WO2001050371A2

WO2001050371A2 - Web site consumer attention capturing system and method

Info

Publication number: WO2001050371A2
Application number: PCT/US2000/031404
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jonah Chongho Hong
Original assignee: General Electric Company
Priority date: 1999-12-30
Filing date: 2000-11-15
Publication date: 2001-07-12
Also published as: AU1612801A; WO2001050371A3

Abstract

A method and system is provided which enhances the sticky nature of web sites, and provides additional advantages, by enticing consumers to visit a web site, containing information on items, and capturing the attention of the consumers while at the web site to cause continued viewing of the site by appealing to a consumer's desire for challenge, fun and awards. One or more consumer target sections are selected based on personal information of a consumer and/or general business information. One or more hidden icons are then provided on the consumer target section or sections. The consumer is awarded for finding one or more of the hidden icons by searching the web site. The hidden icon may be invisible to the consumer until certain actions are taken by the consumer or the hidden icon may be a visible image displayed on the web site. The web site may include one or more clues relating to the location of the hidden icon to assist and entice the consumer to continue searching for the hidden icon.

Description

WEB SITE CONSUMER ATTENTION CAPTURING SYSTEM AND METHOD

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to techniques for optimizing the marketing of information on a web site and, in particular, to a system and method for enticing consumers to visit, revisit and explore a web site.

Historically, advertising has involved a battle of wits between advertiser and consumer. In the mass media, producers of products and services vie with each other to capture the attention of potential consumers, while those same consumers (although generally endorsing the idea of advertising as a way of keeping entertainment and information costs down) strive to evade as many advertising messages as they can. Consumers press the mute button on their TV remotes and "zap" advertisements by flipping between channels, they mentally tune out or "zap" radio commercials, they flip advertising pages of a newspaper or magazine without paying any attention to the, and they subscribe to non-commercial information and entertainment media. Rare indeed is the consumer who actually enjoys being at the receiving end of mass-media advertising.

Although the concept of a consumer's attention as a commodity with intrinsic value has only recently entered public discussion, it has long been implicit in advertising, marketing, and public relations. Since advertisers know that only a small percentage of the audience has a real interest in the product or service being sold, they have learned to rely on entertainment values — constant repetition, snappy jingles, blaring headlines, and sex — to attract the attention of the audience and thereby sell their wares. Advertisers also have come to rely on techniques for giving consumers an incentive based on compensation (e.g., "money saving" coupons and discount offers) to encourage consumers to purchase their wares. Some advertisers mail direct payments to consumers (e.g., dollar bills, checks, or other rebates). The consumer can use these direct payments to help pay for purchasing the advertiser's goods, or to purchase other related or unrelated goods or services. Although these techniques can be effective, they cannot be used with television, radio and other popular forms of mass communication.

The Internet is the first medium that can claim to be both "mass," in the sense that it reaches millions of people all over the globe, and "specialized," in the sense that its technology is capable of targeting information directly to the individual consumer. The Internet is a system of linked computers that permits fast, low-cost, global communication, entertainment, and information exchange. The structure of the Internet is a network backbone with networks branching from the backbone. These branches, in turn, have networks branching from them, and so on. Routers move information packets from network to network, until the information packets reach their destination. For a i lore detailed description of the structure and operation of the Internet, please refer to "The Internet Complete Reference," by Harley Hahn and Rick Stout, published by McGraw-Hill, 1994.

During the past few years, there has been a substantial growth in the quantity and diversity of information and services available over the Internet. The number of users of the Internet has similarly grown quite rapidly. Perhaps one if not the predominant area of growth on the Internet has been in the use of the World Wide Web, often referred to as WWW, W3, or simply "the Web." The hyper-text transfer protocol (HTTP) that serves as the foundation protocol for the Web has been widely adopted and implemented in Web browsers and Web servers. Web browsers provide a convenient user application for receiving generally high quality text and graphical based information in a scrollable display page format. Computers which provide information on the World Wide Web are typically called "web sites." A web site is defined by an Internet address which has an associated electronic page, often called a "home page" along with one or more additional pages. Generally, a web site is an electronic document which organizes the presentation of text, graphical images, audio and video into a desired display. These web sites are operated by a wide variety of entities which are typically called "content providers", i.e. an individual or company that places information (content) on the Internet so that it can be accessed by others.

