UseTube

Search or Experience, But Not Both

2007-05-02T13:21:00.000-07:00

Recently, I had the idea to perform a test that truly tested the relevance of the search results themselves; on Google, Yahoo! and MSN. My thought was this; when you look at the results themselves, they are not that different, so why does Google have nearly 64% of the search market share (according to Hitwise) where MSN sits in a distant third with less than 9%?

Is there something we’re not considering here?

Does Google just make it easier to do what you need to get done?

I think the answer to both of these questions is yes. There are some things that we’re not considering here, and having a background in graphic design made it easy for me to have an affinity for what’s being missed. As Marissa Mayer will admit, Google is very focused on the end user quite passionately and I’m sure that a part of that market share can be attributed directly to that fact, and maybe more than just a part.

The gist of our study involved a single page of results on paper from each of the big three engines using the same keyphrase, in this instance we chose “digital camera”. We passed this around a small sample of people and had them choose what they felt the top 3 most relevant results were out of the entire list, not on each page.

Not only were the results surprising, but they were completely backwards from what we and every other search marketer would have expected.

When we scored the results (3 points for 1^st choice, 2 points for 2^nd choice and 1 point for 3^rd), MSN came out as having far and away the most relevant results. The margin was not just a 10% or 15% margin, MSN was more than 3 times as successful as Google in terms of its relevance. And when measured against Yahoo, MSN outperformed those results as well, doubling Yahoo’s relevance score.

It seems that Google is doing many of the other things right in order for their relevance to be perceived as well as it has been. Their Progressive Disclosure model has allowed them to keep the interface clean and their users well taken care of, as the Google tools they need only show up when they need them.

Basic design principles are adhered to on the results page and, as much as people mock the simplicity of the homepage, there are more benefits to it than looking clean and tidy. This “clean and tidy” homepage also keeps the user’s mindframe “clean and tidy” or more focused if you prefer. There are less distractions to a user’s focus when compared to the portal page for either Yahoo or MSN.

This is proven through our Eye Tracking 2 whitepaper. When you compare the condensed pattern on Google results pages against the spread out activity on the busy portal pages, it displays obvious remnants of distraction. And when you consider that short-term memory has a forward memory span of approximately seven items plus or minus two (Miller, 1956), those distractions are doing more to detrimentally affect the pure search experience by filling our little short-term memories with news, pictures, ads and information… All of which have nothing to do with what we’re searching for.

So, MSN may have the most relevant results (according to our little panel), but it turns out that it’s more important to do the rest of the search experience up right. Which begs another bit of insight; it seems that in the phrase, search experience, the word that we would expect to be the most important often isn’t.

So MSN, or Windows Live Search as you are trying to be referred to as, if you want to put a cork in the leaky dam of market share, put more experience into the search experience.

Usability for Children - Lessons Learned

2007-03-02T08:35:00.000-08:00

Recently at Enquiro, we performed a Usability Study on a children's website for kids between the ages of 8 and 11. The study itself was a success, and there was enough valuable information to keep the site owners busy for some time to come, though it did open our eyes to working with children.

Below I've listed a few of the things that you should consider if you plan on performing a Usability Study with a younger demographic.

Assure them that this is not a test, especially if they just came from school. Kids are so used to being tested at school, but not really used to people asking for their opinion on, well, anything, so this is foreign to them.
Ensure that the study isn't too long. If what you're studying is not a cartoon, then make sure you're not forcing them to sit still for too long. A half hour was pushing it for some of the children we had participating in the study.
Be accommodating with your time. Children are on much more of a schedule than you are, especially younger ones, so be flexible to when the children are available, they are, after all, the most important part of your study.
Realize that recruiting a target sample of children is not an exact science. Your target may be fairly specific (for instance, 8-11 year olds), but realize that there are very young 8 year olds as well as very old 11 year olds out there.
Don't compensate them like adults. Instead of handing over a $50 bill, which to you might seem adequate, consider the example of the Dentist you had as a child. For me the best part, and only reason I agreed to go to the Dentist, was that at the end of it all, i got to open up the drawer with all the toys in it. I'm not suggesting a toy drawer, but consider how to adequately compensate a 10 year old.

Anyways, these are simply a few things to keep in mind when considering a study with a younger demographic. All things considered though, I would really recommend doing a study like this because there's nothing like seeing children's sites through the eyes of a child.

This is the first generation to really have had computers in their life since the time that they were born. While many of us learned about and grew into the internet, almost every decision that these 8-11 year olds have had to make is in some way influenced by the internet. Even a number of social activities are centered around communities on the internet, there are neopets and penguins to take care of after all.

Apple Gore

2007-03-01T13:02:00.000-08:00

Okay, it's pushing it for a title, but hopefully by the end of this post it will make more sense.

In the recent months, there has not been a hotter topic than green. To loosely quote Nigel Tufnel, "It's like, how much more green could this be? and the answer is none. None more green." Every mention in politics is spotted with the politician in question addressing the environmental concerns of their constituency and making plans to address them in an effort to not only save face politically but also to do the right thing.

There is one man that has made this issue buzzworthy and made it easier for us to be green. There is also one organization that has made it its legacy to leave the world a better place than when it arrived, whether by saving the whales, or through their greenmyapple campaign, meant to convince Apple to incorporate more green practices into their clean designs.

It was hard for me to swallow, being a big Apple fan myself, I just assumed that their business practices were as clean as their interface. I suppose that's what releasing white laptops with bright blue screens will do for you. A friend stumbled across the greenmyapple site, created with tongue firmly wedged in cheek by Greenpeace. The site design itself is based on the apple.com website interface with navigation interesting enough to grab your attention and drive their point home. This is a poignant view from the eyes of Greenpeace.

One of the main navigational elements, iPoison & iWaste, draws attention to the toxic chemical levels of major product lines, as well as the disposal and recycling practices of Apple, which, it turns out, have placed Apple squarely at the bottom of the list in the Guide to Greener Electronics. Many other major computer manufacturers, including Dell and HP have agreed to the implementation of a recycling program that includes the company taking the product back.

