Web SitesThat Fly

Feature-Burdened Web Sites

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 15:12:00 +0000

Being an alumnus of the University of Minnesota's College of Liberal Arts, I receive Reach magazine and read a quote containing much of what I've been preaching throughout all the years I've been a practicing web consultant.

Brian Southwell, Assistant Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication interviewed for an article entitled "The Internet: Face-Off with Academia" as saying:

"All that glitters is not gold in technology. You can have too much of a good thing."

I couldn't agree more. So much so that, many times I find myself talking my clients out of lucrative features for their web site because what they want really is just for show and provides no real value for their investment.

Professor Southwell qualifies his statement:

"We [professional academics] often think of the Web's interactive nature as a boon: you see what you want to see and pass by the dull or irrelevant. ...[t]he interactivity that makes the Web so appealing might be the very thing that derails our search , interfering with our understanding and retention of the information we find."

15 Actions Customers Want to Take Online

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 10:15:00 +0000

According to the book The Customer Revolution by Patricia B Seybold, customer relationships are driving how businesses should be run – and those businesses that are denying these relationships will soon be die. She lists twelve demands customers are making today. Though the demands can be met through all types of business processes and systems, the Internet accounts for a greatest means for achieving the customer satisfaction she writes about.

Buy the Book

Applying these principles to the web, here are 15 actions customers want to take online that are reflecting these demands:

Patricia B Seybold’s 12 Customer Demands	Rebecca St. Martin's 15 Online Actions
Open Equal Access Real-time Information Specialist Information Convenient Access Information Portability Process Transparency (ability to see changes) Logistics Transparency (ability to make changes) Pricing Transparency Fair Global Pricing Set Pricing Choose Distribution Channels Information Control	Track Buy Trade Sell / Earn Access Read Express Themselves Research Schedule Try / Experience Customize Calculate Receive Manage / Change Brand as Own

To better illustrate how the Actions relate to the Demands, I have prepared a chart (below) with examples of businesses that are already providing their customers the means to take these Actions on their web sites.

