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WebCD improves business information distribution by letting you proactively deliver
Web-based content directly to your target audience. WebCD improves information
access by end-users by making it easier and faster for end-users to browse your
site - without the Wait. WebCD makes it easy and fast to package this content on the fly...
1. To help your company sell more products/services using WebCD for Interactive Marketing applications
(promotion, sales training, prospect education, e-commerce). Use the detailed information available on
your Web site, add multimedia if you wish and deliver a direct marketing or fulfillment piece that builds awareness
and preference for your products. What's more, users can shop locally and order on-line. They review all your
product information without the delays inherent in Web-delivery. You attract, retain and reward their attention...
leading to increased marketing effectiveness and revenue growth.
2. To help reduce costs via electronic publishing. Using the formats and browser of the Web for document
management reduces authoring, maintenance and distribution costs, while improving user satisfaction. With all the
investments being made in Intranets and Web sites, why wouldn't you use this content and standard user interface
as the foundation for your electronic publishing initiatives? WebCD helps you leverage this effort and expense
by offering a CD-ROM delivery vehicle for Web-based content.
3. To improve the perceived performance of your Web site. Today your audience must deal with the frustrating Wait for content.
Bandwidth limitations can make browsing a "wait and see" experience that hinders the flow of information. Many users
hit the "stop" button or click to another site because they are fed up with download delays. This problem is particularly
acute for consumers at home, mobile/remote workers or international audiences. Local access via CD-ROM provides
immediate gratification, while Live-Links deliver fresh content.
4. To improve business communications that leverage your Web site investment. The model of the Web is backwards
from a business communication point of view: you must Wait for visitors, because before WebCD, you couldn't deliver
your Web site to them. When you think about the clutter of the Web (and search engines don't always help!) you will
realize the competitive advantage you company can gain by proactively reaching the thousands or millions of prospects,
customers, business partners and mobile employees who suffer from slow Web performance or lack convenient access
to the Internet. And sometimes you want to tailor your information for a certain audience without changing your whole
Web site. With WebCD you can!
5. You can add high-bandwidth files (rich multimedia, video, big graphics, etc.) to your WebCD that would be inappropriate
for Net delivery. On the Web, download time is the primary cause of a negative experience. As a result, Webmasters
had to be disciplined; de-tuned graphics, tiny video windows, small Shockwave presentations. Of course this is contrary
to the desires of marketing and multimedia folks who want big, colorful, moving pictures to help tell the story. And you
probably avoided audio completely, since with a 28.8 modem one second of sound requires about six seconds of download
time! about audio! WebCD acts like a private T1 for your readers. You can easily substitute high-bandwidth versions of
your existing Web files or include content that is not available on the Web at all...just drag from your desktop into the
WebCD Packager retrieval window.
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Is WebCD a kind of "push" delivery? |
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Yes, WebCD provides a simple, practical form of "push technology": proactive, supplier-initiated distribution of Web-based
information directly to interested people. You can deliver content directly to your target audience in a user-friendly package,
without intrusion, using traditional (time-tested & practical) methods such as the mail, in person, at tradeshows or in product packaging.
Users will choose to review the focused content you supply...delighted with the speed and convenience. You don't need to design and
send blinking messages across their computer desktop, designed to distract a user from their work. Instead, you deliver your multimedia-enhanced
Web site onto their physical desk-top or lap-top (in a package with a compelling headline/offer to get their attention.) This method doesn't
run the risk of causing a backlash from a customer's IS department. People worry about the network resources consumed by outside companies pushing content all day long to their employees. WebCD saves valuable computing resources by using CD-ROM to deliver and store bulky content, and the Net just for incremental updates and transactions.
Of course, if you have invested in electronic push systems you can accelerate adoption and increase the number of subscribers by using WebCD as a vehicle to deliver the necessary client software on CD-ROM. This gives you an opportunity to describe the benefits of the channel in advance and streamline the set-up process. For example, a major chip manufacturer with a hot new technology included BackWeb client software and a BackWeb promotional video on the WebCD they distributed to their target market.
