Dear Hootsuite,

We love Twitter, professionally and personally. It is a fun way to stay connected, an effective way to share good news and to connect with others, and it can be part of a cross-medium SEO and relationship-building strategy.

We have used Hootsuite to manage multiple-user access to shared or enterprise accounts for a while now, and we wrote in 2009 how TweetDeck and Hootsuite are better together. Well, here’s the reason we’re writing you, dear Hootsuite. In the body of that post, we of course shared our passion for TweetDeck and then in comments section of that post, we expressed a preference for a competitor, CoTweet. And, we’re sorry about that, we really are.

You see, when we flirted with TweetDeck it was because of its ability to create lists and segment the Twitter streams we’re following into thematic groups. You do that now. And when we expressed our admiration for CoTweet, it was because we needed to be able to manage multiple users on multiple accounts, and Hootsuite, we think you would admit this yourself, that wasn’t your strength at that point. Yet, in the time since, you’ve really grown, and you’ve made that part simple and added other features that make you the Twitter client we recommend to our clients.

The source of our Ardor: Google Analytics Parameter Presets

Beyond those “keep up with the Joneses” type updates, you’ve really set yourself apart with your Google Analytics integration. We also love Google Analytics, it helps us measure the work we do for our clients, and it gives us lots of web data to dive into and extract value for our clients. And it makes us so happy that you and Google Analytics get along so well!

We often recommend the Google Analytics URL builder to help clients tag URLs used in campaigns for tracking. Well, in the excitement of sharing or scheduling a tweet, it can be hard to remember to paste in all of those parameters at the end. And so, we were thrilled to see the ability to set the parameters as a campaign default when any URL is shortened within your dashboard.

Request – Multiple Presets Please..?!

So, assuming you accept our apology, dear Hootsuite, would you be willing to listen to one pretty-please request?

We love the custom URL parameters so much that we want to use them ALL THE TIME, so we have a request for an extension or tweak to this functionality. You see, we would like to get more specific with our campaign names, well, because we’re hyper about analytics parameters. So, ideally the analytics custom presets would to be configurable at the level of of the account rather than the level of the entire Hootsuite dashboard. You see, if we’re tweeting for ourselves, tweeting for a client, or tweeting personally, we want to be able to use different campaigns to comply with their or our best practices. And, we would prefer not have to remember to reset them every time. We love the “set and forget” pleasure of having the preset there in the first place.

Anyway, Hootsuite, thanks for listening. We sure do appreciate the wise and helpful owl you’re turning out to be.

In case you missed it (maybe you’ve had your TweetDeck turned off or you don’t surf the Amazon best sellers list), Zappos’ CEO Tony Hsieh’s Delivering Happiness came out today.

Disclosure: I’ve long been a fan of Zappos. I have hard-to-fit feet, and I very much appreciate the selection and the easy returns they offer. I’ve also long admired their openness and their zest for fun. I was one of the bloggers who received free advance copies of Delivering Happiness. I wrote my (positive) review of the book on my personal blog.

What I wanted to discuss in this space was the multifaceted, organic social media hoopla surrounding the book launch.

One of Zappos core values is to Build Open and Honest Relationships with Communication. And, this book launch is an illustration of that approach. And, it is a huge signal of the amount of trust Zappos has in its book and its brand to release many books to many bloggers and request honest feedback from across the blogosphere.

Aspects of the campaign

Inviting honest reviews

Ahead of the book launch, the website offered free advance copies to bloggers and provided us clear instructions for an honest review and where to link on the book’s website and Amazon. The Delivering Happiness Book website reader reviews page tallies reviews (though at the time of this writing the last update to that page was June 2, before the requested date to publish blog reviews). Perhaps more telling is that Yahoo Site Explorer sees 6,209 inlinks to the Delivering Happiness Book website as of today at 1:42. Click this link to see Yahoo Site Explorer has found more.

Strong Schedule Planning

1. Reviewers got clear instructions on when to publish their posts – we could have posted anytime, but were encouraged to post this week, today if possible, around the launch.
2. They’ve had happy hours each Friday leading up to the launch.
3. They’ve encouraged Meetup groups to form around the book launch week.
4. And they’re livestreaming the launch party from New York City.

Clear Calls to Action

1. Get connected – become a fan on facebook, follow them on twitter
2. Start a movement – take the pledge to act in ways to increase others’ happiness, instigate/attend a meetup to discuss the book (see above)
3. See encouraged links from reviews “inviting links”.

