Do i need a website?

Q: My business is very small, just me and two employees, and our product really can't be sold online. Do I really need a website?

A: That's a good question. In fact, it's one of the most important and most frequently asked questions of the digital business age.
So should your business have a website, even if your business is small and sells products or services you don't think can be sold online? My answer in 1998 is the same as my answer today: Yes, if you have a business, you should have a website. Period. No question. Without a doubt.
Also, don't be so quick to dismiss your product as one that can't be sold online. Nowadays, there's very little that can't be sold over the internet. More than 20 million shoppers are now online, purchasing everything from books to computers to cars to real estate to jet airplanes to natural gas to you name it. If you can imagine it, someone will figure out how to sell it online.
Let me clarify one point: I'm not saying you should put all your efforts into selling your wares over the internet, though if your product lends itself to easy online sales, you should certainly be considering it. The point to be made here is that you should at the very least have a presence on the web so that customers, potential employees, business partners and perhaps even investors can quickly and easily find out more about your business and the products or services you have to offer.
That said, it's not enough that you just have a website. You must have a professional-looking site if you want to be taken seriously. Since many consumers now search for information online prior to making a purchase at a brick-and-mortar store, your site may be the first chance you have at making a good impression on a potential buyer. If your site looks like it was designed by a barrel of colorblind monkeys, your chance at making a good first impression will be lost.
One of the great things about the internet is that it has leveled the playing field when it comes to competing with the big boys. As mentioned, you have one shot at making a good first impression. With a well-designed site, your little operation can project the image and professionalism of a much larger company. The inverse is also true. I've seen many big company websites that were so badly designed and hard to navigate that they completely lacked professionalism and credibility. Good for you, too bad for them.
You may have a small operation, but when it comes to benefiting from a website, size does not matter. I don't care if you're a one-man show or a 10,000-employee corporate giant; if you don't have a website, you're losing business to other companies that do.
Here's the exception to my rule: It's actually better to have no website at all than to have one that makes your business look bad. Your site speaks volumes about your business. It either says, "Hey, look, we take our business so seriously that we have created this wonderful site for our customers!" or it screams, "Hey, look, I let my 10-year-old nephew design my site. Good luck finding anything!"
Your website is an important part of your business. Make sure you treat it as such.

Seven Steps to a Successful Marketing Blog - by Connie Reece

How do you start from scratch yet create a top-ranked marketing blog in less than a year?

If I had anything close to a foolproof formula, I'd be making an infomercial right now rather than writing this article. Nevertheless, I can share some tips from my own experience to help you achieve success with your marketing blog.

1. Read

Before you draw up a plan for your blog, do your homework. Find and read the top marketing bloggers (see Mack Collier's Top 25 list). Don't overlook new voices, however; they may have valuable ideas and a fresh perspective.

It's important to listen before jumping into a conversation—and that's what blogging is all about. Often the back-and-forth discussion that takes place in the comments is the most valuable part of a blog post.

2. Comment

I did nothing but read blogs and bookmark them for about a month before I moved on to Step 2, which is to join the conversation by leaving comments on the blogs that you read.

Rather than a bland "nice post" type of comment, write something that adds to the conversation. Why was the subject important to you? How can you use the information?

Now, when you leave your comment, here's where marketing magic begins. Most blogs have three boxes for personal information to identify the commenter:

• First, your name. Unless you are widely known by a nickname or pseudonym, always use your real name.
• The second piece of information requested is your email address; it will not be visible to readers but lets the author know that you're a real person, not a bot or spammer.
• The third blank to fill out is the URL of your Web site or blog, if you have one. When you add a URL in this space, it creates a hyperlink to your site, and when a reader mouses over your name, your blog title is displayed.

Because you've automatically generated a way for readers to find you, it's considered poor etiquette to use the comment space of someone else's blog for self-promotion. So resist the urge to hijack the comments; make your point, and use no more than one hyperlink. Most blog filters are defaulted to flag as spam any comment with two or more hyperlinks.

3. Write

When you first start writing a blog, it takes a while to find your voice. The best advice I can give you? Don't try to be Mack Collier or Drew McLellan or John Moore—or anybody else.

It's good to quote from industry leaders, but take time to formulate your opinions and express them in your own words. And don't write a lengthy essay that draws final conclusions, which has the effect of shutting off dialogue.

Learn to ask for comments in your post, and phrase them in a way that invites response.

4. Respond

When visitors comment on your blog, follow up with an appropriate response in the comment section. There's a fine line between dominating the conversation and keeping it going, so let several comments accumulate before you address them in the same reply.