A user may access the Internet using a home personal computer (PC) equipped with a conventional modem or using any suitable Internet-compatible device. Special interface software is installed with the PC so that when the user wishes to access the Internet, an attached modem is automatically instructed to dial the telephone number associated with the local Internet host server. The user can then access information at any address accessible over the Internet. Two well-known software interfaces, for example, are the Netscape Navigator d veloped by Netscape, Inc. and the Microsoft Internet Explorer developed by Microsoft Corporation.

Information exchanged over the Internet is typically encoded in

HyperText Ma_.k-up Language (HTML) format. The HTML format is a scripting language which is used to select the home pages for different content providers. As is well known in the art, the HTML format is a set of conventions for marking different portions of a document so that each portion appears in a distinctive format. For example, the HTML format identifies or "tags" portions of a document to identify different categories of text (e.g., the title, header, body text, etc.). When a web browser accesses an HTML document, the web browser reads the embedded tags in the document so it appears formatted in the specified manner.

An HTML document can also include hyper-links which allow a user to move from one document to another document on the Internet. A hyper-link is an underlined or otherwise emphasized portion of text or graphics which, when selected using an input device, such as by clicking a mouse, activates a software connection module which allows the user to jump between pages or documents (i.e., within the same web site or to other web sites). That is, Web pages are related by embedded hyper-text links that reference other Web pages. This system of simply selecting relations makes browsing successive Web pages served from potentially quite diverse and distant Web servers convenient and intuitive, and accounts in large part to the rapid and wide acceptance of the Web as an information resource.

As the popularity of the Internet and the World Wide Web has increased over the years, more companies are trying to find ways of promoting their products and services in an effective manner. Thus, there has been a tremendous proliferation of corporate advertising across the Internet and competition for the pul lie's time and attention will become increasingly keen. For example, some companies such as Yahoo Corporation offer free services, such as the ability to search for particular sites on the Internet, but post advertising messages to consumers to help offset the cost of their service.

Various features have been developed to make web sites "sticky", that is, to attract consumers to web sites and keep consumers at the site. The longer the consumer remains at the site, the greater the positive impression made on the consumer thereby increasing the likelihood of an immediate or future purchase by the consumer. For example, one sticky feature is to compensate the consumer for viewing the web site. U.S. Patent No. 5,855,008 discloses a system for distributing advertising and other information over a computer network which provides direct, immediate payment to a consumer for paying attention to an advertisement. A special icon or other symbol displayed on a computer screen represents compensation and allows users to choose whether they will view an ad or other information and receive associated compensation. The system is capable of determining whether the consumer's interaction with the advertisement is adequate to justify compensation.

Yet another approach for attracting consumers' attention to a web site and increasing the likelihood of purchasing by the consumer is to customize the electronic advertisements to the consumer's profile. For example, the system disclosed in the '008 patent matches a consumer viewing a web site with advertisements having relevance to the consumer's profile. The profile is comprised of demographic information entered by the consumer. The system also tracks the consumer's activities and elaborates the consumer's profile automatically.

U.S. Patent No. 5,933,811 discloses a system and method for delivering customized advertisements in an interactive communication system based on a specific consumer profile. The profile includes demographic information entered by the consumer. The syst ;m tracks the activity of the consumer and sends new customized advertisements. In addition, the system may compensate the consumer for viewing advertisements, for example, for a predetermined period of time.

Although the combination of compensation and customized advertisements may be effective to some degree, sellers and providers of goods and services are continually searching for ways to enhance the sticky nature of web sites. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention enhances the sticky nature of web sites, and provides additional advantages, by providing a method and system for enticing consumers to visit a web site, containing information on items, and capturing the attention of the consumers while at the web site to cause continued viewing of the site. A method in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention is performed by selecting one or more consumer target sections based on personal information of a consumer and/or general business information, providing the one or more consumer target sections with one or more hidden icons and awarding the consumer for finding one or more of the hidden icons by searching the web site. The hidden icon may be invisible to the consumer until certain actions are taken by the consumer or the hidden icon may be a visible image displayed on the web site. The web site may include one or more clues relating to the location of the hidden icon to assist and entice the consumer to continue searching for the hidden icon. The one or more clues may include information presented on khe section of the web site containing the hidden icon. The one or more icons may also be provided on consumer target sections.

Methods, systems and programs in accordance with the present invention greatly increase the stickiness of web sites by appealing to a consumer's desire for challenge, fun and awards.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a communications network suitable for implementing a system, method and program according to an embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 2 is a flowchart describing various steps of interaction of the components of the system of FIG. 1, including an exemplary method according to the present invention for enticing consumers to view and continue viewing a web site.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring to FIG. 1 , the method, system and computer readable storage medium of the present invention is preferably incorporated into an interactive communication network, indicated generally at 10, which includes a conventional consumer computer or other network-compatible device 12, a content provider computer or server 14 of the present invention and a communication medium 16, i.e. the Internet, which enables communication between consumer computer 12 and content provider computer system 14. Of course, multiple consumer computers and multiple content provider computers are typically provided, although not shown in FIG. 1, to permit different consumers at various locations to access different content provider computers or servers.