As for the toxic chemical levels, other companies have set a date to remove chemicals like PVC from their products, but Apple still has yet to set that date. And what this means for the environment is that there will be more toxic pollution when the products are produced as well as when they are thrown away, especially without a product return practice in place where the disposal method can be more environmentally friendly. Currently, product lines like the iPod nano and MacBook still contain PVC.

Greenpeace go on to make a lot of great points about moving the Apple organization forward, and thank goodness also for Al Gore who has made green living a more top-of-mind practice for all of us. But since I've seen this website, something has kind of been rubbing me the wrong way. One of the things i remember about watching An Inconvenient Truth this past year, amongst the staggering statistics about what a world sized pickle mankind has gotten itself into, is that throughout the movie Al Gore is prominently using a mac.

And I only say prominently because I remember seeing the apple logo on the back of his laptop numerous times, and I'm not sure what to make of this. My thoughts are that this was either a cunning marketing effort by Apple, making it possible for Al Gore to have made this film through sponsorship and product placement dollars, and being able to associate themselves with the wave of green without having to practice it themselves. Or it could be the ignorance* of Al Gore to Apple's stance on greener business practices or simply his preference to use a mac.

We don't expect the man to be riding a bicycle from state to state, carting his laptop made of wood to each presentation. Where we are on the scale from sleeping on and eating grass to where North America is right now is up to us. If a Mac laptop is Al Gore's preference, then, really I can't blame him, I prefer one as well, but when the time comes for me to buy my next computer, I will certainly be looking into the dialog between greenmyapple and Apple itself to see if Apple has admitted that it needs to clean up its act.

If the reason that he uses an Apple is because he is simply unaware, then Apple may have one of the more prominent figures in North America leaning on them to go green. And if this really is the case, i urge you to contact the makers of An Inconvenient Truth here.

If the reason that the mac was shown so prominently throughout the movie is because of a sponsorship or product placement deal, then it concerns me, but I am also very glad for the world that this movie has been made, so really, I can't be that upset. But when more people like myself start to put 2 and 2 together, it may come back to bite Apple.

* When i say Al Gore's ignorance, it is not at all that i believe he is a stupid individual, I simply mean that one person cannot know everything about everything, we are all ignorant to many things.

The Wisdom of Crowds?

2007-02-01T13:53:00.000-08:00

Recently, Gord Hotchkiss, the President of Enquiro, discussed the Social Fabric of Search and how the Wisdom of Crowds is shaping the future of how we find and access information. Some of the most powerful up-and-comers are cited, including Search Wikia, Stumbleupon, Digg and he focuses on Yahoo Answers giving us possible clues as to Yahoo's strategy for meeting Google and MSN head-on.

I’m a huge believer in the power and knowledge of a team, and there can’t be enough said about the potential of community and social search either. I don’t believe we’ve even scratched the surface there. Amazon had no idea what they were starting when they let users review and rate the products from their site. That was really the crack in the dam that triggered the rest of us into changing our perspective on this one-way internet thing.

But we’ve all seen Frankenstein and the Elephant Man… What is it that makes mob mentality different from the wisdom of crowds? What is it that turns a peaceful protest into tear gas and jail time? It’s likely that some people would say police brutality, while others would say a bit too much passion turning to violence amongst the affected.

As Gord mentions in his post, “the biggest challenge with this variation of social search is that it depends on the engagement of individual members of the community”. But, even though it is social searches biggest challenge, I believe it is also its saving grace.

The big difference that I can see between the Digg or Stumbleupon model and the peaceful protest is that, though these members are part of a larger group, they are contributing to that group individually, equally, without one Alpha member running the show, ensuring that no one member has any more power than another, except through their own trended reputation on the individual portals. Whereas, in the peaceful protest, all it takes is one member in the center of the group to start an immediate fire that, barring a miracle, cannot be controlled through quick and efficient PR.

This is not to say that fires do not happen, because they do, irresponsible businesses have seen their reputation crumble through defamation generating buzz. See, Dell Hell, and the public’s shift in how they viewed Dell’s customer service after a few particular blog posts venting their thoughts caught the attention of the community. Since then, Dell Hell has become part of the global vernacular, describing the level of service offered by Dell.

But, as long as your organization is responsible, has a good head for discussion amongst your communities, and plays a part in constructively using the feedback from your audience in order to give them what they want, there are endless opportunities popping up all the time.

SearchTank Reviews Ask.com Usability Practices

2007-01-31T07:24:00.000-08:00

Marina, head of research at Enquiro, has just posted about Michael Ferguson's (Senior User Experience Analyst for Ask) task of “helping the design, marketing, engineering and R&D teams build valuable and delightful experiences”.

Michael divulges some of his more simple rules and guidelines, which Marina discusses in great detail with practical examples.

Those main guidelines are here:

Speak clearly: use direct and simple language.
Make it clear where someone is in the experience and what their choices are. Make the choices distinct from each other.
Reduce work on the user's part wherever you can. Less to think about, with fewer clicks, keeps them in the flow.

Visit Marina at SearchTank to get her insight.

The Macification of Windows: Vista vs. OSX

2007-01-29T08:35:00.000-08:00

Here I will be looking at Windows new, much more user friendly, Vista release which will be available as of midnight tonight. And even though we know we're all going to go out and buy it, I wanted to look at what Microsoft themselves are outlining as the top reasons why we should have it now (100 reasons you'll be speechless), and how we could have had this 2 years ago if we had chosen Mac OSX (Note: traditionally I am a "mac" guy, though through the course of my day I spend most of my time on a PC. I must say though, I am really happy for all of you PC folk who get to experience an OS that is finally all about you.)

1. It makes using your PC a breeze
In Microsoft's description of the breezy use of your PC, they mention search on the fly, Windows Aero and Windows Flip 3DA. Well, in the order they are mentioned above, the mac has had Spotlight since its Tiger release, which searches the entire system as you type, delivering results before you've even finished typing your query.

