My Starbucks Idea
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Posted By Matt Certo on 04/14 at 09:37 AM |
Starbucks makes a great case for using the Web for customer interaction and engagement. Coming off of the heels of their recent 3-hour shutdown, Starbucks is using a new Web site to help get new ideas from its customer base. Registered users can submit ideas to the company and/or vote on the ideas of others.
Screencasting gains momentum...
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Posted By Matt Certo on 02/29 at 01:45 PM |
Screencasting isn't a new phenomenon. It's been in use for several years, actually. Jon Udell of O'Reilly Media has a good rundown on the concept from a couple of years ago. But I seem to be seeing more and more of the application in use on Web sites as a quick way to show a user/audience how a software tool or a Web site works.
Basically, the idea is to show a mirror image of a software concept or tool while the demonstrator narrates his/her actions. Check out this screencast demo from 37 Signals showing how one of their software tools works. It's a great alternative to simply creating a laundry list of bullet points and calling it a 'feature list.' Both tools have their use, but I love the simplicity of the screencast application. I got a kick out of Josh Hallett's screencast showing his frustration with finding information on a Web site. This example shows that screencasting isn't just for software demonstrations. The concept can be used to communicate in a way that words and pictures alone can't do.
There are lots of tools available to produce screencasts. It's worth considering when you have a communication objective that fits.
Newspapers & Online Business Models
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Posted By Matt Certo on 02/19 at 02:17 PM |
Scott Maxwell, a columnist at the Orlando Sentinel, has a very interesting post today about the change in business models for newspapers. Among other points, he boils the situation down to the following:
Personally, I think those in charge of business models at newspapers across the country screwed up years ago. They decided to give away everything we provide for free. So customers are left with two choices: 1) They can pay for a product that gets delivered to their door at a certain hour. 2) Or they can not pay for anything -- and go online to get most every single thing that was in the live paper, plus many more features, like this blog, at any moment they choose. And then we wonder why people choose the latter.
You can't really argue with Scott's logic about the way people consume their news. Jack Lail has a post along similar lines which leads us to believe that most people aren't getting their news from a newspaper anymore (according to Zogby's it's barely 12%. I was recently in a meeting with a prominent community leader who put this figure at 20% and told the audience to stop chasing 'the paper' for a story because no one's reading it anyway.
It reminds me of something I heard Michael Eisner, former Chairman of Disney, say at a time when Web distribution of entertainment was hitting a fever pitch. Basically, and I'm paraphrasing here, he indicated that his role was simply that of a talent aggregator. Consumers pay him to bring together writers, animators, actors, and production folks to produce great content. His Adam Smith-like warning was that if he doesn't get paid, he won't continue to do it.
It's no different in the newspaper business. Unless it develops a model to continue profiting from the aggregation of columnists and reporters, columnists and reporters will have to change and adapt. Matt Drudge, although in a sometimes questionable manner, has done so. We have also seen the onslaught of blog networks whereby writers get together to co-join blogs with the hope of sustaining.
I'm not suggesting that every reporter and columnist should be a blogger, because I don't think the economics necessarily work. But newspapers will certainly have to adapt by taking control of their strengths. Yeah, I can get the newspaper for free online...but I can't read it over coffee, take it on the plane, or clip something for someone in the same way. And, yes, I can go to ESPN.COM to check the score of the Magic game, but I can't read about the goings-on with the Orlando Magic Youth Foundation and the inner politics of getting the new arena built. Enough folks will pay the Orlando Sentinel to pay the Scott Maxwells of the world to help us understand the world around us. But the newspaper industry needs to continue to develop its proposition for doing so.
Just how important is Google?
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Posted By Keith Ort on 04/11 at 01:57 PM |
Reuters is reporting that Google accounted for 64% of all searches in March according to Hitwise. Yahoo got about 22% and MSN had roughly 9%.
Next week Yahoo and Google will report their quarterly financial statements as well. When those are released, keep an eye out for the size of their increases. Yahoo has released their new search marketing system to more and more advertisers recently which is drawing a lot of attention. So we will see if there is any immediate impact from that and if people feel compelled to abandon adWords for it.
