10 Things For My Mom Now That She Has A High Speed Internet Connection

It's official. Everyone in the country has high speed Internet access now. How do I know that? Because my mom is getting it (tomorrow to be exact) and I've always known she would be the last person in the country with broadband access. She's finally leaving the world of dial-up and as we were talking the other day I realized there's a lot of stuff she's going to want and/or need to do now that she's got a good connection.

Here's my list of ten things she's going to need to do. (By the way, mom, when you read this I'll walk you through it. This is just our list to get started.)

1. Download Firefox. Forget Internet Explorer as your web browser. Firefox is the way to go. It's so much more stable than Explorer, has great add-ons, uses tabs for multiple pages (though the new Explorer actually does this now), and doesn't make that clicking sound all the time.

2. Update your anti-virus software. If you already have an anti-virus program, make sure you're running the latest version and set the auto update feature to update automatically. If not, you can use a free version of AVG to give you basic coverage.

3. Set up a Google account. Google is more than a search engine. Much more (with more on this below) but you're going to want a Gmail account to get started even if you want to stick with your current email. Once you have that you'll be able to fully utilize the world of Google (again, more on this below.) I'll send you the Gmail invitation to get started.

4. Get a webcam. I have Logitech webcam but there are other good brands too. With free services like Skype, Tokbox, and ooVoo we'll find one that works for us to connect via live video so you can talk with the grandchildren.

5. Download iTunes. This will become your music and download destination. You can listen to online radio stations, create playlists from CDs you have, download podcasts (I recommend you get mine first of course), and purchase new music. When you get an iPod we'll talk more about this too.

6. Upgrade programs. It's likely that you're not running the latest version of Windows, so we'll check that out along with your Adobe Reader version too. Even though you won't use Explorer and Windows Media Player much we will make sure you're up to date there as well.

7. Discover Google Maps. You're going to love this...maybe. Be sure to look up your address first and check out the satellite view. Ok, now relax. It's okay. Pretty cool, huh? It's really helpful and once you've used it a few times you'll be hooked on it for all future direction needs.

8. Discover iGoogle. We'll be setting Google as your default homepage in Firefox and with that and your Google account you can customize your hompage to include several of the things here in this list plus news, weather, and many other things you might want to see right off the bat when you open your browser.

9. Discover Google Reader. I'll explain RSS feeds and all that stuff when we talk...but all you want to know is that there's a way for you to bring the content of blogs and many websites to you rather than going through your bookmarks to visit all of them. Google Reader can make that happen. Now you see why Google is more than a just a search engine (as noted in #3 above.)

10. Discover Wikipedia. Remember that Funk and Wagnalls encyclopedia set you got us when we were kids. This is like that but bigger and easier to find stuff. You personally can add to it too. You may find that you can provide some insight on American literature for instance, and you contribute by signing in. I'll explain when we talk.

Any MicroExplosion readers have additional thoughts?

Web 2.0 beats traditional advertising methods...and Google Trends proves it!

I spent some time on Google Trends today as I was thinking about web 2.0 tools for marketing compared to traditional marketing methods. You may recall I consider traditional promotion strategies the big fish of marketing (and I advocate going after the far more numerous small and medium size fish.) In my first test I compared direct mail, tv ads, billboards, and radio advertising.

One note about Google Trends before we proceed...this is just showing the relative quantity of Google searches on the given search terms. It may be easy to dismiss this but as Steve Rubel said in this post, "search engines show us what's on everyone's mind," and it's therefore interesting to note the trends of the collective thinking.

Here's what the trends show over the last four years in these traditional marketing areas:

What you see here is that all but billboards are down from four years ago. Direct mail seemed to fall slowly and then hold fairly even in 2007. TV ads appear to have the most dramatic swings. Incidentally, notice the spike in TV ads early each year. Those are Super Bowl commercial searches for sure. Radio was down a little but steady for the last four years, though clearly below the other three areas.

After I looked at these four areas I included the term "web 2.0" to see if that mere term competed with these traditional mediums. Here's what I found:

Web 2.0 really didn't take off until late 2005. By early 2006 you see that it eclipses the four traditional terms and then clears them significantly through 2006 and 2007.