Customers Want To...	What	Examples
Track	Purchases	PayPal.com tracks all purchases & sales plus all transfers to and from your bank accounts and credit cards. Amazon.com allows you to see your purchase history from as early as 2001 and all of the order details.
	Problems & Resolutions	Sprint.com has a trouble ticketing system that records your interaction with technicians and all open and closed issues.
	Status of order / delivery	Nebraska Furniture Mart allows you to type in a tracking number to find out where your order status is. Many systems can be tied into USPS / UPS / Fed Ex, etc.
Buy	Products & services with credit card	Any site that allows users to make a purchase with a shopping cart using a credit, debit, or electronic check equal good examples where customers can buy.
Buy	Utility services with bill pay	Many banks offer electronic bill pay through online services such as CheckFree.com and MyCheckFree.com. Funds are automatically withdrawn from a customer’s bank account. This is a convenience to customers who want to avoid late charges, mail and processing paperwork.
Trade	Products & services	SwapEasy.com makes trading easy by asking users to pay very modest fee for trade. Nebraska Furniture Mart allows customers to trade in used merchandise for credit toward the purchase of other merchandise.
Sell / Earn	Auction Goods	EBay.com is an auction system for all kinds of goods. SkyAuction.com is a site where travel agencies, individuals, brokers, and ticketing agencies can list tickets, packages and travel deals on auction.
Sell / Earn	Products & Services (Affiliate)	Amazon.com pays a commission for items purchased via a special affiliate link you place on your web site
Access Securely	Records	Health Care: Because of current HIPPA compliance laws, many clinics hesitate to put private health records online. Education: The University of Minnesota allows students to access and order official transcripts online.
	Test Results	Health Care: Because of current HIPPA compliance laws, many clinics hesitate to put private medical test results online. Education: Boy Scouts of America offers online educational classes
	Transaction Histories	TCF.com online banking, PayPal.com internet payment system allow users to see complete histories of the transactions they’ve made to their accounts – incoming, outgoing and transfers of funds.
	Usage Histories	Tmobile.com – check cell phone usage WebSitesThatFly.com hosting – allows you to check disk space used.
Learn	Pricing	Sites selling products almost always show product pricing. BizRate.com, DealTime.com, NexTag.com all offer side-by-side pricing along with customer ratings on each company’s’ service.
Learn	Real-time availability	Sears.com shows real-time availability of specific items in stock and at how many are at each store. You also have a choice to pick up or have the item delivered after you’ve purchased.
Express Themselves	Discussion Groups	Microsoft.com has discussion groups where users can help each other as an alternative to buying per incident / subscription support services.
	Rating & Feedback Forums	Amazon.com, Download.com and CircuitCity.com allow customers to rate products -- and for visitors to rate ratings (how useful each rating is.)
	Surveys	IRS.gov asks for user feedback via an online survey.
	Entertainment	OfficeMax.com “Elf Yourself” campaign. Users can upload and crop photos of themselves and loved ones and have the faces appear on dancing elves to the tune of Jingle Bells.
Research	Specialty Databases	Multiple Listing System for locating homes on the market.
Research	Specialty Buying Systems	eTrade.com allows consumers buy and sell their stocks themselves.
Schedule	Reminders for themselves	Hallmark.com has a web feature allowing you to have email reminders sent to you for remembering birthdays, anniversaries, etc.
Schedule	Appointments with others	Balance U Bodywork & Massage offers the ability to schedule appointments with therapists online after enrolling in their system.
Try / Experience	Demos / Trial Versions	Download.com features thousands of trial and demo software. The creators generally have this availability on their site also. Demos can also be provided with step-by-step photos, PowerPoint presentations, flash presentations and video.
Try / Experience	Samples	About.com lists companies that offer product samples for free. ThePaperMillStore.com has swatch books of paper you can buy before committing to the cost and shipping of reams of paper. AnchorBayTile.com similarly offers tile samples for sale at a nominal price. Author of JoinTheConversation.us allows readers to download a free chapter before committing to buy the whole book.
Customize	Interface (Personalize)	My.Yahoo.com allows users to specify what content they want on their screen (weather, comics, etc.) and where it will be located. Users can choose color schemes / themes. Users can also import contacts from their phone book and appointments from their calendar. The calendar can be set to be public or private.
	Communication Experience	eInstruction.com customers can choose to communicate via live chat, email or phone. Many chat systems allow customers to save the dialogue for future reference.
	Design-Your-Product (Wizards)	Diamond Rings at aDiamondIsForever.com Kitchens at Merillat.com Patios at ConcreteNetwork.com M&M’s at MyMMs.com/customprint
Calculate	Amount of a project / solution	Insulation at PriorityInsulation.com can be estimated based on measurements users have taken from their homes.
Calculate	Amount of monthly payment	Many lending and financial organizations, in addition to MLS distributors provide a mortgage calculator so that borrowers can see how much their monthly payments will be based on interest rate and other custom factors. Some will also display amortization charts.
Receive	Expert Advice	Content on DIYnetwork.com gives step-by-step instructions with photos and sometimes videos on how to do a project from sewing a Valentine pillow to adding accent lighting to your living room. Nuskin.com has a questionnaire, or digital consultation, that narrows down product selections based on customer inputs. eTherapistsOnline.com offers real time counseling services via chat.
	Support	Epson.com has interactive help programs to assist you in uncovering and solving the problem you’re having with your product.
	Alerts	Symantec.com, makers of anti-spam desktop software, allows users to subscribe to receive alerts on new worms, viruses, spy-ware, etc and receive instructions on how to solve the problems the invaders cause. Expedia.com & Travlecoity.com allow you to sign up for destinations you wish to travel to and receive an alert when the price has dropped to a level you specify.
Manage / Change	Email Subscriptions	WebSitesThatFly.com > put on / take off email list
	Relationships	LinkedIn.com and Ryze.com provide platforms for business people to meet online, request and receive introductions and prospect for new business. Users can see who is linked* to whom so that they can request introductions. Match.com and eHarmony provide a platform for singles to screen prospective dates and make a romantic match.
	Mix & Match Products & Services or Just-the-Part-Desired	WebSitesThatFly.com professional services with someone else’s’ hosting. IChapters.com allows you to buy single chapters of books.
	Data from system to system	PayPal.com features the ability to download your transaction history and import it into Quickbooks or Quicken software.
	Itinerary	NWA.com allows users – not just travel agents -- to select flights based on time of departure, partner carrier, and number of stops/transfers. You can also change any aspect of your air travel online for $25 per ticket.
	Your Own Information	Every site that offers the ability to create an account also allows the ability to update that information.
	Physical Direction of an Item	UPS.com and FedEx.com allow senders and receivers of packages to stop and change the direction of a package.
	Customer’s Contact Information	Plaxo.com provides a platform for users of contact management systems (a.k.a. address books and CRM – customer relationship management systems) to allow the contact to change their own contact information. When the information has been updated, the system owner can import the data back into their system
Brand as Own	Intellectual Property	WebSitesThatFly.com Workbook > other designers can have their logos imprinted on the book and resell or use as a giveaway to prospective clients. MLS makes their system available for real estate agents to build into their web sites. BuyersRealEstateGroup.com refines MLS searches to only the areas they serve. Blogging systems like Blogger.com & LiveJournal.com have made it easy for you to incorporate someone else’s articles into your own web site.