Now, these links are on the Delivering happiness book website. Why I believe it is valuable to reproduce them here is to illustrate how comprehensive the list is of ways to engage. Their strategy is open: it’s completely visibile and they’ve released their idea out to a larger community, to largely positive results.

Their strategy is also canny, because here on day one of the launch, they’ve had many reviews in blogs, on goodreads, and on Amazon itself, they’ve garnered many many mentions, building excitement. And, they’re doing it with clear calls to action. And, given the sales they’re seeing (#1 on Amazon.com), I would anticipate their advance planning is paying off in selling books and spreading their message.

We use Basecamp as our project collaboration vehicle – it allows us to share files, store conversation threads, and track milestones. For a while, we were also using it to record time on tasks on projects.

I’m a project manager, so my day tends to be spent in smaller chunks on more items than other folks on the team. I might have 10-20 time entries to make in a single day. The analysts work longer on fewer things in a day, but over a month, work on many client and internal projects, so their time entry is similarly complex.

Well, Basecamp requires you to enter time (by clicking into individual projects and recording time) is really sub-optimal when you’re moving between several internal projects and several client projects in a day.

We have been pining for a way to enter time more easily (without several clicks per entry – go to the project, go to the todos tab, click on the clock, enter the time and any comments, go to the next project, etc.). Jennifer, the relationship manager we hired in early 2010, agitated for a system change to make this part of our work simpler. She investigated several systems, and we chose Harvest because it integrated with Basecamp and had an exceptionally straightforward interface. Oh, and it has task timers, which certain members of our team really craved.

We switched to Harvest in April, and our first month garnered lots of positive comments from the team. It is hard to tell if time spent tracking time has actually decreased, because we changed our time recording definitions at the transition. This is anecdotal, but the amount of my time to extract summarized data from Harvest has decreased. And, because we’re getting time entered in a more timely manner, and listening to fewer to no complaints about our time tracking system, we feel this is an upgrade.

For more information on Harvest time tracking, see http://www.getharvest.com/features

The key to writing for the web is the old writing rule – know your audience. To serve that audience, you have to provide them

1. valuable information,
2. that they can find (search engine optimized), and
3. that they can understand (optimized for on-screen reading).

I will leave creating valuable content for a different post, and today I’ll address items 2 & 3.

2. Do your keyword research: reflect your reader’s language

Writing for your audience means using their language, not yours. And, what’s amazing is you can find out what they’re saying by asking the search engines.

Search engine records provide real time information on what people are looking for in their own words. What a treasure trove!

All you have to do is ask Google to “listen in” and you’ll get guidance on how to speak to your audience, and how to help them find you all at the same time. Keyword research is market research.

The image on the left is a screenshot from Google insights for search comparing “writing for the web” “seo writing” “web copywriting” and “search engine optimized writing”. On the right is the Google AdWords Keyword tool, started with four key word phrases and expanded the list to give me data on 100 phrases based on the words I started with. Try these tools out.

To improve your web writing:

• Explore the words used to describe your product or service, no doubt you will learn something valuable.
• And then, write content that emphasizes the high traffic phrases that fit your content. While this sounds like a “duh” you would be surprised by how unconsciously folks revert back to their internal-speak when they write for the web.

3. Write for reading on a screen

Your dear reader might have several applications open. She might be reading on a smartphone on a bus. She might think she’s concentrating, but multitasking is less effective than focused attention, most likely her attention is diffuse.

Additionally, reading on a screen happens more slowly and with less comprehension than reading from a page. Jakob Nielson has compiled a meaty list of web reading studies and information.

So, copy written for the web needs to be more scannable.

• Prepare bullets and lists instead of long discursive paragraphs,
• Break up long text with images and illustrations to get your message across, and
• Use simpler language than you might for a reader with more focus.

There are several online readability tests that allow you to get feedback on the grade level of your web copy. But, Microsoft Word will also tell you the grade level of copy in your file, so there are lots of ways to assess this. You might take this a bit further and assess your copy against your competitors’ web prose, and compare to more general online sites you value (such as the New York Times online) to give you a general target level. You might find you’re writing at way too high a level to be digestible on the web.

Build on Success

Do your research – research the words and double check the scanability and reading level of  your web writing before you publish it. And then, in the best tradition of the web, assess what is successful and keep on making it more findable and valuable to people and to search engines alike.

