After attending all of these big tech conferences lately - SXSW, NTC, and Women Who Tech - the trend I’ve taken closest to heart has nothing to do with technology at all. It actually involves doing the opposite of what this fast-paced industry has been pushing for years: slowing down.
OK, we’ve all equally enjoyed puttering around on Facebook, uploading images to Flickr and seeing how many comments we’d get, putting together photo books on Blurb, and building our own social networks in Ning, but now the initial “woah” has worn off (or there’s just too much damn stuff to keep track of) and it’s a good reminder to return to the business practices communications folks have been practicing for years: planning, frameworks, and process.
Web 2.0 applications don’t happen in a vacuum. They’re fun, definitely addictive, and continuously challenge us to look at what we do in new ways, but there is one thing they also consume of us - our time. We all know in the back of our heads that using these pieces of technology *should* have a purpose. Granted, I’m sure we’ve all thrown together a blog because the boss said so, or set up a Facebook presence because the folks at *that* campaign did it. The point is, getting the basics together upfront will pay off dearly in spades later on.
Continue reading ‘Girls with Macs conference wrap-up: what have the past few weeks taught?’
A few days ago TechSoup and Flickr sponsored an asynchronous chat discussion about the use of Flickr and photography in non profit organizations. Being an avid Flickrite myself, I popped on over there throughout the day and got involved in a lot of different discussions - from how to choose a camera to uploading photos and color profile integrity. I found that more often than not I had answers to questions instead of ones I wanted to ask.
In the process it occurred to me how I’ve developed a Flickr strategy over the past couple of years - much of which I can attribute to my photo obsession when I was living overseas. After Beth and a few others pointed out that the strategy behind my Flickr behavior could be beneficial to others in non-profits, it seemed only obvious that I mention some of my learnings in a blog post, so here goes:
Continue reading ‘Flickr learning and sharing @ TechSoup’
On the trolley with Rose, Amy, and Laura
I’m still behind on my personal wrap-up of NTC ‘08, but work keeps getting in the way and I’m trying to make sure I don’t forget the big lessons I learned with all you awesome folks down in NOLA. The personal impressions and friendships aren’t going to fade anytime soon, and will be waiting when I have a breath of fresh air.
The following is a summary of my favorite takeaways. The list may seem long, and some items may seem more elementary than others, but I think all have significant value in the success of an organization’s online strategy.
Google Analytics, Know your website, one hour a day
- Never let your data be lonely. Pair up your data with other data.
- Industry benchmarks - when you choose to share your data with the rest of the world, you get to see their data too.
- Goal Conversion tab - segmentation. How well does direct traffic do with “goals” we’ve set.
- Bounce isn’t always bad. If you’re a blog, they read 10 posts and leave. If bounce rate is 100%, you have to take it in context.
- Setup Google Analytics filters to follow the analytics of paths you want your users to take.
For more summaries of Google Adwords, SEO, the new paradigm of marketing, and the joy of CMS, please keep reading :).
Continue reading ‘NTC ‘08 big takeaways [for me]‘
Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.
I plan to do a full round-up of the entire first day of 08NTC (long overdue), but in the meantime, please enjoy some of the images I’ve posted on Flickr from the Day of Service.
Thanks to everyone who participated in the day of service, and thank you New Orleans for giving us an opportunity to learn a little bit of your story and provide support in your rebuilding efforts!
Implementing Sustainable Content Management Systems
Norman Reiss: nreiss [at]nonprofitbridge.com, Jeff Herron (Beaconfire), Andrew Cohen (Forum One Communications), Nathan Gasser (Rock River Star)
The success of content management isn’t based on what product you use, but how you implement it.
What is CMS?
Something you use to update a website. Useful because it aloows you to give non technical people the ability to more easily update content. It should be decentralized.
Does my organization need a CMS?
Not always, but when you have a lot of content and have a desire to spread responsibility, it makes sense.
What product features does a CMS provide? What features does it not include?
Good to know beforehand what you plan to do with it beforehand.
Implementation options
- Hosted, ASP model, lease
- Installed, commercial product (buy)
- Installed, open source (buy) - open source are particularly strong in CMS. This does not mean free. You’ll have to pay for customization and support. Implementation partners are just as important as software choice.
Continue reading ‘08NTC: Day 3, The Joy of CMS’
Kevin Lee, Didit
Are you Geeky? SEO isn’t really very geeky, but a bit of understanding of HTML is helpful.
Who is your target audience?
