMS) based on PHP and MySQL. 

b. Drupal - A free and open-source content management framework written in PHP and distributed under the GNU general public license.

c. Joomla - is a free and open source content management system (CMS) for publishing web content. Joomla is written in PHP, uses object- oriented programming (OOP) techniques.

Social Media - are websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking. Through social media you can increase the exposure of your website or blogs to bring in visitors.

a. Social Networks - These are sites which allow you to connect with other people. Once a user creates his or her account, he or she can set up a profile, add people, create groups, and share content.

•Facebook

•Google+

•Twitter

b. Media sharing - These are sites that allow you to upload and share media content like images, music, and video. Most of these sites have some additional social features like liking, commenting, and having user profile

•YouTube

•Flickr

•Instagram

c. Bookmarking sites - These are sites that allow you to store and manage links to various websites and resources.

•Pinterest

Promotion, Traction and Traffic Monitoring

Website Promotion is the process of increasing exposure of a website to bring in visitors. Various techniques such Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Web Content Development are being used to increase website traffic. The following are several ways to gain traffic:

1. Use Interactive Multimedia

2. Use Various Online Tools

3. Use Images

4. Use blog

5. Collaborate Online

6. Update

Traction Tools for Validation and Feedbacks

1. LinkedIn - is a social networking site designed specifically for the business community. The goal of the site is to allow registered members to establish and document networks of people they know and trust professionally.

2. Google AdWords - is an advertising service by Google for businesses wanting to display ads on Google and its advertising network.

3. Reddit - is an American social news aggregation, web content rating, and discussion website. Registered members submit content to the site such as links, text posts, and images, which are then voted up or down by other members.

4. Facebook ads - are purchased on an auction basis, where advertisers are charged based on either clicks, impressions or actions.

Web Analytics

Web analytics is the process of collecting, reporting, and analysing website data. It provides insights that can be used to provide users a better experience when visiting a website. Analytics platforms or tools are used to measure activity and behavior on website. For example, it measures the number of users visited a website, how long the users stay, how many pages they visited and whether they follow a link or not.

Web Analytics Tools or Platforms

1. Google Analytics - It provides real-time statistics and analysis of user interaction with the website. It enables website owners to analyze their visitors, with the objective of interpreting and optimizing website's performance. It can also track all forms of digital media and web destinations, advertisements, e-mail and integrates with other Google products.

2. Facebook Analytics - With Facebook analytics you can see the ways to take action right away. It creates the overview dashboard where you can see the number of new users, the number of unique users, and the percentage of people who return to your site.

Facebook Page Statistics

•Overview - contains the summary of statistics about your page.

•Post Reach - gives you more insights on which recent post reached the most people. 

•Organic Reach - your posts seen through the page's wall, shares by users, and newsfeed.

•Paid Reach - your posts seen through paid ads.

•Post Clicks - number of clicks done to your posts.

•Likes, Comments, and Shares - actual interaction done by your audience either though liking the post, commenting on it, or sharing it on their walls. 

•Page Visits - contains data of the number of times your page tabs are visited. 

•People - contains statistics about your audience's demographics (age, gender, income, location, gender, and language.).

2. Clicktale - It allows you to know how your customers or visitors are interacting with your site and you can literally view exactly what interactions they have had with your site.