MadClouds

Youtube Has a New User Interface!

Wednesday, March 10th, 2010 | General |

So it appears that YouTube has updated it’s website with a new interface. I’m really impressed with the statistical information they’ve made readily available. Great improvement in usability focusing on only delivering just enough information and allowing the user to get more details with just one click. Here are a few screen shots from the “views” section:

Scan Me – My First iPhone App

Sunday, March 7th, 2010 | General |

So I put together a biometric finger scanning app for the iPhone/iPod touch recently. I wanted to code a simple app that looked good. I checked out the other finger scan apps on the App Store, and man were they crap… I sat down with Photoshop for a while and was able to put together this:

It took roughly 30 hours from start to finish to develop. Then I got to experience the awesomeness that is the App Store application process.

So far sales have been great!

If you’d like to check it out – use this link:

Internet Retail Web Design and Usability Conference 2010

Friday, February 19th, 2010 | General |

What a great conference! Here’s the 860 blog posts I tool while at the event:

5:29 PM: madclouds Thanks for watching!
5:29 PM: madclouds alright… I’ll be closing this event… Feel free to txt or email me if you have questions or need antying…
5:28 PM: madclouds woo conference over!
5:24 PM: madclouds (I’m sleepy… This is a great preso though)
5:23 PM: madclouds use “Link information”
5:23 PM: madclouds fire fox pluging web developer
5:22 PM: madclouds css is the search engine friendly links for mega menues rather then Ajax or JS (search engines can’t crunch trough js)
5:21 PM: madclouds very steep drop off based on your google rank… #1 spot gets 44% #2 spot gets 9% #3 spot gets 5% and it keeps going down like that
5:19 PM: madclouds think of meta descriptions as paid advertisements for seo’s… (but they’re free!)… (so if you had to put out a paid advertisement for a page… just put that in the meta description)
5:17 PM: madclouds meta description is used… so use that
5:17 PM: madclouds never use meta keywords… they are no longer used by spyders… it’s useless
5:16 PM: madclouds the read more text is associated to the page rather then the title… and only the first link gets associated to the page… so change the title to a link as well as the read more
5:14 PM: madclouds great info on a side bad that contains a header and some description then has a link to read more…
5:13 PM: madclouds ideal url: few slashes, not too many words(6 or 8), hyphens rather then underscores (hyphens are treated as word seperators via google)
5:10 PM: madclouds checking out a product page they like how the product name is in the title tag… they DON’T like that they have SEO text at the footer that isn’t for any other use (could even give them a bad ranking)
5:08 PM: madclouds phrase higher up in the HTML is most important… the Keyword prominance
5:08 PM: madclouds now reviewing: CapitolSupply.com (again!)
5:07 PM: madclouds change any images for text to text… much better for spyders… also USE H1′s they’re very very important to SEO
5:05 PM: madclouds also use the people who already have the links to your site to make them higher quality
5:04 PM: madclouds use the tool on competitors to get ideas where you can get more links to your site
5:02 PM: madclouds inbond links via Yahoo! Site explorer – siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com
5:01 PM: madclouds @MrSlinkyman Oh and the atendees are just raising there hand and they’re given a mic to read it off… then the presenter types it in for the projector
5:01 PM: madclouds @MrSlinkyman Hey bud… That’s a great question. They’re all trying to scribble stuff down on paper… pfft they’re so 2008…
5:00 PM: madclouds big talks about the need to change a 302 to a 301
5:00 PM: madclouds 301 redirect… and 301 (301 passes page rank… so if someone was linking to the site)
4:59 PM: MrSlinkyman @madclouds first off why aren’t Larry, Ryan and Kristine scribbling? Secondly how are the attendees taking the critiques of their pages?
4:59 PM: madclouds # of keywords
4:59 PM: madclouds switching to advanced mode… gets links #characters in meta tags
4:58 PM: madclouds great using the tool to get the good content on the home page.
4:58 PM: madclouds lots of blue links… not a lot of text
4:57 PM: madclouds how much text is on the page… as far as spyders get
4:57 PM: madclouds using seo-browser.com
4:56 PM: madclouds each page on your site is a little sales person when it comes to SEO… the more you have the better
4:56 PM: madclouds they referenced the 301 redirect will get them visitors where a 302 will not..
4:55 PM: madclouds talking about changing the title for seo click throughs
4:55 PM: madclouds (very neat little trick… they added &start=990&filter=0 to the end of the google URL and it gave them their site specific number of pages)
4:52 PM: madclouds now using google searching “site:balsamhill.com”
4:52 PM: madclouds great quesiton about a content paragraph needed for seo causing an issue with usability. the answer is to use css to move to where you want while still putting it in the code some where seo is important
4:50 PM: madclouds reviewing: balsamhill.com
4:48 PM: madclouds -Crawl-ability
-Content
-Credibility
4:47 PM: madclouds Organic search – en.wikipedia.org
4:45 PM: madclouds (this should be good)
4:44 PM: madclouds (woo!… last session of the conference)
4:44 PM: madclouds Description: The ability to land high in natural language search results at search engines can clash with principles of good design—and vice versa. But it’s not always obvious when the two conflict with one another. This session will lay out specifically how to balance design goals with search engine optimization: what wording and images to employ, what to avoid, how to make sure you’re not doing something that actually kills your SEO rankings or your conversion rates, and more. Then stay tuned—this session will also feature one of the most popular sessions at the last Internet Retailer Web Design Conference: Live, on-the-spot analysis of attendees’ web sites from an SEO perspective. These sessions at previous conferences have been real eye-openers for attendees who may have never heard of 301 redirects until they attended the session or who may have thought that listing all the brands they sell in small type at the bottom of the home page is a good way to boost rankings when in fact it does just the opposite.
4:44 PM: madclouds Next up: LIVE REVIEWS: How site design affects your search engine rankings
Stephan Spencer, Founder & President, Netconcepts
John Tawadros, Principal, John Tawadros Consulting
4:43 PM: madclouds session over..
4:41 PM: madclouds they liked when you click add to cart that a popup was attached to the button
4:40 PM: madclouds (interesting that the site has it’s pages with a .jsp extention… so /find/cart.jsp)
4:39 PM: madclouds now reviewing: bhphotovideo.com
4:38 PM: madclouds be more actionable about the incentives. If you get $15 on orders of $75 or more… tell them how much they need to go. based on their cart
4:37 PM: madclouds (checkout process looks bad)
4:36 PM: madclouds continuing to the checkout reveals that the upsells make the cart below the fold… they suggest A/B testing to determine if usability is sacrificed for an attempt to upsell.
4:35 PM: madclouds dont like white on gold text for picking a size
4:35 PM: madclouds now reviewing: eastbay.com