Windows Aero is just another way to say Aqua, Apples smooth, Unix based user interface which has been in place since the first release of OSX.

As for Windows Flip 3DA, a function that allows you to see everything you're working on at a glance, Apple perfected this with their feature called Expose (seen right), which, either at the press of a hotkey or by sending your mouse pointer to the top corner of the screen, displays every active window instantly on the desktop small enough that you can view them all, allowing you to choose any of the open applications to visit (also instantly).

2. Because all of your music is just a remote control click away
Okay.. the iMac contains a feature called FrontRow, allowing you to control not just your music through iTunes, but your photos (through iPhoto), existing movies on your computer (even those made through iMovie), or a DVD. Yes, all using a remote control. You can also connect this media through your television using the new Apple TV box (for Mac and PC) or if you only feel the need to stream your music to your Home Stereo system, an Airport Express will gladly feed your iTunes through those speakers you spent oh so much money on a few years ago, before you bought your laptop.

3. It's the safest version of Windows ever
Okay, when was the last time you heard of a killer Mac virus or security breach. Not to say that it isn't possible, but there is considerable security set up on every Mac out of the box. All the communication ports are closed and all native services are turned off by default, and the average user would never even notice. If you are extremely concerned about certain content on your computer, Apple has even gone so far as to include FileVault in the standard OS, which uses the latest government security standard, AES-128 encryption, to safeguard your hard work. It encrypts and decrypts on the fly, so you don’t even know it’s happening.

As far as parental controls go, Apple has an extremely dynamic set of tools to set the limits on internet sites, ichat buddies, application accessibility and anything else you can think of that you know your kids can get into! Here is a great demo.

4. See your world in a whole new light
See answer 1. It's funny how Aero made it into the top 10 (of 100) twice. See Aqua by Apple.

5. It can find your stuff
Oh boy, turns out, it's more than just Aqua being repeated. See question 1. Apple's Spotlight application finds anything and everything on your system instantly.

6. Because you're always on the run
This is a funny one, as it appears to include the use of portable devices separate from your actual system.. but sure, I'll speak to it.

Okay, keeping your PC and portable devices up to date is an essential feature for todays professional, however, it is not exclusive to Windows Vista. All of the main providers of portable devices have included the Mac market, including Blackberry and Palm, meaning that ensuring your data is synched to the right location is a snap. And with the introduction of the iPhone, Apple has once again surpassed the expectations and capabilities of its competitors by including almost an entire system on one simple, feature packed device.

And as for the Tablet, that one we'll have to give to you PC. Although I'm not sure how much of an accomplishment that is as the market for the Tablets is still considerably small.

7. Because you can freeze time
One word... iPhoto. Personally, I have thousands of photos archived in my library, by date, keyword, rating, or any other label i choose. Not only that, but iPhoto will literally recognize almost any digital camera on the market without you having to install any third party applications. Google's Picasa has come a long way towards this, but this has been standard for years on Apples now.

8. Your PC can take care of itself
Apple believes in preparing a product proactively. There are diagnostic applications available indeed, Disk First Aid etc., but the released versions of OSX have been rigorously tested, and whenever there are updates to be installed, they can be run and installed in the background automatically. No fuss, no muss.

9. Unchain your mobile PC
So, a wireless network then? Okay... Thanks Vista! I've been waiting forever to be able to run my laptop from my living room without having to drag the wires all the way from upstairs.

Number 9? Really?

10. Surf more safely
And, ending on a repeat note... See question 3. But in addition to that, the built-in personal firewall for OSX protects your computer from unauthorized access by monitoring all incoming network traffic, and if you use stealth mode, your Mac won’t even acknowledge its existence to people scanning for machines to attack. Seems pretty secure to me.

Okay, well, that's the Top 10 Reasons You'll Be Speechless, addressed from a Mac perspective. Those of us that are Mac users have been happily satisfied with our daily user experience, proud to share it with anyone that would listen. And it appears that we've been listened to, maybe not actively, as not many PC users will admit to wanting more, but they do appear to be sending the Vista developers the Apple website address as a blueprint for what they've been hearing about.

Now, this is not to take away anything from Vista itself. Microsoft appears to have created an operating system that really puts the user at the forefront. This was long overdue, and not a small feat, and preliminary reports indicate that it will be a success.

Just ensure that Vista wins you over by the experience it provides from here on out, not by the sheer amount of advertising and marketing dollars they intend to spend in order to prove to you that this is revolutionary and that no one has ever created an operating system so fluid and user-centric before. Because this is simply not true.

Manoj Jasra Interviews Bill Slawski

2007-01-29T07:47:00.000-08:00

Manoj Jasra from Web Analytics World is at it again. This time he's discussing research, social media optimization and social bookmarking with Bill Slawski, the President of SEO by the Sea.

Listen to Manoj's latest foray into podcasting to hear what Bill has to say about:

SEM in 2006 (specifically Social Media Optimization and Social Bookmarking)
What we can expect in SEM in 2007
New patents by Google and what we can expect from Google in the future
Google's steady Growth and Google's competitors
The future of Yahoo, MSN and how they can make up ground on Google

And listen for Bill's info on Danny Sullivan's secretive Search Marketing Expo, which I know we're all keen to see the launch of. It's a great listen and well worth your few minutes to start your week off right. Great work Manoj.

Search and the Strength of the Human Spirit

2007-01-17T09:32:00.000-08:00

Helen Hill, my sister-in-law, was one of the two people on this earth that I really felt were taking it into their own hands to make a difference in New Orleans, if not the world. If you were to perform a search for her name right now, you would learn, among other things, that there wasn't a picture taken where she wasn't smiling, that her unique talent for DIY animation has earned her recognition the world over, that she kept a pocket full of change so that there was always something to give the growing homeless of New Orleans, that she was an amazing mother, a loving wife, a daughter that made her parents and family proud to know her, and that she was killed on January 4th leaving a huge hole in the hearts of her friends and family worldwide.