Just for fun I tried one more trend comparison by throwing "blogs" into the mix. I dropped radio ads from the comparison since it was at the bottom of the pile and here's what I found:

With "blogs" included it makes everything else just look silly. I was actually surprised it was such a huge difference. More surprising to me was that it was higher even back in 2004. We know that there were less than six million blogs at most in 2004 so it's a bit curious to me, but quite interesting.

So what can we derive from all of this? At the very least we know there are far more searches for "web 2.0" and "blogs" than than any of the traditional marketing methods. Even if all those searches weren't marketing related (and we know that's the case), the phrase web 2.0 is a business, marketing, and technology term. We can discern that the collective marketing and business interests are greatly interested in web 2.0 from these trends and if that's where they are, it's reasonable to look more seriously at them if you still have doubts.

One final one for kicks if you're interested. Who do you think wins in a match up of MySpace, YouTube, Facebook, Google, and blogs? See it here.

My Top 10 Web Tools

This will be one of my final posts for 2007 so in keeping with the top 10 lists from the year, here is my own top 10 list. These are the top 10 web tools I have found make my online life and work much better. If you aren't familiar with some of these I wholeheartedly recommend you check them out...and in case you were wondering, each one is free for use.

1. Gmail - Without a doubt this is my number one web tool. It's the hub of my online existence.
2. Del.icio.us - I love this site. It's my primary source for bookmarking websites. My page is at Del.icio.us/fourthbill.
3. Twitter - This is becoming a new favorite. Twitter is a microblogging tool that's one part messaging system, one part social network, and one part addictive. I'm finding it a great additional outlet to this blog and a new way to discover emerging ideas and connect with new people of similar interests. You can find me at Twitter.com/billseaver.
4. TinyURL - Once I got hooked on Twitter I found this to be an invaluable tool for referencing links and keeping my character count below the maximum.
5. Google Docs - If I ever have to collaborate with people on docs or spreadsheets this is my go-to resource.
6. Google Reader - I've only switched over to Google Reader in the last few months. I used to read my feeds with Sage but I'm really liking Google Reader and have made the full conversion.
7. Ping-o-Matic - Every time I write a blog post I ping a number of different services just to let them know it's out there. Ping-o-Matic makes that possible in mere seconds and that's why I like it.
8. Feedburner - Feedburner continues to emerge as a necessary tool for me. I use it to track both my feed stats and site visitors but it had me at hello with the blog post email feature that lets readers get these posts via email rather than coming to the blog or subscribing with an RSS feed reader. I think I can personally account for fifteen bloggers using Feedburner for that feature alone.
9. Facebook - Facebook has been my social network of choice most of this year and it's allowed me to connect with people that MySpace never did. Not sure why, but it did.
10. Picnik - Picnik is still one of my favorite websites. It's photo editing made easy and was actually integrated with Flickr recently as well. That's a double dose of goodness.

BONUS: Firefox - None of the above sites would be nearly as enjoyable and useful to me without my browser, Firefox. If you don't use it, quit using Explorer or Safari and get on the Firefox bus. It really is as good as everyone says. Now go download it.

Top Google Search Terms of 2007

Last week Google announced their top 10 search words of the year:

1. iphone
2. webkinz
3. tmz
4. transformers
5. youtube
6. club penguin
7. myspace
8. heroes
9. facebook
10. anna nicole smith

For an interesting comparison check out Yahoo's top 10 for the year.

Google's power in your text messages

Mobile messaging is expanding rapidly and will only continue to do so. If you're like me you still don't quite know how it impacts your daily life much yet beyond the standard cell phone text messages to people you know. Sure, I could turn on my Twitter updates via text message but I don't really like that. I was recently reminded of Google SMS (Google's text message service) which essentially harnesses the power of Google from your cell phone's text message service. This is a mobile service worth getting excited about.

To use it is as easy as any other text message you may send. Just send a message to GOOGLE (466453) and get the information you're looking for. Maybe you just want to know the weather in your town. If so text the word "weather" and your zip code. This works with movies, restaurants, and even sports scores. Next time you want a quick bit of info on the fly you might want to text Google for a little help.

