One of the more aggravating things in my family is when some of my fondest relatives go on and on about how they want something. Yet, when presented with exactly what they ask for they no longer want it. I refer to that as doubletalk, even if it’s a lose definition. I can’t think of any other way to describe the persistent sentiment that the grass is always greener.

Turns out, consumers are much the same way. At my previous job we had entire teams of analytics and user-experience folks dedicated to cracking this puzzle. When asked face-to-face about their likelihood of purchase consumers consistently said one thing but went home and did another. While that’s certainly one of those “grains” of salt worth considering with any research it’s especially important when determining how to mold your product and market to consumers.

Beware of the "I want one of those" consumer statements

Let’s say, for example, you are driving down a freeway and see a mint-condition 69 Mustang sparkling with metallic paint and chrome rims. You take pause to mention it only to drool at the driver’s hair blowing in the California wind. The first thing most people would say is how much they would love to have that car and presumptively be that crazy-haired driver. Yet, when it comes time to make a purchase on a car more people choose a Toyota Camry. As an auto maker doing field studies with pictures of concept cars that mirror a 69 Mustang and a 2010 Camry you had better be careful what questions you ask and how you interpret them.

Fine, make a few sexy convertibles but make sure you keep your finger on the pulse of the Camry buyers because that’s what will drive your business to success. Perhaps you don’t make cars but the same concept can be applied to your business. Most people I’ve talked to haven’t had enough interaction to realize that consumers speak doubletalk!

analytics · consumer · doubletalk · marketing · user experience

It's cool, it's Google but it's not on Verizon yet.

If there’s any question where my four year old gets his repetitive instincts from you have to look no further than my daily, sometimes hourly, checking for any news of the Nexus One availability on Verizon. The first phone from Google is listed as available in Spring of 2010 on it’s own website. What does that mean? Rumors flew that they would announce it back in March at the annual cell phone conference. Nope. Then Verizon had big news about new phone launches so of course it would be included. Nope. In fact, the HTC Incredible has been announced for April 29th without even a peep about the Nexus One.

Rumor has it (meaning any writing on the Internet at all that I could find, true or false) that Apple is suing HTC, the maker of the Nexus One, for patent infringement. That means we won’t get word of it until that’s been settled. Dude, seriously… not cool.

There’s a difference between creating demand and exhausting enthusiastic fans. Not too long ago the Wii was so popular you couldn’t get your hands on it unless checking websites dedicated to tracking their shipment and then parking out front of a store with your coffee and McMuffin. The demand was huge for a couple years. That’s impressive. In fact, nothing significantly better has come out since. The slow movement of upgrades along with an inflow, albeit slow, of products kept society salivating for more. Those are two luxuries Google doesn’t have.

Before it’s launch I’ve already been reading about several other products that are better than the Nexus One so that by the time it comes out I won’t need it. Heck, if I wasn’t so grumpy with Apple ignoring the Flash player on it’s phone I might even take a look at the iPhone (especially since it is coming out with OS4).

Ultimately I still intend to get the Nexus One but I can’t help the poor information Google has delivered for it’s arrival on Verizon. It may not be the best phone out or severely limited on how many fingers you can use to navigate but it will be a historic purchase as it’s the first phone Google’s put it’s ugly logo on. And if you didn’t know already, I am a huge Google-whore. But come ON, where’s the Nexus One already?

Apple · availability · google · htc · incredible · iPhone · mobile · nexus one · phone · verizon

As websites began to explode into popularity most people HAD to have one. They didn’t know why or what they would do with it but for heaven-sakes they needed an Internet presence. As the creation process began everyone’s first instinct was to make it cool by adding lots of pages, interesting by adding animation and important by adding links to other websites that were… well, important.

Fast forward to 2010 and all those assumptions need to be questioned. Lots of my clients still feel that this is the appropriate way to start. Unfortunately, all these things typically miss the point of their website. This tool can be so many things and it’s important to mold it to your company, not the other way around.

Even large companies often make the mistake of adding too much information. This makes it difficult to navigate, confusing and often impossible to actually find what you are looking for. Keep things simple, only add the content that is necessary to meet visitor expectations.

Animations and *gulp* Flash splash pages are yesterdays-yesterday. I specialize in Flash intro’s so it’s very difficult to see my niche get left behind. Before you scrunch your nose consider this, the very way people will interact with the Internet is evolving. The iPhone and iPad will probably be remembered as significant markers in the evolution of Web. Web 2.0 will now be Web Mobile. Apple has taken a strict stance against Flash and specifically call it out in their Terms & Conditions to prohibit it on their products. As the market share grows for these mobile surfing devices companies are being forced to remove all Flash.

That’s not the point though, the animations aren’t cool any more. Any distraction for visitors that prevents them from getting what they want should be thrown out. Of course, if those distractions generate revenue they get a different set of standards.

A common misconception about links to other sites is that it makes you look important. It’s the exact opposite actually, making the destination sites seem more important. Anyone even sort of familiar with Search Engine Optimization practices can attest that INCOMING links from popular sites is what makes you look important. Makes sense right? I can link this article to the New York Times but that doesn’t make me a hot shot. Now, if they linked to my article I’d be walking around with a strut in my step.

Last week I launched a revolutionary 1-page website for my mother. That’s right, there are no other pages. I was lucky enough to have her give me the reins and do whatever I wanted. It contains a brief summary about the kind of business she runs (elder law), directions to the office and a contact form (or telephone number) to get in touch with the firm.