4:33 PM: madclouds don’t have people telling you no… don’t pharse action items as “I don’t want to create an account” instead use “Continue as a Guest”
4:32 PM: madclouds they like all the elements… they’re just not aligned properly.
4:31 PM: madclouds paypal button is too predominate. make your check out button more predominate…
4:29 PM: madclouds Now Reviewing: toolup.com
4:29 PM: madclouds brings up that when you make an account… you use a username (and check availability button is there) which isn’t really necessary for a site like this… just use the standard email as a username
4:28 PM: madclouds (we should really make our progress bar on the 7day pass much bigger… it’s really scrunched in the top left of the page… there’s something I’ve learned at this conference haha)
4:27 PM: madclouds remove it too close to the edit button… someone with a little shakey mouse click may remove their item when they just wanted to edit it
4:26 PM: madclouds as far as the layout and text
4:26 PM: madclouds they really like the mini cart
4:26 PM: madclouds don’t like the JS Alert for an error… making a big deal about it (understandably) how it has such a negative connotation like the BSOD
4:24 PM: madclouds ha… it’s a panty retailer…
4:24 PM: madclouds now reviewing Leonisa.com
4:23 PM: madclouds like the progress bar on the checkout process… don’t like switching domains to process checkout.
4:20 PM: madclouds reviewing themedicalsupplydepot.com
4:19 PM: madclouds they called out that the site was lacking the security verification and certifications on the page… (we’re missing them on FIT24OW too =-O ) Although they said for bigger brands with the recognition, it’s not necessarily needed… although why not give the reassurance?
4:16 PM: madclouds issue with the bizrate survey pop up over the checkout button… (they really didnt like that)
4:16 PM: madclouds they’ve found some good things
4:13 PM: madclouds (wow a big wig… i like that)
4:13 PM: madclouds now reviewing luckybrand.com
4:12 PM: madclouds @marc_foley Ha! I’m glad… I don’t think he knows it exists yet
4:11 PM: marc_foley @madclouds I love the pic of Ryan
4:11 PM: madclouds the checkout button is competing with the continue shopping… try changing it visually
4:10 PM: madclouds when a item is added to the cart, a user is given a 2 second popup/redirection. they recommended using a different technique to indicate that an item was added without a timed pop up
4:08 PM: madclouds they mention that they should have been flow such that it leads the user eye to where they want them to go
4:07 PM: madclouds Reviewing knitpicks.com
4:07 PM: madclouds
4:07 PM: madclouds
4:06 PM: madclouds (I don’t see Ryan being happy that I took and/or posted that picture haha)
4:05 PM: madclouds @Tim Payne All morning has been great… very information with good presnetations… Started to get a little dry at the end of the last talk
4:04 PM: Tim Payne Everyone looks pretty interested (not) I think you guys need a break and some coffee lol
4:04 PM: madclouds (Groove Commerce is a great company with lots of useful input… they’re who gave us some consulting during our free session)
4:03 PM: madclouds LIVE REVIEWS: Creating express checkout online
Ethan Giffin, CEO & Founder, Groove Commerce
David Wertheimer, Director of Strategy, Alexander Interactive
4:02 PM: madclouds Now they’re doing live reviews of the shopping cart
4:02 PM: madclouds
4:01 PM: madclouds
3:59 PM: madclouds (haha… the dude next to Kristine is sleeping!)
3:57 PM: madclouds
3:56 PM: madclouds
3:55 PM: madclouds
3:54 PM: madclouds
3:51 PM: madclouds
3:49 PM: madclouds
3:49 PM: madclouds (tons of text in these slides)
3:48 PM: madclouds
3:46 PM: madclouds
3:45 PM: madclouds
3:44 PM: madclouds
3:43 PM: madclouds
3:42 PM: madclouds
3:41 PM: madclouds
3:40 PM: madclouds “too many clicks on the forms”
3:39 PM: madclouds “promocode area… we show you have a discount… but not the code”
3:39 PM: madclouds Presentor reviewing things they’re doing wrong
3:38 PM: madclouds (i’m not a big fan of the site)
3:38 PM: madclouds reviewing www.lordandtaylor.com
3:36 PM: madclouds
3:34 PM: madclouds back… call from Jaime… Ellie’s sick
3:28 PM: madclouds
3:28 PM: madclouds (check out this slide… your eyes bleeding yet?)
3:27 PM: madclouds (interesting hardware behind tobii eye tracking… it’s not a webcam like I thought… but multi infa red sensors beaming light at your eyes… then camera/sensors watching the glare off your eye to determin where you pupil is…)
3:26 PM: madclouds
3:25 PM: madclouds showing examples of Eye Tracking www.tobii.com
3:21 PM: madclouds
3:19 PM: madclouds
3:17 PM: madclouds “shop your own site” (neat point… doesn’t happen enough… )
3:17 PM: madclouds
3:17 PM: madclouds
3:16 PM: madclouds FitForCommerce.com
3:16 PM: madclouds lots of info on the powerpoint slide
3:15 PM: madclouds (they opend the session by making everyone raise their hand and make a pledge to “increase conversion…” bla bla bla… It started real strong with good participation… but once people realized what they were making them say…. it tapered off pretty quick hahah!)
3:14 PM: madclouds Description: In an economy where every sale counts, retailers can’t afford to place obstacles to checkout. Yet many have a multi-page process that loses customers at every step. Our retailer speaker this session recognized that its checkout pages needed streamlining. It undertook a deliberate process that resulted in higher conversion rates by eliminating unnecessary steps, showing shipping estimates and subtotals early on and allowing shoppers to easily edit the shopping cart’s content. It also implemented merchandising, upsell and gift box features that increased the average ticket. The head of e-commerce will describe what the company wanted to accomplish with its faster checkout, how the project evolved and the results it gained. Our retailer speaker will be joined by the consultant who helped the company sort through the multitude of options for checkout and created the success metrics that enabled the e-commerce staff to sell the project to senior management.
3:14 PM: madclouds Next up: A retailer finds the secret to fast checkout
Christina Callas, Vice President, E-Commerce, Lord & Taylor
Bernardine Wu, President, FitForCommerce
3:13 PM: madclouds session over
3:13 PM: madclouds (interesting usability tool: crazyegg.com )
3:11 PM: madclouds “can you explain in a little more detail how to change the google meta data displayed in the search result” “the Yahoo! platform allows for us to do that” (do a google search buddy… you’d be amazed whats out there…) Yahoo! Store (ecommerce) platform: smallbusiness.yahoo.com
3:08 PM: madclouds someone asking about why they use the yahoo store platform. answer “reliability… I believe in trusting the core capacity and reliability of yahoo”
3:07 PM: madclouds KPI ( en.wikipedia.org )
3:06 PM: madclouds @Tim Payne ha!
3:06 PM: Tim Payne @madclouds Your doing such a great job maybe you can scribe all our meetings
3:06 PM: madclouds question about GWO right now
3:05 PM: madclouds (definitely interested in google website optimizer… never seen that before)
3:03 PM: madclouds “say you’re going to update the navigation dramatically… how do make the change without loosing/confusing the customer” “A/B Testing… test.. do some studies… Utilize google website optimizer” (google website optimizer: www.google.com )
3:01 PM: madclouds Opened it up to questions…
3:01 PM: madclouds session over… Presentors email: Kevin@VenturaWebDesign.com
3:01 PM: madclouds
2:59 PM: madclouds
2:59 PM: madclouds (dang! looking at this blogs stats:

