CSIT155 S18:WendeeP

I have been writing an investment newsletter on and off since 1994. My current investment newsletter, the Intrinsic Value Wealth Report , is starting its seventh year of publication. From my experience with the newsletters that I have written; and the many newsletters that I read and have studied for ideas, I believe there are two types of customers/subscribers to investment newsletters: 1.       The first is the do-it-yourself (DIY) investor. This person likes to buy individual securities with which to build an investment portfolio. The people in this category that subscribe to investment newsletters will typically subscribe to more than one newsletter. They are looking for good investment ideas for their portfolios. I recently gave a talk at a large investment club, however, and was surprised to learn that most of the audience, who I thought would be DIY investors, actually were not DIY investors at all. They must have been in the second category  discussed below. 2.      

Chilis The “Chili’s is back” slogan is the first thing that you see when you bring up their website. The website has all the characteristics of an online ordering establishment. For example, the website has a section to find the nearest locations; it invites one to order online; and it talks about “curbside pickup.” The fare is such things as hamburgers, steak, and chili. Chili’s does try to emphasize fresh food and give the impression that ordering from them is easy, yet that one still gets quality food. The crossover with Teri Cafe is in the easy and quality image and their use of social media. There is also a crossover in their emphasis on being reasonably priced. Teri Cafe Teri Café is a Japanese and Hawaiian themed restaurant that serves a lot of teriyaki. It emphasizes that its food is homemade and uses natural ingredients. It also emphasizes that its food is of high quality. The crossover with Chilis is in the easy and quality image and their use of soc

Two websites that I use frequently are the American Association of Individual Investors, AAII.com; and StockCharts.com. I use these websites because the content of these websites is important to me in my research of the financial markets. One of my businesses is a stock research shop. I do research on stocks and investments and publish the results of that research in my investment newsletter, the Intrinsic Value Wealth Report . The visual design of both websites is satisfactory, but not excellent. The value of both of these websites is in their content. In fact, they are the best at what they provide when it comes to the content. They could both make better use of design; although they are laid out well in terms of organization. They could be more visually appealing. But, people use these websites because of the information they provide. I commented on the blogs of Marc Rodriguez; Jesus Origel; and Jose Montiel.

Apple.com 1.       Apple is, of course, a very large company that has a lot of resources with which to build an excellent website. In fact, Apple is the largest capitalization company in the world, with a market capitalization of nearly $1 trillion. 2.       Apple’s website has a clean and crisp look to it. It highlights its products well. The website makes good use of color. And the website is organized well. The website is not cluttered. Good design, branding, and aesthetics all of contribute to these good characteristics. Toyota.com 1.       Toyota also has a clean website that is not cluttered. Toyota is a sponsor of the Olympics, and advertises that fact right up front on the website. Like Apple, it highlights its products (i.e., automobiles) well. Toyota makes good use of color. The website also makes good use of the vehicle images that rotate, capturing one's attention. 2.       Toyota is also a very large company with the resources to build and maintai

INVESTMENT NEWSLETTERS 1.       Forecasts and Strategies a.       https://www.markskousen.com/ b.       They use links, though not regular social media links, to advertise their other newsletters in the newsletter group (they publish 5 newsletters). c.        I know the publisher and the marketing group that works with this newsletter. People do click the links and subscribe to the newsletters. d.       Date of last post: today. They are very active bloggers. e.        In my opinion, they could use social media such as Facebook and Twitter a lot more. In fact, I don’t believe they use these social media platforms at all. 2.       Eagle Publishing a.       http://www.eaglepub.com/ b.       They use links, though not regular social media links, to advertise their other newsletters in the newsletter group. They are the publisher of several newsletter groups, including Forecasts and Strategies. c.        I know the publisher and the marketing group that works with t

I experience difficulty communicating with businesses and government agencies all of the time. I am finding a more recent trend of businesses and government agencies not providing phone numbers in order to be able to contact them. In many cases, they also do not provide physical street address. Of course, many businesses are operated out of someone's home or a warehouse or somewhere similar, where it is not feasible or appropriate to visit them. I have not found that social media has made it easier for me to get noticed or to get my problem solved. But that may be because I am relatively new to using social media and haven't yet learned all of the ins-and-outs of how to effectively use social media. By the same token, I have not had any positive experiences communicating with a business through social media. I am looking forward to exploring the medium of social media and all of its vast potential. In the case of my own business, I intentionally set the website up such that

I posted on the blogs of Ava Domann, Storm Marquis, and Maxim Caradonna.

Social media, according to Professor Claudia Faulk, at its most basic level is about communication. It is used by everyone - individuals, businesses, and even governments. It is the "new" way that people communicate; although it is really not so new, as sites such as My Space and LinkedIn have been around since the early 2000s. There were even platforms such as AOL Instant Messenger and Yahoo Messenger, which could be considered early forms of social media, that were developed in the 1990s. The social media platforms that seem geared towards personal use, by my observations, are Facebook and Twitter. Pinterest, Instagram and Snapchat also appear to be popular personal social media platforms. In the dating realm, Tinder and eHarmony have been long-time favorites. There are many newer, and popular, entrants in the dating world that have gained their popularity only recently. An example here is Bumble. Social Media Platforms that are most geared toward businesses are LinkedI