I miss her... and so do her friends the world over. If you met her once, you would too. On the day after the incident her friends from LA, where she had attended Cal Arts created a tribute site for Helen, helenhill.org, that people from all over the world have now poured their hearts into with memories, pictures, video and audio of her sweet voice. The site was almost immediately accessible via Google and became a bright spot on the search page littered with stories of her murder and of the baby and husband, a Doctor for the poor of New Orleans, a beautiful, caring man, that she left behind. This man, Paul Gailiunas, who survived the attack, is the other person on this earth that i feel has taken it into his own hands to make a difference, and who's spirit has been buoyed by all the support and love sent his way from all over the world, and by the love of his 2 year old son Francis.

I write this post to commend Google on recognizing this site as quickly as they did, not because it was the right thing to do, or they were affected personally, but because they are so efficient and relevant. And in times like this, when everything else is so calamatous and emotional, it's nice to have something efficient and relevant to rely on.

Matt Cutt's Ties with Google

2007-01-03T13:54:00.000-08:00

In a recent post on his blog (see – The Real Lesson from this Week), Matt Cutts discussed the need for Google to not just have one unofficial blogger (himself), but for them to have “lots of unofficial bloggers”. This could simply be an attempt to spread the wealth, opening up the waters for new Google bloggers to swim in. Or it could be that Matt is slowly letting go of the steering wheel, easing back in order for someone else to take control.

And on another post (see – Page View Metrics? Bah Humbug!), Matt came to the defense of Yahoo! because of the flack they’ve been receiving about their market share of pageviews dropping after implementing AJAX into their excellent new mail system.

Could the techie face of Google be ready to try something new, or, as his wife so rightly put it, “when do we move on to our next adventure?” I somehow doubt that any move that Matt makes will be to Yahoo though, as this doesn’t really present itself as a new adventure for the wife and cats.

Is the SES rock star ready to take a final bow from the Google stage? Or should we marketers stop speculating already and leave the guy alone? Though it is interesting to speculate, and as Matt himself said “You know you’re doing something right when you get included as gibberish in spam emails.”

Also written by Andrew Spoeth

Nike + Apple = Online and Offroad Success

2007-01-03T08:08:00.000-08:00

Recently, not unlike a lot of you out there, I let myself relax over the Holidays, had a few more shortbread cookies than i should have and neglected any sort of work out routine I had prior to the break. But luckily for me, on the day after my highest caloric intake on record, I entered the Nike Store.

Inside is where I finally decided to purchase the Nike+iPod Sport Kit. I had seen it before, though I never really had the motivation I had that day. And I am really glad I did.

Nike and Apple have really succeeded in supplying the aspiring athlete with the inspiration and motivation to want to get up from the computer. And not only that, but from a marketing standpoint, managed to tie together an offline product, with an online tracking system that lets you keep track of your own runs, set your own goals, and right now even your own New Year's resolutions, as well as challenge a global community to keep everybody motivated. This kit uses a device that you put in your shoe to track the time, distance, pace and even calories burned. And the brand exposure on a daily basis for both of these companies is huge, with their audience more engaged than ever.

This product is ultimately useless without its online counterpart, and this is what is making the kit such a huge hit. The community aspect in everything online is so important, Apple knew that already and forged a brilliant (though not on the surface) partnership with Nike, who they knew would embrace it. iPod Nano's were, and still are, flying out the door and this partnership is just one more way that Apple is extending its reach. It's no secret that one of the best motivators for a runner is music, so really it's a snug fit (sorry, couldn't help myself).

The overall usability of the product for even a novice runner like myself is seamless, and the spoken feedback is very useful as well, motivating you in the final leg of a long run, or just filling you in on how far you have already gone.

This kit is not only tied to the NikePlus website, but Apple is also taking advantage of the engagement level and even addiction, if we can call it that, of the running community by offering full treadmill and outdoor running workouts that you can download right to your iPod. Some of the workouts feature Nike Coaches like Alberto Salazar (multiple-marathon champion) talking you through an entire workout on improving your endurance, and others are music created solely with the runner in mind by the likes of Crystal Method and LCD Soundsystem. You've got an entire community and a world class personal trainer right in the palm of your hand... or attached to some other pricy but fashionable piece of clothing.

There are, of course, more advanced and detailed running systems out in the market today, that track everything from Oxygen level to heart rate, but speaking strictly from a mass accessibility standpoint, the data that Nike and iPod collect is enough to satisfy anyone who doesn't plan on running marathons for a living.

Anyways, Happy New Year... So far my resolution is going well. ;)

The 12 Days of UseTube

2006-12-22T07:47:00.000-08:00

In the spirit of the season, I am proposing that this list of items temporarily replace the traditional Yuletide selections from the original Twelve Days of Christmas, and by temporarily, I mean for just as long as you are reading this post, then go have fun with your friends and family.

On the Twelfth Day of Christmas, the Powers-that-be gave to me,

Twelve Remote User Sessions

Eleven Top Priorities

Ten Recommended Heuristics

Nine Crimes against Aesthetics

Eight Errors Prevented

Seven Elements and Principles of Design

Six Well Paid Test Participants

Five Golden Triangles (Thanks Gord)

Four Improved Calls-to-Action

Three Paper Prototypes

Two Eye Tracking Stations

And An Appropriate Target Demographic

Happy Holidays everyone,
whatever it is that you celebrate!

Tagged

2006-12-19T11:33:00.000-08:00

I came into work today to the realization that i had been tagged, which intrigued me. I received an email from the president of our organization, Gord Hotchkiss of Enquiro, mentioning that he had tagged, among others, me. Looking further into it, this tagging appears to be slowly moving over the blogosphere attempting to put faces back onto many of the posters that have become finely tuned blogging machines. And this I can get into! I sincerely believe that every one of us brings something different to the table through our experiences and the application of ourselves in different areas of life, so this game of tag is more than welcome. Similar to the 43things.com website, which is worth a look if you haven't seen it already, which asks its audience to list 43 things they want to do before they die.

But I digress... Here are my 5 things that people generally don't know about me.