We use several tools hourly at work – Basecamp for project communications, time tracking, and file sharing, our Socialtext wiki for cross project searchable information storage (procedures, lessons learned), our email, IM and shared calendars through Google Apps for Domains. We’ve recently been adding a few other tools to our constellation. They’ve been sneaking in to solve particular problems. We’ve begun collaborating with each other in Google Docs and piloting Google Sites for some project specific collaboration (both available within Apps for Domains).

One of the questions that resurfaces from time to time is how to share status. We have a daily standup meeting and regular project standups (monthly). We schedule quick check-ins with each other throughout the month, and most of us work in a big open room (“war room”) where status is a nerf dart toss, spoken question, or IM away.

However, from time to time we get into a fit of wanting more formal status sharing in the form of a microblogging application. We have messed around a little with Yammer (think of it as a closed Twitter within your corporate network), Google Wave, Campfire (chat integrated with 37signals’ Basecamp product), and updating status in our GChat IM available through Google Apps for Domains.

Here are some thoughts as I consider these microblogging/status sharing tools.This is a quick comparison of the most obvious tools given our existing infrastructure. I added my own interpretation with bolding for my critical decision feature. There are lots more categories I could have evaluated, including smartphone accessibility, but I’m considering the main use case for our team being folks on computers, not on trains nor in cars….

I imagine most of the criticism of this post will be on applications or features I didn’t consider. I’m going to exclude Google Buzz right off the bat because it is not available in Google Apps for Domains and therefore not integrated with our other corporate infrastructure and because I don’t want to be drawn into my personal email interface at work if I can avoid it! Other tools I haven’t tried are Socialtext Signals. Since our wiki is one step removed from our client interactions, it seems the wrong venue even if the tools are interesting. I also couldn’t get it to work in our wiki easily, so I ruled it out. Please don’t confuse this with a comprehensive summary of all available tools. That has been done nicely by others (including Laura Fitton on Mashable and Dion Hinchcliff at ZDNet).

No one will be surprised by this conclusion: which application is better comes down to what features you need. For me, my internal recommendation is for us to start using the “status” line in our GChat better before we jump to a whole new application. I’d like to see us adopt the habit before we adopt a particular tool. And, I don’t want another inbox or screen to check.

When Google Buzz showed up in my inbox, I was intrigued yet unsure. After all of the hoopla about Google Wave, I have to admit I never became a convert. Maybe because the invitations were scarce and so no one I wanted to Wave with was available to Wave with me, maybe because among my friends and family I’m an early adopter, so even if invitations weren’t scarce, no one in my inner circle would have Waved with me anyway. Beyond that, the lack of integration with my Gmail inbox was a killer. Another inbox for me to check….it never made it into my routine. I checked it this week, after weeks of inactivity, to find a message from a friend from…weeks ago.#Fail

Google Buzz, on the other hand, is integrated with my Gmail inbox, and in the last two days I’ve already used it more than I’ve ever used Google Wave. So far, I’ve enjoyed photos of a friend’s kid in Chicago, caught some local news – President Barack Obama to deliver the University Michigan commencement address, laughed at some goofy blogs and goofy statements from friends, and I encountered a book that I’ve added to my list of reserved items at the local library (Atul Gawande’s The Checklist Manifesto).

Looking at my Buzz stream on my Google profile, you will notice that it looks an awful lot like Facebook. Same mixture of photos and comments on photos and status updates and comments on status updates. And, since (as yet) there are no Mafia Wars, no Farmville, and no applications to help me figure out what kind of cheese am or what kind of cheese you think I am, it’s actually much more pleasant to dip into.

Yet, until close friends and family are complete Gmail-geeks like I am, I’ll still need Facebook to connect with close friends and family. And, while I am very excited about these tools for connecting with people I already know, I remain convinced that the most open social networking tools, like Twitter, remain the best for businesses to find new customers. Facebook is a walled garden, though becoming less so with its recent changes to its privacy settings making more content public. Google Buzz seems at least semi-walled. Right now I’ve got my Buzz kind of locked down until I decide how it all works.

I’m still exploring Buzz, but so far it seems exceptionally personal and less business-y. Hubspot has provided these recommendations on getting started with Google Buzz for your business. Take a look, let me know what you see, and together we’ll see how it develops.