You May Not Need A Website, Just a Web Presence

Do you remember the good old days when someone wanted to promote their product or company online and some intrepid individual would say, "we need a website!" Once approved, that would start the ball rolling to find the right person or company to build that site for them. Until the last few years that was really the only option you had for an online presence. Now, however, that's not the case at all. Blogs have emerged as a free (if you choose to get a free one) and easy to use tool that gives you a web presence in many ways equal to traditional websites.

What got me thinking about this was that I met a guy this weekend who said something similar to what I've heard many times over the last few years. He's looking for an inexpensive website and, as I've done several times in the past, I told them it wasn't necessary. What he's really looking for is a web presence, not a full blown website. He just wants an online destination where people can find out about his business. In my view, a blog is a great alternative for his web presence rather than getting a website.

So, when do you need a website and when could you use a blog instead? Here is a short list of items that would likely require you have a website:

• You have a lot of information to communicate (whether in volume of information or complexity of information)
• You want a highly visual and/or Flash driven web presence
• You need an ecommerce engine/shopping cart
• You need a secure login area for some people but not everyone
• You want a fully customized web presence (in design and function)

If any of the above apply to what you're looking for I recommend you talk to my friends at Anthology Creative or New Fangled Web Factory. Both companies can give you any of that (and much more too.)

If, however, you're just trying to get an online presence so people will learn something about what you're selling, know, or offer, a blog is perfect for you. Blogs now do many of the things people have only thought could be done with websites. For instance, if you wanted a website because you were looking to incorporate video or audio, a blog can do all of that. If you wanted a website that's branded for you, a blog can do that. If you wanted a website you can control instead of paying someone to update it for you, a blog can do that. If you wanted to show pictures or a variety of other visuals, a blog can do that. If you wanted to be found in Google searches, a blog can do that (and in many cases better than traditional websites too.)

The idea here is that getting a web presence is no longer just for the people who can pay to have a website built. A blog is available to anyone. You can have one up and going five minutes from now if you choose to. You own web presence is no longer an issue of accessibility or price, but is really an issue of strategy and convenience. Strategically a blog may be all you need so you can save the money you would have spent on a site and put it elsewhere. From a convenience standpoint, you may just prefer to pay someone to take care of you online presence for you, and if so, that's really what you're paying for.

The bottom line is that if a blog will do, why get a standard issue website built and pay the $3,000-$10,000 to do it? A blog may very well be your best strategic choice. It will almost always be the cheaper choice.

Great iGoogle Gadget: Outlook Integration

Like many people I use Outlook professionally and Gmail personally. For those of us who have adopted Gmail and the full service of Google applications, we long for more integration between our various email accounts and calendars. I know one person who goes so far as to double up her professional calendar on Lotus Notes with her personal Google calendar. I'm personally not willing to do that much double work so when I heard about the Outlook gadget for iGoogle I knew I had to check it out.

Basically, this gadget (not to be confused with a "widget" which is the same thing though Apple has cornered the verbiage on that word so companies like Microsoft and Google have adopted "gadget" to say the same thing) brings your Outlook email, calendar, tasks, and contacts right into your iGoogle page. It's really pretty handy. If there's any drawback to this gadget it's that you have to open the tab in Internet Explorer if you're a Firefox user. The instructions give you a step by step process for how to do that and it's easily done in about two minutes.

I've been using this gadget for a week now and have been happy with it for the most part. If there's anything I dislike most it's just the fact that I have a tab in Explorer and anything I click within iGoogle now opens up as a new Explorer tab. It's not a big deal most of the time but I use the Del.icio.us extension in Firefox and it's not compatible with the Explorer tabs. Like I said, it's not usually a big deal but it has been a speed bump a couple of times. All in all, the benefits have outweighed the drawbacks so I plan to stick with it.

[HT to Ray for the link with other great iGoogle gadgets.]

Google Docs/Spreadsheets Get New Look

If you're a fan of the increasing number of tools Google provides, you've likely been using their Documents & Spreadsheets. I use these on a regular basis and find them about as easy to navigate as anything out there. In fact, I like their spreadsheets better than Microsoft Excel or Open Office's Calc.