Remember that commenters may not revisit your blog to see your reply, although this has been made much easier with new tools that allow RSS or email feeds for individual comments. Toby Bloomberg taught me an early lesson about responding to new commenters: She sent a short email thanking me for the comment and introducing herself. What a nice surprise for this brand-new blogger to get a personal email from the Diva! It started a conversation that has continued to this day.

5. Converse

A blog is not your only venue for interaction with readers and thought leaders. Take the conversation to another forum—a microblogging tool like Twitter, for example, or Facebook. More than 900 people follow me on Twitter, which provides many opportunities for interesting or helpful conversations. When I send a "tweet" with a link to a blog post, I always see a spike in traffic.

I do not treat Twitter, however, as just another marketing channel. Users who send only links and never engage with others will not find Twitter valuable.

6. Connect

Look for ways to extend the conversation to face-to-face meetings with other bloggers: Attend conferences, for example, or invite a local blogger to coffee. These connections will invigorate you and help you become better known in the marketing blogger community. When you visit the blog of a personal connection, it's like catching up with an old friend.

7. Rinse & Repeat

Don't rest on your laurels. Blogging is a long-term commitment, and you need to be aware of that—and prepared for it—going in. A writing schedule, or even an editorial calendar, can be a helpful tool to keep you producing fresh content on a timely basis. Set aside time each day to read and comment on other blogs.

Happy Blogging

Neil Patel, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

How New Media Helped a Rural UK Mail Order Company Go Nationwide, Global

Company: Wiggly Wigglers
Contact: Heather Gorringe, Managing Director at Wiggly Wigglers
Location: Blakemere, Herefordshire, UK
Industry: Home and Garden, B2C
Annual revenue: Confidential
Number of employees: 17

Quick Read:

Wiggly Wigglers is a natural-gardening retail company descended from a farm in the countryside between England and Wales. Its products are not high-tech, but its marketing certainly is.

In fact, largely due to Wiggly Wigglers' use of new media to build a stable and successful business, it was recognized by Dell as the No. 1 small business in the United Kingdom in this year's Small Business Excellence Awards—and has made it to the finals of the global award.

Staring in 2005, Wiggly Wigglers Managing Director Heather Gorringe all but abandoned traditional marketing and instead took up a podcast, a blog, a wiki catalog, an e-newsletter, and social media outlets such as Facebook and YouTube.

The company has since reduced its annual marketing costs from over £100,000 to less than £3,000, all the while expanding its customer base and building international brand recognition.

Challenge:

Wiggly Wigglers specializes in natural gardening products such as composting kits, meal worms, English flowers, and native hedges.

"We sell products that gardeners may not know that they want," said Gorringe. "No one is going to wake up in the morning and think, 'Ah-ha, I really do need to be composting my kitchen waste using worms.'"

The company's early challenge lay not only in generating demand for such products but also in building a customer base beyond its immediate area, since it resides in a village of just over 60 people in England's rural West Midlands.

To that end, in 1995 it became one of the first mail order companies in the United Kingdom to incorporate e-commerce. "It's essential that we embrace new technology," Gorringe said. "If we didn't do that, we simply wouldn't have any customers."

Still, e-commerce wasn't enough. The company was spending more than £100,000 a year in marketing with direct mail, print advertising, and its catalog, but sales weren't adding up. The company accountant even suggested that it might be time to give up.

But Gorringe was confident in the company's product offerings and felt she simply needed to connect with people and share her enthusiasm. In 2005, she set out on a new campaign to engage people in a bold attempt to both increase leads and decrease marketing spend.

Campaign:

To generate awareness, Web traffic, and community, Wiggly Wigglers launched the following, all of which linked to the company's Web site:

• A podcast: Every Thursday morning, Gorringe records a program covering an array of gardening- and farm-related topics, with frequent references to the company Web site. Gorringe shares her passion, provides detailed information with all the crucial points intact (which, she noted, were often edited out when she had submitted to media interviews), and address many overlooked topics that listeners may not be able to hear about elsewhere.

The podcasts are available on iTunes and the Wiggly Wigglers Web site (where they are also archived); feed addresses are also made available for users to cut and paste into podcatcher (feed aggregator) software.

To help generate additional interest in the podcasts, Gorringe has included celebrity interviews, and she often asks for user reviews on iTunes.

• A blog: Blog posts are written several times weekly by a Wiggly Wigglers staff member. The blog plays off of the podcast and includes tips, seasonal commentary, and industry and company news. Readers have the option of forwarding a post to a friend and clicking through to the podcast, company Web site, and online retail shop.

Readers and other bloggers are urged to comment and contribute to the blog, and their comments are often included in the podcast. Staff members also visit and comment on other blogs.

