Ross A. Malaga

Web-Based Reputation Management Systems: Problems and Suggested Solutions

Individuals who use the World Wide Web (WWW) to purchase goods and obtain information face a high level of uncertainty as to the quality of those goods and information. Reputation management systems are one way in which information about past transactions can be used to form judgments regarding the quality of goods and information obtained via the WWW. This paper examines current approaches used in reputation management systems and outlines six main problems with them. The paper suggests how these problems can be solved and develops an equation that can handle many of the problems. Implications for practitioners and researchers are discussed.

Worst practices in search engine optimization

Worst Practices in search engine optimization “Google may temporarily or permanently ban any site or site authors that engage in tactics designed to distort their rankings or mislead users in order to preserve the accuracy and quality of our search results.” This article examines some of the techniques that can lead the search engines to ban a site—so called “black hat” techniques. It is important for all webmasters and those that outsource their search engine optimization programs to understand these techniques and the impact they can have on search engine placement. One problem faced by legitimate sites is that black hat sites may rank well for short periods of time (before they are banned). High-ranking black hat sites will push legitimate sites down in the SERPs. In fact, many black hats make a living by automatically generating thousands of sites that rank well for a short period of time. Many of these sites make only a few cents a day, but multiplied by thousands or tens of thousands of sites, it adds up to a lucrative business. Another problem is that many black hat optimizers openly steal content from legitimate sites. A thriving consulting business has sprung up to provide search engine optimization services. While many consultants use “white hat” methods (those that are not likely to lead to a penalty or ban), some use black hat techniques. For example, according to Google insider Matt Cutts’ Blog the SEO consulting company Traffic Power was banned from the Google index. In addition, Google also banned Traffic Powers’ clients. The worst black hat optimizers use techniques aimed at having their competition penalized or banned by the search engines. We discuss search engine optimization, then examine black hat indexing techniques, followed by on-page and off-page methods. We also discuss how black hat optimizers manipulate the rankings of their competitors.

A weighted sum genetic algorithm to support multiple-party multiple-objective negotiations

Negotiations are a special class of group decision-making problems that can be formulated as constrained optimization problems and are characterized by high degrees of conflict among the negotiation participants. A variety of negotiation support techniques have been used to help find solutions acceptable to all parties in a negotiation. The paper presents an approach that employs a genetic algorithm (GA) for finding acceptable solutions for multiparty multiobjective negotiations. The GA approach is consistent with the complex nature of real-world negotiations and is therefore capable of addressing more realistic negotiation scenarios than previous techniques in the literature allow. In addition to the traditional genetic operators of reproduction, crossover, and mutation, the search is enhanced with a new operator called trade. The trade operator simulates concessions that might be made by parties during the negotiation process. GA performance with the trade operator is compared to a traditional GA, nonlinear programming, a hill-climber, and a random search. Experimental results show the GA with the trade operator performs better than these other more traditional approaches.

The Value of Search Engine Optimization: An Action Research Project at a New E-Commerce Site

AbstrAct A Web site that wants to increase its number of visitors can pay for search engine ads or attempt to improve its natural search engine ranking. Nobody really knows, which, if either, of these methods provides a positive return on investment (ROI). A search engine optimization (SEO) project was undertaken at a new e-commerce site. The site’s search engine rankings and traffic were measured after each phase in the project. The results indicate that SEO is an effective method for improving search engine rankings and site traffic. In addition, the costs and benefits of the SEO project are compared with a pay-per-click (PPC) search marketing campaign. The SEO project proved more cost effective than the PPC campaign.

Search Engine Optimization—Black and White Hat Approaches

Abstract Today the first stop for many people looking for information or to make a purchase online is one of the major search engines. So appearing toward the top of the search results has become increasingly important. Search engine optimization (SEO) is a process that manipulates Web site characteristics and incoming links to improve a sites ranking in the search engines for particular search terms. This chapter provides a detailed discussion of the SEO process. SEO methods that stay within the guidelines laid out by the major search engines are generally termed “white hat,” while those that violate the guidelines are called “black hat.” Black hat sites may be penalized or banned by the search engines. However, many of the tools and techniques used by “black hat” optimizers may also be helpful in “white hat” SEO campaigns. Black hat SEO approaches are examined and compared with white hat methods.

Consumer Costs in Electronic Commerce: An Empirical Examination of Electronic Versus Traditional Markets

Business to consumer electronic commerce has been growing at a rapid pace over the last few years. This growth is only sustainable in the future if consumers feel they are receiving a good value. In this article, I explore the costs to the consumer of participating in electronic markets and compare those costs with traditional retail outlets. Empirical data were collected and analyzed. The results show that there is no significant difference in the price of goods sold via electronic markets versus traditional markets. The results also indicate that consumers perceive electronic commerce as more risky (as measured by concern over credit card and personal data) than traditional markets. The implications of these findings are discussed.

A co-evolutionary approach to strategy design for decision makers in complex negotiation situations

The literature on automated techniques suggests that such techniques might be useful for complex decision-making where other approaches have proven limited. We present a genetic technique that assists decision makers in developing strategies for decision-making in complex, multi-objective and multi-person negotiation situations. Strategies are evolved with significant input from decision makers to enhance the acceptability of solutions in real-world applications. The preferences of all decision makers are integrated into the search so that solutions are consistent with the needs of all participants in the negotiation situation and further ensure the implementability of solutions in practice. The results show that the outcomes achieved by all parties involved in the negotiation are improved significantly when the genetic search is used to help devise strategies for the negotiation participants.

The effect of stimulus modes and associative distance in individual creativity support systems

A laboratory experiment was conducted in order to explore the role of stimulus modes and associative distance in individual creativity support systems. Pictorial and lexical stimuli were used to elicit ideas in response to a specific task. These stimuli were either mediated or remotely associated with the problem task. The creativity, quality, an total number of ideas were analyzed. Differing stimulus modes did not result in significant findings. However, the use of both mediated and remote stimuli did lead to a greater number of ideas than the use of no stimuli.

Additional methods when using email for teaching

Providing additional functionality and limiting problems by combining a server-side and client-side approach when teaching with email applications.

A new end-of-auction model for curbing sniping

AbstractThe online auction market has been growing at a spectacular rate. Most auctions are open-bid auctions where all the participants know the current highest bid. This knowledge has led to a phenomenon known as sniping, whereby some bidders may wait until the last possible moment before bidding, thereby depriving other bidders of the opportunity to respond and also preventing sellers from obtaining the highest price for an item. This is especially true in the case of the commonly used second-price, fixed-deadline auction. We consider a procedure involving a randomly determined stopping time and show that this approach eliminates the potential benefits to a sniper. The scheme enables all bidders to compete more fairly and promotes an early bidding strategy, which is likely to increase the price received by the seller while providing adequate bidding opportunities for would-be buyers.