Archive for the 'General' Category
If “Location, Location, Location” is the mantra in the real estate world, I’m starting to believe that it should also be the mantra of cross functional teams as well. After a heated debate over whether or not location is important in producing quality work, I decided to watch.
Then I traveled to our office in another country.
Before long, I was asked by a colleague about a certain product we are working on. We decided to have a ten minute meeting out in the sun and talk about it. I shared some simple facts about that product, and I was very happy to know the next day that this gave him a good edge in his offering to the client, and the order more than doubled just because of that addition! The same day, we shared another product with another colleague, and with one simple recommendation, we were able to eliminate a lot of frustration about that product with a very small modification. These same colleagues were able to assist me in some partnerships I was trying to make, and we decided on several steps to get these things done.
I became a believer.
Had I not traveled on this trip, would we have not been able to “get our jobs done”. Yes we would. But it’s not about just getting the work done. It’s about jumping to new places, and levels. It’s about creating a harmony in the team, that would almost automate the process of innovation and creation. It’s about being in a vibrant group that is more like an orchestra than a “business unit”.
I am just remembering the way “friendships” were formed during my college years. They were based on a very simple and pure criterion: whether or not you attended the same elective classes together! We used to become close friends, share intimate information with each other, and they become special people in our lives. Of course much of this expires when the course ends and we acquire new friends.
An important psychological factor in this is that people start to view the world in a similar manner when they spend enough time with each other. A closer look shows that we start to adopt the positions of the people we work / live with, in the same place. My reasoning is that although there are logical reasons that push us to think similarly with close people, there is another hidden reason why we tend to take similar positions. We don’t want to break whatever harmony there is, and we find it difficult to reject these people when they are expressing strong emotions. Of course, this is an investment we do, so that eventually we are given the chance to freely express our feelings.
Imagine what can happen when people with opposing points of view (sales and production or marketing and finance) sit together and start seeing the world from a similar perspective, and start sympathizing with one another! You get harmony. You get great results.
How a Bit More Content Means Much More Website Traffic
1 Comment Published by elias October 30th, 2007 in General.Let’s explore whether or not we can get more website traffic by adding more content to our website. I’ll try to make it scientific and later we will tackle the issue from a human perspective.
Create in your imagination a world with the following characteristics:
- The internet has only two sites: 123marketing.com and ABCmarketing.com.
- Pages indexed on search engines are two hundred pages, split in half between these two sites.
- Each page talks about on of the only two topics; marketing or advertising.
- All pages are ranked equally on search engines, meaning they have the same degree of optimization, and therefore, they are all equally likely to show up as the first search result for their respective keywords.
- 123 has 80 pages about marketing and 20 about advertising. On the other hand ABC has 20 pages about marketing and 80 pages about advertising.
The table below hopefully simplifies the whole story:
Marketing Advertising Totals:
123marketing 80 20 100
ABCmarketing 20 80 100
Totals: 100 100 200
As we assumed above since all pages are ranked and optimized equally, they are all equally likely to show up on search results and assuming the first result will always be clicked on, we can say that for the query “marketing” 123marketing.com has a 80% chance of getting that visitor, while ABCmarketing.com has a 20% chance. The same applies to the query “advertising” with the opposite results.
We can now easily see that for every 1000 queries of “marketing” 123marketing.com will be very happy that day, while ABCmarketing.com will feel a bit frustrated. This means that, with all factors held equal, the more pages you have about a certain topic or keyword the more likely you are to get traffic from search engines.
Another way of looking at is by considering that all the pages that contain the keywords you are writing about, are competing with you on that same visitor. The more pages you have about a certain topic (the bigger market share you have of that little universe) the easier it will be for you to get visitors.
That was simple math. Let’s take a human look on the issue, and take a more realistic approach where not all pages are ranked equally, and many webmasters are trying to manipulate the search results. We will also consider that an intelligent human being is searching and she knows what she needs really useful information that will help her in her work or life in general.
First of all, there are many variations of one keyword, and it can be combined with a lot of other words, to form phrases. This means that people will not only be searching for “marketing”, they will search for “internet marketing”, “advertising and marketing”, “radio marketing” etc…
If you have 100 different articles about marketing, then you will qualify to satisfying 100 different people when they are searching. Each will be satisfied differently because they will probably have a certain aspect of marketing in their minds. Remember, the longer the keyword, the more the searcher knows what they are looking for, the happier they will be to find an article just about that niche of the subject.
What about the smart SEOs that can get to the top of the search results of a hot keyword? They will sure get tons of traffic!
But, if they lead users to a site that contains 3-4 pages about a certain query, those users will finish reading those pages, still be hungry for more and never come back. They will keep searching until they find a site that really has enough content to cater for a huge number of search queries, and a huge number of people.