• A wiki: The company initiated a wiki to create its latest catalog, encouraging bloggers and others to contribute to the product-selection process. The wiki been effective in generating exposure, since bloggers often relay to their own readers their experiences with the wiki or the products they reviewed or selected.
• A Facebook group: A group was established on the social-networking site for users to ask questions, join in forums, and post photos.
• A YouTube channel: The channel includes videos from the podcast, how-to demonstrations, ads, and other videos about the company.
• An e-newsletter: The Wiggl-e-news is sent out twice a month and reminds readers to revisit the company Web site.

For advertising, the company now spends around £2,000 annually on Google AdWords and less than £1,000 on Facebook ads and other media.

It also conducts a good amount of traditional PR work to encourage journalists to write about the company; it has contributed content to select media and has made two podcasts in partnership with major UK magazines.

Results:

• An estimated 50,000 Web site visitors and close to 700,000 pageviews per month
• An average of 40,000 regular podcast listeners, and up to 100,000 listens each month for the company's top 15 podcasts combined.
• More than 60 reviews on iTunes, 99% of which are 5 stars
• 849 members in the Wiggly Wigglers Facebook group
• Over 10,000 video views on the Wiggly Wigglers YouTube channel
• 43,000 e-newsletter subscribers
• A 97%+ reduction in advertising costs
• Higher Google rankings due to blog and podcast content
• Increased online sales that now account for 50% of the company's total sales

The online campaign has also helped Wiggly Wigglers establish broader, even global reach. The company now has more than 90,000 customers, including some in the US and New Zealand.

Gorringe's podcasts have also been noted by media outlets such as The San Francisco Chronicle, and she has received speaking invitations from India and New York.

Lessons Learned:

Instead of money, Gorringe says, she is "spending time, effort, ingenuity and having genuine conversations with people," and this has resulted in a campaign that is not only low-cost but also more long-term.

The podcast has been particularly effective. "It's not only the short-term gain; people still go right back to podcast number one and work their way through. The longevity of this form of marketing, in my opinion, is unique," she said.

Among the steps that Wiggly Wigglers took to make its new media initiatives, such as the podcast, successful:

• Establishing credibility: Although the Wiggly Wigglers name is lighthearted in nature, the company aim has always been "to ensure that our Web site was not a joke and always delivered lots of useful information," said Gorringe. This was also carried through to the podcast and other media. For example, Gorringe was able to build a strong reputation for her podcast by addressing rarely covered but important issues, interviewing celebrities, generating press coverage and working in connection with major UK magazines, and earning 5-star reviews on iTunes.
• Creating community: Particularly through the podcast, blog, and Facebook group, Wiggly Wigglers has built a following of people with similar interests and provided them an outlet to interact with the company as well as each other. "This enables us to keep that conversation going with people who can then help us learn what they need, and what they want, to keep their gardens going," Gorringe said.
• Further fostering participation: Gorringe doesn't wait for users to rate her podcast, comment on the company blog, or contribute to the wiki catalogue; she asks them directly, and thanks them when they do, by reading the comments and reviews over the podcast. She and other staff also make the effort to visit and comment on other blogs so that those bloggers are more likely to respond in kind.

Related Links:

• Wiggly Wigglers Web site
• Wiggly Wigglers podcast
• Wiggly Wigglers blog
• Wiggly Wigglers Facebook page
• Wiggly Wigglers YouTube channel

Note: In 2007, Wiggly Wigglers' turnover was £2.6 million.

Neil Patel, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

How Your Business Can Benefit From Using Twitter: Four Proven Strategies

In 2006 it was MySpace, last year it was Facebook, and it seems this year Twitter is what everyone buzzing about.

While people are flocking to the site (Twitter claims that its user-base has increased sixfold in the last year), many marketers still aren't sure how to leverage Twitter as a tool to grow their business. This article will walk you through strategies that you can use on Twitter to reach your customers and grow your business.

First, before you develop your Twitter business strategy, you should become familiar with three Twitter search tools:

1. Twitter Search: Formerly known as Summize, this tool was recently acquired by Twitter and integrated as its search platform. This is like your standard search engine, but it searches only Twitter. So you can search for your business, your employees, and industry-specific terms.
2. TwitterLocal: You specify a location, and TwitterLocal will show you the tweets from people who have included in their profile that they are in that location. For example, you can get results from all Twitter users who say they live in New York City. TwitterLocal will also create a feed that you can subscribe to so that you can get updates as new tweets come in.
3. Twellow: Twellow is a search engine that lets you search for people based on several dozen categories. For example, you can search for people in Social Media, Accounting, Environmentalist, and many other categories. It's a good way to find people who might be interested in a certain subject or industry.

Now, here are four ways you can use Twitter to grow your business.