Vroom, Vroom... Increasing Traffic Online
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Posted By Rochelle Knight on 02/06 at 03:46 PM |
In the spirit of my post-Super Bowl glow (yay Colts!), I came across this blog about Toyota Tundra’s commercials’ “actual demonstration” disclaimer.
Now, I usually don’t pay too much attention to the ads unless they’re pretty funny but I did in fact see one and thought something along the lines of “Actual demonstration? That’s weird they’d put that there since that would take a lot of work.”
Turns out I was wrong as well. More interesting to me now is that the end of the video had no compelling call to action to go to toyota.com to see the behind-the-scenes video.
Well, I went to the site today and the video -- although shorter than I expected -- is surprisingly interesting. Even though it's a great idea, I just can't help but feel that if you were going to spend money on an ad during the pricey Super Bowl timeslots, then there should have been a call to action to push viewers to go online for the video. By using a cross-media reference, the web site's traffic would have increased as well as audience exposure (to more than just the one truck) without costing any more.
Though I’m now promoting the video myself, I would be curious to see the ad campaign results in relation to the behind-the-scenes page views and compare the ad's success vs. how many people will “happen across” this page. It’s not likely I’ll find out, but I’m still curious.
Google Image Search
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Posted By Matt Certo on 01/23 at 01:33 PM |
Most businesses are very interested in being at or near the top of the list when a user searches for an associated or relevant term on Google. Many users often use the 'Images' search within Google to look for various images, logos, or photos. Chris Pearson has an interesting post about the trends he is seeing regarding this delineation. Marketers should be aware of the increasing popularity of image search. Designers and developers should take note of the importance of using specific terms within the ALT field of image tags; the more descriptive, the better.
One HUNDRED MILLion Web Sites (ah-ha)
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Posted By Rochelle Knight on 11/06 at 11:15 AM |
Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox email came in and the “100 Million Websites” title caught my attention (as well as started me quoting Austin Powers / Dr. Evil lines in my head). Those who use the web always talk about the internet in terms of “large” and “vast” and that weird cloud image but probably never really think about what those words really mean when it comes to numbers. The article quotes "even if only half the sites are maintained, there are still more than 100 M sites that people pay to keep running” --- that’s a lot of information out there… 101,435,253 million and growing to be exact.
Nielsen, one of the founders and advocates of web page usability (read his bio), further goes into a little bit of the history of web sites, the growth stages, web usability changes, and future predictions. Ultimately it’s just a teaser for an upcoming seminar on web usability but I thought this information was interesting in showing how many people currently use the internet and not just for searching.
So… 200 million by 2010? I agree with Nielsen, I think we’ll surpass that as more and more companies recognize the benefits of having a presence online (not to mention the personal sites, blogs, etc.).
Web Site Navigation
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Posted By Matt Certo on 08/01 at 08:49 AM |
Joel has some candid comments and thoughts on why working with Dell feels a bit like buying a used car. He also has some interesting thoughts on the notion of segmenting customers within a Web site.
Big changes in the realm of search
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Posted By Keith Ort on 05/16 at 11:41 AM |
We’ve had a few large products go out the door recently so I’ve finally been able to catch up on many of the things going on in the world of search engines. The major search engines have all been trying to do what they can to get your advertising dollars. I'd like to highlight the biggest things for you.
Google
Google has unleashed a few new products that are really cool. 1st off would be Google Calendar which, when combined with GMail, competes head to head with Microsoft’s Outlook. The interface is very slick and it offers a lot of convenience. The latest entry into the battle is Google Notebook. Essentially it’s a way to categorize and organize your research and notes and make it accessible publicly if you wish. The last new tool is a utility called Google Trends. This is more of an extension of Google’s infamous Zeitgeist (which also got a nice makeover) that allows you to search and compare trends for searchers. It’s a great tool for web marketers and SEOs.
Yahoo
The biggest news for Yahoo has to be their long overdue redesign for their home page. It’s not 100% live yet however they are letting anyone view it. It’s a great, modern look with lots of integration of their various products and services. The new page fuses AJAX programming seamlessly and makes for a very enjoyable user experience. The other thing Yahoo has done is reawaken the beast known as AlltheWeb. They have brought some very slick AJAX coding to the search engine world which is a refreshing change. The AJAX functionality adds a new dimension to searching through Yahoo’s massive index by giving vertical search suggestions. Even if you prefer another search engine, it is definitely worth the time to take a look at.