Why does a bit more content mean a lot more traffic?
Simply because pages have more than one keyword in them, and because people search for keywords, and combinations of them.
You will be getting traffic for people searching for the article’s main topic, and for all the related topics in that article.
One last reminder. Search engines are becoming much more efficient and accurate in directing you to the best available site. So, if you are like me, by the time you figure out how to manipulate your way to the top of search results that “algorithm” will have improved and you will be thrown away from the arena.
My simple advice: just try to be useful, write about it, and they will come.
Today, while I was trying to decide which channel to watch on TV, I came across a choice of 1273 different options. Funnily, I wanted to explore them. Discovering that I was on the middle of the list, I decided to go to the top of the list, and start with the letter “A”. It wasn’t long before I discovered how absurd this decision was since there was no logic in the arrangement of channels, and the alphabetical order had nothing to with my preferences.
Although my decision was indeed absurd, it was the only logical thing to do. There is no other classification through which the viewer can make their choice.
A famous study outlines how bad it is to give consumers a lot of choices. They are more likely to buy when given few choices, and they are more likely to be satisfied with their choice. Of course choosing from six choices is much easier, safer, and more comfortable than choosing from 24 or 30.
While this makes sense, the validity of these findings loose their power when faced with the virtual world of, not only more, but infinite choice.
This is demonstrated thoroughly in The Long Tail, which shows how infinite choice leads to more sales, and more satisfaction, if and only if coupled with a mechanism of filtering and ranking.
Amazon was taken as an example in which customers are faced with literally millions of products, but they have the power to filter according to their taste, they can read other people’s reviews, and they can see the best sellers in the tiniest of categories.
If you want to present your customers with a decision tree, make sure they are faced with a limited number of choices in each stage, and make it easier to navigate through your store, website, or company.
Keeping in mind the streets we drive in could be a good metaphor. Although there are a million different possible way to go to a certain place, you only have three or four choice to choose from on each crossroads. This is how you should plan your website navigation and make use of the infinite choice presented to your users.
Google Website Optimizer: The Butterfly Effect of Advertising
2 Comments Published by elias September 1st, 2007 in General.
This movie, which popularizes a concept in Chaos Theory clearly shows how making a small change in a key event in a person’s life makes a huge tangible difference in the lives of other around them. It makes me think about how fragile the perception of communications by consumers can be, and how delicate changes can get you huge results (good or bad) in your advertising.
David Ogilvy,in Ogilvy on Advertising
Google allows you to use several ads and they can automatically optimize them for you. That is, their system will show the better performing ads more often. This way you don’t have to worry about months of research to finding the best copy. You put the different copies you have, and people tell you which ones they find appealing.
Now with their Website Optimizer, you can do the same for your website! If you have a page that is designed to convince visitors to take certain actions, this landing page has several elements in it usually. You definitely have a header, probably a picture, and text to explain what the product / service is. 
If you are not sure, which header is the most attractive and persuasive for your visitors, you can put several headers, and they will rotate, until you feel confident that there is a certain pattern that attracts people to one particular text. The same can be done for the other elements of the page. Moreover, the Optimizer also tells you which combination of text, header and picture is the best. Grokdotcom has some useful resources about this product.
The movie seemed too good to be true, especially with the new features, and many people would love to have the access to change the destiny in different ways. In the advertising world, this is not a dream, but a real wish that can now be achieved through Website Optimizer.
Website Navigation: You Lead the Way
1 Comment Published by elias September 1st, 2007 in General, Online, web 2.0.they should be asked the golden question, “Would you like to PLAY or to WATCH sports today?”
Everything is becoming “web-based” and not only that, the network effects and community are magnifying the importance of having shared files, rankings, and habits. Forget about your privacy for just about a century!
The importance of having your files on the web, is that it just adds to your mobility, and flexibility in terms of logistics. Many people work on two computers, one at home and the other at work. Having favorite files in one accessible place really makes things easier, especially while traveling.
This is my review of the service provided by Mediamax, a website owned by Streamload.Mediamax has a great offer for favorites junkies. The cool thing is that the paid versions have the same features, only the storage and sharing rate are different. This depends on your needs.
The above is the main dashboard when you login. The File Manager is the general tab containing all the files you have uploaded. They can also be accessed through their type; music, video, photo, and also mail. Uploaded files can be kept private or published for sharing with other. Each file in this case is given its unique URL.
Features:
Storage: The free version comes with 25GB of storage. The three other versions come with 100 GB ($4.95/month), 250 GB ($9.95/month), and 1000 GB ($29.95/month) of storage.
Uploading: Any person can upload files to your account if they are not registered. This is a great feature for receiving and sharing group projects and keeping everyone in the loop.
Backup: By downloading their free Mediamax XL software, you can also backup your files on your compuer and synchronize your work with others as well.