1. Twitter as a customer service tool

Frank Eliason has become a bit of a social-media superhero this year; he has leveraged his ComcastCares account on Twitter to provide live, real-time customer service for Comcast customers.

Frank and his team monitor Twitter to find people who mention that they are having a problem with their Comcast service or who ask a Comcast-related question; the ComcastCares team swoops in to reply and either help solve their problem or put them in touch with someone who can address their concerns.

This has two big benefits for Comcast. First, it helps solve more problems as they happen for Comcast customers. But a big ancillary benefit is that it improves Comcast's image as the rest of us see how proactive it is about addressing problems and concerns from its customers. That greatly improves Comcast's image and reputation, especially among that early adopters and influentials who use Twitter.

It also makes us wonder why Comcast's competitors aren't doing the same thing that Frank and his team are...

Key action point: Start monitoring Twitter using the above search tools to find out what your customers are saying about your business on Twitter. If you find that they are having customer-service issues, respond to and address their problems as quickly as possible. Also, consider adding an account to Twitter that's devoted to customer service for your company. After you begin spending time on Twitter, customers will begin replying directly to you with their customer service issues, which makes providing support easier.

2. Twitter as a tool to build brand awareness

As you use Twitter, you will see that your number of followers will likely increase. As you develop a network of connections on Twitter, you can then build awareness for your brand or business by making your followers aware of it.

Melanie Notkin did just that by keeping her followers up to date on the progress of her community site for aunts, Savvy Auntie. And as she made friends and connections on Twitter, her network of friends had a vested interest in helping her get the word out about her site.

"When you connect with others on Twitter in an authentic way, reciprocal trust is natural." Notkin explains. "@johndoe Follows @janesmith. I trust him, so I'll trust her. And from those connections comes genuine word-of-mouth support, both within the Twitterverse and out. But if you are inauthentic, and you do more Tweeting than Listening, chances are, no one is listening to you either. That's spam, not community.

I am not "using" Twitter to boost my brand. I am engaged in a reciprocal, supportive community of super smart and helpful people who genuinely want to see me and my company succeed. As I truly do theirs."

Key action point: As you use Twitter to connect with and grow your network, that network will naturally want to promote you and your business. You can create natural WOM for your business, if you are honest and consistent in how you use Twitter.

3. Twitter as a promotional tool

Most Twitter users do not like it if a company uses its Twitter presence as a direct promotional tool. However, if your business already has multiple Twitter accounts set up for real people, it might be a good idea to set aside an account that alerts customers to specials or deals that you are running.

This is what Dell did in setting up an account for Dell Outlet. The beauty of this is that it's completely opt-in, you have to follow Dell Outlet on Twitter in order to hear about Dell's offerings. So if you don't want to be advertised to, simply don't follow that account on Twitter.

Dell opened a Twitter account for Dell Outlet in June 2007 and claims that the account has led to over $500,000 in sales so far. And as of September 2008, the account had over 1,800 followers.

Key action point: Consider offering a separate Twitter account that promotes your products and services exclusively. This way, you allow your employees that are active on Twitter to communicate with your customers, and provide customer service. And as your employees encounter someone on Twitter that's interested in your products, you can point them to your Twitter account where you promote your products and services. This is a very 'hands-off' way to use Twitter as a tool to promote yourself, and it's done in a way that respects how Twitter members use the site.

4. Twitter as a tool to cover live events/breaking news

A great way to use Twitter is to cover live events and relay breaking news to your followers. Partly due to its 140-character limit, Twitter has become a wonderful way to quickly get breaking and live news out to a large audience. In fact, many recent major news stories have been talked about on Twitter hours before mainstream media reported on those stories.

A favorite way that Twitter users use the site is to relay breaking news from conferences or media events. If a company has a major announcement at a conference or press event, it is reported on almost instantly via Twitter. In fact, recent events such as Apple CEO Steve Jobs's announcement of new Apple products has resulted in surges of traffic to Twitter that have all but brought the site to its knees.

Companies are also using Twitter in times of crisis to relay information to their followers. Recently, during Hurricane Gustav, The Home Depot used its Twitter account to get information to followers on how they can protect their home and personal belongings from storm damage. This is a great example of providing information to people on Twitter that they can find value in, but which can also indirectly promote your business.

Key action point: If your company is holding a live event, or a press conference, or if there is any breaking news that you want to report, consider using Twitter as a channel to do so. This is an instance where direct promotion of your business is fine, because breaking news holds inherent value, and people will want to hear about it before others do.

For example, if your company is unveiling its 2009 lineup of products, announce that on Twitter, and also inform your followers where they can get more information about these products. This will also help generate excitement and interest among Twitter users, and likely increase your number of followers.

