Archive for The Basics: What is…?

Do you create web content? Or websites? For your own site? For your intranet? For external clients?

Many of us who either create content or redesign websites, web apps, intranets, etc. have to decide or help our clients decide how to organize the content (otherwise know as information architecture). One of the best ways to classify your content into meaningful groupings that you will use on your site is through card-sorting.

So, what is card sorting?

Card-sorting is pretty much just what it sounds like: you write down all the high level topics you would like to see in your site (or have in it already) on 3×5 cards. Or prepare cards on your computer (be sure to have some blanks for the sorting group). You can even run card sorts online (WebSort or OptimalSort are two online sites), though you will lose the visual and verbal cues you would have when interacting with your sorters.

Open and Closed card sorting

I have participated in both an Open and a Closed card-sorting exercises. Both experiences helped me to understand the process before running a card sort myself. I recommend you take part in a card sort or two as a participant if at all possible, before holding one yourself so that you’ll better understand the process.

In a Closed sorting, you ask people to place their cards into already Named piles. In an Open sorting, you will simply ask people to make piles of cards, and afterwards, you will discuss how to classify (name) them together.

Informal card sorting

I’ve also participated in a very informal sorting exercise, where department heads were asked to name all the types of content they wanted on the site, particularly from their own department.

As they responded, topics were written on stickies, which were immediately affixed to a white board, in piles. The piles were arranged and rearranged into groups, and the category names were eventually written on the board. The participants could immediately agree or disagree with the organization of the site, and the design team had an agreed-upon architecture within a couple of hours.

Would you like to know more?

For a great description of of the steps involved in running a Card Sorting, see: Play Your Cards Right: Run Your First Card Sort. Anyone for a game of cards? is another interesting article on card sorting. As is: All about Card Sorting.

So many folks do not “get” Twitter, so I thought I’d help folks with the basics.

What is Twitter anyway?

Twitter began as an instant messaging service that would help groups of people chat online together. Sort of like an old-fashioned party-line updated for the social media era.

So, in keeping with the limitations of instant messaging on cellphones, a 140 character limit was set for the length of a single post, or tweet.

Okay that’s the background. What is so mesmerizing about a new instant messaging system?

Well, it’s the group aspect of it, imho. A whole group of your friends can communicate together, or at least respond to your tweet. This is the broadcast aspect of Twitter.

Ever want to be a broadcaster?

As you grow your followees (people who follow you), you are developing a network of people who receive your tweets. You can choose to limit these followees to close associates and friends, in which case you can use it to advise your friends what you are doing at any particular time.

If you want to meet up with whoever’s available for dinner, just tweet where you’ll be dining, at what time, etc. and ask your friends if anyone’s available to meet you there. Your tweet is broadcast to your friends, they can answer one by one,  and if all of them are following each other, you’ll quickly know how many can join you.

From that basic idea and utility, Twitter took off. In addition to close friends, you can broadcast your latest blog post, or a project you’re working on, an article you read on a particular subject of interest. As you grow your followers (people whose tweets you follow) and followees, you begin to participate in larger conversations. That leads to networking…

So how do you network using Twitter?

Once you figure out that you can follow most anyone on Twitter (though they may not follow you back), you realize that you can have access to people you’d like to network with. For instance, if you are interested in government affairs or autism, whatever, and search http://www.search.twitter.com using that term, you might find people you’d like to network with, who you can then follow. If your profile and tweets interest them, they may follow you back. Then you may initiate a discussion about mutually interesting topics of your choice.

Over time, interesting relationships can be built, especially if you use your real photo in your profile. I was hesitant, then realized that using my photo helped people recognize me when we meet in person, for example at a networking event.

Why do people call Twitter a search resource?

I mentioned www.search.twitter.com earlier. Search any topic you like, and you’ll find what people are posting on that topic. If you use TweetDeck, you can also see a tag cloud of topics being tweeted. These days people also use “#term” to classify their posts according to that term. Check out #blogcakes or #sxsw for example. That’s just the beginning of how Twitter is being used as a search resource.

Is Twitter a waste of time?

Depends on how you’re using it, your goals, your commitments, your time. Like any other online activity, it does take time. It can be a great source of news, which keeps you up-to-date with news interests. It can broadcast your press releases, or blog posts.

Social media mavens love Twitter, going right for the broadcast aspects, as well as a few others. Lots of people twitter their bad customer service experiences. Many large businesses have begun replying to those tweets, bringing better customer service results directly to customers.

Businesses are finding all sorts of reasons to use Twitter. I still love the story I shared in an earlier post about a cafe offering online take-out orders using Twitter.

Hope this helps you “get” Twitter a little better. Get out there and try it, and don’t be afraid to follow people you don’t physically know. Who know who’ll you’ll meet… your next employee or employer, your next movie friend, your next relationship. Anything’s possible!

I recently wrote this factsheet for a prospective Adwords client and thought it worth sharing with folks who haven’t yet used Adwords. There’s much more to Adwords, it’s a wonderfully complex system. So, see this as a teaser, and feel free to ask questions!

What is Google Adwords, anyway?

Google Adwords refers primarily to advertising placed into search results pages (there’s more, beyond the scope of this post).

Searchers input a string of words (called keywords, in Adwords terminology) for which they want information. Google search returns a list of web pages that are relevant to the searcher’s keywords, called organic search results, and text ads, called Adwords ads, using an auction system based on relevancy to decide the order of the ads on the page or pages.

Therefore, for your Google Adwords ad to be listed high on the first page of search results, you must have developed a highly relevant ad, using some or all of the steps listed below.

How to create winning Adwords campaigns

1. Determine the goals of your Adwords campaigns, such as:
   Better visibility on search pages and Google maps, build credibilltiy as experts in particular areas, increase traffic to your website, drive new customers/clients to contact you/buy from you.
2. Develop lists of keywords that customers/clients might use to find you when searching.
3. Optimize your website to be more search engine friendly (seo). This may include adding the specific keywords that customers/clients use to find similar pages in Google search, adding subheads including keywords, adding meta-keywords, etc.
4. Decide on the topics of your ad campaigns. Create ads using relevant keywords. Create alternate ads for split testing, to continually improve the relevancy of your ads.
5. Decide on initial maximum amount you are willing to spend per click per keyword. We usually begin low, and receive feedback from Google on how much you will need to spend to move your ad onto the first page of results and up the page.
6. Decide on initial maximum budget per day for each campaign and overall. Google will recommend higher budget based on overall number of clicks per campaign. We’ll review the campaign with you and discuss changing budget during the year.
7. Depending on your goals and your website, develop landing pages (specific to particular campaigns), or add forms to pages already relevant to the ads created in the Adword campaigns.
8. Review the process and start again from the beginning, always testing results as we progress.

There’s more complexity to the process, as I mentioned at the beginning, but this should give you a good overview of what Adwords is all about, and why you might want to try it.