PixelMEDIA Inc.

As “Web Analytics” becomes an increasingly hot topic in our digital world, there seems to be more and more confusion about what it really means and why it is important.  Web Analytics is currently the most effective way you can measure whether your web properties are performing successfully.  Haven’t you always wanted a concrete answer to the question, “How is our website doing?”  Well, that is exactly what web analytics can tell you.

If you have already started down the web analytics path, it is important to note that there will be preconceived notions about Web Analytics that may take considerable effort to adjust.  Senior management may already be keeping an eye on website traffic, page views, or bounce rates, but those numbers are only important in light of your business goals and website objectives.

For example, a client of ours routinely provided website visit data to senior management, who relied on this information to measure the ROI of their corporate website.  If  traffic was going up, everyone was happy, but when traffic was trending down, the site was thought to be underperforming.  Yet, their business was not driven by site visits, but by sales, which are measured in submitted leads from the various forms.  A well-targeted search engine marketing campaign may actually bring fewer, but better qualified leads.  If site traffic goes down, but sales increase; management should be pleased – but they won’t see the gains if they are not paying attention to the right metrics. 

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Even after all these years, a handful of reminders help me get off to a good start whenever I sit down to write or edit a web page. It’s not about being creative and using big words, it’s about respecting the time and intelligence of the reader. By the way, most of these apply equally well when writing for print, direct mail, and everyday email.

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We get it. You don’t need a website, social community, content management system, brand redesign, or flash demo. You need customers, loyal fans, email from people who want your products, and inquiries about the services you offer. You want to connect with people.

Last night PixelMEDIA hosted the monthly meeting of the NH Usability Professional Association (NH UPA). The meetings are an opportunity for user experience professionals to connect with each other. Talks included our own Luke Michel (watch his crowd-pleasing discussion about punctuation) as well as John Herman, a local media maker in his own right. As a newcomer to the NH UPA gatherings, John said two things that made me think about the way we communicate. The first:

I have no idea what you’ve been saying for the last 45 minutes but you sound like smart people and I think we do about the same thing.

As people engrained in what we do every day, we can all get hung up on industry vernacular, catch phrases, and tech-speak that the audience we’re trying to reach may not understand. And while one may say that it was a gathering of peers—so we can use our language—even within our own networks we can improve understanding by avoiding terms that mean different things to different people.

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You’ve done the keyword research for your site and optimized the content for appropriate terms. You’re actively engaged in a link building campaign and your pay-per-click (PPC) campaign has a very high click-thru-rate (CTR). Additionally, you’re analytics program is showing excellent site metrics. Users are getting to your site so what’s the problem? The problem is that your site is not generating enough leads.

A major factor hindering your lead generation is the size of your web form(s). Users get overwhelmed with the length of the form and abandon the page. It is understandable that you want to collect as much information about a possible lead, but it is not always practical.

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As a teen in the 80′s the Rubiks Cube was more than a puzzle, it was a personal challenge. I had friends that had managed to master it, without help, whereas I never got past the first few stages. The motto at the time was “you can’t do the cube”. Even it’s inventor, Erno Rubik, who first showed this puzzle at a toy fair, had not figured it out yet. 

Fast forward to today and the Rubik’s Cube is back, and with a new tagline – “You CAN Do the Rubik’s Cube“. This change in approach is a friendlier challenge – one of encouragement. And it’s supported  by a robust campaign to introduce the Rubik’s Cube into schools, summer programs, youth organizations and after-school programs, to start. Read More…

We published this at about 5 last night. It was a 13 day sprint, and we jammed. We were super focused. It’s late on July Fourth and I just took my first look at the site, the whole thing. Remotely. I like it. I have a page of updates, of course, the d’oh! list. It’s amazing what a day and a new environment can do. I felt like “a user”, just cruising around. Exploring everything.

However… it was not a flawless launch. There was a last minute freak out moment. You know what I mean — you’re ready. You’ve looked at everything ten times, some twenty.

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So you find out that your web development, marketing, content, product management and/or IT teams don’t have any real process for launching live and your team might look really bad. Ah, the “go live” checklist. This management tool helps earn a lot of cred’ for our customers, and should ideally begin a month or so before you plan to publish your new site live.
Managing internal corporate teams can be a struggle to make the Go Live process smooth. This leads me to the first item on the list and the biggest culprit to errors and gripes.

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When we receive a Request for Quote/Proposal (RFQ/RFP) from a client, it marks the beginning of the process for us. But it’s the end of what was possibly a long and difficult process for the client. They’re relieved that it’s done; we’re anxious to start asking questions. They want to get going right away; we’re saying, “Not so fast.”

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I admit it: I’m not much for theories and strategies about content. I’m inclined to grab a shovel and start digging in right off the bat. So I’m sometimes tongue-tied when I try to explain what a content strategist actually does.

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A few weeks ago, I posted a question on the whiteboard outside of the Experience Design Cubes:

What’s the difference between ‘information” and “content?”

I wasn’t looking for answers, just ideas and maybe a spirited discussion. Heck, the best I could do was. “I know it when I see it.” Check out some of the responses from the whiteboard.

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