On my high school graduation day, as I walked across the stage, I was pulled, fully unexpectedly, to the side in mid-cross and was presented with the district scholarship for art. I believe the district encompassed 2 or 3 other high schools in Chilliwack (you will know it by the smell of manure being spread on the corn fields as you pass through to Vancouver, British Columbia). I was able to put that scholarship towards an education in Graphic Design.
I have never lived outside of British Columbia. I have lived in numerous places within the province, including the north (Smithers), the interior (Revelstoke), Vancouver Island - which is one of my favourite places in the world to be (Comox & Campbell River), and in and around Vancouver, the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley (Chilliwack, Surrey, Vancouver and North Vancouver).
I had never been on a plane until i was 26 years old, and thus, had never travelled overseas until earlier this year, when I went with my wife to the UK.
While playing hockey for what must have been the ROI Theatre sponsored Atom team in about 1984 ( I know, this dates me, I was about 9 at the time if you wanted to do the math), I won the coveted Esso "Most Improved Player" award for my team. This sounds good, but the other two awards were "Most Valuable Player" and, I believe, "Most Sportsmanlike Player", so this put me in the "Not as bad as i used to be" category. But I was really proud at the time, and have the medal to this day.
Aaaaaand, the last bit for now is that i am a big, big fan of music, but you will never find me on a dance floor. You wouldn't know it by looking at me, but I've got no rhythm... ;)

I tag Frank Spillers, Jesper Rønn-Jensen, Thomas Watson Steen

Bye for now

Good-bye Joe

2006-12-19T09:05:00.000-08:00

I would like to pay my respects to Joseph Barbera.

The last remaining member of the great Hanna-Barbera duo has passed away at the age of 95, succeeding his partner, Bill Hanna, who passed away in 2001. The influence of Hanna-Barbera on me through all the creations they brought to life is unmeasurable. It is likely that I wouldn't be the person I am today if I wasn't able to indulge my creative tendencies on the exploits of Yogi Bear, The Flintstones, and some of the lesser known favourites from the shorts, Hong Kong Phooey, Huckleberry Hound, Quickdraw McGraw, Augie Doggy and Daddy Doggie, and I loved it when the Hanna Barbera world came together in the Wacky Races.

Not many people know this about me, but Scooby Doo was my first muse and the reason i picked up a pencil to illustrate in the first place. This initial inspiration led me to enrol in every possible art class throughout high school and eventually to University for Graphic Design. I hold a special place in my heart for that little bit of magic that Hanna Barbera brought to me, and that i still feel every time i turn on the TV and see an episode of Snagglepuss or the Yogi Bear Christmas Special.

It saddened me that I pulled up the Hannabarbera.com website (redirected to warnerbrothers.com as the rights were purchased a few years ago) to find not one mention of the death of Joe. But, I suppose, it doesn't matter what he meant to them because I know what he meant to me.

Thank you Joe,
Cory

SocNet - Leveraging Social Networking for Your Site (Part 1 of 3)

2006-12-14T15:33:00.000-08:00

SocNet? Yes, you heard me right…

Lately, just like in the movie 1984, I've been trying to reduce my vocabulary by combining existing words. This one is long overdue, and stands for, of course, Social Networking.

Much has been discussed about the buzz around the success of sites like YouTube, Myspace and Facebook, and how they put the power of the internet back into the hands of the user. And as much as the “wow” factor is perpetually newsworthy, much less has been discussed about how you can leverage these types of applications, or simply learn from them to improve the relationship between you and your audience. What has been discovered is that internet users like to have control, and whether site owners like it or not, they have it. They like to be heard, they like to be popular, they like to be unique and to be listened to, and this is what SocNet has empowered them with.

Now how can you empower your audience? Well, understanding first that, depending on the type of site that you have, there can be many levels to your audience’s onsite relationship, and as Rick Tobin mentions in his latest sponsoredb2b blog post, “You see, it’s not about getting more traffic; it’s about doing more with your traffic.”

Attracting new visitors:

Myspace: Having a MySpace page is a good way to start at the grassroots level, incurring friends participating in group discussions, establishing your site and the people (or personality) of your organization as unique and personable. What this means is that there is potential for referrals as long as you manage your brand reputation effectively.

The other way to dramatically increase activity on your site is… and this is a longshot… if you have a tool or application that can make the life of MySpace users that much easier, then promote it heavily, and it will get eaten up. An example of this comes from the most recent Hitwise report on Consumer Generated Media, where Photobucket, an image hosting website has had a 43% increase in visits from March to September 2006, with 8 times the number of visits as the competitors such as Flickr. And, as of September, 57 % of all of that traffic was driven by MySpace… Something to chew on anyways.

Youtube: Not only is YouTube the Wunderkind of online video because they allow your friends and family to keep up with your zany college antics by visiting the YouTube site and dialing up your videos. It is also one more way to increase the engagement level of users on your own website too. Sites like YouTube and Google Video are not terribly selfish, and are willing to spread the wealth by offering site owners the code that enables you to place whatever video you want on your own website, saving you the bandwidth of serving the video yourself.

Also, if your site is one that benefits by having longer viewing sessions, for instance, an advertising model, then incorporating video is a natural fit. According to the same Hitwise report mentioned above, the average visitor session at YouTube runs approximately 18 and a half minutes, meaning plenty of exposure to your video content, but advertising as well.

Blog: Well, this one you’re more likely to be pretty familiar with, considering a blog is where you found this article. Anyways, blogs are strong tools for a slow build, with subscribers spreading the word, attracting an audience of “like types”. Normally a vocal group, your Blog audience will let you know if they are stirred into discussion by offering their opinion.

Reputation Management is extremely important at all times, especially with blogs. With so much content being generated by users, some of it is bound to be negative. But if you're proactive and have the capacity to diffuse heated situations and are up for some healthy, sometimes passionate discussion, then you can weather that storm, and gain respect from those reading about you as the "faceless organization."

