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Archive for Web 2.0

IBM Software Group | Not keeping up with the Joneses

By Marty Gruhn · Comments (2)
Tuesday, September 28th, 2010

A circa 2008 site that missed the memos on Web 2.0, 3.0 and social media

I was surprised at the IBM Software Group zone’s performance in our latest siteIQ evaluations. Once upon a time, this site ranked first among all enterprise software comers by virtue of its huge portfolio of content & features, and competitive usability scores.

Fade out two years later and the story is much different. This site dropped to third among the 5 enterprise software sites we study and stands in 11th place on the siteIQ eBusiness Index. (You can download a free IBM Software Group scoring summary here).

Today, CA.com and Oracle.com are the sites to watch. Between the two, I vote for CA.com. Read More→

Comments (2)
Categories : Social Media & Social Networks, Usability, Web 2.0, Website Rankings
Tags : ibm software group, Social Media, Web 2.0

The borg, the butterfly, and the problem

By Marty Gruhn · Comments (0)
Thursday, August 26th, 2010

Too many dotcom Web teams are borgs and butterflies. They need to be problem solvers.

I faithfully read Seth Goden’s blog every morning. One reason is that it’s blissfully short [memo to self]. The other reason is the golden marketing nuggets he brings to the table.

This morning is such a moment – and one that speaks to why so many LOB execs and stakeholders constantly push back on dotcom Web teams pitching new designs or the latest industry trends.

They don’t think they have a problem.

Face it. From most stakeholders’ perspective, dotcom teams come in two flavors: the “borg” [you will be assimilated] and the “butterfly” [this is the latest trend and we need to capitalize on it].  Neither are focused on a problem from the stakeholder’s point of view.

But what if a dotcom team saw its stakeholders as customers?  Like any good salesperson, the team would help stakeholders identify a problem and explore its cost or impact on the LOB.

In other words, dotcom teams should sell the problem.

Until stakeholders agree that they have a problem, the solution doesn’t count. That’s why so many projects end up in chaos.  In pushback, deliberate inertia, and stakeholders who spend their time deliberately coloring outside of the lines.

Comments (0)
Categories : POV (point of view), Social Media & Social Networks, Strategy, Web 2.0, Website Launches
Tags : brand, Marketing, Strategy, website development

The new CA.com | One step forward, three steps back

By Marty Gruhn · Comments (1)
Wednesday, July 21st, 2010

The new CA.com has retained its powerful “snacking” architecture but missed the Web 2.0 & social media memos

In case you haven’t noticed, CA.com recently launched a new site. As is our custom, we’ve delayed our deep-drive about six weeks to let the CA.com team find snafus and work out the bugs. Now it’s time to put the site through its paces. Here’s our Cliff’s Notes analysis: (siteIQ clients can read the complete analysis here. (log in required)

Pros

CA.com has retained its product marketing “snacking architecture,” which is one of the most powerful in the business. If you haven’t seen this in action, pick any CA product and follow the bouncing ball.

CA.com is one of few sites that know how to craft marketing content as a set of questions that speak to visitor objectives. If you need inspiration, CA.com is the place to start.

CA.com’s new design is consistent across the site; not many page owners missed the memo. CA.com is yet another example of the iterative design strategy we discussed in a recent post.

CA.com makes great use of tab-top organization on its product level pages (shades of Sun.com, yikes!). Overall, a tab-top tour de force.

Neutral

CA.com’s play on mega-menus brings it into the fold, but these menus are much less impressive than those deployed by Cisco.com and Juniper.net. Close, but no cigar.

Cons

CA.com just couldn’t resist the “eye candy” factor on its home page. In this case, it’s those revolving boxes that use type fonts that are a Mr. Magoo moment at any screen size – and whirl at the drop of a hat. Here, CA.com gets a B+ for visual impact – and D- for usability and relevance. Read More→

Comments (1)
Categories : Design, POV (point of view), Social Media & Social Networks, Web 2.0, Website Launches
Tags : ca.com, Social Media, Web 2.0, website launches

CA.com & Oracle.com: Two peas in a different pod

By Marty Gruhn · Comments (0)
Tuesday, June 15th, 2010

Our new Website rankings are rolling out. Here’s what happened when we changed the rules of the game

I just put the finishing touches on our new eBusiness Index report that profiles how CA.com, IBM Software Group, Oracle.com, SAP.com, and SAS.com fared (and compared) during our recent evaluations.

This was a particularly important evaluation since it’s based on our new benchmark that tracks and measures a ton of new requirements, including online communities and the Web 2.0 and social media behaviors that are now industry requirements. To get a gauge on the impact of these revolutions, our 2010 benchmark almost doubled in size — from 726 criteria in 2009 to 1,177 requirements this year.

As always, there’s lots of gems in the numbers.

For starters, IBM’s Software Group zone (www.ibm.com/software) – the perennial competitive leader over the past few years – slipped to third place based on these stiffer requirements. It faces plenty of challenges this year, including getting its search up to industry muster, fixing product marketing and ecommerce usability, and making its services and industry marketing zones more complete & effective.

