Google Feature: Lookup Calories in Wine

I'm sure this set of features has a name for it other than a Google search index feature; but I thought it was pretty neat to see. Besides instantaneous information on earthquakes, currency exchange rates, and basic math formulas, did you know that you can lookup how many calories in a 5 oz glass of cabernet sauvignon too?

Nutritional Information on Wine using Google Search

This is what comes up with the basic query of "wine calories"; but when you add more qualifiers to the search box, the standard output of search listings just shows. So, no nutritional display for queries like "white wine calories" vs "red wine calories". There's a mix of types of red wines in the caloric drop-down box; plus a general entry for "wine" which isn't terribly descriptive nor helpful. But, that said, who is really going to drink 5 oz of wine at dinner? A typical dinner with wine will run you at least 400-500 calories per meal. Hope you are adding in extra exercise to burn off those additional sugar calories.

New and Vastly Improved Google Maps

Looks like Google engineers have been busy adding some interesting features to how directional maps are served up. Besides the usual car, transit, and walking routes, there is now a route for bikes which takes you between cities on surface streets. A good feature to have in bike friendly neighborhoods like Portland, Minneapolis, or Boulder.

The addition of clickable icons on a street map is nice to have. If I had to guess, I'd say that the companies, parks, bus stops that appear on the map are from existing data points that users either put in themselves (like adding a company's office or HQ to the map) or Google was able to bulk upload to their data universe. The fantastic feature here is being able to pinpoint a company's location within a complex of buildings, like at a mall. The example below is of the Bellevue Square Mall in Bellevue WA.

2013-06-23, Bellevue Square Mall Snapshot

2013-06-23, a pretty clean list of driving suggestions

The biggest quirk I can see is when the map engine tries to give a solution to a transit route that makes no sense. If you don't start with a transit center as a starting point, you could get transit routes that take up to 8 hours. The custom date/time setting for a future route is a bit clunkier than what was there before with a separate popup for it. Transit to Everett is not an option with wait times and in-transit time being up to 1.5 hours each way; who has that kind of luxury? It is still faster by fossil-fuel-burning car, though mostly because it would be a reverse traffic commute.

Ugh. Most of the time, you see, is from walking!
I am not going to walk 2.8 miles a day when it is
25 degrees out and sleeting.

Electric Mirror, used in this example, is a topic for a different post. The company manufactures Vive(tm), which is a Bluetooth-enabled TV mirror (a mirror when not in use, a television that fits in the space of a mirror; how neat is that??) Their global HQ is in Everett and I am just using their location in this example.

I wonder if hills are taken into consideration for walking directions. The walking route is impractical in this scenario.

2013-06-23, Walking directions from Bothell to Everett

Indirectly asked: what could we be doing better?

This is a nagging topic on the minds of a lot of marketers this year; in addition to making marketing automation work like a mad SQL (sales qualified lead) generating tool. With respect to direct, email, or online marketing, what seems commonplace to me as a marketer might not be apparent to others who have had mixed results with their campaigns. Let's start with a basic approach: email marketing.

Batch and blast works well for generalized content or for product announcements. But, for that personal touch, as in do it with customer service like you really care... try sending your customers a personalized, non-sales oriented email about a birthday, anniversary, or a special gift just for them.

Ask customers to engage with you in online conversations, participate on polls or surveys, or get feedback on their experiences. It doesn't hurt to ask for their input. What do you think about the new features we put into ___. How does your website redesign look?

When I ask other marketers how many touches they send out to their prospects and active customers, I get a variety of answers. The most I've heard of (including autoresponders from newsletter signups or web form submissions) on the B2B side is 15-20 touches per prospect per month. Ouch, I don't think I'd want to be on the receiving end without an unlimited data plan for my connected devices. This is when planning out content and using a scheduling calendar really helps when releasing time-delayed content. Some premium features of marketing platforms even offer limiters on how many times a lead or contact can be contacted within a set period of time. And, you can also manage frequency when setting up a demand automation funnel as well for handling MQLs and recycled SQLs.

And last of all, your prospects and customers are just like you and me. We have a finite amount of time to devote to activities like reading email; especially promotional or content that adds some richness to our daily lives. Be mindful of how (often) you send out content.

/stepping off the soapbox/

Shared Office Space

I'm a bit intrigued by the shared office workspace being pitched by PivotDesk at Seattle Tech Meetup. Seems to take the contract management and billing hassles out of subletting office space, coupled with the host office providing other services (utilities, high speed internet, conference room, etc) which might not defray actual overhead costs.

Certainly there are far more pros than cons for the Guest; I'm not sure what else the Host office gains out of this arrangement other than a monthly sublet fee paid to them.

Above the Fold

Nearly every web and SEO expert will tell you that this concept simply does not matter anymore now that screen sizes have grown considerably and users subconsciously don't notice the effort it takes when swiping around on a tablet or other portable Internet-capable device. It is necessary under certain web conditions that may or may not be under your control in a web content management system. It is an archaic means of enticing people to buy a newspaper, where all the juicy content or eye-grabbing make-you-read-it-there stuff was on the top half of the front page. But have we, as humans, evolved enough to break away from generations and centuries of reading content this way? It was only natural when the web adopted this type of lure for its own viewers. Some viewers will scroll down if they find that content is usable and valuable to them.