In a conventional manner, the consumer cc mputer 12 may, for example, be a conventional computer equipped with a conventional modem and a consumer browser application. Preferably, the consumei computer 12 runs an appropriate operating system including a Transfer Control Protocol/Internet

Protocol (TCP/IP) stack which handles all incoming and outgoing message traffic passed over Internet 16. However, the consumer computer 12 could, for example, be a computer workstation, a local area network of individual computers, an interactive television, an interactive kiosk, a personal digital assistant, an interactive wireless communications device or the like which can interact with the Internet 16. While in such systems the operating systems will differ, they will continue to provide the appropriate communications protocols needed to establish communication links with the Internet 16. Consumer computer 12 may connect to Internet 16 either directly via a local area network or through an Internet Service Provider (ISP) in a conventional manner. Content provider computer system 14 of the present invention delivers information to consumer computer 12 via Internet 16 by utilizing several operational modules as discussed more fully hereinbelow. However, it should be noted that content provider computer system 14 is similar to a conventional server computer system in that it is equipped with a communications link to

Internet 16. Moreover, content provider computer system 14 runs an appropriate operating system including a TCP/IP stack which handles all incoming and outgoing message traffic passed over Internet 16. Content provider computer system 14 may, however, include a wide range of devices which provide information, graphics or text. These devices may contain specialized operating systems which communicate using their respective communications protocols. For example, the content provider computer system 14 may include network servers, video delivery systems, audio-visual media providers, television programming providers, telephone switching networks, wireless communication centers and the like.

Content provider computer system 14 includes a content server module 18, preferably in the form a standard web server software system which serves electronic pages. Content server module 18 may be, for example, Netscape's Internet Server software, Microsoft's Internet Server software or the Lke. Such server software is configured to process messages from the consumer computer 12 and display desired electronic pages. In particular, the server software sends copies of web pages, that is, electronic or HTML pages, to each consumer computer 12 which accesses the content provider computer system 14.

Content provider computer system 14 also includes a hidden icon page selector module 20 which provides an organizational structure for presenting information to the consumer by including numerous web or electronic pages.

In the preferred embodiment, electronic pages are HTML documents which contain HTML encoding. Hidden icon page selector module 20 functions primarily to select a consumer target section sequence of the web site, e.g. a web page, location in a specific section of a web page, or a sequence of multiple sections and/or pages, for receiving at least one hidden icon. The module 20 can also define an event (e.g., the accessing of a particular page or icon, or sequence of pages or icons, for the one-thousandth (or other number) time). The remainder of the description will assume the use of an icon, but it will be understood that these alternatives can also be used. The consumer target section is preferably that section or page of the site which contains item information believed to be relevant to the particular consumer viewing the site and/or relevant to achieving business objectives. Hidden icon page selector module 20 chooses the section of the web site for receiving the hidden icon or icons based on personal information specific to the consumer and/or general business information. In the preferred embodiment, hidden icon page selector module 20 functions to receive, process and store/maintain the personal consumer information and/or general business information and select a section of the web site, e.g. a web page or a section of a page, containing item information most relevant to the consumer based on the personal information and/or the business information. However, the personal and business information may be stored in another module or program. The hidden icon page selector is preferably implemented in a server software application or control program including one or more instructions for selecting the section of the site for receiving the hidden icon and embedding the hidden icon, and its underlying link, in the chosen location or section of the site.

Hidden icon page selector module 20 may include a registration program which displays an HTML document which prompts the consumer to enter demographic data. The demographic data can contain a wide variety of information, including, but not limited to, age, sex, income, career, interests, hobbies, consumer preferences, the account number of consumer's Internet provider, other account information, etc. Once the consumer enters the demographic data, the registration program stores the demographic data as a profile in a registration database. The registration program may also assign the consumer a consumer member code. The registration program not only stores the consumer member code in the registration database but also sends a copy of the consumer member code to be stored in a Cookie on the consumer computer 12. Thus, the demographic profiles can be constructed through explict interest questionnaires that the consumer completes when entering the web site. This explicit construction of a user profile fosters more trust with the user than strictly monitoring usage. Explicit profile construction is also more efficient, as it avoids the need for compiling and analyzing a large amount of user usage data. However, the consumer profile stored in the hidden icon page selector module 20 may also include the consumer's preferences based on the consumer's activities on the web site through electronic tracking of the consumer's usage and activities on the site. Thus, a consumer may be asked to proactively describe him or herself to obtain the demographic profile. Then the consumer's actions can be monitored such that a representation of the consumer's actions are added to the self description. This combination of self description (explicit profile building) combined with monitored actions yields highly accurate and granular consumer profiles which can be used to predict consumer interests and behaviors.