MSN
Microsoft has been pretty quiet as of late. They are slowly rolling out their online advertising program called adCenter. This will be replacing their current model of using Yahoo’s sponsored listings and help give MSN its own identity. With Microsoft putting a lot of money into the Xbox360, I expect them to invest heavily into MSN in the near future. Amazon recently dumped Yahoo in favor of Windows Live search (which is another great AJAX based web site). Steve Balmer has stated he wants to compete more heavily against Google for the online advertising dollar.
Shooting for… Reality
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Posted By Rochelle Knight on 04/14 at 10:46 AM |
Almost everyone looking for a new Web site wants it to be the latest and greatest, to be better than the competition. But more often than not, the wow factor is not practical and you have to bring them back to reality gently in order to achieve a successful online presence while remaining practical.
MSN has a great example of a wow factor that is not realistic for this type of media: high-definition videos online.
Things like bandwidth and filesize are constant concerns for those involved with online media. In this case, high definition filesizes almost triple the standard filesize – resulting in enormous delays during download, a much slower internet speed, and poor quality of video… It would be hard to find a practical reason for using that level of clarity online for most Web sites out there.
One part of the article that stuck out in my mind was a comment by Josh Martin, an analyst for IDC:
"Is that story less compelling because it's not high definition?" Martin said. "I don't think so."
When it comes to the Web, the ability to browse through sites quickly is one of the most compelling reasons to go online. While you should always want to shoot for greatness, it's more important to accomplish your users' goals successfully than to overshoot your own.
Digital Burritos?
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Posted By Matt Certo on 03/15 at 01:10 PM |
We had burritos today in the office...ordered them online from www.chipotle.com. I was really impressed with the Chipotle ordering system. It allows you to see a picture of the trimmings (i.e. cheese, sour cream, black beans vs. pinto beans, etc.) while it asks you (audibly) to pick what you want. They really did a nice job technically and logistically...they went a long way in terms of thinking through the customization and order pick-up process. Very nice work!
Polling Alito
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Posted By Matt Certo on 01/11 at 09:06 AM |
What's so interesting about a Web-based opinion poll on the Samuel Alito ( President Bush's latest supreme court nominee) nomination? Obviously, someone's done the math on using the Web to perform data collection, likely cheaper than staffing a call center and phoning the world via phone. My thought, though, is that the data is likely to be skewed because of a couple of factors. First, the poll is conceivably only open to those with a computer and an Internet connection (not to mention a spare '5-7 minutes'), leaving those across the 'digital divide' left in the dark. Second, those that 'voluntarily' take a poll by responding to an ad are likely to be more 'activist' in nature as opposed to the unassuming soccer mom who answered the phone while cooking dinner. Hence, the results can't be looked at in a vacuum. Just another example of how the Web is changing things.
Hello, my name is __________.
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Posted By Rochelle Knight on 11/16 at 05:28 PM |
I'm sure our office remembers the discussions we had when trying to decide whether we should add author photos to our blog (not to mention the trouble actually determining a shot to use). Well, here's more proof that we made a beneficial decision to the Web world -- and that what used to ooze with anonymity is now becoming pleasantly personable.
Tony Ruscoe, on the Forty Faces site, commented on the benefits of including personality online and "to some extent" agreeing with Jakob Neilson's Web Usability: The Top 10 Design Mistakes regarding Web and real worlds. He also made note of these ideas becoming potential upgrades in the future for Philipp Lenssen's (the creator of Forty Faces) project.
...Jakob Nielsen claims that a photo “offers a more personable impression of the author” and connects the virtual and “physical worlds”. To some extent, I think he's right. He also suggests that author biographies add credibility to the opinions and thoughts expressed in a blog, so it will be interesting to see whether Philipp adds these to the Forty Faces site too.
With my face added to the list, I am looking forward to seeing where this will take us. To INFINITY and BE--wait, we're supposed to be people here. You didn't read that.
Be Cool. Upgrade your iPod
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Posted By Rochelle Knight on 11/10 at 03:25 PM |
Wondering just what you can do with your old equipment when you want the newest iPod out there? Trade it in, of course. And the options becoming available won’t make you laugh or cry (unless it’s with joy).