There is a more detailed pricing and plan comparison on the pricing page.
This product was featured numerous times in the press, and a lot of buzz has been going out by several of the biggest magazines like PC World and Time. References also available on the site.
What could be imporved: The process of uploading files, especially big ones, especially if you are moving your full library of files is really mundane. Moving between tabs could really be improved by an AJAX interfce without having to refresh the page on clicking each of the tabs. That would really improve the user-experience, and would reduce some of the time spent on uploading. I hope they can do it soon.
I’m starting to depend on Mediamax for keeping my stuff on the web, and I’m enjoying having access to my useful stuff any time, and anywhere. You can register for free to check it out.
I gave a presentation about the basics of Web 2.0. I discovered several important things, and experienced important learnings. Thank God I made some good mistakes!
1. Forget about the time, and look at the faces: Give your breaks when you feel the audience needs it. Never mind about what time you planned to give the time out. When they are listening intently and following you, it’s meaningless to stop this. After all, you have spent some good time on building and maintaining their attention. Don’t waste it. It’s like the ace in your hand. Use it wisely.
2. Magnify the relevant comments only : Most of the time you will have some people commenting on what you are saying. Some of it will be relevant and useful, and some will just be people saying whatever comes to their mind. Your response to these comments magnifies their importance to the audience. The audience is yours, and they will pay attention to whatever you tell them. Don’t try to please everyone by attending to whatever they are saying. Make sure you reward the good comments.
3. Talk to faces, not the “audience”: Try to make good use of eye contact. This means that you should connect with as many people as you can by looking in their eyes several seconds and making sure you “attract” them and keep them with you. You need to have this backed up by a logical flow of arguments. The people in the front rows can be powerful anchors for getting others to pay attention too. You can easily look in their eyes.
4. Relax!: Don’t try. Just talk to the audience. Having a loud and clear voice is essential to keeping them with you. But when you talk in a relaxed manner, you convey your confidence and you send out the message that they should listen to you.
Here is the Web 2.0 presentation.
What to Do With the Increasingly Complicated World?
3 Comments Published by elias May 22nd, 2007 in General.Be like the Internet!
The Internet is definitely one of the main forces, adding to the complexity and uncertainty in our lives. Although it is giving us unprecedented opportunity and threats, what it equally provides to everyone is an increase in the size and number of interactions that we make (with humans and machines).
I can’t understand why many people say that with the advent of the new technologies, the world is becoming smaller. I think the world has become huge, and unintelligibly larger, because of technology. We send and receive hundreds of messages every day, to tens of people, and in several different formats. Each person is the center of their own world, or universe if you will. My world at least is definitely not smaller.
So how do we deal with all this, and what does it require from us as people to do? What kind of attitude do we need to have to thrive, or at least survive, in such circumstances?
The name of this presentation is a part of the answer: Be Like the Internet. The first thing that came to mind when I read this, was that we should be widespread, flexible, scalable, shapeless, and vague.
This presentation is much better in explaining this, especially with creative and descriptive photos that clearly tell you how to “be” like the Internet.
Enjoy!
Question it!
That was the most important lesson I learned from the seminar I attended today, by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, the founder of The Art of Living. He gave a one-hour talk about several issues, and gave some tips for life. The idea that really struck me was the following:
We only question the things that are given to us in the positive. We never question the negative stuff.
When someone says, “You were great!” or, “I really admire you!”, we usually reply, “Really??”. But when someone says, “You are really bad at handling things” we immediately believe, and feel the need to defend ourselves and try to prove something.
The next time I am confronted with a negative idea (by anyone or by myself), I’ll face it with the not-so-obvious question, “Are you sure? Do you really think so?”. I’ll keep questioning until they (or I) really start to rethink that idea. And whenever I get a great positive idea, I’m not going to question it, just for a change.
An important thing that this does, is that it immediately interrupts the attacking person’s assault. You give them a totally unexpected response, and you really make them wonder and think about the validity of what they are claiming. A very good sales technique!
This option is very useful for people who don’t have enough time, and can focus on two things at a time. Of course, it’s much more useful to just sit back and listen to the reading. This will save you the effort of focusing on the letters, and just surrender to the reader, and get convinced, carried away, excited, (disgusted?) by the reader’s tone.
Simply Audiobooks allows you to download free audio books under certain terms and conditions. It is interesting to have books collected in one website that gives you several options.
You can download, rent, or buy audio books. Each option comes with certain price segments and suites a certain type of people.
My recommendation for listening to books, is to have them play once while you are totally focused. Then play the same book several times in the background. This way, information will effortlessly sink in, and your unconscious will alert you immediately whenever something significant is being said. In these moments you focus on the stuff that you need to better understand.
Interesting Service.