Above all else, spend some time investigating how Twitter users are using the site, and then begin using the site as others are. Take at a look, for example, at MarketingProfs on Twitter. After becoming used to how the site functions and how users communicate with each other, you will have a better idea of the capabilities of the format, which will help make your efforts more successful.

As with other forms of social media, when you use Twitter always consider whether you are creating value for your customers. Doing so is a wonderful way to ensure that your Twitter strategy has every chance of being a success!

Six Free Tools for Online Reputation Management

Online reputation management consists of tracking your brand and reacting when necessary.
Though sometimes tedious, brand monitoring can save you from a potential disaster when someone cites your name in an article that misrepresents you. Aside from protection, it can help you proactively join conversations around your topic area, helping to get your brand name out there.

It's almost 2009... and if you aren't active online you are missing valuable opportunities to advertise your value to the world—through articles, blog entries, social-network profiles, comments, videos and more.

As both a content producer and consumer, your name is being spread throughout each of these circuits by people you might not even know. In fact, research firm IDC finds that there is more content being created about you than you create yourself.

Part of your brand is in the hands of others, so it's critical that you monitor it before a flame becomes a forest fire.

Do you know what people are saying about you?

If you want to know how to track your presence and monitor your brand, then you are in luck. Below are the top 6 tools for your online reputation management program. They can be used for product and corporate brands in addition to your personal brand. Use each to search, locate and respond when necessary.

Also, they can be leveraged as part of your marketing strategy, to discover your audience and market to them directly.

1. Google—Google.com/alerts

* Definition: Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results based on your choice of query or topic. You can subscribe to each alert through email and RSS.

* Application: Many people use their RSS readers to view these alerts, and PR agencies use alerts to track their campaigns. You can monitor a news story, keep current with your industry and competitors, and see who is writing about you, all at the same time.

* Marketing strategy: Set a comprehensive alert, notifying you of stories, as they happen, for your name, your topic, and even your company. As your feed reader fills up with articles that match your query, you should start a database of bloggers and journalists so that you can market to them directly and form better relationships.

2. Blog posts—Technorati.com

* Definition: If you have a blog, then you have to be on Technorati, which is the largest blog search engine in the world. When you register with it, Technorati tracks "blog reactions," or blogs that link to yours.

* Application: Search for your name on Technorati, and subscribe to RSS alerts so that when someone blogs about you, you find out.

* Marketing strategy: Use Technorati to log every blog that is linking to your own. Keep track of these blogs, and when you write your next post link to them. Doing so will give recognition to those who have recognized yours.

3. Blog comments—backtype.com

* Definition: Recently, a new service came out to solve the problem of monitoring blog comments. Think about it, someone can comment on you on a series of blogs, but if you only track posts you'll really miss out. BackType is a service that lets you find, follow, and share comments from across the Web. Whenever you write a comment with a link to your Web site, BackType attributes it to you.

* Application: Use backtype.com to remind yourself where you commented, discover influencers who are commenting on blogs that you should be reading, and continue conversations that you started previously.

* Marketing strategy: Establish a list of key influencers in your topic area. Then follow their comments from blog to blog and leave your own comment after theirs. This will help build your brand by association.


4. Discussion boards—boardtracker.com

* Definition: Along with blogs and traditional news stories, discussion boards are another channel where people can gather in a community and talk about you. Most people disregard discussion boards until they see other sites commenting on information viewed on them.

* Application: Use boardtracker.com to get instant alerts from threads citing your name.

* Marketing strategy: Find all boards that are related to your subject matter and join the top 2-5, based on the amount of conversations and the volume of registered users. Join the communities by starting threads, while leaving your name and URL at the end of each post.

5. Twitter—search.twitter.com

* Definition: Twitter is a microblogging service, hosting over three million people. Twitter messages (tweets) move at the speed of light, and if you don't catch them they will spread like a virus.

* Application: Using Twitter search, you can locate any instances of your name and tweet back (or remain silent).

* Marketing strategy: As you see tweets with your name attached to them, you should use the "@" sign and the tweeter's account name (e.g., @danschawbel) to respond accordingly. As you respond, you start to build brand recognition and your audience feels that you care and are actively listening.

6. FriendFeed—friendfeed.com/search

* Definition: FriendFeed is a social aggregator. You have the ability to take all of your social accounts, such as YouTube, Delicious, Twitter, blog, and Flickr, and pull them together into a single (Friend) feed.

* Application: You can conduct searches on your brand throughout all social networks at once using this search engine. Aside from learning about the latest video or tweet related to your topic, you can analyze comments that people make under them.

* Marketing strategy: Grab a FriendFeed widget (friendfeed.com/embed/widget) and display it on your Web site or blog, so people get a sense of your social media activity. Also, as you search and locate people who are talking about your brand on FriendFeed, respond to them through comments.