Number of posts: 721

more then I would have thought)
2:58 PM: madclouds
2:57 PM: madclouds referencing “Black Hat” SEO technique. ( en.wikipedia.org )
2:55 PM: madclouds
2:52 PM: madclouds
2:51 PM: madclouds (Gail won a $50 gift certificate from one of the vendors in the exhibition hall… she’s very happy about it )
2:50 PM: madclouds
2:50 PM: madclouds (trying to keep that guy’s head out of my photos…)
2:50 PM: madclouds “people cant smell candles through the internet… yet… What has been successful for us is having other customers say why they’ve thought of the product”
2:47 PM: madclouds @Erich Cervantez ha! yeah… that guy took my seat
2:47 PM: madclouds
2:45 PM: madclouds now ventura web design’s president is describing the company – about us. ( www.venturawebdesign.com )
2:44 PM: madclouds
2:43 PM: madclouds references usertesting.com and fivesecondtest.com (I use fivescondtest.com and it’s pretty cool)
2:40 PM: madclouds “turn your computer off and go out… go to the library”
2:40 PM: madclouds 5: Finding Fresh Ideas: Don’t be afraid to go ‘old school.’”
2:39 PM: madclouds (uh oh i found a typo) – “Always look for the little changes you can make that a difference.”
2:38 PM: madclouds (here it is again…)
4: Usavility Testing: Uncovering the less obvious
2:38 PM: madclouds
2:37 PM: madclouds Equally as imporatant is providing customers with accurate and relevant search results.
2:37 PM: madclouds Something as simple as enlarging your search bar can result in increases in conversion
2:37 PM: madclouds 3: Search: Give the customer what they want
2:36 PM: madclouds (i do like the animated clip art on the slide show)
2:36 PM: madclouds 2: Site Performance: The Need For Speed
How quickly do your pages load?
Do your page load times differ depending on where your customers live in the country?
2:35 PM: madclouds (he didnt really cover the last question… )
2:34 PM: madclouds 1: Metrics. What are your customers doing?
Sometimes the most eye opening discoveries can come from doing a deep dive into your metrics.
How deep do you dive?
2:33 PM: madclouds 5 simple ideas
2:32 PM: madclouds Going over the history of Meijer meijer.com
2:31 PM: madclouds Description: One of the beauties of selling online is that e-retailers can continuously make little changes that can fast add up to big sales increases. This session features a leading e-retailing consultant who works with clients to implement little changes. He will discuss the common little changes his company has uncovered at retail web sites, what it took for retailers to implement the changes and the results they achieved. He will be joined by an online retailer who will discuss his company’s own experience in uncovering and implementing little changes, what it took from a staff and resource perspective to implement the changes and the payback.
2:30 PM: madclouds Next up: Step by step: Little changes add up
Kevin Richards, President, Ventura Web Design
Rick McNeill, Web Design Product Manager, Meijer
2:29 PM: madclouds back again
2:27 PM: Erich Cervantez @madclouds tell that guy to move his big head….I can’t see
1:12 PM: madclouds speaker email bmoen@oriental.com
1:07 PM: madclouds (you’ll see an example of mega menus at orientaltrading.com )
1:06 PM: madclouds “Mega menues” – I like that term
1:05 PM: madclouds
1:04 PM: madclouds – Merchandise team attributed 40k skus – Really only took 10 days and 5 people
1:02 PM: madclouds
1:00 PM: madclouds referencing endless.com’s narrowing options
12:57 PM: madclouds
12:55 PM: madclouds
12:54 PM: madclouds
12:54 PM: madclouds
12:52 PM: madclouds research and insights… existing data – customer insights – test considerations/insights
12:52 PM: madclouds covered their approch
12:51 PM: madclouds (great funnel graph)
12:51 PM: madclouds
12:50 PM: madclouds “how do we get more people into the funnel”
12:49 PM: madclouds (MAN the video is soooo loud!)
12:49 PM: madclouds playing a video about their company
12:48 PM: madclouds (nice powerpoint template… real easy on the eyes)
12:48 PM: madclouds
12:47 PM: madclouds Description: How consumers navigate the web site is a mystery to many. And anyone who makes assumptions about how their shoppers will use their site will probably be wrong. To really know how shoppers move through its site, Oriental Trading conducted extensive interviews with shoppers and delved deep into the navigation paths shoppers used. What management learned led to a complete redesign of OrientalTrading.com with a view to moving customers more directly from the home page to the products they were seeking. Our featured speaker will walk attendees through the entire process of breaking down navigation, interviewing customers and implementing changes. And he will discuss the benefits the company gained as a result.
12:46 PM: madclouds Up Next: FEATURED ADDRESS – Getting shoppers from here to there
Brian Moen, Vice President, E-Commerce, OrientalTrading.com
12:46 PM: madclouds session over
12:42 PM: madclouds people suggest havign both… new and old… let the user decide and save their preference with their account
12:41 PM: madclouds they’re asking for audience opinion on how they should move forward with their navigation
12:38 PM: madclouds
12:36 PM: madclouds talking about iPhone mobile app
12:32 PM: madclouds “Don’t allow 5% of your passionate customers to lead you down the power feature road. Keep it simple and easy.”
12:31 PM: madclouds
12:29 PM: madclouds “it’s all about smart list building and ‘I want to get everything done very very quickly’”
12:29 PM: madclouds
12:28 PM: madclouds talking about the changing technology since they started… 1990… (nice run down memory lane… but is that relevant enough to reference?)
12:26 PM: madclouds
12:25 PM: madclouds System requirements:
IBM computer
64kb mem
1MB space
12:24 PM: madclouds (this video is getting a lot of laughs… people love old computer videos)
12:24 PM: madclouds
12:23 PM: madclouds woo vintage music haha… (computer in background has 3.5 floppy… )
12:23 PM: madclouds VHS video
12:23 PM: madclouds 1993 video from the peapod starter kit
12:22 PM: madclouds now a PeaPod presentor is talk about their audience.
12:22 PM: madclouds (going through slides waaaay too fast…)
12:21 PM: madclouds dont disable the back button
breadcrumbs
12:21 PM: madclouds Effective navigation supports conversion
12:17 PM: madclouds “lack of parity between browse and search” “expects the same navigation experience regardless of the path they choose”
12:17 PM: madclouds “search is also navigation”
12:17 PM: madclouds looking at compusa.com
12:16 PM: madclouds “three clicks is the most you should make your users to get to their products on the catigory selection page…” (use gemaffair.com as a reference gold rings)
12:14 PM: madclouds gemaffair.com – double take due to columns
12:14 PM: madclouds “different ways to offer products that make sense to the user. and so they see your products in the best way that fits their needs”
12:14 PM: madclouds homewetbar.com checking navigation
12:13 PM: madclouds now looking at etoys.com navigation
12:13 PM: madclouds
12:12 PM: madclouds “help the user find the most important link to click”
12:11 PM: madclouds “when things lack contrast people get confused”
12:10 PM: madclouds “Thinks that are clickable should look clickable. Thinks that are not clickable should not look clickable. Every link is a promise”
12:09 PM: madclouds pointing out navigation types on fatbriantoys.com
12:08 PM: madclouds Choose one:
-buy something
-give me info
-click deeper into my site
12:08 PM: madclouds referencing tracking a “scent”
12:07 PM: madclouds “To navigate is a verb. Helps your visitor find, choose, and buy”
12:07 PM: madclouds
12:06 PM: madclouds “Your Site is Your Brand”
12:05 PM: madclouds looking at staples products links page
12:04 PM: madclouds looking at LLBean product page
12:04 PM: madclouds talking about following conventions
12:04 PM: madclouds “Your users spend most of their time not on your site” – Ha! so true
12:03 PM: madclouds Going over different types of site navigations… C style, sub cats. in the left hand, or top horizontal.
11:57 AM: madclouds Description: Even as users become more search-centric, navigation remains key to revealing product assortment and building credibility with the shopper. Creating good navigation through a site is not easy because site designers often don’t understand how shoppers are actually using their site. Successful navigation becomes further complicated by the three primary types of navigation—product organization, product selection and page signage. This session will feature a leading design consultant and a retailer with a huge, ever-changing product assortment who will walk attendees through the important elements of navigation and how to make sure shoppers can easily navigate your site.
11:57 AM: madclouds Up next: Navigation: Don’t let your customers get lost
Thomas Parkinson, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Peapod, Inc.
Larry Becker, Principal, LarryBeckerWeb.com
11:57 AM: madclouds Back…
11:05 AM: madclouds hour break… I’ll brb
11:05 AM: madclouds ok… three won…
11:05 AM: madclouds
11:03 AM: madclouds so it’s between the white one and the blue and white one
11:02 AM: madclouds New logo… now focusing on internet where as before it was focusing on retailer
11:01 AM: madclouds the three designs are very similar…
11:00 AM: madclouds (I wonder what they’re going to do if it’s a 33% vote haha)
11:00 AM: madclouds
11:00 AM: madclouds showing the three designs…
11:00 AM: madclouds
10:58 AM: madclouds he mentioned that they started the redesign process in April and how he was hoping to unvail the new design today… they’re not there yet “it’s a really long and hard process” (that’s what she said)
