Significant Educational Opportunity – Term Paper

The internet has provided immense opportunities for small business to thrive. Nowadays, marketing and advertising can be done online through websites and social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Tumblr. After noticing the great opportunities that the internet offers, I thought of how I could take advantage of it to maximize profits. The first thing that came to my mind was to develop a website. Because I did not have enough financial resources to engage an expert in the development of my site, I decided to teach myself the basics.

The first step in my self-study of website development involved selecting an area that was of great interest to me. I chose HTML and CSS. By searching the internet, I was able to learn the core design principles of HTML and CSS. The most helpful information came from YouTube videos as I was able to watch step-by-step procedures of building a website.  The videos were also interactive. After two months, I was in a position to create my website. Before embarking on the journey of creating my website, I first had to decide on the name. I had to choose a name that is easy to type, short, and memorable. After exploring many options, I finally settled on the name NewYorkOnlineFurniture.com because I found it easier to remember. Using website development tools that I studied on my own, I created an attractive internet site. I believed that an attractive website was essential for effective online sales and marketing. The major reason is that it had a potential to enhance the perceived value of the products. The website had 3D photos of the furniture. The 3D photos had an advantage of offering views of the furniture from different angles and thus made the images look like real-life ones. Because of this, a potential client did not have to visit the physical store to get a view the products.

To increase traffic to my website, I opened a Facebook page. I found Facebook useful because many people use it. After opening a Facebook page, I created shareable content on my website and posted links to the same page on my site continuously. I also made it easy to share my site content to Facebook by adding social share plugin Facebook Share buttons. I chose the Digg Digg plugin. I also used search engine optimization (SEO) tools so as to increase my page in Google. SEO helped my website improve its ranking in search engine result pages thus attracting more potential clients. It also helped built brand awareness. I closed this site last year since I moved to Los Angeles to study at Santa Monica College and hope to transfer to the University of California.

Currently, I am working on creating videos on YouTube relating to c++, java problem solving, and calculus 1, 2, and 3. In each of these videos, I will post a website that I will create. People can then open their account and share more solutions and problems there. I believe that YouTube videos can be a good eLearning community source because every individual has a voice. By using it as a social learning platform, it provides an opportunity for building a community where every person can share his or her contribution, opinions, and ideas about a particular topic.