Apple itself will give you a 10% discount via their Recycling Program but they’ve also been known to shut down sales before. Regardless, there are also others out there that will offer you a higher percentage for your iPod. And, if you want to try out a used iPod yourself, you can find some decent perks as well as competitors trying to get you to try their mp3 players.
According to CNN.com’s “Market growing for used iPods” article:
…Several iPods up for auction include the sellers' music collection and instructions on how to transfer the music from the iPod to the buyer's computer. Some even take requests for additional songs to be added prior to shipping.One video iPod for sale contains an entire season of TV show "King of Queens" included.
Even Apple competitors have tried to use the swap as a promotional tool. Dell offered a $100 mail-in rebate to any customer turning in an old iPod when buying one of its MP3 players…
Not a bad idea considering the ever-changing iPod models and the costs to keep up with the popularity contest.
Search Engines: Taking Phone Books Down
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Posted By Rochelle Knight on 11/07 at 02:10 PM |
I was meeting with a client about their Web site redesign and we started talking about how important it is becoming to ensure that your Web site is search engine friendly. So many people (including myself) simply throw out their bulky phone books – preferring to search for companies online (in turn making their homes less cluttered and not quite as bug-friendly – yes, another bug reference, sorry it fits).
Smileycat.com posted the other day on “10 Tips for Search Engine Optimization”. While the article referenced is very sales-y, I think some of the guidelines are important enough to repeat.
- Optimize your site for your target audience, not search engines. [You know what you’d look for to find your site, but what would your audience look for?]
- Research your keyword phrases extensively. [Make sure your keywords have a purpose and will be used by your audience.]
- Program your site to be "crawler-friendly." [If search engines can't properly read your site, they won't list your site... meaning no one will be able to find you from a search.]
- Label your internal text links and clickable image alt attributes (a.k.a. alt tags) as clearly and descriptively as possible. [A picture is worth 1000 words, but not to search engines. ALT tags are your way to tell search engines what that image is about.]
- Incorporate your keyword phrases into each page's unique Title tag. [The Title tag is one of the easiest places you can include a variety of keywords. Don’t be afraid of variety.]
Google and Target Demographics
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Posted By Keith Ort on 11/07 at 10:11 AM |
Worried that only overrated teen dramas on networks with a frog mascot (yes, Rochelle, I’m talking about your shows on WB) are the only places featuring the convergence of the Internet and television? Still not sold that search traffic is worthy of investing in? For those who watched the live West Wing and followed it up with a classic Family Guy (like I do because I watch "quality" TV, Rochelle), then you were not slammed once but twice with direct plugs for Google. In one of Alan Alda’s character’s retorts to Jimmy Smits on The West Wing, he directly told the television America to go “Google it right now” to fact check him. Then during the Family Guy, yet another namedrop of the Google kind was heard. So if you have the top show for the educated and the top show for the young adults hearing Google not used as a pronoun but rather as a verb, its pretty obvious that as of right now, Google should be your priority.
Googling Ghosts and More
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Posted By Rochelle Knight on 10/25 at 04:39 PM |
With less than a week until Halloween, I thought it was time to start getting in the spirit of things (Yes, pun intended). So, here are a few sites I found to help put you in the mood to have a ghostly good time this Halloween season. It's also an example of how important it is to use the right keywords on your Web site. Some might even say it's a matter of life or death. Ok, maybe that's a little drastic, but using the right keywords is definitely important for search engines to allow people to easily find what they're looking for.
- Costume ideas, decorating tips, ghoulish recipes and everything else you need for a fun and creepy Halloween from About.com
- Carving Tips from the Pumpkin Masters
- Graveyard, Lockergnome's Game of the Day to celebrate Halloween
- Sesame Street's Trick or Treat Tips for Children
The WB Brings Podcasting to Viewers
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Posted By Rochelle Knight on 10/21 at 09:55 AM |
Last night I was watching this week's One Tree Hill which mentioned podcasting not once, not twice, but three (!) times. The third time was during the ending which referenced "For more information on Peyton's podcast, visit theWB.com or iTunes now." If you have no idea what this refers to, Peyton's Dad suggested she talk to a therapist so she decided to broadcast her thoughts to the world via podcasting in an effort to clear her head. Listen to Peyton's Podcast.