Given the competitive frenzy in the push arena, how can you gain an advantage? Easy. Use WebCD as the physical element of your electronic publishing and interactive marketing strategy, using the most appropriate proactive delivery vehicle: CD-ROM.
Index of Questions
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Can I use WebCD to create my Web site or author multimedia presentations? No! |
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No, this is not an Web site or content authoring system. WebCD is used to integrate, organize
and deliver EXISTING content. You can easily make a "Web site on a disc", but you need to
have a Web site first. If you are looking for help developing a Web site, contact one of our Solution Partners.
Index of Questions
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What are some typical WebCD applications? |
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Interactive Marketing - As an integral
part of your marketing mix, WebCD works as a cost effective fulfillment
kit, trade show handout and direct mail piece that generates more
high-quality leads better close rates than paper based collateral. You can
deliver promotional material, including multimedia, instructional video,
non-Web documents, demos, applications and your Web site. Users can
learn more about your product and company by viewing a WebCD than
any other way. Since prospects can self-educate, effortlessly moving from
awareness, to preference, to purchase (perhaps via a link to your e-commerce
server) WebCD can help you earn more revenue in less time than the traditional
marketing fulfillment process. And without the high costs of printing and
mailing brochures, white papers, video tapes and separate demo discs.
Electronic Commerce - WebCD is one way to earn a bigger share of the tremendous e-commerce marketplace
of the future. Why not use the tried and true methods of direct marketing (delivery to the target)
to spark on-line ordering? This is such a hot growth market, you'll need an advantage to
beat your competitors. WebCD helps you build a bridge from consumers to your on-line
ordering system. Ideally, users will shop using the speed of the WebCD (fast access to big images and
all the product information) and order on-line to reduce your transaction costs. This provides
the ultimate payoff from electronic commerce: self-selling!
Sales Training and Reseller Communications - By combining "off-Web"
sales intelligence (such as Word, PowerPoint files and multimedia)
with your existing Web content, WebCD lets you quickly build an
electronic support package that shortens sales cycles and captures
more attention from your sales and reseller channels. WebCD provides "information
on demand" for sales training and also be used as a standard presentation tool.
Electronic Publishing - WebCD slashes printing and distribution costs, combining
HTML, PDF and other content on one CD-ROM. Write once and deliver on the
Web and on CD-ROM. Provide a connection to updates and errata so your
documents are never out of date.
Index of Questions
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What exactly is a "live-link" and how
does it work? |
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A live-link™ is an icon-driven connection
from WebCD out to your live Web site. If you are using a computer
with a permanent Internet connection you will experience no dial-up
delays as you jump from WebCD to the live Web site. However, the
page download times will be longer coming over the Net. If you
rely on dial-up access, your dialer program will be triggered
by your request to "go live".
Index of Questions
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Why can't I simply copy my Web site to a CD-ROM? |
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On first glance, it might seem that getting Web
content onto a CD-ROM could be as simple as copying files. The
truth is, because the Web is fundamentally a Client/Server system,
and because HTML files are linked together, content must be retrieved
using HTTP and then "relocated" to a local storage area.
Experienced Web developers know many of the pitfalls that surround
relocating HTML files. But a whole new set of issues arise when
building true hybrid Internet /CD-ROMs. The MarketScape White
Paper, Challenges in Building Hybrid
Web/CD-ROMs, points out a few of these challenges and
shows how a dedicated tool set like MarketScape® WebCD can
allow anyone in your organization produce high-quality hybrid
applications in far less time than manual procedures.
Index of Questions
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On what platforms does WebCD run? |
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The WebCD Packager runs on Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0. The WebCD
Viewer adds installation, bookmarks, Live-links, and searching
and is available for Windows 3.1, Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0,
but content produced by the WebCD Packager is stored in an open
format, allowing the CD-ROM to be viewed by any browser on any
operating system by simply opening the CD-ROM home page. A new version
of the WebCD Viewer for the Mac is in development. Contact your account
manager for details (sales@marketscape.com
) and to request a sample.
