12-01-08
Give Me 1 Hour and I’ll Make Your Websites Look Better
Audible.com’s website is designed to get you hooked.
Why? It gets your email even before they show you their pricing/subscription plans. What’s going to happen next is they will send you subtle emails designed to really compel you to eventually subscribe.
It’s a simply designed website that get’s the job done quickly. Websites like these are what you need to get people hooked.
However, it works well only if you do something else before all that. What is it?
I’ll tell you if you come to the webinar session tonight on Internet Marketing Basics. We’re discussing usability and landing page concepts.
Quite a number came last week (I was pleasantly surprised) and tonight’s session will even be much more fun.
You won’t find a seminar like this anywhere in the Philippines. It’s online. If you miss it, you’ll miss on some great discussions on how to websites look better.
If you find that you’re having difficulty connecting to the webinar, keep trying ok?
11-28-08
This is the Trick That is Helping Designers Improve Usability and UX
This is the presentation I used for the UX talk yesterday.
The point of this presentation is to always GIVE VALUE to your users. Improving “user experience” is essentially getting the “WOW” effect.
You can watch the entire recorded session below. My talk starts at aroud 1:47. You can skip directly to it. Watch and learn what’s the TRICK web designers should learn about User Experience Design:
You’ll hear me start by asking “Is Jollibee’s website usable?”
My next talk about UX will be for the FREE Internet marketing basics webinar on Monday evening at 8PM. Register now!
11-25-08
Experiencing Online Seminars (Webinars)
Last night I experienced being a “speaker” of sorts for an online seminar (webinar). It felt a bit weird and almost like I was in a radio show. There was a “host” and I was a guest.
What you guys didn’t see was that I had practiced two times for that webinar. We tested our bandwidth connections and the entire presentation itself. We reheared for the show.
Truth be told, it was a bit hard - but fun. It was something different.
I’ve been to LIVE seminars before. There was always a chance that some technical problem would stop the show. If that happened, you just had to adapt.
In a webinar, it was more nerve-wracking. Just think, if my internet went down or the electrical power went off, I’d be gone online! No more speaker!
Lesson learned? Get a better internet line (or even a backup internet line) and a good microphone. Turn off torrents and other bandwidth hogs while at the webinar. Looks like 1MBPS won’t work if you’re the speaker.
I asked my brother how was it from his end (he listened in). He said I sounded like I had a “transformers” voice but he still pretty much understood the talk.
There are still advantages to webinars though. I’m sitting comfortably at home while “learning” and interacting with people. It’s fun. I didn’t have to spend for travel or lodging. I can do the talk “in my shorts”.
For the first 20 people who listened in, how did your webinar experience go? Was it helpful or informative? I’d appreciate some feedback. Thanks.
11-23-08
Telcos Make Money Off You By Subtle Deception
You underestimate your text-spending:
Survey respondents estimate that they spend an average of P544 on texting every month but computations on actual spending show an average of P1,110 a month, IMS said in a statement.
Reading Jayvee’s review of “Predictably Irrational”, the survey is not surprising:
“When you buy a mobile phone for instance, you always compare the affordability based on a previous phone you owned, or with the relative price of similar units. More importantly though, the book talks about how consumers’ anchor price can change. We used to pay P5.00 for a sachet of Blend 45. Now we pay P100.00 for a cup of Starbucks. Ariely explains how “perceived value” raises the anchoring price of things we buy. Starbucks’ ambiance makes you feel like you’re drinking quality coffee and marketing changed “small,” “medium,” and large to “tall,” “venti” and “grande.””
What’s happening? You are being deceived. More appropriately, you allow yourself to be deceived. The “tingi” factor - buying in very small amounts over a period of time, actually ends up being more expensive!
The other thing you have to remember is that what you perceive may just be hurting you. Consider how UNLIMITED plans from SUN might not just be worth it:
I find ITMC’s data on dropped calls more convincing. They were trying to point out that, even if anyone decided to maximize SUN’s P25/day scheme, the provider’s unreliable network would prevent them from doing so:
In a recent November 2008 survey by the NTC on telco usability, SUN Cellular was reported to have the highest drop call rate of 17.05% which was alarmingly far off from… competitors Globe Telecommunications (1.99% drop call rate) and SMART Telecommunications (3.79%) were reporting. [emphasis mine]
17.05% is very high, close to 1 out 6 calls dropped. Wow, I had no idea that SUN Cellular was that unreliable.
When you think about it, however, it’s a natural psychological effect.
The Bayan Wireless Land line I currently have might just be worth the the P500 a month for unlimited calls - especially since the service quality seems pretty good.
I just allowed myself to be anchored by a perceived value. Since text calls can be unreliable and it turns out that “tingi” buying is expensive, then an unlimited reliable voice call is much better! Right?
Then again, there is REAL VALUE in it anyway.
Still, what an effective marketing tactic.
11-21-08
Will You Be Seeing a Yahoo Email with the MSN Logo?
Jerry Yang, long time CEO of Yahoo, resigned.
Along with this came a 10% increase in the stock offerings of the company. Obviously, people thought that with the change, good things will happen. Business talks with Google recently failed due to the Antitrust questions that the Federal Government raised up. Google didn’t want to play and that signaled the end for Jerry.
What will Yahoo do? It has two options - continue to implement it’s existing business strategy or sell the business. Speculators say that they might just do a little bit selling at first to get some big revenue boosts while focusing on implementing some of its existing business strategy. It is widely believed that Microsoft will go back to talks with Yahoo to at least buy some parts they are interested in - probably Search and/or Email.
This means you just might see a Yahoo/MSN logo either in your email or on Yahoo Searches. Extreme case - you’ll see MSN on your Yahoo Messenger.
Meanwhile, local Yahoo’s PRESS release - “Business As Usual.”
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About Me
Jozzua is Ely.
"“Well-versed in various online marketing and conversion-driven methods, Ely 's passion is infectious. This valuable character trait represents his openness to new methods and willingness to execute them properly. On top of that, Ely manages to maintain his professional effectiveness while staying on top of what's important in his personal life." - Rico, on LinkedIn
