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  jonpape 8:59 pm on February 27, 2009 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Books, Business (7), Marketing (6)   

  5 Best Professional Business Books 

  I’ve been thinking recently about the five books that have helped me the most professionally.  These books are sort of hard to classify under a single category but all of these books will broaden your outlook and breakdown operational silos that abstract the connections that exist between different business units.

  

  Image by Getty Images via Daylife

  The best analogy I can think of would be a description of Pixar University I read about. At Pixar University, accountants, chefs, and any one who works at Pixar are encouraged to take drawing classes.  When questioned about the appropriateness of teaching accountants to draw, the head of Pixar University answered, “Why teach drawing to accountants? Because drawing class doesn’t just teach people to draw. It teaches them to be more observant. There’s no company on earth that wouldn’t benefit from having people become more observant.”

  Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions

  by Dan Ariely

  This behavioral economics book offers a wide variety of experiments and explanations about why people act the way they do and more importantly, how to recognize subtle marketing tactics in everyday life.

  

  Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity

  by David Allen

  The simple premise of this amazing book is that if you can close the endless thought loops in your mind then you will get more done by not over thinking (or maybe better put, redundant thinking).
  Three simple steps:

  • One “inbox” with all the tasks/emails/projects that you need to analyze or want to remember.
  • Categorize the information, determine what you need to do to complete it, schedule it.
  • Forget about it.

  

  A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future

  by Daniel H. Pink

  A broad base of ideas to help people become better problem solvers and thinkers. Encourages better communication and better ways to communicate. Explains why creativity can be beneficial to all professionals.

  

  Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die

  by Chip Heath & Dan Heath

  If you have to give a speech, give a presentation, write a paper, write ad copy, COMMUNICATE, read this book. The principles and conclusions in this book make presenting ideas (that will be remembered) straight-forward and easy.

  

  Permission Marketing : Turning Strangers Into Friends And Friends Into Customers

  by Seth Godin

  Seth Godin is a marketing genius. This book is widely accepted as how marketing should be done in the 20th century. People don’t want to be sold to. But people want information about products and companies they are already interested in. This book tells businesses, step-by-step, how to build relationships with customers online, as well as, in real life.

  

  
   

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  jonpape 10:42 pm on February 4, 2009 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: On the Web, Personalization, Shopping   

  Merchants with Dynamic Content based on Search Results 

  Personalization is a powerful tool to increase user interest, stickiness, and visitor interaction with a web site.

  

  Image by Ninha Morandini via Flickr

  Without being logged into any of the websites visited, we decided to test what websites would alter their front page content depending on a search term.  The terms we used were “mens tungsten rings”, “maytag washer”, and “blu-ray player”.

  We made sure to leave the site after the search was made.  We did not close the browser.

  Only two of the fifteen sites visited dynamically changed their homepage content based on our searches.

  Retailer	Dynamic Content
  Amazon	Yes
  Best Buy	No
  Costco	No
  Ebay	Yes
  HomeDepot	No
  JCP	No
  Kmart	No
  Kohls	No
  Macys	No
  Meijer	No
  Overstock	No
  QVC	No
  Sears	No
  Target	No
  Walmart	No

  Below are the altered web pages.  Both pages responded to searches for the term “mens tungsten rings”.

  

  Amazon Homepage

  Amazon included content for the searched term above the fold right below their primary offer. The content included three products and the verbiage “Customers with Similar Searches Purchased”.

  

  EBay Homepage

  Ebay also featured dynamic content on the left hand side above the fold. The content included three product examples, the search term “mens tungsten rings”, and the title “Cool Stuff for You”.

  I was surprised more retailers didn’t offer personalization of content on their homepage. I know a few offer dynamic content based on if the consumer is logged in or based on past purchases. Expect to see more dynamic content in the future.

  
   
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  jonpape 1:56 pm on January 26, 2009 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Business (7)   

  Top Retailers Using a Rotating Billboard Banner 

  

  Image by Getty Images via Daylife

  Rotating banners on the homepage of top retailer websites is becoming more and more common.  Out of the top 15 websites survayed, 7 had rotating billboard banners, approximately 47%.  Most of the retailers who used rotating banners used Flash to display them.  Sears used a JavaScript method probably jQuery.

  Retailer	Status (1-26-2009)	Method
  Amazon	No Rotating Billboard
  Bestbuy	4 Button Rotating Billboard with Pause	Flash
  Costco	No Rotating Billboard
  Ebay	No Rotating Billboard
  Home Depot	4 Button Rotating Billboard with Pause	Flash
  JCPenneys	No Rotating Billboard
  Kmart	No Rotating Billboard
  Kohls	No Rotating Billboard
  Macys	Rotating Billboard	Flash
  Meijer	3 Button Rotating Billboard with Pause	Flash
  Overstock	No Rotating Billboard
  QVC	No Rotating Billboard
  Sears	3 Button Rotating Billboard with No Pause	JavaScript
  Target	3 Button Rotating Billboard with Pause	Flash
  Walmart	3 Button Rotating Billboard with Pause	Flash

  

  4 Button Rotating Billboard with Pause

  

  4 Button Rotating Billboard with Pause

  

  Rotating Billboard

  

  3 Button Rotating Billboard with Pause

  

  3 Button Rotating Billboard with No Pause

  

  3 Button Rotating Billboard with Pause

  

  3 Button Rotating Billboard with Pause

  
   
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  jonpape 1:15 am on January 21, 2009 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: HTTP 404, Landing page   

  USPS Smartbusiness, What to Do After Your Marketing Campaign has Ended. 