Index of Questions
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What are the main problems with using the Web? |
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This information is excerpted from a study published in October, 1996 by Georgia Institute of Technology,
available here:
http://www.cc.gatech.edu/gvu/user_surveys/survey-10-1996/#highsum![[LiveLink]](/file/36067/SIGCAT 97 - Conference on Convergence.ISO/Docs/webcd.gif "[LiveLink]")
Speed continues to be the number one problem of Web users (76.55%), and has been
since the Fourth Survey when the question was first introduced. The next big problems are
"finding known info" (34.09%), organizing collected information (31.03%), and being able to
find pages already visited (13.41%). Cost does not seem to be an issue, with only 7.75%
reporting this as a problem. Given that the average household income of Web users is well
above the normal population, this is not very surprising and can not be taken to mean that
the Web is currently affordable for all. The only notable difference between genders was
the problem of finding information: 31.01% of males, and 40.33% of females reported this
problem. No major differences were reported across age groups.
WebCD helps businesses solves the problems of the Web: SPEED - bypassing Internet
bandwidth bottlenecks, using CD-ROM to deliver Web-based content. Their is no way
consumers could ever navigate your site at higher speed! FINDING KNOWN INFO - you
deliver information directly to them making it easy to find! ORGANIZING collected info -
you organize information for them...if they are interested in your content, they'll love being
able to refer to your WebCD! FINDING PAGES ALREADY VISITED - your audience will
not need to remember your URL, they grab your WebCD, browse locally without the Wait
and click directly to your live site!
Index of Questions
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Why not just use PDF format and the free Acrobat Reader? |
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Adobe PDF is great for looking at pictures of printed documents. But, it uses the printed
page as the document structure, which is awkward on a computer screen where users
have windows that scroll and that can be various shapes and sizes. (Try making a window
containing a PDF document wider...the page doesn't expand to fill the larger window.)
On the other hand HTML is designed for navigation on a computer. The HTML-based
document can automatically adjust to fill the window on your desktop. Reading is more
natural and rapid. You don't have to zoom and pan to review a typical Web page...just a scroll bar to move
down!
In addition to usability problems, the content publishing process itself is inefficient if everything
must first be converted to PDF. With WebCD you use the Web site as the content reservoir.
Content is authored and edited efficiently, which accelerates the publication process, in turn reducing
authoring and production costs. And it is easy to change Web-based content on the fly using your
favorite editor. In contrast, if you want to tweak a page of PDF even to change one word, you've
got to go back to the original application, perhaps bother someone else to make the change, export the
revised document from their application into a PDF file and copy it back over to the Web site.
While PDF files aren't the ideal foundation for a Web site or electronic publishing application, they are
great for some things, for example highly-formatted files such as a specification sheet, diagram, or schematic.
WebCD supports the display of PDF files and includes the Acrobat Reader application to handle those conditions.
So, if you have PDF files on your Web site or from some other source, no problem!
But certainly the bulk of your content coming off of your Web site is written in HTML and is best viewed using
a browser such as Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator.
Think about it. Your company is already publishing lots of content for the Web in HTML. The Web browser is
the most successful desktop application of all time because
it is easy easy to use, flexible and handles virtually any data type (multimedia, video, etc.) Don't use the Acrobat
Reader by itself as your primary user interface. Instead, launch the Acrobat Reader to display PDF files from
within the Web browser, on the Web or CD-ROM.
Index of Questions
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Why not just use Macromedia Director for my content and simply connect to the Web? |
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Connecting to the Web isn't really the goal...information delivery is the goal. The more
convenient the better. Before WebCD, the only way to provide all available information about your product,
service or other topic was by connecting to the Web. Now, WebCD lets you
proactively deliver the content, on the same CD-ROM you use to deliver your Director presentation (or just about
any format.) This adds value to your production by making your deliverable even more useful and distinctive. This
multimedia+Web on CD is better for the end-user (faster, no-hassles, portable) and better for the business (you "push"
high-bandwidth content, delight consumers, cut through the clutter.) WebCD makes it easy and quick to package content
from the Web (whole sites, parts of sites or multiple sites) along with your multimedia presentation.
