BBC Radio interview
BBC Tees interviewed me this morning – we discussed the value of Evernote.
27th May 2008
Year: 2008
Impatience rules the day online
Web users are becoming increasingly impatient, according to the web usability expert Jakob Nielsen. Apparently, we spend much less time waiting for pages to load and to find out what they are about. If it’s not an “instant” message, we move on. Well, apart from the fact that Jakob Nielsen’s
26th May 2008
I’m in tomorrow’s Scotsman
Just been interviewed by The Scotsman newspaper for an article on how radical groups recruit people online.
23rd May 2008
Virtual worlds are useful after all
If you visit Second Life you will find me propped up against a grass bank, close to a river, watching the “world” around me. I’ve been there for several weeks now. The virtual world of Second Life is fascinating and many people spend part of each day “flying” around and
23rd May 2008
Build online trust by appealing to your readers’ hormones
Neurologists have published new research which shows that we trust people when our levels of oxytocin are high. Oxytocin is a hormone that for years was thought mostly to be involved only in childbirth since one of its principal functions is to open up the birth canal. However, more recently
22nd May 2008
Blogging
US General is an Internet hero too
Lieutenant General William B. Caldwell, IV, is a highly decorated and very senior commander within the US Army. Not only is he a military hero, he is now a hero for bloggers and those interested in the whole concept of “user-generated content”. LTG Caldwell has gone further than any other
21st May 2008
Internet businesses should cut down online promotion
People who own or run an online business tend to focus all their energies into online promotion. They look at Pay Per Click advertising, banner ads, social network marketing and article marketing. Then they consider online PR, affiliate marketing and online joint ventures. Rarely do online businesses focus their attention
20th May 2008
Blogging
That question keeps coming back – should you blog?
Business owners keep asking whether or not they should have a blog. They’ve heard of blogging, but they are not convinced it has any business benefits. Rightly, business owners need to know if their is a return on their investment in blogging; and it’s not just the costs of the
19th May 2008
Focused social networking – the way to go…!
People gravitate towards people like themselves. We all love people like us; anyone who is a bit different we tend to shy away from. It’s the same online – we tend to “hang out” in groups and clubs in places like Facebook and Ecademy where the people we meet are
16th May 2008
To be featured in The People
The People – a major tabloid Sunday newspaper – is to feature me this coming weekend as part of a spread on “keeping up with the Joneses”. It’s about inflation and I was interviewed as an example of a successful Jones….!
15th May 2008
How central is user testing to your business?
Experts in “usability” gathered in London today to discuss several issues surrounding this topic. The meeting had been called by TechSmith, the producers of Morae the leading usability testing software. It became apparent during the discussions that usability testing is often seen as something that is performed at the end
15th May 2008
General
What do Tony Blair, Lance Armstrong and Mark Zuckerberg all have in common?
Lance Armstrong, Tony Blair and Mark Zuckerberg all have at least one thing in common. They are amongst the 100 most influential people in the world according to Time Magazine. If you have been living in a time warp, Lance Armstrong is the world’s most successful professional cyclist who beat
14th May 2008
Online businesses need more refined targeting
Online business owners need to target their offerings in a much more refined way. Evidence is mounting daily that Internet users expect web sites to be devoted to their specific needs. For instance, let’s say you offer software on task management. You could have a site devoted to managing tasks
13th May 2008
Blogging could cure your ills and boost your staff health
Writers who have physical trauma heal faster than people who do not write. Strange as it may seem, studies have shown that physical problems heal more quickly if you write down your feelings. No-one is quite sure why, but the evidence of a mind-body link is so great that even
12th May 2008
Psychology
Imagine the brains of your readers and wonder what they make of your web site
Your web site visitors can be manipulated. Indeed, successful web sites do this with great care. They lure you in, almost hypnotically, and get you to do whatever it is they want, such as buy something from them. Copywriting expert Joe Vitale is the pioneer of “hypnotic writing” in which
9th May 2008
Social
Social networks are the place to be
Researchers at the Center for the Digital Future at the University of Southern California have just published their report on the consequences and benefits of children going online. However, embedded within the report are some interesting facts that every online business needs to think about. Firstly, the annual study shows
8th May 2008
Internet marketers need to get inside each customer’s head
You will make more money if you get inside each customer’s head; really get inside and start to think exactly like they think. We all know that marketing is about providing what people want, but new research, published in the journal Psychological Science, suggests that we need to do much
7th May 2008
Why the Google advertising change doesn’t matter
Google quietly changed it’s terms and conditions for advertising yesterday. Up until now, advertisers using Google AdWords have been banned from using the brand names of their competitors in their adverts; now they can. This has spawned all sorts of suggestions as to how businesses might capitalise on the change.
6th May 2008