Archive for April, 2007

http://www.google.com/igoogle now redirects to http://www.google.com/ig … does that make it official?

When Google Personalized Results (iGoogle) are turned on, the results you see in your search reflect your own personal preference, geographic location, and possibly “gadget influence”. So, if the new gadget maker is so easy to use, will we see a big proliferation of gadgets that make searching easier for people (e.g. expectant mothers information?) Could it become a “search results in a box” type system, with the results inside packaged like the the “finds” system on prefound.com.

Perhaps we’ll start thinking about the user, not the results list. You’re talking about a specific customer at a specific point of consideration. Rather than talking about #1 in Google, we’ll need to talk about things in terms of engagement and hooks.

Content is going to need to get a whole-ton better. This is a good thing, but it’s going to be hard for website owners to swallow. The offers on a web page for genuinely helpful information, targeted to the consumer at a specific moment in time, are key to conversions.

Optimization of content for the customer and their consideration cycles is going to need to be built in to design and development. As much as the “pure designers” don’t like SEO/SEM types, we’re going to need to get along now. CMS-based sites are going to skyrocket in popularity, as are blogs-as-sites.

It’s still unclear how many will build Gadgets, but what I see is a proliferation of hundreds of different little Googlettes, doing their own things based on rules. We’ll have no control over what the users see on their screen. They may see search results float over their screen like soap bubbles or fall over like dominos. We just won’t know. But one thing is clear, you can’t do SEO on an individual Gadget….

5/1/07: Update: Now that I’ve tried the gadget maker, I’m underwhelmed.

Chris Sherman wrote about Google’s plan to surface government information got me thinking about what kinds of things were going to happen once Google gets into our public records.Â

First off, let’s admit. Public records are “public” in a legal sense, not in a practical sense. It’s too damn hard to get to them in many cases. While one could make a fuss to get your state official to dig up Box 2421-B-325 in Archive Building 3132 so you could see a certain document, how many actually do?  How would you know to even ask?

 I’ll bet many things are crawling around in the deep dark archives of government. And I’ll bet there are many out there that would like it to stay that way. Just like the digization of many books exposed plagerism, it’s my prediction that the increased crawling of state-stored public records is going to expose many nasty things that have heretofore been hidden. The friction that one encounters to do a obtain any document, let alone establish relationships between multiple documents, could have prevented it from becoming apparent.  If Google makes it easy to hunt in the nooks and crannies, a whole new breed of hobbiest detectives might pop out of the woodwork and create watchdog mashups like never before. This could be fun.

Google’s indexing and linking will feel more like “poking around” I mean, check out Google patents…. it’s fun (and sometimes emotional) to pop around and discover relationships this way. Before you know it, we’ll have some pretty amazing mashups developed on top of this data, so maps, searches, cross-references, and mobile services will let us mine data about our locale.

If Google goes any more local, say, to the city government level, they’ll have their work cut out for them.Â

Ebay CEO Meg Whitman presented the eBay profits for Q1 and it turns out they’re breaking records. But as Jakob Nielson points out, the listings have only increased by 2%, while sales are up 14%. But as I posted about earlier with the eBay motors improvements, the designers at Ebay have been improving things a lot. It seems that this is a great example of usability turning directly into dollars. And once they’ve got the design right, they don’t have to keep paying for the improvements.

So eBay has shown us that abandonment due to poor usability is indeed very costly, and it’s not worth buying more traffic if they are just going to bail from the site in confusion.

If your company is unable to afford to buy more traffic, it may be best to look inward. What is your abandonment rate? If you set your sites on reducing that rate, it can have the same impact that buying more traffic can - perhaps more. Split up your pages, try new things, measure!  Yes, it’s sweat equity… but the beauty of it is that once you have your formula, it works long-term….and it’s free.

I saw this for the first time in Lexington this week. They want you to snap a photo of a billboard (on a very busy road) bring it into a restaurant, and save on your next meal. Okay folks, how’s your Dukes of Hazard driving skills… squeeeeeeaaaal!!!!