  

  Image via Wikipedia

  What should your company do with landing pages created for a campaign after the campaign has ended?  Most internet experts will agree that a great landing page is an essential part of any internet campaign.  It is arguably, the most important element of a campaign, because from this page, the consumer decides if they are going to continue the relationship, make a purchase, sign up for additional emails, or “bounce-back” to the referring domain and look for additional information.

  

  USPS Smart Business Magazine Ad

  I collect magazine and newspaper clipping. I store these clippings in a file cabinet and refer back to them. I keep clippings because at one time, I thought the idea, product, or company was interesting enough to hold on to. Recently, I have begun to digitize these newspaper clippings and articles and that is how I stumbled on to this USPS ad.

  USPS created a magazine campaign that referred consumers back to a specific landing page on their website. I’m not sure what was on the web page because when I finally decided to check the page out the USPS website returned a 404 error message (file not found).

  I probably should have expected this. The ad was printed in 2006 and I finally decided to check out the web page in 2009, but I couldn’t help thinking there must have been a better alternative for USPS. Literally, the cost to host a web page is hundredths of a penny.

  Alternatives:

  • 404 page – the campaign is over and you no longer offer the service. What customers you had are long gone.
  • Leave the page up – random customers may find the page through outdated magazines or search engines.
  • Edit the page – if the service exists in some form or another (especially if you call it something as generic as “smart business”) editing the web page is the best idea.
  • Redirecting the web page -another really great idea if you are still in business.  Direct consumers who were interested in an old service to a new service that they may find equally interesting.

  

  USPS Landing Page

  
   
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  jonpape 9:21 pm on January 20, 2009 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Barack Obama   

  Obama Inauguration Feed = Epic Fail 

  Couple of network problems with the video feeds from the Obama inauguration.

  

  CNN Video Feed of Obama Inauguration

  

  MSN Video Feed of Obama Inauguration

  

  Fox News Video Feed of Obama Inauguration

  

  ABC News Video Feed of Obama Inauguration

  

  CBS News Video Feed

  At least PBS got their video feed working correctly.

  
   
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  jonpape 2:43 pm on January 19, 2009 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Business (7), Circuit City, Retailing   

  Circuit City Posts "Out of Business" Sign on Website 

  

  Image by F33 via Flickr

  Circuit City effectively posted an “out of business” sign on their web site ceasing US operations.  Siting challenges to business and a “bleak” business enviornment, the company will be liquidating assets to pay off creditors.

  567 stores in 153 media markets will close and approximately 34,000 people will lose their jobs.

  Liquidation sales started at stores Jan 17, 2009 and are expected to continue through March 2009.

  Click the link below to see an archived version of the Circuit City home page.

  

  Circuit City Website 1/19/2007

  
   
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  jonpape 12:05 pm on January 19, 2009 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, WordPress   

  Perfect WordPress Example 

  

  Image via CrunchBase

  Despite the fact that a lot of bloggers use WordPress as their infrastructure/CMS, selling open source technology to managers can be difficult.  WordPress is easy to setup and wide-spread but that alone doesn’t convince most corporations that WordPress is a viable choice for a corporate blog.

  It was affirmative to discover that MIT, which I consider to be the smartest, most forward thinking school in the world (maybe tied with Stanford), was using a version of WordPress for their Sloan Business school.

  Initially, the website looks like it could have been build using any CMS. But, as soon as you create an account and log-in, an experienced user will recognize the familiar WordPress layout and color scheme.

  

  MIT Sloan Interface

  
   
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  jonpape 12:40 pm on January 17, 2009 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Internet Marketing (4), Marketing (6), Wall Street Journal, Web 2.0   

  Secrets to Marketing in a Web2.0 World 

  

  Image via Wikipedia

  The WSJ has a fantastic overview of internet marketing in their article called The Secrets of Marketing in a Web 2.0 World. The following are bullet points from the article and additional links.

  • Don’t just talk at consumers — work with them throughout the marketing process.
  • Give consumers a reason to participate.
  • Listen to — and join — the conversation outside your site.
  • Resist the temptation to sell, sell, sell.
  • Don’t control, let it go.
  • Find a ‘marketing technopologist.’
  • Embrace experimentation.

  Harnessing the Power of the Oh-So-Social Web
  Enterprise 2.0: The Dawn of Emergent Collaboration
  Beyond Enterprise 2.0
  Systems Marketing for the Information Age
  How to Market to Generation M(obile)

  
   
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  jonpape 12:40 pm on January 15, 2009 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Social network (4), Spam, Twitter (2)   

  Twitter Spam Fail 

  

  Twitter Spam Fail

  Takeaways:

  1. 1) Spam made it through Gmail. Good for Spammer, bad for me.
  2. 2) Profiles looked like actual people (no Hot2Trot69 profile name).
  3. 3) Tweets consist of spam content.
  4. 4) 9 Twitter requests from people I don’t know in one minute = FAIL.

  

  Spammy Tweets

  
   
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  jonpape 4:25 pm on January 7, 2009 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Adwords, Google, Internet Marketing (4)   

  Google adds Address/Map & Product Information to Adwords Ads 

  

  Zale's Google Adwords Ad with Address Information

  

  Zale's Google Adword Ad with Map

  Google Adwords ads have started adding brick-n-mortar address information to the information displayed in the ad. Clicking on the address information in the Google Adword ad will insert a small Google map where the user can then “Get Directions” or “View larger map”. I am unsure if the map options are charged to the advertiser.

  Additionally, Google is adding product information to Adwords ads. A different Zale’s Google Adword Ad had a link to”Show Products form Zales”.

  

  Zale's Google Adword Ad with Product Link

  Clicking on the link displays displays a series of relevant products on the Google search engine results page (SERP) based on the keywords entered by the user. I am unsure if the advertiser is charged for this feature.

  

  Zale's Google Adword Ad with Product Information