Here are a few of my favorites just to give you a head start, comment to your heart’s content:

Web Analytics World
Sponsored B2B
SEO Space
Out Of My Gord
SearchTank
Demystifying Usability

Professional Communities: There are also a number of highly recommended professional communities to establish yourself and your site in. Ryze, or LinkedIn, are 2 such communities that allow professionals to connect in much the same way that MySpace has done for the average user, except the popularity on these types of sites is much more focused to the industry that the user is involved in. By establishing yourself as an authority in your industry and collecting a list of other connections that recommend you as well, there is plenty of opportunity to leverage that into networking or career opportunities, consulting offers, new ventures or business deals, as indicated by the contact options in your own profile.

This is something that cannot be faked, and as long as you have a good product, or offer some knowledge in your area of expertise that others can find informative or innovative, then put yourself out there.

Orkut (a Google property) is similar in fashion to both LinkedIn and Ryze, but is somewhat less focused on business or industry, and is open to general profiles as well. Orkut was, until recently, unavailable to the public, but for those waiting to get an invite from the exclusive club don’t have to wait anymore, now you’re allowed through the front door.

This is one article in a series of 3 articles about ways to leverage SocNet throughout the entire relationship of your audience to the website. This article is looking specifically into how to attract new visitors using consumer generated media, and will be followed by 2 more articles:

Improving the Experience Once Your Audience is on the Site
And
Post Purchase or Continuing the Relationship.

SES Chicago - Gord Hotchkiss Discusses the Eye-Tracking Study

2006-12-14T10:29:00.001-08:00

Enquiro's CEO and President, Gord Hotchkiss, is interviewed by TopRank Blog at SES Chicago today about the new MSN, Yahoo and Google Eye-Tracking Report. In the interview Gord touches on some of the key points in the study including how the MSN and Yahoo users experience on Google appeared to be considerably more favorable than on their engine of choice. Also discusses the issue of perceived relevancy on the engines.

For more information, visit this review of the report.

SponsoredB2B Touts the Impact of Sponsored on Offline Conversions

2006-11-27T08:32:00.000-08:00

A good friend of mine, Rick Tobin from SponsoredB2B wrote today about a new study released by ROIResearch on quantifying the effect of sponsored search on offline purchases. This is the age old question, and by age, I mean as far back as when blinking banner ads encroached upon our beautifully designed plain HTML 6 page sites.

And, even though this study doesn't give us a real strategic look at how this connection can be improved or harnessed to maximum effect, it does give us some details on the correlation between the Sponsored Campaign and the Offline Sale, proving what we have suspected all along, that Brand and Search do have a considerable impact.

Rick has introduced another study as well by MarketingSherpa from earlier this year that asked Brand Marketers what marketing tactics they felt were either very effective or somewhat effective, and based on that input, Paid Search Advertising was second overall with 32% selecting it as "very effective".

What this information is proving is that, what we felt was happening strongly coincides with what we now know IS happening, and that all this research is helping to push this analytics oddity into the light.

iPod Huge for the Holidays, Podcasting... Not so Much

2006-11-23T07:31:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday, Apple shares hit an all-time high, climbing as far as $88.14. Expectations are high this holiday season for the iPod, where analysts are expecting that 14 million of the un its will have been sold by the end of the quarter, even with the launch of the brand new Microsoft Zune last week.

There has also been a research study performed recently by the PEW Internet & American Life Project about the adoption rate of podcasts, originally named after the iPod itself, as it was this technology that gave Podcasts a reason for being. This study states that only12% of internet users polled claimed to have ever downloaded a podcast, and only 1% said that they would download a podcast on a typical day. Compare that to the growth of internet users with an iPod or another MP3 player, which earlier this year rose to 26%. Now, an iPod or MP3 player isn't necessary in order to subscribe, watch or listen to podcasts, but they certainly make it easier to tune into your favourite podcast whenever or wherever you are.

Now, iTunes has come a long way in making podcasts more accessible; building them into a seamless menu option in the interface, sorting the library into so many categories that you are bound to find something that you like, and allowing anyone to submit a podcast of their own and make it available through the iTunes Store. But because this is an industry that isn't really generating a lot of income at the moment, there aren't really a lot of advertising dollars behind it and podcasting .

Overall, very few internet users are hooked on podcasting. It has the potential that blogs are experiencing now with the widespread grassroots attraction, but this time the larger media companies decided to get in a little earlier. Though, I have to say, they have done it tastefully for the most part.

For the larger organizations, this is a practice in brand awareness and community rather than pushing a product. And for them to appeal to today's user, having a good product isn't enough, they really have to appeal to a lifestyle and generate a feeling. Why not appeal to more of the human senses than reading does? Why not use video or audio? It's like TV, made for you, chosen by you, that you can watch wherever, and whenever you want.

Tell me that doesn't sound like a good idea...
Spread the Podcast Love.

Here are a few of the Podcasts that I get a kick out of, feel free to share any that you enjoy or find useful:

The Onion Radio News
Strong Bad by Homestarrunner
or almost anything from within the Technology Category

Engagement vs. Recall - Small Eye-Tracking Usability Study

2006-11-17T08:42:00.000-08:00

Recently at Enquiro, I performed a private study for one of our clients who services both B2C and B2B customers with a fairly short consideration process. Because it was a private study, I am not at liberty to share the name of the organization, but I did want to share some of the findings, as I thought they might be of interest to you.

This was a fairly small usability study, consisting of 2 groups of 5 users. These users were prompted with either (1) a stripped back text based page with a selection of information, one text based and one simple graphical call-to-action or (2) a graphic intensive page, including engaging imagery, much more visual calls-to-action integrated into that imagery, and the same selection of information as the text based page and a video element.

Where we found the biggest difference, as indicated by the title of the article, was between the engagement on the page and the recall of information. It was expected that participants would be able to recall more of the information from the text oriented page, and this expectation was met, recalling 3 times as much specific information as those viewing the alternate graphic page.

But this appeared to be where the benefits of the text based page ceased. As mentioned above, there was one simple graphical call-to-action on this page that, according to our eye-tracking of each of the participants, appeared to have performed like a fish out of water. This is indicated by the white box in the heatmap on the left. Instead of an attractant, this element acted to deflect the eyes of the participants, causing a banner blindness effect, even though the call-to-action fit well into the organization's look and feel.