Although Oracle.com ended up in first place on a technical basis, it’s really in a tie with CA.com. The numbers break down like this: Oracle.com has more ‘stuff’, but CA.com is more usable. Read More→

Comments (0)
Categories : Web 2.0, Website Rankings

Why social networks, communities, and Web 2.0 aren’t B2B shotguns

By Marty Gruhn · Comments (1)
Wednesday, April 7th, 2010

Social network, communities and Web 2.0 aren't shotgunsIt’s time to stop fiddling around and apply them where they matter

The French have a wonderful phrase “plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose”. It’s an elegant way to say that the more things change, the more they remain the same.

That’s certainly the case when you consider the complex B2B buying process. Since our last update in 2006, this process remains the same. It’s still dictated by task forces and committees who must wade through 17 steps to get to the finish line. Participants are still purchase influencers, rather than the decision makers companies crave. Websites still influence only 5 steps in the buying process.

But that doesn’t mean that everything remains the same. Read More→

Comments (1)
Categories : Communities, eSelling, Marketing, Social Media & Social Networks, Strategy, Web 2.0
Tags : B2B buying, B2b selling, Communities, eSelling, Marketing, podcast, Social Media, social networks, Strategy, video, Web 2.0, webinar

Mega and Fat Become the Fashions of the Day

By Marty Gruhn · Comments (4)
Wednesday, February 10th, 2010

Click on this graph to see a lightbox of all best practices in this post

Five Websites are setting the pace

It’s interesting how something starts to hit a tipping point on the IT Web. Mega-menus are one of these designs – and fat footers aren’t far behind them.

In the mega-menu race, there are two main strategies in play, and some good and best practices worth considering.

On the strategy side, we have two basic approaches in evidence these days: mega-menus targeted at straight navigation – and those that add product marketing, corporate marketing and call to action dimensions.  In every case, there are great examples of both approaches on the IT Web.  Here’s some places to start: Read More→

Comments (4)
Categories : Design, Navigation, Usability, Web 2.0
Tags : brocade.com, dell.com, Design, emc.com, fat footer, hp.com, insight.com, juniper.net, mega-menu, microsoft.com, Navigation, newegg.com, novell.com, Usability, Web 2.0

Why IBM Software, SAS, EMC, Intel, Brocade & Deloitte made the cut

By Marty Gruhn · Comments (0)
Monday, February 1st, 2010

This week we started our Q1 evaluations of 23 Websites, plus additional sites selected by our clients for comparison.

We’ve mixed up the siteIQ eBusiness Index for 2010. In some cases the decision was based on eliminating Websites that haven’t improved over the past year and don’t provide any good or best practices worth tracking. In other cases, sites have fallen off our list because they don’t exist anymore. That would be EDS.com which was integrated into HP.com — and Sun.com which went off the airwaves last week.

In both cases, these sites are a loss to anyone who cares about good and great practices. Don’t bother to follow them to their new homes. Their presence inside of their new parent’s sites is nothing to write home about.

Here’s some more about the new sites added to our roster – and why we’re singing “auld lang syne” to others. (If you are a siteIQ client you can read more about what we expect from these and other leading sites in 2010 in our new executive brief in the siteIntelligence Research Center). Read More→

Comments (0)
Categories : Branding, Communities, Design, eSelling, POV (point of view), Strategy, Web 2.0
Tags : accenture.com, adobe.com, best practice, brand, brocade.com, Communities, customization, deloitte.com, Design, developer, ebusiness index, ecommerce, eds.com, emc.com, good practice, hp.com, ibm global services, ibm software group, intel.com, Marketing, Navigation, sas.com, Search, Strategy, sun.com, Web 2.0, website design, website rankings

Online Communities: Fasten Your Seat Belts

By Marty Gruhn · Comments (3)
Monday, December 14th, 2009

Web 2.0 and 3.0 can and will deliver real value to site operators and their visitors and prospects in 2010. Communities? Not so much.

Recently, I presented how we’re defining Web 2.0, Web 3.0 and communities to several clients, including our POV on their futures in 2010. It’s interesting that these three areas are finally moving beyond all the hype and bright and shiny objects that blinded most Web teams to their real potential last year.

Web 2.0 and 3.0 are finally coalescing into two ends of an important spectrum. Web 2.0 is all about content and information – providing these assets in new forms that make them easier for visitors to digest, use and share. Web 3.0 is actually about changing the interface and how users access these new generations of content. Simply put, it’s about creating adaptive sites that intuit or know why the visitor is there.

From my perspective, Web 2.0 and 3.0 can and will deliver real value to site operators and the visitors and prospects they are trying to woo and win in 2010. Communities? Not so much.

In fact, our in-depth evaluations show that most communities represent a high risk business strategy for companies. Why? Let me count the ways. Read More→

Comments (3)
Categories : Communities, Social Media & Social Networks, Strategy, Web 2.0
Tags : Communities, developer, risk, Social Media, Strategy, Support, Web 2.0, Web 3.0

Twitter for Business: Lessons Learned

By Marty Gruhn · Comments (9)
Monday, October 12th, 2009

If you are tweeting for business, a split personality and a less is more strategy works best.