All six of these free tools can be used to monitor and market your company's brand name as well.

If you aren't taking care of your online reputation, others will. It's time to find out what people are saying—and do something about it. Marketing to your audience becomes seamless after you've done your homework using these tools.

Why Google's New Web Browser Chrome Matters to You

Why Google's New Web Browser Chrome Matters to You

Last week Google released Chrome, its new standards-compliant Web browser. But what does that mean to you, the business person? Though Google offers a great comic book that explains the big changes, it is a bit jargon-heavy and, frankly, long at 32 (comic) pages.

So I offer you an introduction of Google Chrome for the layman. We will look briefly at the improvements in the user interface, performance, and technology advancements so that you can more easily decipher why Google Chrome matters to you.

The Big (Browser) Picture

The browsers of yore (if you can call 15 years ago "yore") were built on the assumption that a Web browser was your gateway to the Information Superhighway. Meaning—it was required for entry onto the big road, and any improvement to the browser was by definition an improvement to your Web experience.
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Over time, more and more features were added to the browsers in an effort to help you. The problem is that these features usually ended up hurting more than helping.

* Making up their own stuff. Some sites worked in some browsers, while others did not. This is a well known issue in Web development and often the cause of many Web users' frustrations.
* Increase their "silicon footprint." Browsers have evolved into notorious memory hogs. This means a Web experience with continually worsening rush-hour traffic.
* Crashing your entire system. Browsers tend toward "memory leaks." So if you leave a browser open for a couple of hours, or worse, overnight, you usually wake up a sluggish beast that can only be slain with a computer system reboot.

You've probably heard the phrases Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 (the latter usually stated with sarcasm by many). These terms are also a neat and tidy way to think about Google Chrome.

Chrome aims to revolutionize the browser marketplace by introducing a browser that takes a back seat to your Web surfing. Chrome does the bare minimum of what a Web browser should do, but in the safest, fastest way possible. Google states that it seeks to have the Web visitor "ignore the browser."

In essence, Google is trying to do for the browser what it did for search—revolutionize. Let's first look at the changes in the browser user interface.

Google Chrome's Welcomed Changes to the User Interface

Chrome's interface is absolutely minimalist. Instead of the typical bloated browser interface, you have a few non-distracting options:

* Window tabs
* Navigation buttons (back, forward, refresh)
* URL entry field (called the One Box)
* Options and customization menu

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That's it, really. You don't even have a print button (the reasoning being most Web pages offer better print-versions online. But don't worry, you can still access a print option from the Options menu).

It's a bit disconcerting when you first open up Chrome—you ask "where is all the stuff?" But then you quickly realize you can happily do without all of it.

The biggest change to the browser user interface is the introduction of placing the tabs at the very top of the browser application window. This places the attention on what matters during an online visit—the online content. These tabs can easily be selected and dragged outside the main browser window to open a new browser window. When you open a new tab, it gives you a visual history of your nine most recent visited Web pages and most used search engines and bookmarks. That's one helpful, simple start-up page.

Helpful, Non-Distracting Features

Chrome has some non-intrusive "features" you are likely to find helpful. For example, the browser adds destination suggestions as you type (a feature in Firefox 3.0). It also darkens the main URL of a Web site for improved readability.

My favorite is the downloads feature. When you download a file, the browser provides a very informative animation as to where you can access the downloaded file. Chrome even gives you an option to view your entire download history with a descriptive download history page stating when and what was downloaded.

Another feature is how one can easily and quickly create a link to your favorite Web application (like Gmail) by simply dragging and dropping the bookmark onto your desktop. This type of feature is indicative of the industry's growing awareness that the future is not in applications (or "apps") you install on your computer, but rather apps you access online.

Already, you probably notice that a lot of the applications and tools you use are online (Web mail, online banking, social networking). These type of apps, called "Webapps" will continue to proliferate. Google Chrome hopes to be the browser of choice for Webapps.

Chrome's Technological Advancements

Chrome is based on Webkit, the open source browser engine that powers Apple's Safari for Mac and PC. This is important, because Chrome's "browser base" is already solid (despite the typical memory hogging issues that plague all browsers). Interestingly, Chrome currently runs only in Windows.

Chrome further improves on Webkit, the biggest improvement being how Chrome handles memory.

Rather than having a single process ("thread") store all your browsing sessions, every Webpage is separated into its own process; that is, it's "multi-threaded." This concept isn't new—most operating systems do this to increase system stability. Yet Chrome is the first browser to accomplish this technical feat.

Chrome even has its own Task Manager similar to Window's Task Manager so you can "kill" or cancel processes that are hogging resources, just as in Windows. This is a really, really big evolution in browser development, so let's have a moment of silence to respect it.