SIDE NOTE: I would have sent Ramsey’s Restaurant some link juice, but they have no website - not even a really simple one. As I’ve said before, when you have no web site you’re leaving it up to others to dominate the search results pages for your name when searched. If I wanted to, I could post a page on my site today that would rank in the top 1-3 on Google for their name - and say whatever I wanted. For the record, I would rave about their Buffalo Chicken Salad to die for - but what if someone else had something less flattering to say?

We all need to pull together and protect the children in times like this. We’ll get through it.

PS: for those of you wondering when in the WORLD I’ll get back to web business tips/posts, the answer is soon. It’s been a hard core week, so a little levity is all I can muster. Be well.Â

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Well, some folks have told me they’d like to receive emails with ideas that are aimed at the small business looking to build an online store or extend their business marketing program and finally I’ve put it together in the ramp up to my new EBook series. While my blog tends to get somewhat technical (and wanders a bit!,) I’ve started this email list to be very simple and offer my experience in short, sweet and to-the-point tips that you can use every day. Sign up with confidence, no spam will be sent. JOIN HERE

SUBSCRIBERS will learn first about my new ebook - members of this list will get pieces of my new ebook “Finding the Sweet Spot” that’s schedule to be published this year and other bonus items. This will combine concepts from The Wisdom of Crowds The E-Myth Revisited and Small Is the New Big along with years of Internet experience into a unique and hyper-effective approach. You must be a member of the email list for these announcements as my (less commercial) blog is not really going to talk about them much.The new ebook will offer Internet Marketing Coaching that I normally charge thousands of dollars for, in plain English without any hype or ego…. those of you who know me realize that this is going to be a pretty big deal, so sign up! JOIN HERE to receive this regular, free tip sheet — NO SPAM!!!

If you’re a local business, and you’re not in Google Local now, I must admit, possibly living in denial. Google 411 (1-800-GOOG411) is amazing, and I am just blown away that so many businesses haven’t taken the time to insert their company into the Google Local Business Center. We couldn’t find our favorite pizza restaurant through it tonight. Paid 411 is dead.

Another thing that’s apparent is that names not easily pronounced phonetically are going to be at a disadvantage without human assistance. Puccinis Pizza (pronounced Pooch-ee-nees) for example, will lose to simpler names such as “Mad Mushroom Pizza.”

The other thing I’m looking forward to is the ability to send the google results to my phone via text - and for attached coupons to come with the text into the phone (codes, hopefully, that the restaurants, etc. will accept over the phone.)

Lexmark finally went public about their new wireless inkjets. What a huge difference (see inset) The designs hit a “cool” nerve with me - like an iPod or a G4 Macintosh. In fact, I see a big influence from Frog Design’s work and the Lexmark stuff.From the first time I saw one, they’ve reminded me of the glossy white, almost acrylic decor that was always seen around in 2001 or “Space 1999” … rounded edge, mysterious, with almost no buttons. It will be the coolest looking thing on your desk (it has one button, and one light. You’ll have to brush up on your “Lexmark Morse Code.”) They are very sticker-friendly. You can put post-it notes (”Buy Ink”) or your favorite Nine Inch Nails bumper sticker and they’ll stay put. They should have made the big acrylic-like panels “glow” slightly. Now that would have been wild. The “brushed metal surrounds” are straight out of a Kubric film. I love it. Thank GOD that modern design seems to be coming back. Less organic, swoopy crap. I’ve always liked the edgy stuff - brushed aluminum. Tube amps. Tinted glass over glowing Segmented LED Digits. And I love Nixie Clocks. I dig how the photo on the right has a big brushed analog clock on the panel. Wow, so 70s.

Pictures of new Lexmark Printer  Compare to old, swoopy design Brushed metal surrounds - so Hal 9000 tight radius corners are all the rage in design these days. They started with the monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey Okay… yes, I’m a frustrated industrial designer… so that’s the end.

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The scene… headhunter staff meeting….

“What are we looking for?” Â
  … “we need some quitters!”Â
“Yes… yes, but how do we get them???”