Hidden icon page selector module 20 accesses the consumer profile containing the personal information, including processed consumer preferences and demographic information, and selects an appropriate consumer target section or sections based on the consumer profile. Thus, if a consumer computer requests a web site relating to nutritional items, and the consumer has indicated a specific age category or health problem during a previous visit to the site or during the present visit, hidden icon page selector module 20 selects a consumer target section of the site containing information relating to nutritional items most relevant to a person in the age category of the consumer and perhaps suggested for the particular health problem. Alternatively, hidden icon page selector module 20 may select a section or page of the web site containing information of secondary relevance to the particular consumer based on the consumer preferences since the consumer will likely visit the page of primary relevance without the incentives discussed hereinbelow. As discussed hereinbelow, hidden icon page selector module 20 may also store and use general business information to select one or more consumer target sections. With respect to the consumer's activities while viewing the web site, hidden icon selector module 20 may be configured to update the consumer's personal information or profile based on, for example, the consumer viewing a particular page for a predetermined period of time, purchasing of certain types of products and/or the combination of certain activities, such as viewing a particular page and listening to an audio application and/or reviewing a product specification. Once hidden icon page selector module 20 selects the consumer target section based on consumer personal information and/or business information, hidden icon page selector module 20 ensures that a hidden icon is provided on the selected consumer target section. Preferably, hidden icon page selector module 20 includes a server software application which chooses the section of the site and embeds the hidden link in the chosen location/section. It should be noted that the hidden icon page selector module 20 may select more than one consumer target section for receiving a hidden icon thereby providing multiple hidden icons throughout a site including possibly more than one hidden icon on a given web page.

Content provider computer system 14 also includes an accounting module 22 which is configured to award a consumer based on the consumer locating the hidden icon as discussed more fully hereinbelow. In the preferred embodiment, accounting module 22 stores information regarding the consumer's success in locating the hidden icon and creates consumer accounts for awarding consumers for successfully finding the hidden icon or icons, by, for example, accumulating and dispersing points or digital cash.

Importantly, the method and system of the present invention includes a form of treasure hunt in which the consumer is awarded in some fashion for locating the hidden icon. Thus, once having knowledge of this game or treasure hunt, the consumer is enticed to visit the web site and continue perusing the web site in search of the hidden icon. During this process, the consumer is exposed to a variety of information regarding various items displayed or presented on the site in a text, graphic or audio format. It should be noted that the term "item" or "items", may include any type of products and/or services. By placing the hidden icon on a consumer target section containing item information based on the consumer's personal information and/or general business information, the present invention directs the consumer to a portion of the web site containing information most likely to be found attractive or interesting to the consumer while incentivizing the consumer to search through other areas of the site, thereby perhaps increasing the likelihood of a present or future electronic commerce transaction.

The term "hidden" is defined for purposes of the present invention as either invisible to the consumer while viewing the site until the consumer performs a specific action, or visibly displayed in some form known or unknown to the consumer. For example, the hidden icon may be embedded in a single color background portion of the web site and therefore invisible until, for example, the consumer moves a cursor, by manipulation of a mouse, over the portion containing the hidden icon. When the cursor contacts the portion of the page containing the icon, the cursor may simply change form, e.g. become a small pointer hand in the conventional manner. In addition, a rollover or mouseover may appear on the screen adjacent the hand pointer indicating the hidden icon was found or congratulating the consumer. The rollover may be a box containing text or a graphical display. In a second embodiment, the hidden icon may be a visible image displayed on the screen. For example, the visible hidden icon may be a small inconspicuous logo or a specific word or phrase positioned in the text or graphics on a page of the web site. The visible hidden icon may also be an item or a portion of an item displayed on the site such as a vitamin having a specific size and shape positioned among other vitamins having the same or different shapes on a nutritional supplement web site containing various pages displaying different vitamins. The consumer may be initially informed of the visual image of the hidden icon and then search through the web site for the image. Alternatively, the consumer may be informed from the start that a hidden icon exists without any disclosure of the particular visual image. It should also be noted that the hidden icon may be in the form of a hyper-link which, when selected, causes the consumer to move to another portion of the web site or to another web site. For example, the other web site may be dedicated to awarding the consumer for locating the hidden icon. Alternatively, the awarding process may occur automatically and the hidden icon link used to move the consumer to another relevant portion of the same web site or another web site.