Websites can be as simple as one page, like this one for Nancy Wright.

Too easy? Shouldn’t it be? The cost of development and maintenance is considerably less than complex sites and doesn’t do a whole lot for her any ways. Plus, get this, it can still grow when needed. That’s right folks, you can start off small and add. For anyone who has started a successful business from the ground up this should already be a familiar mantra.

Update your thinking to 2010 and start your company’s website with one page.

agency · Apple · best practices · clients · design · internet · iPad · iPhone · mobile · one page · Search Engine Optimization · SEO · web · web 2.0 · website

I’m not always the first person to catch on to things. So when my friend said I should be on the social-gaming bandwagon I rolled my eyes. He said “it’s all the rage right now”. Yeah, I’ve seen those annoying status doo-hickey’s pop up on Facebook. Heck, I am still not even sure what to do with that beast except for share my photos and document odd things my four year old says.

When I got news he was going to work at Playdom I decided to give social-gaming a try. According to an ad on Facebook Zynga’s “Farmville” is the most popular game out right now. That would be perfect, let’s start there! Now that I’m 4 weeks, 24 levels and more than 17 thousand “experience points” into it I think a summary should is ready.

I’m all for games and I think this is a pretty cool concept. Not only do I get to grow plants, trees and raise animals but I get to buy tractors and buildings. Oh, oh… and I get to help out my “neighbors” who are my Facebook friends that are also playing the same game. Totally get the “social-gaming” now. Just plant your seeds and come back in a few hours to harvest the crops. Great fun!

I’ve grown pumpkins, grapes and Aloe Vera plants and even created a nerd spreadsheet to help determine the best value for the amount of time I was prepared to plant things for. Seriously, check it out:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=tIZRzmUGnTyMQQ4SYosTRuQ&output=html

As my farm grew and my wallet got fatter I began to gain a sense of accomplishment. I was quickly rising up the ladder of farmers with a respectable level. There were a few things that stood out to me that ultimately led to me “cropping” the word “DONE” in my plots of land:

1. I was clicking an awful lot. Seriously, my plots were 18×14, which equals a lot of clicks to harvest, plot and then seed each time.
2. I wasn’t going to spend money on the tools that would make it easier. Zynga does a great job of making this tempting but I just wasn’t invested into the game enough to fall prey.
3. Some of my “neighbors” had levels so far ahead of me that I had no patience in trying to catch up. I ended up getting within 5 of my sister but that leads me to my final and most important point,
4. The rush for playing this game was clearly over. I still had 30 or so pending requests from people that had tried it and let it go. Even the people that finally added me to their “neighbor” list had given up on the game for the most part. A social game has to to have people to work. While I puttered along with a few interactions it wasn’t enough to keep me coming back for more.

My first taste of social-gaming was interesting but not enough to make me go crazy. I’ll try another Zynga game “Cafe World” and actually try a game from my friends company, Playdom, that he said is the most popular, “Social City”.

Farmville was a fun idea but ultimately lacked the staying power to keep me around.

cheat · farmville · game · playdom · review · social game · social gaming · zynga

I certainly did NOT click on the Evony banner with a darn-near-naked woman next to the button that simply says “Play Now”. I certainly did not notice the placement of the button was conveniently located near her woman lumps. If I had tried to “Play Now” I absolutely did not fill out the form hovering above a seductive woman, whose photo scrolled in the background allowing me to see a lot more of her body than I expected. And you can bet that I did not have any pre-conceived thoughts about what this might be. Nope, not me.

Evony is blatantly selling sex to gain more male customers to their online game

OK, so there’s only a little truth in that. Very little. In fact, I did not sign up. Since I had no idea what this company was or the kind of game I was going to play (only reason I knew it was a game was from their “11 Million Players” notification at the top of the landing page the banner sent me to). Instead, I typed Evony into my Google search box and decided to check out the Wikipedia information to get the scoop.

Evony's banner simply states "Play Now" over the half-naked woman

What a shock! Turns out that the game is a MMORTS (Massively Multiplayer online real-time strategy for you non-geeks) for building cities. Say whu? What do the advertisements with half-naked women have to do with building cities? Nothing, I found out. I guess I’ve been hiding under a rock and missed the hoopla about Evony’s advertising strategy. It worked on me… I mean, for all readers labeled my ‘wife’, it caught my eye.

There has long been the question in marketing about when a company has hit rock bottom. I’ve humorously stated many times that if we just put pictures of half-naked blondes that we’d grab the attention about at least 150 million Americans. The reason that’s always been a joke is because most companies attempt to build a brand. Good or bad, that’s the intention. Unless your brand has a bunny as an icon you might walk the tightrope of displaying fleshy curves pretty tight. Of course it will grab attention but you have to understand what kind of attention it will bring in. Customers with a false notion of your product are less likely to stay around and more likely to get upset about deceptive practices.

Evony uses a different landing page for their default website.

I did not, and will not, sign up for the Evony game for these reasons. Rather, I would be much more likely to sign up when the game is portrayed clearly and a friend recommended it to me. That’s the kind of customer that becomes loyal and helps lead to a profitable business that will be around for a while. Excuse me while I go get some coffee from a local drive-thru called “Body Shots”…

advertising · banner · evony · game · gaming · marketing · mmorts · review · sex sells · social