Anyways, I just thought it was interesting how all the talk about podcasting is spreading in popularity regardless of an individual's positives or negatives on it.
While finding the actual link for the podcast wasn't exactly effortless (iTunes required), the TV/Internet media integration has many benefits: improving ratings, captivating audiences and giving viewers an opportunity to develop a relationship with the characters. Just something to think about for other media avenues as well...
Web Writing Made Easy
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Posted By Rochelle Knight on 10/19 at 04:09 PM |
I was scanning through abstract after abstract of news stories and articles --immediately dismissing two (maybe three) here, selecting one there, ignoring another one a little further down, and so on-- and started thinking about the lack of attention people have when surfing the Web and how different getting, let alone keeping, a visitor's attention has become.
In the middle of this, a client calls to tell me they're having trouble with copy for their Web site and, although they know they really wanted to finish their site asap, they're going to need some time to figure things out. This doesn't surprise me in the least as I've become pretty accustomed to the difficulties clients run into when developing content. I'd even say that it is probably one of the most intimidating tasks a client will come across, even more so than the initial design phase, if it’s done right.
While a client didn't really call me to tell me this in the middle of my thoughts, let's pretend that one did as it is pretty believable this would actually happen. Not to mention that I really wouldn't be surprised with the notification. So, a client tells me they’re having trouble and I respond with some variation of the usual pep talk --don't worry about it, you'll be ok, we offer copywriting services, no? ok, just keep it simple, concise, descriptive, etc.-- but I wondered what other advice there was out there that might be a little more in-depth and useful across the board.
After some searching and yet another episode of sorting through lots of rejects and a few potentials, I finally came to peace with what I felt would provide a decent overview on writing for the Web. Hopefully you will feel the same. If not, well, we do offer copywriting services.
- Effective Web Writing by Crawford Kilian
- What’s Different about Writing for the Web - 8 guidelines by Trenton Moss
- Writing Well for the Web from webreference.com
Hits Trafficking Hits
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Posted By Rochelle Knight on 10/13 at 04:09 PM |
Knowing your Web site's traffic can be a pretty common obsession for many Web site owners and managers across the board. Checking page views, seeing a growth in interest and documenting successes is a great thing to witness and be able to brag about.
But have you ever felt a tiny bit unsure of how to properly use the terminology or respond to a probing question? If so, here's a pretty good article that helps explain common Web analytical terms, what information you need for measuring stats, and how to use it when discussing your Web site.
Once you have the basics under your belt, the next time a discussion about your Web site comes up, you'll be ready.
Released from my shackles... almost
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Posted By Keith Ort on 10/12 at 10:13 AM |
Over the years we have been inundated with news stories talking about how Microsoft has a stranglehold on innovation and a total monopoly on the computer market with their Windows operating system. However the same people that clamor for options are ignoring the 400 pound gorilla named Linux. At home I use an older computer (I use my Xbox for gaming so I have no need to upgrade… yet) to do all my web browsing and personal finances. However I got inspired to do something silly so I acted on it. I researched that curious little ape. After trying a few of the 100+ flavors of Linux (most of which are completely and totally free of charge including getting support), I settled on Ubuntu.
Out of the box, it is great. After spending a few hours reading and learning, I noticed the quirks but I also longed for something out of my control. There are so many highly popular Web sites that embed movies into their pages. Normally this would not be an issue however when the embedded file type is that of Windows Media Player, the Web site becomes pretty useless to me until I spend about a day (still riding that learning curve) to get the work arounds running and figured out.
So this brings me to my point, with so many other people researching and trying out Linux, it's popularity growing (just check the shelves of the computer section next time you are in Borders), and the world opening up, why be closed off to a sect of potential customers and clients. Next time you are working on your project, do not ignore a group because it intimidates you. The open source community typically welcomes with open arms those who embrace them. Now its time for me to teach my new friend some tricks.
Google is Going --->Enter Your Idea Here<---
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Posted By Rochelle Knight on 10/05 at 09:31 AM |
Not only have Google's recent adventures been a frequent topic to post on around here, but they are really working hard at spreading the word. Just this past weekend I was looking through Real Simple and saw a feature on Picasa, a photo editing and organizing program of Google - who knew that would be something shared in a women's lifestyle magazine focusing on organization, design and inspiration for everyday lives? Well, obviously not me.