Your target audience for your site and your SEM efforts may extend beyond the obvious:
- donors
- volunteers
- the press and analysts
- foundations
- government orgs
- non-profit rating orgs
- employees
- potential employees
*Consider the needs and behaviors of all important constituents.
Continue reading ‘08NTC: Day 3, Search Engine Optimization’
Linda Widdop (Director of Tech Services) and Dean Graham (Manager of application services)
NPower Pennsylvania
Strategy, Vision, Communications, Role Model and Team Building for non profit IT staff
Top three takeaways
- IT Leadership isn’t all about technology
- 5 key areas of leadership to focus on
- Tips for developing skills in each of the key areas
“True measure of leadership is influence - nothing more, nothing less. ” - Maxwell
Continue reading ‘08NTC: Day 2, From Techie to Leader’
Robin Steiff, LunaMetrics
www.lunametrics.com
Google Analytics, Know your website, one hour a day
The Web Analytics Challenge
Data: Yes
Actionable Insights: Not so much
It’s only when you add context that this information has value. Need actionable insight and action to take.
Google is free, but time is money.
How does Google Analytics help?
Not always the right app for everyone, but great for many things. Does a lot that other packages don’t:
1.Data democracy. Dashboard with one glance gives you time-on-sight, number of pages people have visited. Goals overview. With one glance, we can see what’s going on. Not everyone has access to this information, but everyone can understand it. Democratizes data
- Can setup email for your dashboard
- Specific, granular, customized
- Empower Understanding Action
- Red is bad, Green is good.
- Can look at period over period
- Can set up funnels - a defined path through the website. Most powerful report. Funnel could be a signup for an email registration or a shopping cart. Can see if people continue the whole way. Can see where you’re losing your members.
2. Data discovery. All about people understanding the story.
- See where your users are coming from
- One click gets you to Content Overview - ease of deep diving. Can see top content.
- Navigation summary. Homepage expample. Can see if most people enter from this page, and if they stay. At one glance we can see if we’re doing something right on the homepage. Then can dive deeper and know “why”.
- Can see referrers
- Can see keywords
Continue reading ‘08NTC: Day 2, Successful Web Analytics’
Macro trends in technology: Three technologies to watch
David Pogue
Year of the cell phone
Leaving the cell network and going onto the network like landlines.
- VOIP, carry your number. Every feature known to man.
- Cell phone carriers haven’t taken on VOIP over cellphones
- T-mobile, hot spot at home – any time you’re in a wireless hotspot, all your calls are free. $20 more a month. Little box is like a cell tower in your house. (makes it cheaper for them because they don’t have to put up new towers in your neighborhood)
- Can hand off call from mobile to wireless network
- T-mobile is the only company that doesn’t have a land-line business, which is why they are doing this
- David Pogue just gave us his phone number.
- Grand Central - too many phones. Awesome video that he posted on the NY Times site
- Google Cellular – 411 costs $2. Use text messages. Send message to 46645. Type what you’re looking for: “Pharmacy Chicago” In 5 seconds they will send you back the complete name, address, phone. Weather. Driving directions, movie showtimes. Flight info. Currency conversions, Definitions. Instantaneous and uncluttered.Voice to Text - “to page this person, press #” That voice is on Ambien. The voices on voicemail recordings are slow. They make $100 million a year keeping people on the phone and paying for more minutes.
- Spinvox and Callwave transcribe your messages so you can scan them, skip to the important ones, and not pay minutes!
Continue reading ‘08NTC: Day 2, open plenary with David Pogue’
SXSW 2008 has come and gone and despite the nasty SXsars that everyone seemed to get (and I reject the suggestion that I was the carrier!), I am definitely feeling a vibe of inspiration around the Twitter community. Granted, that community got a lot bigger after I finally put faces to names at the conference, and made introductions that I’d long meant to make, and now my Twitter channel is in full force and I can’t imagine how life was like before.
I’m still in the process of typing up my notes, something I think is important – both from an internal organization consumption perspective (so I can prove that I actually did attend panels) – and to mull that content over a bit longer before I put those pages of notebook paper to rest. I was hoping to spend more time actually blogging during the conference, but unless you’re Beth Kanter or another blogging rockstar, it seems like a nearly impossible task. Incidentally, if you’ve ever wondered how Beth does it (beyond mixing her Cokes and packets of EmergenC), she literally buzzes with all the activity that is constantly pulsing through her synapses. I know, I sat next to her a few times and I got giddy by the energy.
Continue reading ‘Keeping all that inspiration alive’