1. What are the online promotional tools and interfaces which are used in the chosen website to drive traffic to its site, and to engage visitors to make a repeat visit?

2. Do you think these tools are effective? Why and why not?

A square of graphic at the right side of the page beside the category summaries of Jobs, Cars, Property, Shops depicting a contest: Post Ad and Win! This encourages advertisers to post more ads as there is a lucky draw prize-giving. Also mentioned in the link is “Upgrade to a Silver or Gold package and triple your odds of winning!”

Packages earn more revenue for st701 (as compared to free basic advertisements which are more attractive, generating more traffic and again serving to retain customers).

Registration is also compulsory for all advertisers which serves to build up a longer term relationship as compared to non registered browers.

Basic ads are also free with a 14 days duration; 3 images; 1 video link which is quite good considering that it's free. This is good for small enterprises or just people looking to sell second hand goods, or advertisers trying out the system. The Silver and Gold packages respectively cost $5 and $8 SGD which is also affordable and they come with additional features such as Bold Title; Background Highlight; Top Picks and a longer duration and more images which would expect more visitors due to higher penetration rate.

Registration makes an account for the user and saves one's postings and manage your ad inventory. This means that the user does not have to keep filling in the basic information and posting a repeat advertisement becomes hassle-free. Even posting a new ad is also easy as the user has already registered.

Registered users can also post their queries or 'looking for' advertisements on the Just Ask discussion board. There they can wait for other people to answer. This also helps to keep repeat visitors who are looking for a particular product.

With these tools, the site expects more posters and advertisers. This would lead to more users and in a self fulfilling cycle, lead to even more advertisers.

Hence I feel that these measures are effective and this is evidenced by both the discussion board and the ad postings. There is at least 1 new post every day for each section

3. What are additional promotional tools which you think can be incorporated to encourage repeat visits from the key audience segments?

ST701 may consider the option of adding an RSS feed option that can track new ads as soon as they are added. Users may be given an option such as view only submitted ads in Jobs, for example, and this will improve usability of ST701. With the constantly submitted ads, the user also has a higher chance of spotting something of interest and clicking on it for more information on the website.

ST701 should also give an option for users to opt into their mailing list without registration. Casual browsers often are too lazy or reluctant to register when they can view the ads and contact the advertiser through email. By having an opt in mailing list option for non-registered users, ST701 will gain a wide network of interested people without running the risk of being labeled as spam. This will also increase the audience