Yesterday I noticed that Google updated the layout and some features. The new look feels much more accessible and presents all your files very cleanly. There's also a new folders feature so you can group your documents into individual folders like you might do in an email client. The new view also lets you see all the people you're sharing document access with and how many docs/spreadsheets they have access to. This is a great new design and I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered it yesterday.

Video of the week: Who wouldn't work for Google?

(link for feed readers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWdUTUT-Ycc)

New look for the new year

I've been waiting to transfer MicroExplosion over to the new Blogger template system for a while now and finally started playing around with it the other day. Aside from losing my stat tools in the switch, everything transferred nicely. The new customization system Blogger built is pretty handy. I used to have to get into the HTML code to make customizations but now they've created some very easy tools to keep me from doing that.

I've come to like Blogger and even though I've considered switching in the past I think I'm going to stay with it for a while. My biggest beef with Blogger is that it doesn't take full advantage of being owned by Google. There are so many great Google tools available, it's a shame they're not more fully implemented into Blogger. If I could change three things about Blogger's it would be:

• The ability to remove the Blogger toolbar at the top of the blog. I know many people who specifically don't use Blogger for this reason. More than anything their concern is that when someone comes to their blog and hits the "next blog" link you never know where they're going to end up. I think most people are smart enough to understand that a blogger has no control over where that link will take you, but it's enough of a concern to some people I know that they chose Wordpress or Typepad instead.
• Custom header. Blogger's taken customization to a new level for them with their new template features but the one thing they're missing is the ability to let a user create a custom header image. Right now the only header customization you get is in the form of the text changes. I know Wordpress, for instance, has an easy header image customization tool. I hope Blogger's working on making this change. Heck, they could even tie it into Blogger's Picasa software to pull the image. Picasa's already got a Blogger tie-in anyway, so why not?
  
• Stats. Blogger still doesn't have its own stat tracking built in. I hope it won't be long before they build Google Analytics into the system. It would really strengthen Blogger as a whole.
  

By and large the blogging community seems to view Blogger as an entry level blog tool which is kind of ironic if you think about it because Google's such a respected entity by the blog community as a whole, yet their blog tool seems to be looked upon as inferior to "serious blog tools." If Blogger could begin to roll in more Google applications it could really become a contender among the other free tools available today.

Insight into Google page ranking

Jon Haarstad had a great post on his blog about the Google page ranking system. The mysterious ways of page ranking are really not that mysterious as you'll see here...the Google geeks have a rational for it all. If you really want to get in depth on this topic, follow the links on Jon's blog and you'll get all kinds of fun calculations, charts, and formulas (and by fun I mean "fun" for the kind of people who know things like the numerical value of Pi beyond the traditional 3.14). If you're not into that just know it all seems to boil down to this...links. When you get linked to your page rank goes up. If you aren't linked to, your page rank will stay down.

A Case For The Blogging Dentist

I'm more convinced than ever that a blog is for every organization in some form or fashion. Just yesterday I was talking to a friend who's a pediatric dentist. I was telling her that a blog will allow her to differentiate her practice from the others here in town. Whereas the other guys will give the standard "here's what we do" and "here's why we're different" and "here's where we're located" information, a blog can say all of those things with personality. In fact, that's exactly what sets blogs apart from standard websites...they have personality.

So, back to my friend...if she blogs on her site (and still says all the same things the other guys are saying) then she'll be introducing herself (and therefore injecting her personality) to all those parents looking to find a dentist for their kids. This is the same thing as trying to sell something to someone in person rather than with a brochure or direct mail piece. If I get the chance to meet a person and try to sell to them while the competition only sent a brochure I really like my chances of success. Her blog is the closest thing she can get to being able to meet all these potential clients in person. Every other website is just putting out a digital brochure.

By the way, my friend doesn't even have to be an avid blogger to win either. In her case she'll be fine updating the blog every other week...just enough to keep it current, but more importantly to give that extra nudge to a person comparing information with the other guy's brochure sites. Oh, and in no time her blog will be the top one in a Google search for dentist offices of any kind in this area. After all, Google does love blogs!