We’ve received several pings from readers who wanted to hear more based on Kenna’s post about tweeting for business. After three months in the Twitter box, I’m ready to weigh in on my observations — and share four pieces of advice from the peanut gallery.

This isn’t for sissies. Unless you’re a social butterfly by nature, business tweeting gets in the way of your day job. Unfortunately, if you don’t have consistent presence, your company tends to fall off the digital radar. This begs a conundrum worthy of a paraphrase from Hamlet: “Whether ’tis better to have an inconsistent Twitter presence or bag the whole concept?”  For me, the answer lies in the difference between volume and value.

Less is more. Companies that yak ad nauseum creates problems when you are on the receiving side of the Twitter fence. Based on my list of tweeting companies, less would certainly be more. Companies that bombard me with a constant stream of disconnected tweets makes it difficult for me to figure out what really matters to the company – which leads me to my third tweeting gripe.

Tell me something I want to know. The business Twitter landscape is becoming a vast wasteland where companies push “Google-esque” links instead of sharing knowledge or information in a teeny package. I’d rather know, for example, that a company received an award or launched a new product, than being inundated with links to general purpose articles and stories I don’t have time to explore. For business, tweeting should be all about creating the company’s brand one drip at a time, not proving that you can make it through a Harvard Business Review without going into a coma. Simply put, when business is the issue, your personal epiphany doesn’t create my need to know. This, in turn, leads me to my last peanut gallery entry.

Split personalities work best. The most effective Tweeters are those who have a business and personal persona – and keep them separate. This allows me to keep up with the business side of their world, and eliminates getting alerts when their 3 year old is successfully poddy trained. Sure, I appreciate that this is a milestone in their life. For me, too much information.

OK, I could change my opinions after another six months wading through the Twitter landscape — but I wouldn’t hold my breath.  That said, I’ll check in later as behaviors play out. After all, the Web is nothing if not a moving target.

Comments (9)
Categories : Branding, POV (point of view), Social Media & Social Networks, Strategy, Web 2.0
Tags : brand, Social Media, social network, Strategy, Twitter, Twitter for business, Web 2.0

What we learned while lurking on leading communities

By Marty Gruhn · Comments (1)
Friday, July 24th, 2009

Although evaluating 10 leading IT communities based on 490 criteria was a bit of a slog (and pencils out to looking for and scoring 4,900 types of content, features and capabilities, plus another 320 usability metrics), we did have some fun during the process.  While Kenna did the deep diving wearing her “power user” hat, I took a tour through every community with my “lurker beanie” on. The point of the exercise was to see how these communities look to visitors who are looking around to see if they want to join the party versus what’s actually delivered once you’ve married into the family.

It was a bit of a lark, to be sure. And like many of our larks, it delivered some interesting results.

Usability Scores Lurkers vs. MembersTo see why, take a peek at this graph that illustrates how the communities operated by seven leading IT companies fare based on 32 usability metrics.

First, the good news. SAP and Citrix deliver pretty much what is expected. The bad news for Citrix is that, at a 54% usability score, its community doesn’t look very usable – and it isn’t. At the other end of the spectrum, SAP’s communities appear to be the most usable – and (dismal look and feel aside) they are.

Next, let’s look at the sites that exceeded expectations. That would be Dell. My tour of the community delivered Dell an average 69.1% usability score. At 70.8%, Kenna’s power drive says that Dell’s communities actually deliver slightly more than expected.

This leaves us with the communities that are like an unfortunate blind date. Among these, EMC and Oracle fared worst.

My tour of EMC’s communities delivered good, but not great, usability results (62.4%), but Kenna’s deep dive shows that once you get past the flash, this community is almost unusable.

Oracle also seemed to be a reasonably usable venue if you are just lurking around, and my usability scores averaged out to 60.8%. By the time Kenna finished rambling through the site’s inconsistent behaviors and technical problems, she thought 54% was a gift.

Comments (1)
Categories : Communities, Design, POV (point of view), Web 2.0, Website Rankings
Tags : best practices, citrix.com, dell.com, emc.com, online communities, oracle.com, sap.com, sun.com, symantec.com, Usability
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Marty Gruhn on Twitter

  • New case study on the way: The IBM SWG Website team is executing its cult of personality strategy to perfection. http://t.co/YuBBODwr about 13 hours ago from web ReplyRetweetFavorite
  • Smart moves. IBM uses "Connect" tab 2 drive visitors 2 high value social media venues & LinkedIn groups to start conversations with IBMers 05:20:29 PM January 13, 2012 from web ReplyRetweetFavorite
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Follow Kenna Dian on Twitter

  • Online communities your thing? The Online Communities Index report is hot off the presses for Library subscribers! http://t.co/EAAgG7bi about 13 hours ago from web ReplyRetweetFavorite
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