10:56 AM: madclouds Now we’re looking at InternetRetailer.com – the conference’s website. There talking about a redesign and want the audience vote on three designs
10:55 AM: madclouds (man I just thought about a session yesterday by the president of OnlineShoes.com. He had a great session on video and how to get the most out of it… great session… but he talked about how their videos were 6kb – granted their only 20-30 seconds – but still… how is that possible?)
10:53 AM: madclouds
10:52 AM: madclouds going over what’s next for SkyMall
10:51 AM: madclouds (hu… just found the session description on the agenda… which I found this earlier)
10:51 AM: madclouds The latest generation of cell phones—iPhone, Blackberry, Google phones and others—can render standard e-commerce web sites. But m-commerce is more effective as a selling medium if retailers optimize sites for m-commerce. This session will help attendees determine whether they should design a mobile site or let their e-commerce site do the m-commerce work, what they can do with their e-commerce sites to make sure they display well on mobile devices, where to find a partner to help with the design, and what pitfalls they are likely to encounter along the way.
10:50 AM: madclouds
10:50 AM: madclouds talking about sharing via app
10:50 AM: madclouds (Apple has a limit of 200MB for an iPhone app…. Hope SkyMall doesn’t double their product list any time soon)
10:49 AM: madclouds (we just looked up the iPhone app… it’s 117 MB!!! Holy cow!)
10:48 AM: madclouds #1 value of the of their app is their entertainment value (says customers)
10:47 AM: madclouds just took a shot at Amazon.com “Try searching for products on amazon app 5 miles up… you’ll get nothing, but with us you get all our products plus more”
10:47 AM: madclouds
10:46 AM: madclouds “seems like in my 20+ years that this was the first time where things just fell into place”
10:46 AM: madclouds (seems like he’s tearing up when he started talking about their iPhone app haha)
10:44 AM: madclouds
10:43 AM: madclouds
10:42 AM: madclouds WAP site launched in 2007
10:42 AM: madclouds talking about mobile screen size and pixel dpi (ppi) and the amount of effort to get something done
10:41 AM: madclouds (doesn’t look like he’ll be convering the solution to that challenge two posts back)
10:40 AM: madclouds discussing “What screen size to actually design for?” “What is the issue with pixels?” “Every extra customer step/motion decreases conversion!”
10:38 AM: madclouds brings up an interesting challenge specific to SkyMall: Allow our customers to complete their transactions while sitting 5 miles high going 500 mph, on the tarmac, or coffee shop browsing through our store, the SkyMall catalog
10:37 AM: madclouds
10:35 AM: madclouds talking about having mobile users in different static locations utilizing their mobile site and the availability and response time and how radically different the customer experience from the same location (refreshing and getting different response times even though they haven’t moved)
10:33 AM: madclouds
10:32 AM: madclouds “WiFi can help”
10:32 AM: madclouds looking at AT&T’s Mobile Data Traffic Growth (4,932% Increase since 2006)
10:31 AM: madclouds
10:30 AM: madclouds “Carriers in the USA/W. Europe Face Surging Network Demand But Uncertain Economics” (weird cap usage on this slide)
10:29 AM: madclouds Now talking about the challenges
10:29 AM: madclouds iphone = 65% (for HTML mobile page view share)
10:29 AM: madclouds
10:29 AM: madclouds Looking at mobile internet usage
10:28 AM: madclouds (not really sure why the wii is in this next photo)
10:28 AM: madclouds (man i wish my iPhone had a few more MP on it’s camera :-/ I think I’m loosing a lot of the fine print stuff)
10:27 AM: madclouds
10:27 AM: madclouds going over the history of SkyMall and some of their stats
10:27 AM: madclouds
10:26 AM: madclouds
10:25 AM: madclouds (SkyMall ay? I could always use a good solar powered tie rack!)
10:25 AM: madclouds Next up: Upward mobility: How to make your site mobile
Jay Scannell, Vice President, Information Technology, SkyMall
10:23 AM: madclouds session over
10:22 AM: madclouds
10:22 AM: madclouds (they showed the iPhone, BB, android and palm apps and how they’re all different layouts with roughly the same interface… nicely done!)
10:21 AM: madclouds
10:20 AM: madclouds looking at kobo’s iphone app
10:19 AM: madclouds “choose your platforms wisely”
10:19 AM: madclouds “don’t discount conversion on mobile”
10:19 AM: madclouds (neat point here) “design an extension of your web experience, not duplication”
10:18 AM: madclouds
10:18 AM: madclouds heading into Mobile
10:16 AM: madclouds looking at Kobo’s twitter feed. She’s referencing how their marketing team has fun with it to make it more personable rather then so mechanical.
10:15 AM: madclouds (I saw on one of the slides “The App Garden” by flicker… Here’s more about it: www.flickr.com )
10:15 AM: madclouds
10:11 AM: madclouds looking at Etsy.com
10:10 AM: madclouds looking at chapters.indigo.ca Kobobooks community site
10:08 AM: madclouds “the less you ask your user to do…. the more they do” (don’t feature overload. Great point)
10:07 AM: madclouds (ha… she’s referencing how using so many different systems and technologies over time that it becomes a type of Frankenstein.)
10:06 AM: madclouds
10:05 AM: madclouds kobobooks.com
10:04 AM: madclouds Looking at different sites now and examples
10:04 AM: madclouds reference to the new page folds where if content is hiddne (via ajax or css) make sure they know there’s something deeper… don’t just hide it… let them know there’s something under there
10:02 AM: madclouds (some good points… “let the users choose when they want to see more” “be aware of the new page folds”)
10:02 AM: madclouds
10:01 AM: madclouds now talking about rich user interfaces
10:00 AM: madclouds
10:00 AM: madclouds (didn’t get a front row seat…)
10:00 AM: madclouds (man she’s going fast! haha hard to keep up)
9:59 AM: madclouds linkedin.com
9:59 AM: madclouds looking at flickr.com
9:59 AM: madclouds looking at Blogger.com “it’s free, it’s quick and these points are on their home page”
9:59 AM: madclouds more people creating content
9:58 AM: madclouds “the web goes two-way”
-content creation and sharing is cheaper and easier
9:58 AM: madclouds Web 2.0 – 2004-now
9:58 AM: madclouds (looking at older sites – 2001) Yahoo/AOL/CNN/NYT
9:56 AM: madclouds download is king
one-way communication
9:56 AM: madclouds Defining web 1.0
9:56 AM: madclouds Up Next: The future today: A baby-step approach to Web 2.0
Pamela Hilborn, Director of User Experience, Kobo Inc.
9:54 AM: madclouds Good morning!
6:12 PM: madclouds (alright…. I think i’ve taken as much product page reviewing as I can… Tonight from 4-7 is a meet and greet… then buffet dinner at 7… I’ll be back tomorrow to cover the rest of the conference!)
6:11 PM: madclouds “consider related products for this type of site. as well as cross and upsells.”
6:11 PM: madclouds “product name get’s lost… maybe make it stand out more… or add it again near the buy now button”
6:09 PM: madclouds next up for review: sonicelectronics.com
6:08 PM: madclouds (dang… my battery went from 1:27 to 0:17 over a 20 minute period… granted… I have used it all day)
6:08 PM: madclouds
6:07 PM: madclouds “with experience based products consider reviews which are personal and maybe more social media for sharing that experience”
6:07 PM: madclouds “if the product is $100-$300 or more think about a click to chat to offer support on a large support”
6:06 PM: madclouds “more about the location/service provider”
6:05 PM: madclouds (lots of white space by the product description near the bottom)
6:04 PM: madclouds next review is: cloud9living.com
6:04 PM: madclouds
6:03 PM: madclouds (I’ll try and do audio for the next review)
6:02 PM: madclouds “reviews as well”
6:02 PM: madclouds “might be a good location for video”
6:01 PM: madclouds “view larger image should be bolder”
6:01 PM: madclouds “move the alternate images somewhere and move the add to cart button to the right of the image”
6:00 PM: madclouds (site looks clean)
5:59 PM: madclouds now reviewing ionaudio.com
5:59 PM: madclouds “the title tag is the most important element for SEO”
5:58 PM: madclouds focusing on the promotion image (purple) about how it’s not clickable… the eye goes there, but there’s no call to action
5:57 PM: madclouds viewing product compairson at the bottom of the page “seems a little confusing… should i click and drag (he tried and that didn’t work)”
5:56 PM: madclouds “use javascript/html overlay for..” (something… i missed it.)
5:55 PM: madclouds navigated to a product page (top freezer refrigerator)
5:55 PM: madclouds now reviewing ajmadison.com
5:55 PM: madclouds “try not to cut and paste the manufactures product description on your site… Invest some time in personalizing it for the customers and the SEO’s benefit”
5:52 PM: madclouds “view larger image link should try to utilize mouse over rather then a new browser popup”
5:51 PM: madclouds “the tabs on the product page are great for getting the information there and for SEO”
5:51 PM: madclouds
5:50 PM: madclouds (man… i think in this session we’re going to see a TON of the same stuff over and over again… “make the buy button bigger” or “put product reviews” “list MSRP and how much you can save”… over and over and over again…)
5:49 PM: madclouds navigating to a product page
5:49 PM: madclouds now reviewing CapitolSupply.com
5:48 PM: madclouds Next up: LIVE REVIEWS: Are your product pages up to snuff?
Sherrie Hablitzel, Senior Interactive Strategist, UMarketing
Craig Smith, Founder and Managing Director, Trinity Insight