At small companies and even large ones, people perform tasks outside of their areas of training. This is a natural occurrence, happening when folks cover each others tasks during a vacation, because of a promotion, during special short-term projects, and for many other reasons. A lack of formal training is almost a condition of participating in certain emerging fields, such as, say, search engine marketing and social media. So, how does a professional ensure they’re current with the existing standards? By self-study – reading books and blogs, by setting goals and measuring yourself against your own high standards, and by participating in professional development activities – attending conferences and obtaining relevant professional certifications.

For search engine marketing, certifications are available from professional associations such as the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO Institute offers a certification) as well as the Search Engines themselves:

• Google Advertising Professional
• Yahoo! Search Marketing Ambassador
• Microsoft adExcellence certification

Anyone managing projects in this industry should consider Project Management Professional (PMP) certification from the Project Management Institute (PMI).

Relevant but non-certifying professional organizations include: the Usability Professionals Association. Read More

A recent Forrester Research report suggests that embedding video links in email marketing messages can double or triple click-through rates.

I have started to get email messages with embedded videos in my inbox. At this point, they all come from one source, my alma mater, Princeton University. In June, I received three email-with-video messages, one from the alumni association, one from Annual Giving, and another from Princeton Project 55 a separate alumni organization that gave me a public interest fellowship the year after graduation.

I’m not sure if they’re all using the same technology. Two are hosted on Princeton’s Annual Giving campaign site. The Project 55 one is a link to a video/slideshow on YouTube. So, although they’re all from Princeton, they are different in detail.

Each of the videos is a few minutes: the Project 55 one is 4 minutes long, the Project 55 one is about 4 minutes, the Princeton pause one is 2 minutes long. For this reason, they sat in my inbox for a while, waiting for the time I have a couple minutes of idle time and want to stay in front of my computer.

My connection to my alma mater is a deep one, with fond memories and deep friendships, and so these videos are actually quite compelling reminders of that experience. Surprise, at the end there’s a request to continue my support of the University’s work, of Project 55′s work, building on the positive experience recapitulated in the brief video.

So, even though I did not watch the videos immediately, I bet these emails are worth it for Princeton. Perhaps clickthrough is less prompt because the “investment” of time to view the video is greater. But, I’m not sure how extensible this model is. For instance, if I got an email with a video link from another organization, to which I was less strongly connected, I’m not sure I’d open it. If I got a video email from a business, I’m not sure I’d open it.

I’m curious if the stats hold this up – how people respond to these video messages. Forrester’s research suggests that the videos are compelling. I wonder if it is just because they’re new? I also wonder if Forrester’s statistics will hold by the time that everyone is mailing everyone else links to their videos, if this will just saturate. And, I’m curious if your gut on this is like mine, that these videos are suited well to applications like University alumni giving, but not from strangers.

You going to this year’s Internet User Experience (IUE)? This will be the fifth annual edition of a several day conference here in Southeastern Michigan, March 30-April 3. The schedule provides 3 days of more intensive workshops and tutorials (March 30, 31, and April 3) surrounding 2 days of conference fun (April 1-2).

No foolin’, the fifth annual IUE conference will be a great event for learning, sharing, and networking.

Pure Visibility’s Co-Founder Linda Girard will provide one of the keynote presentations on April 1 as well as participate in a panel on April 2.

April 1, 2009 – Linda will provide a keynote address, Bringing the Left Brain and Right Brain Together Online: Branding + Optimization.

April 2, 2009 – Linda will participate in a panel presentation Branding Search Engine Optimization and Usability with Karyn Kozo of branding and creative design agency re:group and Laurie Kantner of usability research consultants Tec-Ed.

Other Pure Visibility folks will also be in attendance, so if you’re registered, come find us and say hello. If you aren’t yet registered, you might consider doing so by March 10 to snare early bird pricing and a copy of Dr. Susan Weinschenk’s Neuro Web Design: What Makes Them Click.

Registration is open!

We’re hiring!

We are looking for an enthusiastic Internet search analyst to join our team. The ideal candidate will have experience developing, launching, managing, and optimizing paid search and organic visibility campaigns for clients across multiple search engines. Google AdWords management experience and Google Advertising Professional certification are important qualifications.

Details on the open position can be found in the Internet Search Analyst job description.

To apply please send your resume and cover letter before March 13, 2009 to: jobs@purevisibility.com