Another aspect of the present invention is to provide one or more clues in the text, graphical or audio portions of the web site which relate to the location of the hidden icon. The clue or clues may suggest the section of the web site containing the hidden icon or possibly information relating to the item information presented on the section of the web site containing the hidden icon. The clue itself may be somewhat inconspicuous, for example, embedded in the text of a product description or included in a rollover associated with an icon. The rollover may be a box containing text or a graphical display. Alternatively, the clue may be part of a recognizable clue icon. In any case, whether inconspicuous or recognizable, the clue may, for example, merely indicate that the consumer is "cold", "warm" or "hot", to express the consumer's proximity to the hidden icon. Alternatively, for example in a web site directed to nutritional products, the clue could simply state "find your heart" or "find strong bones" for indicating nutritional products relating to prevention of heart disease or maintaining bone strength, respectively, which are items displayed on the portions of the web site containing one or more hidden icons.

Referring to FIG. 2, a flowchart describing the interaction of consumer computer 12 and content provider computer system 14 via Internet 16, including the process steps performed by content provider computer system 14 to entice consumers to visit, revisit and explore a web site, is shown. The steps performed by content provider computer system 14 can be implemented by a software program resident in the respective modules associated with system 14. At start state 100, the process initializes and moves to state 102 wherein consumer computer 12 requests a web page from the content provider computer system 14. In response to a received URL identifying an existing web page, proceeding to state 104, content provider computer system 14 determines whether the consumer is a member, i.e. previously registered by in jutting demographic information. If the consumer is not a member, the process proceeds to step 106, where content provider computer system 14 sends the requested web page with the registration form. The registration form is an HTML document which invites the consumer to input demographic information. The process then proceeds to state 108, where it is determined whether the consumer completes and transmits the form to the contact provider computer system 14. If the consumer completes the registration form, the process proceeds to state 110 wherein the accounting module 22 creates a new account for the new member. The creation of a new account may include the assignment of a consumer member code dedicated to that particular consumer, for example, using a CGI script which selects unique consumer codes. The accounting module 22 may store the consumer member code. The consumer's demographic data may be stored in either accounting module 22 or hidden icon page selector module 20. If the demographic information is stored in accounting module 22, the hidden icon page selector module 20 will communicate with accounting module 22 to access this data during selection of the appropriate consumer target section or page for receiving the hidden icon or icons and possibly one or more clues. The accounting module 22 also transfers the consumer member code to consumer computer 12 using standard HTTP transfer procedures. Preferably, the consumer browser in the consumer computer 12 receives the consumer member code and stores the code in a consumer browser Cookie.

Referring back to state 104, one way in which the content provider computer system 14 may determine whether a consumer is a pre-registered member is by directing the consumer browser to send a copy of the Cookie which contains the consumer member code. Accounting module 22 may then extract the consumer member code from the Cookie and determine whether the const mer has registered with the content provider computer system 14. If the Cookie does not contain a consumer member code, the process proceeds to state 106. H> wever, if the Cookie does contain a consumer member code, the process proce ds to state 112 since the consumer is a member. In state 112, accounting module 22 identifies the account and the consumer profile associated with the particular account. The process then proceeds to state 114 wherein hidden icon page selector module 20 selects the consumer target section or pages for the hidden icon or icons and, if desired, the respective section or sections for one or more clues, based on personal consumer information and/or general business information. State 114 also occurs after the completion of state 110. The process then transfers to state 116 wherein the consumer interacts with the site. Referring back to state 108, if the consumer chooses not to complete the registration form, the process transfers to state 1 15 wherein hidden icon page selector module 20 selects one or more consumer target sections for the one or more hidden icons based on general business information. One or more consumer target sections may also be selected for placement of one or more clues based on the general business information. General business information may be any business information which is nonspecific to the consumer viewing the web site. For example, module 20 may include stored information relating to the most frequently purchased items or the items included in a special promotion, i.e. items on sale or new technology items. In this manner, the clues and hidden icon or icons could be utilized to channel or guide the consumer toward those sections of the web site perhaps most likely to create a purchase or to satisfy another objective of the web site provider, i.e. to expose the consumer to cutting edge technology. The process then proceeds to state 116.