While the online company won't be launching Google Purge to "destroy any information that can't be indexed" anytime soon, there are growing theories on whether the company is "simply exploring different ways to distribute the ads" or "pursuing a much grander plan that ultimately will transform the way people work, communicate, shop, read and even watch TV."
With word out about plans to challenge Microsoft Office and their already long list of tools and services, only those inside the company really know where Google will be tomorrow - leaving the rest of us to fill-in-the-blank.
Convergence
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Posted By Matt Certo on 10/03 at 02:24 PM |
Convergence--the notion that the Web and television will ultimately be one and the same--has long been talked about in the Web world. This New York Times article characterizes Yahoo's position on convergence and the strategic thinking of two of its leaders: Lloyd Braun and Terry Semel (CEO). Perhaps more interestingly, the article talks about Yahoo's 4-pronged competitive strategy:
Semel describes a strategy built on four pillars: First, there is search, of course, to fend off Google, which has become the fastest-growing Internet company around. Next comes community, as he calls the vast growth of content contributed by everyday users and semiprofessionals like bloggers. Third, there is the professionally created content that Braun oversees - made both by Yahoo and other media providers. And last is personalization technology to help users sort through vast choices to find what interests them.
I find the most intriguing element of this strategy to be the content piece. I think that the content (entertainment) piece is one where Yahoo currently surpasses Google. They seem to understand it more fully which come through in the site itself.
I am of the opinion that watching the moves of Yahoo and Google is a wise move for Web marketers. Most know that the two combine for the lion's share of the Web search market. Who better to both (a) understand the behavior of Web users and (b) shape the direction of content.
Evolutions in Revolutions
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Posted By Keith Ort on 09/22 at 03:50 PM |
In the 90's, web searching was in its most primitive form. Yahoo and All-the-web dominated the arena. Web users were very green with how to use the technology. Many people got online only to check email and the news. Most Web sites had graphics that looked like they had been created in MSPaint that came packaged with their versions of Windows 9x. To navigate the nether regions of the Internet, many people used web directories or web rings.
When Backrub was introduced, it completely rethought how the Internet could be accessed. Complex networking and ways of processing and interpreting the web came out of Stanford. The majority of the Internet browsers know Backrub better as Google.
Yet even with how much of the Internet's history is known, not one person can say for a fact where it is going. Now that most people have moved from web directories and web rings and become savvy searchers things get increasingly competitive. Google, Yahoo and MSN are the top search engines respectively and each has a different vision of where the internet is going. They all agree the future does involve the integration of different forms of entertainment
Yahoo hired former ABC executive Lloyd Braun and established residences near Hollywood. Around that time they also went live with video searching. Google has a video searching service available as well. However Google plans on moving beyond the home and has been the focus of a firestorm of discussion when wifi.google.com started showing information about their offering free WiFi internet access in San Francisco and plans to go larger. This had been rumored after it was discovered that Google was purchasing large chunks of dark fiber. MSN however seems to be courting AOL. The general user would gain increased access to AOL's in-depth entertainment services with AOL having exclusive access to an arsenal of high profile concerts notably Live 8 and several of the recent benefit concerts for those affected by Hurricane Katrina.
Yet in the end, unless the people accept and adopt these advancements, they could go the way of OS/2 Warp.
Hurricane Hunting
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Posted By Matt Certo on 09/22 at 02:17 PM |
As one who lived through three Florida hurricanes last year, I know how mesmerizing the Hurricane Center's online tracking tools can be. People with an Internet connection who live anywhere close to the Gulf/Atlantic states are always clicking on 'Reload' when it comes to wind tracking maps and projected paths: http://www.noaa.gov.
With all of this traffic, I'm wondering if the NOAA shouldn't incorporate sponsorships/AdWords in an effort to raise money for victims. I know that there is a mandate agains profiting from government work, but can't an exception be made for fundraising purposes? After all, the DMV asks me to donate to campaign funds when I get my license renewed.
Do you think people would have a problem with this? The traffic must be staggering. And with Katrina and Rita in the mix, so will this year's damage and loss!