Why the Google/You Tube Story Matters To You

By now you've seen and heard numerous stories about the Google acquisition of You Tube this week. You know technology news is big when it's the leading story on all the major news outlets. It's so big, in fact, that I'm hearing people talk about You Tube who I suspect didn't know what You Tube was this time last week. The fact of the matter is if someone hadn't heard of You Tube before this week, they know who they are now...even if they don't understand what it is.

Does this matter to your organization?
Yes, and here's why: This acquisition is a major step toward the adoption and mainstream knowledge of online video. This story is bigger than Google or You Tube. What it really signifies is that online video is moving out from the fringes and into the mainstream.

All the hype around this acquisition has just put online video on the radar screens of an entirely new segment of the population that knew little or nothing about it just a few days ago. It's raised awareness to a new level. After awareness comes adoption and in time those who don't adopt will find themselves on the outside looking in.

So now what?
Any organization that was already using online video now has the opportunity to establish itself as a leader and trendsetter. Any organization that was considering using online video may very well pursue it more actively with this new level of attention, and for the people who had never thought of using online video for their organization...well, they will be jumping on board soon enough.

I believe conversations will move from "do you use online video?" to "how do you use online video?" The difference between these questions is dramatic. The first one is solely about using the technology and whether you're "in" on it or not (awareness). The second question assumes you're already doing it and takes the conversation to a deeper level of use, quality, messages, technology, influences, strategies, etc. (adoption).

Where's Your Investment?
So what are you doing about online video? Where's your investment in online video? Don't have a billion dollars handy...ok, try investing in some time learning more about how online video can work for you. Maybe you know enough to get started and just need to make an investment in some equipment. Maybe your organization needs to invest in some personnel (even on a contractual basis) to get online video up and running for your site. Google saw enough long term potential to invest a load of money in this technology (and they even had their own competing service too!) so where are you investing in online video? Google just took care of the big investment...now take care of yours.

4 Things Common to Web 2.0 Designs

In my daily work I have a chance to interact with a lot of graphic designers. Our company has three designers on staff...two for print design and one for web design. Add to that a full arsenal of freelance print, web, and video design specialists along with an occasional art director and I've got a world of creativity around me on a regular basis.

I don't know if I'm simply more aware of good design (and bad design too) now more than ever or if it's just becoming so pervasive (it's probably both or these) but design for everything these days is HUGE! Look at how important design is to so many of the products we have. Every coffee company in the world has adopted the Starbucks style of coffee packaging. It was a design that's come to symbolize high quality coffee and now even the old school coffee companies like Folgers are on board with this...they call it their gourmet coffee. Here's another example...look at Apple computers, they're a combination of both good form (visual design) and function (ease of use).

This trend toward high quality design is inherent in many things web 2.0. Yes, there are certainly some exceptions like MySpace, but for many sites it seems clear there is specific attention given toward and open, intuitive design. That design is often combined with a plain-talking, straight-forward tone. There are four things I'm seeing regularly in many of these sites:

• An attention to the use of white space - The attention to using white space is most noticeable at Google, but I'm seeing it all the time like at eBible and myChurch. One great thing about a lot of white space is that it leaves little room for doubt as to what is most important on your site...and that's a good thing.
• Predominant graphics - Many of the good web 2.0 sites focus on showing a few predominant images rather than multiple (and often smaller) images. Compare Flickr to Kodak to get the idea. Again, the focus is on directing people down a very specific road rather than the "shock and awe" approach where you overwhelm them with information or options.
  
• Straight-forward information - The straight-forward information an approach that communicates "mean what you say, say what you mean" kind of attitude. It is also a non-corporate approach...which is also fitting for most web 2.0 organizations. I love the way FeedBurner uses this tone on their site.
• Simplicity - It's all about ease of use and accessibility. If the person can quickly find what they're looking for then the site is sufficiently simple.
  

The distinctions are becoming so stark that the very design of any organization's website communicates a lot about it. Does your site say you're accessible and personable or rigid and corporate? Does it communicate with clarity or confusion? Does it show that you're clunky or nimble?

With the trend on an every growing importance on good design, it would be worth a little extra consideration toward your next project..particularly if that next project is a website. It will say more about you than you can anticipate...so will that be a good thing or a bad thing?