From state 116, the process proceeds to state 118 where it is determined whether the consumer locates the hidden icon or icons. If the hidden icon is located, the process procs ?ds to state 120 wherein the consumer is awarded. If the consumer has not located the hidden icon or a predetermined number of hidden icons, the process proceeds from state 118 to state 122. At state 122, it is determined whether the consumer is a registered member. If the consumer is not a registered member, the process proceeds from state 122 to state 116. If the consumer is a registered member, the process proceeds to state 124 wherein it is determined whether the consumer's activity is sufficient to justify an elaboration or modification of the consumer's personal preferences in the consumer's profile. If there is sufficient consumer activity on the web site, the process proceeds from state 124 to state 126 wherein the consumer profile is updated based on the activity of the consumer at the web site. The process then proceeds from state 126 to state 116. If the activity at the web site is insufficient, the process proceeds directly to state 116.

When the consumer locates the hidden icon, accounting module 22 records the occurrence and the location of the hidden icon or icons and clues. In this manner, if the consumer exits the web site and then reenters, or resets the hidden icon game by clicking on a reset button which may be provided, the system program may be designed to ensure a different set of icon and clue locations, e.g. a different set of consumer target sections or a different location on a selected page, are chosen for each subsequent visit by a given consumer.

The award provided to a consumer who finds the hidden icon or a predetermined number of hidden icons may be in the form of a payment transaction handled either through coupons or through a direct payment of digital cash to the consumer computer 12, via perhaps a financial clearinghouse (not shown). A digital cash transaction at the consumer computer 12 has the advantage of providing an immediate, direct electronic payment. The consumer who wins by finding the hidden icon may be awarded a gift, or points which could be accumulated for use towards a gift or item selected from, for example, a web catalogue. The "/inner of the hidden icon search or game may be entered into a sweepstakes or lottery. In essence, any form of award or compensation may be utilized. The consumer may also be awarded progressively each time a hidden icon or set of icons are found, and/or each time a clue or set of clues are found.

While the foregoing description includes numerous details and specificities, it is to be understood that these are provided for purposes of explanation only, and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will easily be able to make numerous modifications to the exemplary embodiments described above without departing from the scope of the invention, as defined by the following claims and their legal equivalents.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. A system for enticing consumers to a web site, containing information on items, and capturing the attention of the consumers while at the web site to cause continued viewing of the site, comprising:

a hidden icon page selector module configured to receive and process at least one of personal information specific to the consumer and general business information, and to select a consumer target section of the web site containing item information based on at least one of said personal information and said general business information, said consumer target section including at least one hidden icon;

a content server module configured to send said consumer target section for viewing by the consumer; and

an accounting module configured to award the consumer based on the consumer locating said at least one hidden icon.

2. The system of claim 1, further including providing a clue on said web site, said clue relating to a location of said at least one hidd n icon.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein said clue provides information relating to an item on said consumer target section containing said at least one hidden icon.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein said clue is a rollover box.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein said personal information includes demographic data specific to the consumer.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein said hidden icon page selector module is configured to track a consumer's activity on said web site to determine immediate consumer preferences, said personal information including said immediate consumer preferences.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein said hidden icon web section selector module is configured to embed said at least one hidden icon in said consumer target section.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein said at least one hidden icon is invisible.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein said at least one hidden icon is a visible image displayed on the web site, said web site including information informing the consumer of a visual quality of said at least one hidden icon.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein said visible image is a component of an item displayed on the web site.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein said at least one hidden icon includes a plurality of hidden icons, said hidden icon page selector module configured to select a plurality of consumer target sections containing item in : rmation based on at least one of said personal information and said general business information, each of said plurality of said consumer target sections incl ding at least one respective hidden icon.

12. A system for enticing consumers to a consumer web site, containing information on items for sale, and capturing the attention of the consumers while at the web site to cause continued viewing of the site, comprising:

a content server module configured to process a web site having a plurality of pages for selection by the consumer, a page of said web site including at least one hidden icon, at least two of said plurality of pages including a clue relating to the location of said at least one hidden icon; and an accounting module configured to award the consumer based on the consumer locating said at least one hidden icon.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein said clue provides information relating to an item on a page containing said at least one hidden icon.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein said clue is a rollover.

15. The system of claim 12, further including a hidden icon page selector module configured to receive and process at least one of personal information specific to the consumer and general business information, and to select a consumer target section containing item information based on at least one of said personal information and said general business information, said consumer target section including at least one of said at least one hidden icon and said clue.