What this shows is that each page has its own momentum, if you're going to give the user a primarily text based page, then design accordingly, by placing the calls-to-action inline and be sure that they are mainly text based themselves.

As for the Graphic based page, participants found it difficult to recall specific information after viewing the graphic based page, however, they did have a considerably higher impression and comfort level with it. They were more willing to visually explore each of the page areas, more willing to take it all in.

By reviewing actions on the page during the sessions as well as responses from an exit survey that were collected there was a considerable variation in the level of impression between both types of pages. When converting the likert scale to numerical values, the Graphic page scored a 29 out of a possible 35 when participants were asked to rate their level of comfort with submitting a quote on this site, as compared to a score of 23 for the Text based page. And when comparing how quickly and easily they felt they could have submitted a quote, the variation widened further, with the participants from the Graphic session scoring 30 out of 35 compared to 22 by the Text based participants.

The elements on the Graphic page struck a level of comfort with the participants, which, depending on who you talk to, is worth more to you than your customer remembering specific information. The participants from the Graphic page session took a feeling away with them, a feeling that they will associate with the brand going forward.

Specifically those participants who viewed the video embedded into the page. Which was a 30 second commercial spot, allowing the blend of offline and online marketing efforts to engage the potential customer. One of those participants even made a point of expressing specifically that she "felt they really care about me" after watching the spot. Not only that, but after viewing, she was far more willing to spend much more time on the site.

All in all, you can learn a little bit from everyone. In this case it really showed that, by beginning with the end in mind, your customer or potential customer can always leave with what's important to them. If it's facts, then display it like facts, if it's a feeling, then generate a feeling, just know what it is you want them to leave with, otherwise you might both be empty handed.

LiveLogger & World Usability Day Sessions

2006-11-14T15:41:00.000-08:00

Well, the Usability Testing Methods webinar that i attended as part of World Usability Day was informative and well worth the time. Frank Spillers, who has been performing Usability tests for 10 years now was the host. Much of the first part of the presentation was to help level the table a bit, bringing those with no experience in the field up to speed on some of the simple goals (ease of use), different types of basic Usability testing (down the hallway, low-fidelity, mixed-fidelity and high-fidelity) and measurement types (qualitative vs. quantitative). And with the best practices stuff out of the way, we delved into Frank's insight and experience in testing.

It has always been my belief that everyone brings something different to the table, so for all of us in the Usability field, fresh or experienced it can't hurt to have an open mind when it comes to different styles. For instance, some of the major players in the industry have found the most effective number of participants to be 5 in order to minimize costs and time. But experts like Frank tend to think that if most of the time is spent in the setup of the study, then what is an extra couple of hours running a few more participants through in order to have some more concrete data to supply the client.

The Forgotten Metrics
Frank also discussed what are referred to as the "Forgotten Metrics", which include ease of learnability and ease of understanding, which can give valuable insight into your study, often times more value than the ever important "time on task" metric. One practice for determining ease of learnability is what is called a loop-back task, which essentially has the participant perform a very similar task to an earlier task to determine if they are able to streamline the experience this time around.

Time on Task is a metric that can also be misinterpreted. There are 2 trains of thought when it comes to this one, and i tend to believe that as long as a user is moving towards their goal successfully, then time is not as much of an issue. And Frank is of the same opinion on this issue. As long as, when you tie in the quantitative and qualitative results, the user has a positive experience on the site, because ultimately that is what they will bring with them. If you have the analytics in place already, or if you are measuring 2 very like sites, then it's worth it, but otherwise, don't knock yourself out over it.

LiveLogger
The LiveLogger tool for Usability testing was released today to mark World Usability Day by Experience Dynamics. This appears to be a really helpful and simple tool that shows the most benefit in letting you focus on your participant, the real reason you're performing your Usability test in the first place. What it does is acts as a dynamic notebook that tracks the time for you and allows you to choose from certain actions so that when you choose that action, it marks the time and lets you make a note regarding the circumstances. As anyone trying to take these types of notes can agree to, it's not always easy to keep this type of information in order and still pay full attention to your participant. Of course the tool is much more dynamic than that, for instance, all of the export features that allow you to categorize each of the user's data, from the errors that they experienced and any points of confusion along the way. But this is where i really saw the value in it.

The presentation itself was really worthwhile, Frank keeps you interested and brings a lot of insight that you can only get from spending this long in the industry. And their new product, LiveLogger, looks well worth a demo download. If you plan on performing a small usability study in the next little while, I would really recommend giving it a shot, it'll make organizing those sessions a lot easier.

Happy World Usability Day!

2006-11-14T11:09:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to UPA on what looks to be a very successful World Usability Day, surpassing the number of events from last year! I myself am scheduled in for a webinar very soon, and am looking very forward to taking part. I will be posting some feedback on the session later on today. Great job on pushing the industry forward!

A Second Life to Make a First Impression

2006-11-09T11:11:00.000-08:00

If you're in or around my age, and so I don't have to say what my age is, I'll just assume that you are, then you are among the first generation to have grown up with computers, and have spent a fair amount of your youth dropping quarters into Gauntlet, Kung Fu and Street Fighter 2 down at your local arcade. During those years, you spent your days at school, and your nights playing outside with your friends or down at that same arcade spending your allowance. Being the first generation to really have grown up with this type of technology has skewed other generations opinions of us, and not always for the best. Video games are associated with little boys entertaining themselves, but it is likely that is the perception because that's what we did as children and no one before us really set the standard, so it's up to us to make a stand for our childish games!

Anyways, what I'm getting at is that since leaving school and moving into the real world, many of us have been partly shut off from the social routine that we enjoyed as kids. Many of us are employed, working full time in an engaging (or not) career and even married, meaning that you generally go to work, stay until the work is done, go home to your best friend, go to bed and do it all over again. We don't generally have the time that we did as kids to socialize every day and night of the week.