Chrome's next big advancement is the JavaScript engine. JavaScript is a powerful scripting language that powers most modern Web applications. The problems are that JavaScript tends to have memory leaks, which in turn hogs memory on your computer. This tends to occur more frequently than in, say, the Flash plug-in. But not anymore. Chrome completely reinvents the javascript wheel with its V8 engine (were car buffs working on Chrome?). Without going into developer-speak details, just understand this: Chrome's processing of JavaScript is fast and powerful. Really fast and powerful.

There is also the matter of performance testing to consider. One of the problems with current browsers is that performance testing was limited to actual user (people) testing. Google added a level of automated testing by leveraging its amazing processing power infrastructure. Instead of waiting for a person to report a bug, it can run thousands of scenarios on many different popular Web sites to ensure full operability. The end result—fewer bugs upon release (and, hopefully, fewer releases).

Finally, if you're concerned about security, there are some great other features to Chrome that you will enjoy, such as Incognito mode. In this mode, your entire Web session will not appear in your browser and search history, and it leaves no traces such as cookies. Simply close your browser and your trail is erased completely. This is a great feature for public computers everywhere.

Getting Started with Google Chrome

Go to Google to download and install Chrome. Within three clicks and one minute, you will be ready to start surfing with Chrome. The default settings are to import your bookmarks from your other browsers, so if you don't want this, click on "Customize Options."

Interestingly, the default settings are not to set Chrome as the default browser. Internet Explorer could learn a lesson on that one.

Try it for a week. If you don't like it, go back to Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Safari. Or uninstall Chrome altogether. There is absolutely no risk.

Closing Thoughts

Will Chrome eat away at Microsoft's already eroding market share? As a Web developer who has seen the rise and fall of Netscape, the monopoly of Internet Explorer, and the meteoric rise of Firefox, my hope is yes.

Because it's nice to see progress in the browser market after Internet Explorer 6's seven years of silent reign.

Welcome back innovation, we missed you.

Email Marketing Disobedience: Six laws of proper e-Newsletter creation, and why you should ignore every one of them

Nobody loves email marketing more than I do. But even I admit that within the grand taxonomy of consumer touchpoints, e-newsletters hold a sorry position.

They're the longwinded busybodies who never get invited to the cool parties. Porcelain-skinned print campaigns turn up their perky, sans-serif noses at e-newsletters' frumpy templates and canned copy. Super Bowl spots kick sand in e-newsletters' bespectacled faces.

Yet, these boxy embodiments of mediocrity move product and build loyalty. Marketing people are aware of this—they've proven it with charts and everything. You need an e-newsletter and you know it.

Before rolling up your sleeves, cranking up the REO Speedwagon, and cooking up some long-form creation-wizard-based love, please review the following six bromides from a recent how-to article phoned in by a reigning email-marketing magnate.

After each, I'll explain how to do the exact opposite so that you can avoid polluting the e-cosystem with mediocre e-newsletters.

1. Share expertise

Wrong—share ignorance. Consider the old Zen adage "the more I know, the less I know." It means the more expertise we have, the more we're dazzled by just how little we currently understand.

Pick something you're marvelously clueless about and confess the fact to your readers. They won't fault you for it—but they just might love you for it. As long as the topic you're "ignorant" about is something they didn't even know they were ignorant about until reading your enlightening e-newsletter.

2. Tell a success story

Wrong—tell a failure story. It humanizes your company and demonstrates your high standards. Example: a legendary 1960s ad for the Volkswagen Beetle showed just the car, with "Lemon" in bold type. The copy explained, "The chrome strip on the glove compartment was blemished and needs to be replaced."

While other car companies waxed self-congratulatory about success, Volkswagen cornered the market talking about failure. You can do the same with your e-newsletters—simply master the art of strategic self-criticism. It never fails.

3. Conduct a relevant interview

Wrong—conduct a gloriously irrelevant interview. Approaching a topic head-on can be a headache—especially if it's been done to death. Try a sideways approach. What can your design firm glean from interviewing a homeless man? How might a chat with a priest spice up your women's fashion newsletter? Why would a software developer pick a farmer's brain about emptying grain bins into semi trailers?


4. Take an in-depth look at a product or service you offer

Wrong—take an in-depth look at a product or service you refuse to offer. As the visionaries of 37signals say in Getting Real (sort of a Thomas Paine's Common Sense for the digital generation), "do less than your competitors in order to beat them."

Embrace l'esprit du moment by poking satirical fun at the superfluous features common to your industry. Waving the simplicity banner while it's still in vogue is smart—and your next e-newsletter is a smart place to wave it.