16. The system of claim 15, said personal information includes demographic data specific to the consumer.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein said hidden icon page selector module is configured to track a consumer's activity on said web site to determine immediate consumer preferences, said personal information including said immediate consumer preferences.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein said personal information includes demographic data specific to the consumer.

19. The system of claim 12, wherein said at least one hidden icon is invisible.

20. The system of claim 12, wherein said at least one hidden icon is a visible image displayed on the web site, said web site including information informing the consumer of a visual quality of said at least one hidden icon.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein said visible image is a component of an item displayed on the web site.

22. A system for enticing consumers to a web site, containing information on items, and capturing the attention of the consumers while at the web site to cause continued viewing of the site, comprising:

a content server module configured to process a web site having a plurality of pages for selection by the consumer, at least one of said plurality of pages of said web site including at least one hidden icon, at least one of said plurality of pages including a clue, said clue relating to the location of said at least one hidden icon, wherein said clue provides information relating to an item on a page containing said at least one hidden icon; and

an accounting module configured to detect when the consumer locates said at least one hidden icon and to award the consumer based on locating said at least one hidden icon.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein said clue is a rollover.

24. The system of claim 22, further including a hidden icon page selector configured to receive and process at least one of personal information specific to the consumer and general business information, and to select a consumer target section containing item information based on at least one of said personal information and said general business information, said consumer target section including said at least one of said at least one hidden icon and said clue.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein said personal information includes demographic data specific to the consumer.

26. The system of claim 24, wherein said hidden icon page selector module is configured to track a consumer's activity on said web site to determine immediate consumer preferences, said personal information including said immediate consumer preferences.

27. The system of claim 22, wherein said at least one hidden icon is invisible.

28. The system of claim 22, wherein said at least one hidden icon is a visible image displayed on the web site, said web site including information informing the consumer of a visual quality of said at least one hidden icon.

29. A method for enticing consumers to a web site, containing information on items, and capturing the attention of the consumers while at the web site to cause continued viewing of the site, comprising the steps of:

providing at least one hidden icon on the web site;

receiving and processing at least one of personal information specific to the consumer and general business information;

selecting a consumer target section containing item information based on at least one of said personal information and said general business information, said consumer target section including said at least one hidden icon; and

awarding the consumer based on the consumer locating said at least one hidden icon.

30. The method of claim 29, further including the step of providing a clue on said web site, said clue relating to the location of said at least one hidden icon.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein said clue provides information relating to an item on said consumer target section containing said at least one hidden icon.

32. The method of claim 30, wherein said clue is a rollover.

33. The method of claim 29, wherein said personal information includes demographic data specific to the consumer.

34. The method of claim 29, further including the step of tracking a consumer's activity on said web site to determine immediate consumer preferences, said personal information including said immediate consumer preferences.

35. The method of claim 29, wherein said at least one hidden icon is invisible.

36. The method of claim 29, wherein said at least one hidden icon is a visible image displayed on the web site, said method further including the step of informing the consumer of a visual quality of said at least one hidden icon.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein said visible image is a component of an item displayed on the web site.

38. The method of claim 29, wherein said at least one hidden icon includes a plurality of hidden icons, the method further comprising the step of selecting consumer target sections containing item information based on at least one of said personal information and general business information, each of said consumer target sections including at least one respective hidden icon.

39. A method for enticing consumers to a consumer web site, containing information on items, and capturing the attention of the consumers while at the web site to cause continued viewing of the site, comprising the steps of:

providing a web site having a plurality of pages for selection by the consumer;

providing at least one hidden icon on the web site; providing a clue on at least two of said plurality of pages, said clue relating to a location of said at least one hidden icon;

determining when the consumer locates said at least one hidden icon; and

awarding the consumer upon locating said at least one hidden icon.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein said clue provides information relating to an item on a page containing said at least one hidden icon.

41. The method of claim 39, wherein said clue is a rollover.

42. The method of claim 39, further including the steps of receiving and processing personal information specific to the consumer and general business information and selecting a consumer target section containing item information based on at least one of said personal information and said general business information, said consumer target section including at least one of said clue and said at least one hidden icon.

43. The method of claim 42, wherein said personal information includes demographic data specific to the consumer.

44. The method of claim 42, further including the step of tracking a consumer's activity on said web site to determine immediate consumer preferences, said personal information including said immediate consumer preferences.

45. The method of claim 44, wherein said personal information includes demographic data specific to the consumer.

46. The method of claim 39, wherein said at least one hidden icon is invisible.

47. The method of claim 39, wherein said at least one hidden icon is a visible image displayed on the web site, said method further including the step of informing the consumer of a visual quality of said at least one hidden icon.