The concept of including a Web site on disc, not just a link to the Web, is discussed
below in an excerpt from an article from Imaging World, January 1st, 1997,
"CDs become a dominate force" by E.J. (Jerry) McFaul, president of the Special
Interest Group for CD Technologies and Applications (SIGCAT) Foundation
"As exciting as the possibilities of the World Wide Web are, current
telecommunications technology imposes definite limitations. Accessing the large files
associated with high-resolution graphics and video clips is still very tedious, if not downright
impractical.
Innovative companies such as Dataware Technologies, Teleshuttle and even Microsoft
have been creating "connected" CD products in parallel with the growth of the Web.
The user of a connected CD can explore all sorts of spectacular multimedia content and
then simply click on a button to connect to the Web and complete the transaction or get
that late-breaking update (See "Hybrid, Web & Connected CDs," IW, December 16th).
An even newer development is emerging in which the connected CD becomes a Web
site on a disc. The capability now exists to capture huge chunks of Web content,
including all of the hyper-linked pages, and place them along with a powerful search
engine on a CD-R or CD-ROM. The user can then explore an entire Web site off line,
with instant response times and the added luxury (some say necessity) of having everything
organized and word searchable. Such discs can still be linked with the Internet at the click
of a mouse. Marketscape [is] providing the tools and services for this very exciting
"marriage" of the Web and CD technology.
With WebCD users run your multimedia presentation and then click directly
to the appropriate Web content. Instead of saying "For more information,
visit our Web site", you deliver the Web site along with the multimedia presentation.
Users get the information they want without the Wait. Why exclude the abundant and useful
content available on your Web site from the CD-ROM you deliver?
Blend the benefits of multimedia and Web content together in creative, cost-effective new ways.
Consolidate multimedia, video and Web content together to communicate more effectively.
Users will be delighted to see that after watching your eye-popping multimedia
presentation, they can dig down into the details by navigating a multimedia-enhanced
Web site on a disc.
Index of Questions
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What can I put on a WebCD? |
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Anything that is accessible from your Web site can be placed on your WebCD.
You can also integrate high-bandwidth and extended content (e.g.,
movies, animations, software patches, audio, high resolution graphics,
documents) that is currently not on your Web site. Content that
requires back end processing by the server (e.g., form actions)
should be left as a Live-link™ to the Internet. Streaming
content like RealAudio® should be left as a Live-link™
or you can replace the metafile with the actual file contents.
Index of Questions
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Is it possible to make a WebCD from which you can play RealAudio
sound? |
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The short answer is yes, with permission and involvement of the content owner's Webmaster.
If that is you, no problem. The following information is from the tech support department at
Progressive Networks, supplier of RealAudio.
Player Plus allows a user to record RA files for later use. However, the
RealAudio Server has to be configured to allow a RA file to be recorded.
The organization serving RA content may not want or cannot lawfully allow
audio files to be recorded. This is at their discretion, and Progressive
Networks yields to their better judgement in this matter. If you want to
record from a particular site, we suggest you contact the site's Webmaster
for permission.
When copying or recording has been enabled on a RealAudio file, the symbol
of a little recorder appears at the bottom of the Player. When you see a
red bar through that image, it indicates the content provider has not
enabled copying or recording.
Sometimes when you copy a file you receive a RAM file instead of a RA file.
RAM files contain only URLs to RealAudio RA files, and not the sound clip
itself. RA files contain encoded audio.
You can also copy or record by saving the link as a file. This option, or
one worded similarly, is typically available off the File menu on the menu
bar, or via a context sensitive menu in the browser. These options vary
depending on the browser you are using.
Index of Questions
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