Technology & Business Culture: Implications & Critical Questions

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 05:54:00 +0000

In this 1995 interview with Neil Postman (on YouTube.com), and in many of his texts, especially his book Technopoly, Postman emphasizes how culture is irrevocably changed with the adaptation of new technologies. Because people have a tendency to generate positive excitement around new technologies, he chooses to focus on how technologies are damaging to culture to balance the scale -- that while new technologies give us something important, they also take away something equally important, and this is usually unanticipated.

For example, we originally thought that the creation if the Internet was the solution to many of our societies ills -- that faster access to more information would solve the great social divides caused by a lack of information. But we find instead that people are overloaded with information, much of with they don't know what to do with or whether it's relevant or coherent.
"If crime is rampant," Postman says, "or if people are getting divorced...or mistreating children...it has nothing to do with lack of information."

-- How This Applies To Your Business --

Before you run out and buy the latest Blackberry, the newest fashion in office furniture or another computer that promises to be faster with more file storage and sexier graphics, Postman says we should ask ourselves certain questions.

This is particularly critical when considering both your relationship with clients and associates, which are literally the social aspects of your business -- and the brand of your business, the manifest of your business culture.

For example, if you position your business on highly personalized interactions with your client, meaning many face-to-face meetings, and they come to expect this, you may be confronted with a brand integrity problem if you choose to begin conducting teleconferences in lieu of flying out to visit.

So here is Postman's advice. When considering whether to implement a new technology, ask the following questions:

What is the problem which the technology proposes to solve?

Whose problem is it actually? (Is the problem really relevant to me?)

If there is a legitimate problem being solved, what other problems will be created by using the technology?

Are you using the technology or is the technology using you?

Email Management

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 18:28:00 +0000

After you have your new email settings in place and are able to send and receive successfully, you'll need to consider how you will be using and managing your email messages.

-- DEFAULT ALLOTMENT OF SPACE ON SERVER FOR EMAIL MESSAGES --

The default setting for email quota on most servers is 10M. This is generally more than most people need.

If you regularly send and receive messages with attachments that are graphic related or otherwise large, contact your hosting provider to raise the quota right away so that your correspondent doesn't have their message bounced back to them.

-- MANAGING EMAIL MESSAGES --

People (even me) reach a point in time where their email box is full. This happens when you keep email over a long duration of time in your email box. Maybe it's a note from a sweetie or a correspondence with a client containing important information, and our instincts are to save them. Whatever the case may be, they pile up after awhile.

To avoid this situation, I recommend routinely saving email you want to keep on your hard drive (rather than on the email server) and then delete it from your IN box. Again, your hosting provider can raise the quota; however, eventually, you will be inundated with email that it will become difficult to find messages and making it harder to manage your information. This is like leaving opened mail to pile up on the porch -- so much that you can no longer get in or out of the house.

-- ANOTHER WAY TO SAVE YOUR EMAIL --

When saving messages, I recommend saving the files as .HTM files or .TXT files since they tend to produce small file types in size. Also, you save yourself all of the extra steps involved in cutting and pasting your email text into word processing. You just "File > Save As", name the file and you're done. I prefer .HTM files because they retain their paragraph formatting and are easier to read when I open them later. They also can contain imagery.

-- FINDING EMAIL MESSAGES ON YOUR HARD DRIVE --

Some people keep email in their email box because they know that they can easily find or search for their messages, forgetting that you can do this just as easily in Windows Explorer:

Right-click on the folder you suspect it's in. If you forget what folder, you can search "My Computer" to search all folders
On the pop up menu, select "Search" or "Find."