5:48 PM: madclouds Now another live review session… focusing on the “product page”
5:48 PM: madclouds session over
5:48 PM: madclouds and how lack of north naviation means everything has to be located in the left nav
5:47 PM: madclouds talked about tag cloud
5:43 PM: madclouds next up: vixity.com
5:40 PM: madclouds (mouse over a top nav item to see the flyout)
5:40 PM: madclouds “i have a usability problem with navigational flyouts”
5:39 PM: madclouds “living in the AJAX navigation”
5:39 PM: madclouds “real web 2.0 navigation”
5:38 PM: madclouds now reviewing roots.com
5:35 PM: madclouds “nice division of categories”
5:34 PM: madclouds “great palette”
5:34 PM: madclouds (way too bright)
5:34 PM: madclouds now reviewing altestore.com
5:30 PM: madclouds “information overload”
5:30 PM: madclouds about technology: “Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should”
5:29 PM: madclouds (the overlayed buy now products look great… )
5:29 PM: madclouds “slider for brands and watch style navigation is inovated”
5:28 PM: madclouds (i dont relaly like the fonts)
5:28 PM: madclouds “Lot of information”
5:27 PM: madclouds now launching thewatchery.com
5:27 PM: madclouds referenced buy.com’s HUGE buy buttons…
5:25 PM: madclouds “left nav is a long list to not show in an alphabetized order”
5:24 PM: madclouds “waisted white space in the right side bar on the home page”
5:23 PM: madclouds now reviewing sleepyheads.com
5:22 PM: madclouds “tell me what you want me to do…. don’t make me go figure it out” – great quote on making call to action items different to draw the eye to them
5:20 PM: madclouds suggesting linking to social media in a more predominate above the fold area
5:18 PM: madclouds now reviewing joann.com
5:15 PM: madclouds “i like the text links in the footer… its great for SEO and can help a user find what they need if they get down there”
5:14 PM: madclouds “odd that you’re swapping the right side nave to the left hand on clicks through”
5:13 PM: madclouds (I agree the UI is great)
5:13 PM: madclouds “interface seems very professional”
5:13 PM: madclouds “no need for the huge popup banner right when I get to the site… let me learn a bit about you first”
5:12 PM: madclouds now they’re reviewing DiskMakers.com
5:12 PM: madclouds “contrasing color for the top nav that you want the most attention”
5:10 PM: madclouds “short comings in the top nav… no need for the home as the first button” (uhhh 24hf just added a home button to our nav… ha!)
5:09 PM: madclouds “i like the credibility placed in the top right… give me trust for your site”
5:08 PM: madclouds “your hero shot is huge… Maybe scale it down a bit”
5:08 PM: madclouds reviewing the navigation on CedarStore.com
5:06 PM: madclouds just bought the book “Don’t make me think” off amazon.com for $24.00
5:06 PM: madclouds
5:02 PM: madclouds Tom Funk (love that name) is giving his background
5:01 PM: madclouds This session is a live review of atendee’s site focusing on site navigation
4:58 PM: madclouds Next up: LIVE REVIEWS: Helping customers find the treasure at your site
Tom Funk, Vice President, Timberline
Matthew Ledford, Co-founder & President, FastPivot.com
4:57 PM: madclouds Back again
4:18 PM: madclouds session over… break time
4:12 PM: madclouds Speaker RLopez@gomez.com If you’re interested in asking him
4:10 PM: madclouds oh man… now he’s saying “i’ve heard people talking about not supporting IE6, but by doing that you’re cutting out some of your audience”… Although a true statement, I don’t really think it should be used to scare e-retailers into supporting IE6
4:07 PM: madclouds @MrSlinkyman ha… Great point, and I agree with you. They’re targeting all-flash sites and trying to focus on its response times/lag. Don’t they realize it’s 2010? I don’t think I’ll ask the question, just because I don’t want to be “that guy” trying to stump/diss the presenter
4:04 PM: MrSlinkyman @madclouds I have to say that AJAX and Flash should be able to co-exist and shouldn’t be seen as one over the other. Hopefully the presenters can answer that question…hint hint.
4:02 PM: madclouds
4:02 PM: madclouds boasting AJAX
4:02 PM: madclouds “user’s use to find 4 seconds acceptable for a website to load. The new limit is 2 seconds”
4:01 PM: madclouds can’t argue with them… but there’s solutions to those challenges…
4:01 PM: madclouds they just bashed flash… stating it’s not on iphone/ipod/ipad…
4:00 PM: madclouds it seems like he’s against interactive sites? I don’t get it
4:00 PM: madclouds We’re looking at http traffic of .mp3 and .swf files
3:59 PM: madclouds sorry… I don’t have much to share on this presentation
3:56 PM: madclouds @Erich Cervantez dang it!
3:56 PM: madclouds
3:56 PM: Erich Cervantez hey you’re gonna miss our fancy Flex 4 Skinning, Styling & States presentation tomorrow for code-review
3:55 PM: madclouds (the presenter is loosing me :-/ )
3:53 PM: Erich Cervantez @madclouds they’re stoopid!
3:53 PM: madclouds recording some audio again… (could you hear the last audio clip?)
3:52 PM: madclouds
3:51 PM: madclouds What an amazingly useful slide! </sarcasm>
3:51 PM: madclouds (uh oh… this presentation isn’t going so well… lots of pauses and stuttering… poor guy)
3:50 PM: madclouds
3:49 PM: madclouds @Erich Cervantez dang… you’re right… That’s depressing… They’re also talking about the Olympic site that’s streaming video with Silverlight… I’m amazed at the lack of talk about flex/flash…
3:48 PM: trackthetime What a cool website. Love the zoom in feature and the ability to post what you like on facebook. Wish they would add a twitter feature.
3:48 PM: Erich Cervantez @madclouds I think memorabilia.hardrock.com was built on Silverlight :-/
3:47 PM: madclouds (dang that’s a hard act to follow…)
3:46 PM: madclouds Next up: The risks and rewards of advanced design technologies
Roger Lopez, Consultant, Gomez
Rob Miller, E-Commerce Manager, The Talbots Inc.
3:46 PM: madclouds session over… no questions :-/
3:44 PM: madclouds showing more of memorabilia.hardrock.com check it out!! very cool flex/flash web app
3:42 PM: madclouds
3:42 PM: madclouds I’ll try recording some audio from the presenter… (55% upload of 1.3mb)
3:41 PM: madclouds it’s just music from the video (dang i wish I had a 3GS so i could capture video!!!)
3:41 PM: madclouds Trying to post some audio
3:40 PM: madclouds very fluid interface…. seems intuitive… very clean… the filtering/navigation is my favorite
3:39 PM: madclouds showing a multi touch monitor display the interface on the wall of a dinning booth…
3:38 PM: madclouds another demo video
3:36 PM: madclouds all doing multi touch
3:36 PM: madclouds showing 3 users all search their own memorabilia…
3:36 PM: madclouds showing video, pictures, text of memorabilia.
3:36 PM: madclouds interesting circle (bubble?) interface
3:35 PM: madclouds great demo! (with good music)
3:34 PM: madclouds demo video showing microsofts touchscreen table
3:33 PM: madclouds Here’s the ted talk about deep zoom: www.ted.com
3:32 PM: madclouds Then zoom out! very neat technology and a perfect way to use it
3:31 PM: madclouds great demo of memorabilia.haI have to sayrdrock.com ! Amazing stuff! check it out! Do a seach for “V” (easter egg)
3:27 PM: madclouds referencing a TED talk… “deepzoom”
3:27 PM: madclouds
3:26 PM: madclouds he’s referencing Myspace more then any other presentor so far…
3:24 PM: madclouds
3:22 PM: madclouds He’s going over HardRock history
3:21 PM: T Hall This conference sounds very interesting, hope all is well. Keep the updates coming!
3:21 PM: madclouds
3:17 PM: madclouds next up: The new merchandising: Interactive, fun, compelling
Patrick Colbert, Director, CRM & Loyalty, Hard Rock Café
Mike Lemme, Creative Director, Duncan/Channon
3:13 PM: madclouds interesting explanation about utilizing A/B testing and multi-variant testing to automatically rotate the thumbnails displayed for a specific video on the products page to find the top 10 thumbnails, then ultimately the top 1 productive thumbnail to display for the highest conversion. This is all done automatically by the software (thumbnails are captured via different frames from the uploaded video via the software). Awesome!
3:08 PM: madclouds
3:06 PM: madclouds very interesting example with their fitwiz online running shoe finder wizard where user’s were not answering all the questions so they added an “i don’t know” button, then realized they didn’t know because they didn’t understand the jargon. They threw a quick 19 second video up explaining the questions and instantly had 2x more answers on the problem questions.
3:02 PM: madclouds (dang that mic feedback is back )
3:02 PM: madclouds
3:02 PM: madclouds all videos are hosted through liveclicker
3:01 PM: madclouds Making the capturing process easier has allowed for a more stream lined system where goals are still met without the extras.
3:00 PM: madclouds he talks about how they’ve made changes in their video capturing process to get videos up quicker (40 minutes from start to online)… He explained that a year earlier the production time was significantly larger with scripts, cuts, over post production and more
2:57 PM: madclouds
2:57 PM: madclouds (ha… the video end with a guy accidently making a funny face… maybe their production department should have given him a few more frames…)
2:55 PM: madclouds Demo video
2:55 PM: madclouds he mentions that the educational videos are very beneficial for their audience and he references some examples how a user might not know what type of shoe is best them.
2:53 PM: madclouds
2:52 PM: madclouds he’s going over onlineshoes.com timeline for incorporating video on the web
2:51 PM: madclouds (this is a good presentation so far. but I must say I like liveblogging because it forces me to focus on the presentation rather then zoning out… Neat little unexpected benifit)