This is where I find sites like Second Life really fascinating. A good friend of mine introduced me to Second Life about a year ago and everytime i think about it, I find it fascinating! Linden (the company behind Second Life) has developed a virtual world that has been in existence since 2003 and can now claim to have almost 1.5 million inhabitants. See the trend below of search volume over the past couple of years:

What this means to those of us taking back our video game roots, is that social networking sites and applications like this give us the ability to interact with other people, all over the world, in a way that we haven't been able to since school. By signing up for an account with Second Life your daily routine doesn't have to change, and you're able to interact with groups or individuals all without leaving the couch, for as long or short a time as you'd like. There are many facets of this application that mimic the real world, even appealing to the desire for status. You can go so far as building a home and outfitting it with all the furniture, bells and whistles that you can think of. Of course, this requires a paid subscription to this virtual world, and for some it is well worth it, but I don't plan on going into that here!

The schoolyard used to be where we found out what was cool, who was a jerk, who had a crush on who, all of which really doesn't mean a thing on an individual basis, outside of enjoying the moment, but it's the moments that define us. We would be entirely different people if we didn't have the social interaction that we had as kids.

I'm not telling you to spend all your time ignoring the real world and spend all your time online in a quasi-real world, i mean, go to the pub if that's what you do. But for those of us that miss that comraderie, and that connection that you can make with a good friend, look into it. Those of us that got beat up in school, I'm sorry, there are nice people out there...

We're all Verklempt, Discuss Amongst Yourselves, We'll Give you a Topic... Google vs. MSN vs. Yahoo!

2006-11-08T14:08:00.000-08:00

If you've read the original Google Eye-Tracking White Paper released by Enquiro, Eyetools and Did-It, you'll know the impact and discussion it has caused in the industry with the unveiling of the Golden Triangle and accompanying insights giving the search marketer an edge with their Google specific strategies. Quotes from this article have been picked up all over the industry, from sources such as Danny Sullivan and Anne Holland, and is used as training collateral for many organizations with an interest in online marketing.

Well, prepare yourselves because the next wave of insight is at the industry's doorstep! A few of us here at Enquiro have been working dilligently on the last few pieces of information for the new Eye-Tracking White Paper with Gord Hotchkiss at the helm, a White Paper that broadens the scope of the original by 2 engines, MSN and Yahoo! This new paper definitely offers insights for the search marketers out there by digging into topics like the the effect of sponsored listings on each engine by area, banner blindness and the growth of navigational search. But this paper also has plenty of new information that those usability and the onsite experience junkies will find very interesting. For instance, have you ever thought about the impact that the MSN or Yahoo! portal page might have on the rest of the search experience? How positive or negative news stories or images might affect the success of the searchers experience? No? How about perceived relevancy on the engines? Which engine is really the most relevant? Is Google always number one? We all have our theories, and this paper will help to quantify some of them, and generate discussion around others..

Do we have your attention? I haven't seen the final version yet, but I'm really curious! Be sure to check it out!

Download a sample of the impending report here.

Of Ajax, Accessibility and Web 2.0

2006-10-25T12:50:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week Target.com was granted some grace from a lawsuit being posed against them by the advocates for the blind. The lawsuit charges that Target refused to make their e-commerce website accessible to the software that allows those with vision impairments to engage with websites. And the Courts have delayed any injunctions. According to the National Federation for the Blind, all the site would require would be alt-tags on the images of the site, whereas Target claims that the site is fine, and is accessible to the average blind person.

Now, this seems like a simple fix in this case, surely a few hours labor from Target's IT team, a couple of database tweaks and all should be well, but it does bring up a good point. With everyone focused on the future, as commendable as that is, and all the advancements we have seen during this fascinating transition to the world of Web 2.0, including the world of social networking, Second Life and MySpace, we have to make sure that everyone can come along for the ride. W3C has worked dillgently to try to enforce accessibility, and in some cases this has been upheld, but for every case that is successful, there are many that aren't. The Judge in the Target case stated that the "Americans with Disabilities Act, which requires all commercial locations to be accessible to citizens with disabilities, extends to Web sites as well as physical retail locations", which makes it pretty clear that accessibility will not be overlooked, at least for ecommerce sites.

The thing is, the Target site isn't even using any fancy new technology like AJAX to liquify the checkout process, so as we move forward, and the larger ecommerce and B2B sites with a mass appeal begin to adopt the 2.0 technologies, consider the Target scenario and the web guidelines that are the sole reason for W3C's existence. If we get it right from the beginning, the future could look a lot brighter for us all, even for those with vision impairments.

Google Goes Multivariate

2006-10-20T11:13:00.000-07:00

Goole has just released a brand new robust tool for Multivariate Testing, Google Website Optimizer. I don't know if you've seen this yet, but it is really worth looking into if you have been considering performing some landing page testing, as i'm sure all of you have. The tool appears to be very easy to use, requiring some code to be placed on your landing page, much like Google Analytics, and in those coded areas, it allows you to provide alternative blocks of text, images, buttons, headlines or other variables that you want to test.

The reporting offers you real and estimated data based on actual actions taken from your landing page, allowing you to immediately see which combinations of variables are the most successful. For instance, some of the columns include Estimated Conversion Rate Range, which gives a range of conversion success in comparison to the original combination of variables, the Chance to Beat Original or Chance to Beat All, which show the probability of any combination outperforming the original layout or all the other combinations of layouts. And the quantifiable column, Observed Improvement is a measure of improvement over the original layout, although Google does state that a larger amount of data is required before putting too much stock in this one.

Like I said, this is a great tool, and best of all it's free! Well, it's free as long as you have a Google Adwords account, but if you have been waffling about starting a PPC campaign, this would be the time to do it in my opinion, this is a great opportunity to immediately test and refine your landing pages with realtime data. For much more insight into Sponsored Campaigns, visit Rick Tobin's blog sponsoredb2b.blogspot.com.

Technorati Profile!

2006-10-18T11:43:00.000-07:00

Technorati Profile