I managed a corporate e-newsletter that, when printed, came out to be five pages long. A partner vendor had complained that I slotted their offer (a free Photoshop plug-in) at the bottom of the newsletter; and when it came down to metrics, they were pleased by the results (more than a thousand click-thrus to their website; the top offer by unique clicks for that newsletter issue). Feedback from other partners report similar successes. It's not where your content is on that page. If it is relevant to whoever is looking and speaks to their needs, it will sell.

Who does the content matter to? It depends on who you're trying to sell that content to. And by selling I don't mean an outright purchase, I'm talking about time and consideration of that content by a prospective user or customer. I had shifted content around putting our most relevant new content at the top of the newsletter, like a new product announcement, case studies, a new online community that we started to host and curate, followed by partner content, and then by partner offers. The perception here was to change how the newsletter was seen internally by the company. If I highlighted the awesome stuff the company was doing, then word-of-mouth would spread. Well, that was the idea anyways.

Is slotting all your valuable content above the 600px line the right design approach for your newsletter, landing page, or website? I have to say, err no insist, that it depends heavily on the audience you are trying to attract and how you intend to make a sale.

Seguetech.com had this interesting image about offers and the fold: 

It'll work for most types of websites out there, from professional services to K-12 software to potluck blogs, etc.

I find all this mildly amusing considering that every site I've researched that suggests the contrary about the "above the fold" has their primary subscribe or call-to-action or contact us above the fold. It makes me think that above the fold is still very much relevant.

Read more?

Segue Technologies: Your Site Above the Fold

Onextrapixel: The Last Word on the Fold

Heidi Cohen: Why Above the Fold Matters for Blogs

Book Review: The Crowdfunding Bible

Crowdfunding is a popular means of starting up a business or funding a project. In 2011, $1.5 B was raised through crowdfunding and $2.8 B was projected to be raised in 2012. Equity-based crowdfunding, where a portion of the company's future profits are up for grabs, is becoming more prolific. The question that remains to be answered is how much funding can be raised without registered brokerage firms before the SEC steps in and regulates this type of financing activity.

This free ebook comes from Scott Steinberg, who is the author of "Crowdfunding Businesses and Startups: The Ultimate Guide", a Huffington Post article which is a harmless plug for the book. There's also an accompanying video.

Crowdfunding and crowdsourcing are not new models; but I have taken an added interest in it because there is quite a lack of business and marketing support for those who do get their projects or startups funded this way. I like how this book is structured and it has a whole section dedicated to questions that entrepreneurs need to be asking of not just their own projects but also the ones that were successfully funded. Even if you get funded it doesn't mean that your project will succeed with its deliverables.

It was also interesting to see how quickly funding can be eaten away by unforseen risks. The example posed in the book is of Warballoon Studios that raised $37k to make iOS and Android game Star Command.

What's good about the book is that it offers solid pre- and post-funding project planning ideas and tips for each stage of crowdfunding, from creating an effective video pitch to building effective rewards. The best part was the Q&A section of the entrepreneurs who got funded.

Read more?
VentureBeat's Kickstarter failures infographic (41% of projects fail, even when funded)

Pre-populated Web Contact Forms

I don't know what's worse at the moment, being forced to register for each real estate website where I want to browse a listing or having fake contact data pre-populate when an online account is generated by an agency's contact management system. From time to time, I'll comp neighborhoods around where my rental is located to see if housing prices of the existing home supply (vs new housing starts) are rising, falling, or staying the same. The web contact form lead wall with Keller Williams is just one of those examples of a poorly thought out lead generation plan. I'm not sure why their web form thought I'm from NY, but it does. Unfortunately I have seen this type of web form behavior before where the back-end software captures and saves the contact info of the most recent transaction; in this case, a user from NY.

Here is an example of a pre-populated customer account that you probably don't want replicated with your own website:

Keller Williams: post-login from new account creation, user account profile

And, to make it worse, you actually do have to check your account profile to see what email items the opt-in signs you up for because while there was only one checkbox to opt-in for email marketing, there were three options from KW. See below:

Surely, much success can be attributed to this lead gen program in terms of quantity of lead generated and number of validated email addresses that are added to one's in-house or partner email list. But, I'm not sure what they really mean by a trusted mortgage partner. There's also no double opt-in upon signing up, like a confirmation of an email address for starters. That's bending the opt-in rules a bit. Banks, insurance, and credit card companies do it all the time because they have subsidiaries or divisions that do partner-like activities. Also, there's no mention about a privacy policy or data usage policy on a user's account profile, or how to find out more info about it.

It's unclear from the web page's source code if this is a home-grown web form or hosted by a third party provider. I'm not terribly inclined to check out other KW agency websites to test this out.