Seth Godin, my favorite author by far, just published a list of quitters (people who have quit one path and shifted to another, and found even more success) that includes people you’ll recognize, such as Jeff Foxworthy, Tom Peters, Bill Gates, me.  WTF? Well, I left the Silicon Valley scene for Kentucky and it was just wierd enough I guess.  But the escape from the cubicle-rut let me do what I love in such a beautiful place… and to get really good at it.”

“I was working cubicles in the Silicon Valley, working on software that would never see the light of day, for people who didn’t care one way or another. I worked with great people, but we all sort of did the work for academic reasons… preparing ourselves for something later.  The pattern was always the same. New manager. Corporate Offsite. New vision statement on coffee mug. Lots of coding.  Late nighters. Project changes. Ship, dilution, or cancellation. Bug fixing. Is anyone using product? Does anyone like it? Repeat.”

….I quit that, and now do this.

But Seth is asking people to look inside for a path that suits them. I’ve heard many times that you should “do what you love and the money will follow.” I think Seth is saying that you should “cut your losses” quickly and find the groove you belong in. It’s not a defeat to quit. It’s not the end of the world, and you are not going to shrivel and die. It’s like testing on the web a bit. You are probably NOT going to get it right the first time. You will have to observe what is happening around you, you’ll need to make a call. But make it. Get out from under the losing situations and try until you get it right.Â

I find the story is told in Pink Floyd’s “Time”:

Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain
You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun And you run and you run to catch up with the sun, but its sinking
And racing around to come up behind you again
The sun is the same in the relative way, but youre older
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death Every year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time
Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the english way
The time is gone, the song is over, thought Id something more to say…..(Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd)

I’ve often been annoyed to see people holding cell phones while driving in tricky driving situations, and even more so when the other hand holds a cigarette or other item. But it’s never been more than an annoyance. I shake my head and wonder what could possibly be so important to talk about that it couldn’t wait until the roadway was less demanding. But today, I came within inches of a bad accident because of a young driver being on the phone and crossing three lanes of traffic at 45mph. It was really scary.  They barely had their hands on the wheel…. and they definitely had their brain in neutral.

But I still disagree with any form of ban on cell phones while driving. It’s a slippery slope that introduce a scary level of police intrusion into our lives based on what appears to be some flawed research. While New York (and others world wide) bans holding a cellular phone to one’s ear while driving, they don’t ban putting on makeup, or munching on french fries.  Has anyone done any research to see how many accidents are caused by people frantically trying to find a place to pull over and talk to their boss or get directions?  When a limited police force is out issuing tickets for “safe drivers using cellphones,” who’s watching the rusty red Camaro tailgate the minivan full of kids?  What about accidents that happen while the policeman is writing the ticket (rubberneckers, traffic blockage.)Â

I don’t think anyone should hold a cellphone while driving. Or put on makeup. Or hold a stupid poodle. While there’s not a hands-free way to put on mascara or feed french fries yet, it’s sensible for people to employ simple, cheap technologies for hands-off cell phone use. Bluetooth headsets are available for $20 now, less than a manacure for fluffy at the groomer’s, and most decent phones have Bluetooth on them.  These are simple to use and very comfortable. While the conversations are still distracting, at least the hands can be on the wheel. Â

Cell phone companies should provide clinics on how to set these up for people rather than staff their kiosks with clueless high schoolers who can barely communicate with less savvy customers. If Best Buy and others really cared, they’d provide a free bluetooth headset setup service with every cell phone they sold, along with safe driving tips for the customer. As it is, I’d guess that less than 20% of cell users know how to answer a call using bluetooth headset without looking at their phones.

Google has made things even better with their new, Free 411 service, (1-800-GOOG-411) … you can use your voice to get lots of information, and be connected using your bluetooth setup.   Make it speed dial number 1. The merchant will pay for the call. If you dial “411″ on your phone, and spend $2.00 for directory assistance, you are seriously missing the boat at this phase.Â

Update: Search Engine Land reports that Microsoft has launched three new local search services from Tellme. I guess that’s speedial #2.

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