2:51 PM: madclouds
2:50 PM: madclouds liveclicker is the platform they use for video ecommerce – www.liveclicker.com
2:49 PM: madclouds
2:47 PM: madclouds
2:46 PM: madclouds nice slides…
2:45 PM: madclouds Next up: How to best use videos
Jimmy Healey, Product Marketing Manager, Onlineshoes.com
2:45 PM: madclouds I’m back
1:11 PM: madclouds groupon.com – interesting!!
1:09 PM: madclouds
1:09 PM: madclouds statistics on facebook.com hu?
1:09 PM: madclouds
1:07 PM: madclouds kinded.com
1:07 PM: madclouds
1:04 PM: madclouds wow their facebook page allows you to add to cart from their facebook page! great idea
1:03 PM: madclouds threadless now
1:03 PM: madclouds (she made a comment how the site is a perfect example of when to build your own social network because it has a specific focus. Then she made a comment how the 12millionlives site was great but wasn’t linked to our facebook site)
1:01 PM: madclouds Now they’re talking about 12millionlives.com!
1:01 PM: madclouds
1:00 PM: madclouds Kodak has one of the richest facebook page – faceb(nowook.com
1:00 PM: madclouds
12:58 PM: madclouds SearsDeals twitter feed – twitter.com
12:54 PM: madclouds referencing lowe’s solution center channel on youTube
12:53 PM: madclouds (yeah! they’re referencing 24HF! right now the twitter site!)
12:52 PM: madclouds
12:51 PM: madclouds referencing zipcar’s facebook page – www.facebook.com
12:50 PM: madclouds
12:48 PM: madclouds giving examples of companies using social media incorrectly… (nike’s facebook page)
12:46 PM: madclouds
12:45 PM: madclouds
12:44 PM: madclouds up next: Designing your web site to create social marketing success
Bridget Fahrland, Director, Creative Strategy, Fry Inc.
12:43 PM: marc_foley I like it
12:43 PM: madclouds Session done…
12:42 PM: madclouds
12:42 PM: madclouds (Awesome tat!!!!!)
12:41 PM: madclouds Next up – Keep current
12:41 PM: madclouds User Agent Switcher – firefox plug in for running firefox as if it were on the iphone
12:40 PM: madclouds PhoneGap – phonegap.com – A development framework that you can use to develop in html/js and publish to iphone/android
12:38 PM: madclouds Up next – Mobile
12:38 PM: madclouds (now their bashing IE6 haha)
12:37 PM: madclouds web based tool for cross browser testing (side by side)
12:37 PM: madclouds Browserlab ay? – browserlab.adobe.com
12:36 PM: madclouds
12:35 PM: madclouds
12:35 PM: madclouds (still getting that mic feedback… i think my ears are bleeding )
12:34 PM: Marc A particle engine??? That’s not what I would think it is
12:34 PM: madclouds Communitymx – www.communitymx.com
12:33 PM: madclouds Screengrab.org – firefox plug in for screen image captures
12:32 PM: madclouds Firebug – getfirebug.com
12:31 PM: madclouds woo! Firefox web developer toolbar! – chrispederick.com
12:31 PM: madclouds Aviary – full design suite online – aviary.com
12:29 PM: madclouds
12:27 PM: madclouds www.cgtextures.com
12:26 PM: madclouds
12:26 PM: madclouds urbandirty.com
12:26 PM: madclouds Textures now
12:26 PM: madclouds talking about typekit to use fonts on your site that are not on every users machine
12:25 PM: madclouds Typekit – typekit.com
12:24 PM: madclouds new.myfonts.com
12:24 PM: madclouds
12:23 PM: madclouds – fonts.com
12:23 PM: madclouds “Like candy for designers”
12:23 PM: madclouds Now talking about Fonts
12:22 PM: madclouds – kuler.adobe.com
- aviary.com
12:22 PM: madclouds More palette pickers:
12:22 PM: madclouds Color scheme designer – colorschemedesigner.com
12:21 PM: madclouds Now talking about colors
12:21 PM: madclouds next Styleboost – styleboost.com
12:20 PM: madclouds k10k – web development aggregater. k10k.org
12:20 PM: madclouds Shift magazine ( shift.jp.org) – inspirational site
12:19 PM: madclouds now core77 ( www.core77.com ) – Design magazine.
12:18 PM: madclouds Referencing www.alistapart.com
12:18 PM: madclouds (the speaker is getting a ton of feed back on their mic.. it is realllllly bothering me…)
12:17 PM: madclouds they say read this book: Don’t Make me Think (amazon link: amzn.com)
12:16 PM: madclouds they’re taking a survey of who’s developers, managers
12:11 PM: madclouds (hi larry)
12:07 PM: madclouds 10 minutes to go… (man I’m hungery)
12:03 PM: madclouds Back… Next session: Free is good — Design tools and help available online for the asking
Halley Silver, Director, E-Commerce, King Arthur Flour
Marshall Leggett, Senior User Interface Developer, DHAP Digital Inc.
10:58 AM: madclouds They opened up to questions… but no one had any (other then this one guy… but lets not talk about him)
10:57 AM: madclouds Session all over
10:49 AM: madclouds talking about consumers having a problem understanding product types and they planned to address that with an explination page (not sure if I agree with that)
10:45 AM: madclouds now showing video on usability testing on the compare functionality
10:44 AM: madclouds
10:44 AM: madclouds Talking about usability testing
10:42 AM: madclouds Lee.com site is build in IBM’s “Websphere” platform (http://www.ibm.com/websphere)
10:41 AM: madclouds
10:39 AM: madclouds
10:38 AM: madclouds
10:37 AM: madclouds Asking questions that they needed to improve their site from 2007
10:36 AM: madclouds
10:35 AM: madclouds Next up: Finding out how customers really use your site
Lori Graham, E-Commerce Business Manager, Lee Jeans
10:33 AM: madclouds “Greater accessibility and sales generation via mobile and social”
10:32 AM: madclouds
10:31 AM: madclouds “Click to chat grows to 38% for EG100 from 32% in 2008 with click to call at 9%”
10:31 AM: madclouds
10:30 AM: madclouds “There’s more paypal users then American Express card holders” – (interesting to think about!)
10:29 AM: madclouds “International growth edges up despite challenges”
10:29 AM: madclouds “RSS feeds available 31%”
10:29 AM: madclouds
10:28 AM: madclouds
10:28 AM: madclouds “60% of sites link to social networking sites”
10:27 AM: madclouds “Merchants tap into social networks seeking greater customer engagement
10:27 AM: madclouds (covering lots of numbers and %)
10:27 AM: madclouds “36% of EG100 retailers are running blogs on their site
10:27 AM: madclouds “Blogs add new communication and SEO dimension to selling”
10:26 AM: madclouds
10:24 AM: madclouds “Cross channel tools court convenience seekers”
10:24 AM: madclouds talking about delivering product videos to engage customers
10:22 AM: madclouds “the product page is the new home page.” – make it a one stop shop
10:22 AM: madclouds interesting numbers being shown
10:22 AM: madclouds
10:20 AM: madclouds
10:19 AM: madclouds
10:16 AM: madclouds
10:15 AM: madclouds talking about Gap and how their navigation supports their sister sites
10:14 AM: madclouds “fast buy fuels faster checkout”
10:14 AM: madclouds “shopping cart should also deliver customer service with related items to purchase and FAQ’s”
10:13 AM: madclouds talking about one click checkouts
10:12 AM: madclouds Talking about home page search
10:12 AM: madclouds (real hard to focus on what the speaker is trying to convay with sooo much information being delivered on screen… I’m in the front row and I can hardly read the tiny text!)
10:11 AM: madclouds
10:10 AM: madclouds FastPivot is covering IRWD on twitter if you’re on the go: twitter.com
10:06 AM: madclouds
10:05 AM: madclouds (man… sooooooo much text on one slide!)
10:05 AM: madclouds
10:04 AM: madclouds (oh boy… Powerpoint looks pretty tacky)
10:04 AM: madclouds “people really underestimate how difficult [internet retailer] is”
10:03 AM: madclouds Next up: Lessons from Holiday 2009
Lauren Freedman, President, The E-tailing Group
10:02 AM: madclouds “if you think you know more then the consumer… You’re wrong… The consumer will always know more”
10:01 AM: madclouds In closing
How do we stay relevant to our customers?
-Focus on the customer
-Listen to their needs
-Let your customer lead you
10:00 AM: madclouds “it’s liberating to get the most out of their technology… moving consumers from the 20% to the 80%”
9:59 AM: madclouds “most consumers only use 20% of their new technology because they don’t understand how to utilize more”
9:59 AM: madclouds
9:58 AM: madclouds “your brand can no longer sit here… It needs to be mobile and always changing”
9:58 AM: madclouds your brand is an accumulation of all these expressions
9:57 AM: madclouds “what you were when I waited on the phone for 30 minutes” “when I had a good experience”
9:57 AM: madclouds “your brand is some total when _ _ _” now giving examples
9:57 AM: madclouds
9:55 AM: madclouds (CRM data?)
9:55 AM: madclouds “Using customer data and deliver a differentiating experience”
9:54 AM: madclouds “Know me, make it relevant for me”
9:54 AM: madclouds 3) personalization
9:54 AM: madclouds
9:53 AM: madclouds Store ratings
9:53 AM: madclouds Talking about making store supported “local store page” that the store can update and showcase employees as well as many other examples
9:52 AM: madclouds
9:52 AM: madclouds
9:51 AM: madclouds Great chart on where people are spending time
9:51 AM: madclouds now talking about 2) Localization
9:50 AM: madclouds
9:50 AM: madclouds ahh… IdeaX is a social tool by bestbuy for suggestions
9:50 AM: madclouds Engaging & listening to customers
9:50 AM: madclouds “I never thought I’d have staff onboard monitoring social networks like twitter/facebook”
9:49 AM: madclouds “We’ve covered about 6mil customer questions”
9:49 AM: madclouds
9:48 AM: madclouds Talking about using twitter as a customer service tool
9:48 AM: madclouds Next Twitter/Facebook and IdeaX
9:48 AM: madclouds -store finder
-Browse products
-search
-Product availability in store
-overview and product photos
-customer reviews
-Specifications