5. Springboard off of current events

Wrong—springboard off of that which is timeless. Your readers are suffering from information overload—spare them the latest trope on gas prices, politics and Paris Hilton. Realize that the guys reading your scrap metal e-newsletter probably don't give a rat's ass that it's Halloween.

And while you're at it, throw away the springboard. Relying on convoluted conversation-starters is a milquetoast way to win friends and influence people—both in life and in e-newsletters.

6. Ask your readers

Wrong—listen to readers. In the words of Louis Armstrong, "if you have to ask what jazz is, you'll never know." Same wisdom applies to knowing the hearts of your readers. Get in sync with customers' needs by observing their riffs in natural online habitats built around your company. Replace pre-fab surveys with improvised forums. The intuition you gain will free you up to follow the inspiration of the moment and hit the high notes needed to create authentic brand loyalty.


Rebelling against clichés will keep your customers reading, and it'll keep you writing—without falling asleep. This matters. Readers can sense when you're just going through the motions. That can't be good for your brand, regardless of what the stats say.

So ask yourself: Am I excited about my e-newsletter? Does it express my voice and vision? Did I have fun creating it? If you have to ignore an army of email experts' advice (including mine) to get to where you can answer "yes" to those questions, so be it. That's called employing the virtues of e-newsletter disobedience.

Adopting a Web 2.0 Mindset: Walk Before You Wiki

Since Tim O'Reilly coined the phrase "Web 2.0" back in 2004 at a new media conference, companies have been scrambling to figure out how to deploy Web. 2.0 applications... but for all the wrong reasons.

I've observed CEOs pointing to competitors' sites, insisting, "They've got user-generated content so we need to do it," or, "A blog will help with our PR efforts during this downturn."

But where is the customer in the equation?

For all the buzz about blogs, wikis, widgets, and other forms of user-driven Web interactions, the question that's rarely asked is, "Is this what our customers want?"

Recently, when I helped a client pose that question to its Web site users, only 1 out of 10 users asked for social applications. The majority wanted the company to improve its site's core navigation and search functionality.

Essentially, they were asking my client to "walk before you wiki" by enhancing core functionality they use every time they visit the site.

Given the exposure of social applications in the media and in the boardroom, now's the time for Web business owners to make the case for building engaging online interactions with customers.

First, you need to recognize that customers will engage with site features they need and want. Simply put, you can design the most useful, elegant application, but if your customers don't need it—it will eventually languish on your site as another "distraction."

By listening to your customers, you'll understand what they value and need on your site and be able to prioritize new projects based on this information along with business and technical considerations.

Learn to Listen

How can you learn what customers and prospects need from your site? Based on your budget and target audience, there are several ways to effectively glean information. Ideally, you should use a mix of tools and information to get a holistic view of your users to understand what they want from your site, their preferences, behavior, and Web savviness.

Third-party research

To get started and obtain broad insights into your target audience's online needs, consider leveraging third-party research. Research conducted via a consumer panel should provide you with statistically significant data that, when coupled with primary research (see below), can help you make a business case.

If you have a well-defined and narrow target audience (e.g., male, married, age 35-54, high education and income levels, etc.), you can leverage third-party research from firms like Forrester Research (www.forrester.com) that survey consumers and report out on specific online activities they engage in, like banking, shopping, participation on social sites, etc.

Primary research

If your user base straddles age brackets, income levels, geographies, etc., or your online offering doesn't fit neatly into a typical retail or services category, then you should conduct your own research. There are some very effective—and inexpensive—methods you can use depending on your objectives:

* Web analytics: Tap into your analytics data to understand how your site's visitors behave. Are they exiting certain pages at a high rate? Do they tend to search for the same products while ignoring or missing others? Analytics will surface those trends but won't reveal user intent. So while you might not be able to pinpoint what is causing visitors to leave certain pages at a high rate, or search for certain products, you can tee up those issues as scenarios to test in a usability setting.

* Surveys: There are a variety of inexpensive survey tools, including Constant Contact (www.constantcontact.com), Survey Monkey (www.surveymonkey.com), and Zoomerang (www.zoomerang.com) that you can use to quickly build and launch customer surveys either on-site or via email. Surveys generate quantitative data about why users visit your site and how they perceived their experience, but, again, they won't reveal user intent.

* Usability testing: Once you've identified a list of user needs and potential issues—based on your analytics and survey data—you can run any problem scenarios through a usability test. Are users telling you they primarily come to your site to find product information but give your site a low rating on its search and browse functionality? Run these kinds of scenarios through usability testing to uncover specific problem areas that you can then work to fix.

Walk Before You Wiki

Before you launch a blog, or enable user-generated content on your site, make sure you can answer the basic question, "Do I know what my visitors need and am I delivering it to them?"