48. The method of claim 47, wherein said visible image is a component of an item displayed on the web site.

49. The method of claim 39, wherein said at least one hidden icon includes a plurality of hidden icons, the method further comprising the steps of receiving and processing at least one of personal information specific to the consumer and general business information and generating consumer target sections containing item information based on at least one of said personal information and said general business information, each of said consumer target sections including at least one respective hidden icon.

50. A method for enticing consumers to a web site, containing information on items, and capturing the attention of the consumers while at the web site to cause continued viewing of the site, comprising the steps of:

providing a web site for viewing by the consumer;

providing at least one hidden icon on the web site;

providing a clue on said web site, said clue relating to the location of said at least one hidden icon, wherein said clue provides information relating to an item presented on a section of said web site containing said at least one hidden icon;

determining when the consumer locates said at least one hidden icon; and

awarding the consumer upon locating said at least one hidden icon.

51. The method of claim 50, wherein said clue is embedded in a rollover.

52. The method of claim 50, wherein said personal information includes demographic data specific to the consumer, further including the step of tracking a consumer's activity on said web site to determine immediate consumer preferences, said personal information including said immediate consumer preferences.

53. A computer readable storage medium including machine- readable language comprising:

one or more instructions for receiving and processing at least one of personal information specific to a consumer viewing a web site containing item information, and general business information;

one or more instructions for selecting a consumer target section of the web site containing item information based on at least one of said personal information and said general business information;

one or more instructions for providing at least one hidden icon on the consumer target section; and

one or lore instructions for awarding the consumer based on the consumer locating said at least one hidden icon.

54. The medium of claim 53, further including one or more instructions for providing a clue c:: said web site, said clue relating to the location of said at least one hidden icon.

55. The medium of claim 54, wherein said clue provides information relating to an item on said consumer target section containing said at least one hidden icon.

56. The medium of claim 54, wherein said clue is a rollover.

57. The medium of claim 53, wherein said personal information includes demographic data specific to the consumer.

58. The medium of claim 53, further including one or more instructions for tracking a consumer's activity on said web site to determine immediate consumer preferences, said personal information including said immediate consumer preferences.

59. The medium of claim 53, wherein said at least one hidden icon is invisible.

60. The medium of claim 53, wherein said at least one hidden icon is a visible image displayed on the web site, further including one or more instructions for informing the consumer of a visual quality of said at least one hidden icon.

61. The medium of claim 60, wherein said visible image is a component of an item displayed on the web site.

62. A computer readable storage medium including machine-readable language, comprising:

one or more instructions for providing at least one hidden icon on a web site;

one or more instructions for providing a clue on at least two of a plurality of pages of the web site, said clue relating to a location of said at least one hidden icon;

one or more instructions for determining when the consumer locates said at least one hidden icon; and

one or more instructions for awarding the consumer upon locating said at least one hidden icon.

63. The medium of claim 62, wherein said clue provides information relating to an item on a page containing said at least one hidden icon.

64. The medium of claim 62, wherein said clue is a rollover.

65. The medium of claim 62, further including one or more instructions for receiving and processing personal information specific to the consumer and general business information and selecting a consumer target section containing item information based on at least one of said personal information and said general business information, said consumer target section including at least one of said clue and said at least one hidden icon.

66. The medium of claim 65, wherein said personal information includes demographic data specific to the consumer.

67. The medium of claim 65, further including one or more instructions for tracking a consumer's activity on said web site to determine immediate consumer preferences, said personal information including said immediate consumer preferences.

68. The medium of claim 62, wh jrein said at least one hidden icon is invisible.

69. The medium of claim 62, wherein said at least one hidden icon is a visible image displayed on the web site, further including one or more instructions for informing the consumer of a visual quality of said at least one hidden icon.

70. The medium of claim 69, wherein said visible image is a component of an item displayed on the web site.

71. A computer readable storage medium including machine-readable language, comprising: one or more instructions for providing at least one hidden icon on the web site;

one or more instructions for providing a clue on said web site relating to the location of said at least one hidden icon, wherein said clue provides information relating to an item presented on a section of said web site containing said at least one hidden icon;

72. The medium of claim 71 , wherein said clue is a rollover.

73. The medium of claim 71, wherein said personal information includes demographic data specific to the consumer, further including one or more instructions for tracking a consumer's activity on said web site to determine immediate consumer preferences, said personal information including said immediate consumer preferences.