-Commerce
-login to existing account
-Create Account

-Instore pickup – 46% mobile – 30% bestbuy.com
9:46 AM: madclouds “what features are most important?”
9:46 AM: madclouds
9:45 AM: madclouds Plugging their iPhone app
9:45 AM: madclouds “people are telling us I want my stuff my way”
9:45 AM: madclouds
9:44 AM: madclouds Now talking about mobile (m.bestbuy.com)
9:44 AM: madclouds talking about URL readability for SEO
9:43 AM: madclouds BestBuy.com ranked #162 for the phrase “TVs” in Nov 07 (now ranks #2)
9:43 AM: madclouds Focusing on SEO right now
9:43 AM: madclouds (lots of talking about how a customer will now check prices/info online then go into a store to look at the product, then check with friends on facebook and twitter then go back into the store and look at the product again before checking their mobile for even more reviews… then finally they’ll buy it)
9:41 AM: madclouds Three key Strategies:
1)Accessibility
-SEO
- mobile m.bestbuy.com
-Twitter, Facebook and IdeaX (ideaX?)

2)Localization
3)Personalization
9:39 AM: madclouds
9:39 AM: madclouds “it’s tougher then ever to reach our customers..”
9:38 AM: madclouds takling about trying to hit customers more on an emotional level.
9:38 AM: madclouds
9:37 AM: madclouds (great seat up front allows me to get great pics of the slides…)
9:37 AM: madclouds
9:36 AM: madclouds Referencing how customer behavior is changing
9:35 AM: madclouds Got a seat in the front row
9:35 AM: madclouds Back for the Keynote: KEYNOTE ADDRESS – Designing for Success: Staying Relevant in a Changing Landscape
John Thompson, General Manager, BestBuy.com
5:17 PM: madclouds alright… I’m logging off for now (they’re reviewing partylite.com if you’re interested) before my battery goes dead
5:16 PM: madclouds obviously there’s lots of product retail sites being reviewed, so when we brought up 24hf it’s not a “product” farm like these other sites are.
5:15 PM: madclouds in comparison… Our site has been the best (imho) site commented on so far
5:14 PM: madclouds but they never made it there lol
5:14 PM: madclouds @MrSlinkyman yeah they know we’re from 24hf… they’re critiquing atendees sites… we wanted them to comment on fit24ow
5:13 PM: madclouds haha!
5:13 PM: madclouds and now they have moved onto another site…
5:13 PM: madclouds “overall it’s a very well done site”
5:13 PM: MrSlinkyman @madclouds did you tell them you were from 24 Hour?
5:13 PM: Marc @madclouds so how bad is it?
5:13 PM: madclouds they dont know how to buy something
5:13 PM: madclouds uh oh… they’re starting to get very confused
5:11 PM: madclouds hah!
5:11 PM: madclouds “this is a great home page”
5:11 PM: madclouds they want to unify the member/non member pages (pfft
5:11 PM: madclouds they think the splash page may be loosing members
5:10 PM: madclouds their on our site!
5:09 PM: madclouds just waiting for them to finish up with another person
5:09 PM: madclouds I have ~15 minutes in battery life!
5:09 PM: madclouds ok… I’m back for a moment because we’re asking them to look at 24hourfitness.com!
4:56 PM: madclouds Looking at dragondoor.com
4:56 PM: madclouds More critiques by different speakers.
4:55 PM: madclouds Oh boy… took a quick drink break… now my battery is almost dead and there’s no plug in site
4:54 PM: madclouds add more of the elements found on the product page to the registry section
4:32 PM: madclouds resolution issue
4:32 PM: madclouds images are needed “I buy visually”
4:32 PM: madclouds this may be a good subject for a social element
4:31 PM: madclouds consider having product images on the registry page
4:31 PM: madclouds site hasn’t changed in 6 years. and that might work, but a lot of browsing habits have changed. something to think about
4:29 PM: madclouds next up: michaelcfina.com
4:28 PM: madclouds “slapping text at the bottom for SEO works, but it isn’t useful for users and might skew their first time impressions. Try using tabbed boxes to contain the SEO content you need without giving up real estate. It makes your site look more professional.” (cool tip… I like that)
4:24 PM: madclouds “having a picture of a rat eating grandma’s cookie on the floor might not trigger the response what you want”
4:23 PM: madclouds “what kind of imagery do you want to use to pull someone in”
4:21 PM: madclouds next up: mypestcontrol.com
4:21 PM: madclouds and below the fold
4:21 PM: madclouds ha… they don’t like that shopping cart is on the left hand side…
4:19 PM: madclouds not enough consistency among elements… (first product doesn’t have a buy button but huge description, second item has a buy button and a ratings but no description, and the third is even different)
4:18 PM: madclouds “you wouldn’t go shopping at a grocery store that had spilled milk on the floor, don’t have spilled elements on your website.”
4:17 PM: madclouds they bring up great points. they found a broken element on the home page (in the banner) and really pounced on it…
4:15 PM: madclouds utilize the napa element
4:15 PM: madclouds next up: napageneralstore.com
4:15 PM: madclouds “move add to cart and add to wishlist higher on the screen. Don’t have it below the fold”
4:13 PM: madclouds “wish list is too complicated for the type of popup used”
4:12 PM: madclouds “add to wishlist is scrunched”
4:12 PM: madclouds “again is category navigation the best? multivariate tests are needed to determine if images are better then small text”
4:10 PM: madclouds next up: BHphotovideo.com
4:10 PM: madclouds “don’t have a featured product on your home page that’s $1.59. Use this area for bigger ticket items”
4:08 PM: madclouds (not much good input on this one…)
4:07 PM: madclouds “never forget that the main thing is the main thing”
4:07 PM: madclouds “the header is very large and could be better used… condense it… better layout”
4:06 PM: madclouds platform: tuitions cms
4:05 PM: madclouds next up: bigalsonline.com
4:04 PM: madclouds add related products
4:04 PM: madclouds Add featured products
4:03 PM: madclouds “the spacing between the price and add to cart button may be to large and ineffective”
4:03 PM: madclouds (I’m really excited to review coremetrics stuff on our 24hf site… Mostly the click maps…)
4:02 PM: madclouds categories and features products – need testing to ensure their effectivness…
4:02 PM: madclouds @Erich Cervantez Ha! 90wpm bro
4:01 PM: Erich Cervantez is amazed as the speed at which Erik can type. Kudos!
4:01 PM: madclouds areas of focus? – increase conversion and home page/product page
4:01 PM: madclouds platform: shopsite
4:01 PM: madclouds next up: mybambino.com
4:00 PM: madclouds great product reviews – adds to the products quality
3:59 PM: madclouds “featured products on the home page below the fold have a lot of room, but down allow a buyer take action like buy now…”
3:57 PM: madclouds “inconsistencies in the font size in the top tabs”
3:56 PM: madclouds “slow down the scrolling”
3:56 PM: madclouds next is FactoryDirectCraft.com (it really sounded like she said FactoryDirectCrap…)
3:55 PM: madclouds the product description is in all caps… seems like you’re yelling at us
3:55 PM: madclouds Sale price needs a retail price to show users how much their saving
3:54 PM: madclouds “you’re saying an offal lot on this page, I’ve already told you I’m looking for a bedroom set, I don’t need to be blasted with suggestions on bathroom products unless it’s organized better”
3:52 PM: madclouds “nice hierarchical structure”
3:52 PM: madclouds “I like the gray bar with suggestive phrases”
3:51 PM: madclouds “lot of things happening”
3:51 PM: madclouds ” i like the boldness. great brand presence, color scheme.”
3:50 PM: madclouds next up… nfm.com
3:46 PM: madclouds referencing sort by brands if that’s what returning customers are looking for
3:45 PM: madclouds how can we improve that
3:45 PM: madclouds conversion rate is .5%
3:45 PM: madclouds 2.5 mil a year in sales
3:45 PM: madclouds outsources to back end is C# (oh boy)
3:45 PM: madclouds next up: gunsafes.com
3:44 PM: madclouds they mention the checkout page is not identifiable fast enough… they mentioned a blur test, where you blur the page to locate the hotspots
3:44 PM: madclouds they are now looking at a product page
3:43 PM: madclouds they suggest 3 for the main home page featured banner
3:43 PM: madclouds too many advertisements (9) on the main home page
3:42 PM: madclouds the speakers reference a lack of symitry and too much navigation. Try using a different navigation scheme
3:42 PM: madclouds next up is marketamerica.com
3:41 PM: madclouds the paintballonline rep mentioned that their primary audience is <18, they suggested that they change to a more modern layout rather then the current traditional conservative layout.
3:38 PM: madclouds they mention everything for a great product page is there, but not organized
3:38 PM: madclouds now their looking at a product page
3:36 PM: madclouds “the central banner doesn’t direct users to products.”
3:35 PM: madclouds “lots of data doesn’t allow the eye to focus on the specific location”
3:35 PM: madclouds First up – painball-online.com
3:34 PM: madclouds Session: Live, on-the-spot design critiques
3:30 PM: madclouds Dorian Sweet sounds very educated. I’ll be sure to check out TrueAction
3:29 PM: madclouds “whats the quantifiable benifit of launching a community site” – “we’ll see… our expectation is having repeat visitors. Stats for that new portion of the site isn’t available yet”
3:24 PM: madclouds “with suppliments so cheap on the internet how do you deal with the price differences” “We keep our products prices the same online and on our websites. our quality is far superior and is what we’re using to leverage sales.” “if it was only about price, the site would look very different. It’s about presence.”
3:21 PM: madclouds “how do you deal with privacy?” “we have privacy policies that remove GNC from the customer to customer communication”
3:19 PM: madclouds Session over… opened for questions. “are you using live chat to interact with customer?” – Answer: “No, but we will. We’ll make it in-house with our customer service reps”
3:17 PM: madclouds Looking forward
-Web 2.0, 3.0 and 4.0 technologies
-While Label Branding
-Video
-Integration with FB,TW
-Analytics
-Personalization (Avatars, to Microsites, Col. Tools, Chat, etc.)
-Mobile Components
3:15 PM: madclouds Choosing the right application
VENDORS
Stand Alone
-Kickapps
-LiveWorld
-Telligent
-Jive Software
-Mzinga
-Vingnette