A dialog box will appear allowing you to specify characteristics of the email in various combinations: when you originally saved it, when you last updated it, what filename is, what kind of file it is, what words or names might be contained inside the file, etc. >>>>

You don't need to know the exact information about your email filename-- just specify the parts you know. For the parts you don't know, use an asterisk (*). Examples:

Don't know the filename: >>> jenkins.*
Don't know the spelling of a term: >>> ser*dipity.txt
Don't know the spelling of a name (olsen or olson?): >>> ols*.htm

Neither do you need to know the exact date you created the file. You can search by a range.

Search Engine Ranking: RYK before SEO!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 18:56:00 +0000

Ranking high on search engines relies on your knowledge of your search engine position -- how your web site is related to all of the other sites out there cataloged on a particular search engine.

Because users are trying to find you based on keyword terms, any page that responds to the keyword terms that you select can be considered competition. Not all keyword terms that describe your business or your offering will necessarily be useful for you to optimize your site on.

This is why you must research your keywords (RYK) before you search engine optimize (SEO)!

On first instinct, many people think that researching keyword terms means typing the keyword terms into a search engine to see which sites are ranking high already on those terms. This is not the case.

To effectively research keyword terms, you must find out

How many times a keyword term is actually being typed in by search engine users,
How often the keyword term is being typed in, and
How many web pages are responding to the search engine query on that keyword term.

This can only be accomplished using special software. This software calculates how useful a keyword term is to you.

Let's bring this idea into a brick-and-mortar scenario. Suppose you own a bookstore and are looking for retail space to sell your books. You're considering the Acme Mall and the XYZ Center. Acme Mall already has 2 bookstores. XYZ Center is approximately 40 miles from any other bookstore. Your location is like the competition for a particular keyword term.

XYZ Center looks like a better fit -- but is it?

What if there aren't very many readers in that vicinity? If this is the case, then XYZ Center is not the better choice for your business. If there are lots of readers, the XYZ Center would be a great fit. The demand for books is like the number of requests for a particular keyword term.

But what if there are a lot of readers, but they don't buy books very often? The value of moving into the XYZ Center goes down. The frequency of book purchases is like the frequency a keyword term is typed into a search engine.

So how do you measure all of this to make the best choice?

You don't have to. The Keyword Effectiveness Index (KEI) is the basis for determining the best fit of a particular keyword term. The higher the KEI number, the better fit there will be.

If you are interested in finding out what the KEI is for the keyword terms you are using, contact me to run a Keyword Analysis Report!

Favorite Icon: An image to go with your domain name

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 14 Apr 2007 19:30:00 +0000

A favorites icon, or favicon is the image that appears in front of the domain name in your browser's address bar.

Here are some samples:

You don't have to be a corporate giant to have one of these!

And they're useful for branding and usability.

Learn how you can get a favicon for your web site >>>

Altec Lansing AHS202i Computer Headset with Microphone

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 21:57:00 +0000

Finding a great computer headset is not an easy task. So when I found the Altec Lansing AHS202i Computer Headset with Microphone, I bought two.

After having purchased a similar headset from Radio Shack -- and returning it because the wires came loose -- I bought Altec Lansing AHS202i Computer Headset with Microphone, and I've had it for over a year now.

I found a great source where I can purchase these computer headsets at a special price, so I thought it would be a great benefit to the supporting members of the Cultural Creatives Business Network -- as one of our standard network benefits.

AKA:

Altec Lansing AHS 202i
Altec Lansing AHS202i
Altec Lansing AHS-202i
Altec Landsing AHS202i
Altec Landsing AHS 202i
Altec Landsing AHS-202i

Graphics for Your Web Site: 2 New Sites Posted

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 12:44:00 +0000

Here's my list of graphic resources for finding graphics for web projects. I've posted 2 new web sites:

Michael Halbert Illustration
Michael has illustrated some beautiful, classic scratchboard illustrations. You'll find a consistent style of black line art and a broad collection of illustrations in vector format. All of these are rights-managed, or licensed. So if you want to use them without having his attorney calling you, make sure you contact him and pay him appropriately. He also has tutorials to illustrate how he produces his illustrations for actual projects along with tips and techniques for making higher quality artwork.

PhotoSpin
PhotoSpin has royalty free stock photos, illustrations, and system fonts by annual subscription. Subscription rates are:

$299/year -- PLUS Subscription. Good for Desktop publishing and web applications, this subscription offers low and medium resolution (72 dpi - 150 dpi).
$499/year -- SUPER PLUS Subscription. Graphics are offered in high resolution (300 dpi) so that you can use them in prepress projects also.

Be sure to take advantage of the trial subscription before making a committment. (Never hurts to shop around either...)