Open Source
-DIY
-Drupal
-Joomla
3:13 PM: madclouds “its tough to make an objective decision after looking at something 100 times” (soooo true)
3:10 PM: madclouds “focuse onto the relationship” – “you can gather a lot of information and it’s hard to boil it down to something meaningful”
3:08 PM: madclouds -Site & page feedback
-Show feedback loops (ie, you said, we did…)
Define a forum for real questinos and answers
-Test ideas and iterate
3:08 PM: madclouds Understanding your audience
Suggested Methods:
Primary Motivational Research
-talk to fanatics
-ask questions that enable storytelling dialogue
-Incent participation
Feedback Mechanisms
-Surverys
3:06 PM: madclouds Dorian Sweet VP and ECD of TrueAction – talks about a feature on GNC that’s like a shopping cart where you can mark products your looking at or are interested in on gnc.com then via session – the information is transferred to your community site where that information can be shared to other members
3:04 PM: madclouds Planning for growth
Distributed – Setting up fan pages, ect. on other sites not directly tied to our site
Integrated – Built-in products that service user interest and build engaging content scenarios.
Mobile – Advanced distribution of all forms of your content to the user.
3:02 PM: madclouds What to Know…
planning for growth
understanding your audience
choosing the right application
3:01 PM: madclouds ( link: www.powerreviews.com)
3:01 PM: madclouds “used power reviews for rating reviews”
3:00 PM: madclouds join groups, blog, message boards photos
3:00 PM: madclouds Still showing the community site… it has members which you can “follow” and message
2:59 PM: madclouds (here’s the conferences agrenda: www.internetretailer.com )
2:59 PM: madclouds now their demoing GNC.com community site
2:58 PM: madclouds The speakers brings up a good point that you’re interacting in social sites even if you’re just reading reviews. You’re just listening to the conversation, but your still in the conversation. Think of product reviews on amazon or youtube, if you’re reading the comments, your interacting
2:57 PM: madclouds Principles:
-Rich: A balance of fun and easy to use applications with a high amount of connectivity to social functions.
-Relevant: Direct and applicable information with advice users can apply to their own regimen
-Rewarding: The ability to stay connected to a support network. And convienient ways to demonstrate progress towards goals.
2:55 PM: madclouds “decided to not pull negative reviews”
2:55 PM: madclouds “we had to decide how to deal with negative reviews” “product providers do not appreciate a negative review”
2:55 PM: madclouds
2:53 PM: madclouds (interesting identification of what a company like 24hf could benifit through the social interwebs)
2:52 PM: madclouds To evolve the value of GNC to the millions of enthusiasts who use GNC as a trusted source. with a goal to enable them to support, inspire and educate people just like them
2:52 PM: madclouds allow users to talk to each other – their regimes their strategies… to get people to ineract – customer to customer communication
2:51 PM: madclouds GNC Community
-The Vision
2:50 PM: madclouds “seeking information relevant to them”
2:50 PM: madclouds “realize their real people with real needs”
2:49 PM: madclouds Defining the Customer

-Diet
-Health & Wellness
-Sports Nutrition
2:48 PM: madclouds “socialize with the customer”
2:47 PM: madclouds @MrSlinkyman or why GNC in general? lol
2:47 PM: madclouds @MrSlinkyman why have it social?
2:47 PM: MrSlinkyman GNC’s community site is interesting. I guess good for fitness buffs but personally I ask why?
2:46 PM: madclouds “we had to do it, but we didnt have a strong ROI business case”
2:46 PM: madclouds Christy Clark – SVP E-Commerce – talking about accommodating to the social network
2:44 PM: madclouds (can you read see picture?)
2:44 PM: madclouds
2:43 PM: madclouds “Understanding spheres of influence” – nice graphics designed for the slide
2:42 PM: madclouds facebook – 46%
2:42 PM: madclouds now he’s talking about social-networking stats
2:41 PM: madclouds “enable people to indulge on themselves.”
2:40 PM: madclouds “the new community customer” “people out there talking about you”
2:40 PM: madclouds “lots of agressive goals”
2:39 PM: madclouds GNC has a new community site – it’s brand new
2:39 PM: madclouds GNC’s website was recently redesigned – check it out and tell me what you think
2:38 PM: madclouds this is all brand speak – the vision – is a lifetime partner for health.
2:37 PM: madclouds GNC’s new brand identity is “Invest in you.”
2:36 PM: madclouds “building a community site is complicated” – “you’re engaging in conversation, rather just standing above it”
2:34 PM: madclouds “GNC is a great example – brands tend to be a bit disconnected”
2:33 PM: madclouds “first I’m going to talk about brands and brand identities”
2:32 PM: madclouds (one of the speakers just got busted for having his phone on…)
2:31 PM: madclouds (side bar: 24hf.com is a japanese “happy flower” website… raaaandom)
2:30 PM: madclouds Alrighty… Last case study of the day until we move onto the real time design critiques! – Should I recommend 24hf.com?
2:28 PM: madclouds @Erich Cervantez Ha!
2:28 PM: Erich Cervantez what the heck are you still doing at the conference?? I thought you’d be in Daytona Beach by now!
2:25 PM: madclouds Good lunch…
1:27 PM: madclouds ok… seriously… time to eat!
1:26 PM: madclouds “a powerful navigation system will target consumers’ individual goals and needs, and al large community will let consumers connect, share and learn.” (I sense lots of talk about social marketing)
1:25 PM: madclouds Next session: Case study: Creating a community and more (GNC)
1:24 PM: madclouds @MrSlinkyman nice!
1:24 PM: madclouds ok… session over… time to eat!
1:24 PM: MrSlinkyman
1:24 PM: MrSlinkyman @madclouds flic.kr in response to (im so hungery)
1:22 PM: madclouds “case studies are the way to go”
1:21 PM: madclouds bashing IE6 now
1:21 PM: madclouds “800×600 < 3% now” – (wow that’s interesting)
1:20 PM: madclouds “how do you know what browsers to support?” – “check the stats and try to support the largest percent”
1:19 PM: madclouds someone asked how do you know what screen resolution to build on a resolution. answer: study analytics.
1:18 PM: madclouds Opened to questions
1:18 PM: madclouds (im so hungery)
1:18 PM: madclouds
1:18 PM: madclouds “listen to complaints”
1:16 PM: madclouds implemented a “Where did you hear about us” form on the checkout page to get instant feedback on what marketing is working
1:15 PM: madclouds – Increased Conversion
- Increased Per-Order-Sales
- Improved SEO
- Performance vs. Marketing Budget
- Increased Sales in New Markets
- Consumer Feedback
1:15 PM: madclouds “How will success be measured in 2010?”
1:14 PM: madclouds looks like a flex accordion component
1:14 PM: madclouds “one page checkout” – Idea that a lots of sites are doing which improves the conversion ratio
1:13 PM: madclouds “big pictures on the left side of the page to educate our new users”
1:12 PM: madclouds @MrSlinkyman the first area that’s seen on a website regardless of resolution
1:12 PM: MrSlinkyman @madclouds define “above the fold”
1:11 PM: madclouds Focus on getting information above the fold
1:10 PM: madclouds (mac’s back up)
1:10 PM: madclouds big emphasis on AJAX and it’s use on the site
1:10 PM: madclouds Weathertech has an in-house photography group to handle all the product pictures
1:08 PM: madclouds AmericanEagle.com talking about the redesign of weathertech. Also bringing up areas where they targeted (featured/related products)
1:02 PM: madclouds Usability studies…
12:51 PM: madclouds Lots of generic info. No good specifics or examples.
12:50 PM: madclouds Americaneagle.com talking about the custom experience they delivered to weathertech.com
12:41 PM: madclouds Now watching a flash video with the volume WAY to loud
12:38 PM: madclouds Session Five: Case study – Preparing for the new ways consumers shop
12:32 PM: madclouds Wrapping up. Going over who to hire and why
12:16 PM: madclouds Aap talking about who and why they hired an internal IT team
12:09 PM: madclouds Lost wifi . Bye MacBook.
11:54 AM: madclouds – over 3400 stores in 39 continental states
- fortune 500 company – 5bil in sales
11:53 AM: madclouds Scott is now talking about “The Advance Auto Parts Story”
11:52 AM: madclouds John is talking about his prior experience.
11:51 AM: madclouds Scott Bauhofer – Senior Vice President and General Manager of E-Commerce.
11:50 AM: madclouds Speakers: John Ware – Director of E-Commerce Design – Advance Auto Parts.
11:47 AM: madclouds Session Four: Case study – Keeping it all in-house. Since some company’s understand the nuances of how their customers shop, they should keep design and usability development in – house.
11:46 AM: madclouds Now I’m on the mac… This should be good.
11:28 AM: madclouds Click maps = important
11:26 AM: madclouds Stay focused on the big picture and try not to venture to far from it because there will be a ton of suggestions along the way
11:23 AM: madclouds Great session about diapers.com redesign. Great examples and slides.
11:09 AM: madclouds Taxonomy is important
11:09 AM: madclouds
11:07 AM: madclouds
11:06 AM: madclouds Speaker Josh Himwich – director of e-commerce solutions for Diapers.com
11:04 AM: madclouds Session Three: You’ve found the right web designer – now what?
10:39 AM: madclouds Already on question 8. Check references.
10:39 AM: madclouds I need to switch to my mac because I can’t type fast enough on my iPhone… Ha
10:38 AM: madclouds Session Two: 10 (14) Questions to ask a design consultant before you start your makeover.
10:37 AM: madclouds Session ended with a question from an atendee “is there an industry standard % to expect to spend on a redesign?”. Betsy answered “No, but know what you’re going to gain before committing”
10:26 AM: madclouds Compete.com hu?
10:24 AM: madclouds SEO challenges for sub-sub-catigories. But no explination on how they over came the challanges? Boo
10:22 AM: madclouds Very interesting now. Going over logo designs and site wireframes.
10:18 AM: madclouds Deanscards.com President – Dean Hanley talking about their site redesign. His mic keeps cutting out but he’s talking about their personal challenges redesigning their site.
10:12 AM: madclouds Giving examples about redesign and meeting goals. Make goals specific.
10:10 AM: madclouds Lots of questions being asked by Tellus Web CEO – Betsy Emery. Hope we get some answers.
10:05 AM: madclouds
10:00 AM: madclouds Session one: Choosing the Designer – Creating a redesign roadmap.
9:09 AM: madclouds Free coffee and bagels by the registration booths
9:02 AM: madclouds 7am east coast = 4am west coast