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My Analysis of the Presidential Campaign Web Sites

AZ Central asked me to provide an analysis of the presidential campaign web sites. Here is the unedited analysis I provided to them. It's a bit off-the-cuff because they had a tight deadline, but it's still thorough, engaging and oh-so insightful. (Please note, this analysis and this blog do not represent the viewpoints of my employer, and are not reviewed nor endorsed by my employer.)

JOHN MCCAIN (R) - A striking, dramatic black-and-white. The only color on the homepage is McCain's face. Video on the homepage is a positive. Video is the BIG thing thing online right now, and we'll continue to be as the PC and TV slowly but steadily merge. What's more, the videos on McCain's site can be saved to Digg and/or del.icio.us - 2 of the largest social bookmarking site - that's a good thing, but I doubt the "canned" videos are compelling enough to get a significant amount of attention from those sites. You can build "your own" McCain page/site with relevant issues and other semi-customized information. That's fine - Gore did it 7 years ago and this approach doesn't seem that much different. The main content area on McCain's homepage features a "Why McCain" link, a Donate link and a selection of videos. A search feature is hidden in the lower-right hand corner - the web equivalent of "Baltic Avenue." Translation: the campaign wants to control your interaction with the site and their candidate. After a few minutes on McCain's site, the black-and-white started making me depressed - probably not how the campaign wants site visitors to feel, yet it is an inevitability. The world isn't black-and-white anymore, and neither should your website be. Is the b-n-w reflect McCain's world view? Also, where is the RSS feed?

HILLARY CLINTON (D) - Ahh, color. That alone made me feel better upon visiting Clinton's site. The main content area of the homepage features videos, contribution links and an "Action Center." And, the Action Center allows you to view events within X miles of your zip code. One point for Hillary. Why do I care about events in Montana? Let me instantly and easily customize my experience at your site and you're making points with me. There's a link where I can organize my own event for Hillary - more personalization, more localization...more voters. Hillary's site also contains an RSS feed - a must in the 2008 campaign. Hillary and her team also have an active blog with comments allowed - that is huge.

RUDOLPH GIULIANI (R) - Rudy's homepage features the obligatory contribution links but also allows folks to sign-up their support right from the homepage - a smart strategy that will definitely yield lots of sign-ups (read 'names & addresses'). Rudy News is also upfront on the homepage and features an RSS feed - nice.  The campaign is clearly banking on some of Rudy's inherit like-ability in the wake of his deft handling of the 9/11 attacks in NYC. Rudy's site is an "exploratory committee" site so the content isn't as deep or well-developed, but early signs from this campaign show that they are web-savvy and will use the medium to effectively promote their candidate, connect supporters and sway undecideds.

BARACK OBAMA (D) - BarackTV, MyBarackObama and other issue-related content is feature on Obama's homepage. The links are large, the color is tasteful and the presentation is exceptionally well-done. The MyBarack section definitely is one of the best attempts at customization and usage of the "social web" among the presidential candidates. The Donate button is prominent but it doesn't hog-up prime real-estate or take away from more useful content, a nice change. Barack's team is also blogging and an RSS feed is offered, although it is hard-to-find. Comments are allowed - a good sign that the Obama team "gets it" when it comes to the web.

MITT ROMNEY (R) - Romney presents way too many choices on his homepage. There's so much there, where do I start? That being said, MittTV, the Featured Stories section and TeamMitt are all easily accessible, engaging and very well done. Also, Romney's site is the only site with an En Espanol link prominently displayed - good call. RSS is available from the homepage. Contribution's are obviously accepted but the links aren't nearly as in-your-face as the other candidates - a welcome reprieve. But, where's the blog?

JOHN EDWARDS (D) - The darling of the "web2.0" crowd, Edwards site is very well done and is the only candidate using a "landing page" that allows you to quickly and easily sign-up to stay informed of campaign activities before moving on to the full Edwards site. This is a proven web technique that businesses use every day, and it is a very effective way to get people signed-up. Edwards main content area on the home page features video (seeing a theme here?), a strong Action Center and additional links to other stories and issue information. The Edwards blog is the best of the bunch with feeds, comments and user-submitted posts - finally, someone understanding the concept of "You" being named Time's Person of the Year. The blog section is a true community and good sign of what the Edwards campaign is focusing on. Yes, they did recently get in a spot of trouble for a few "rogue bloggers" but the Edwards team completely gets it, is openly involving the community and is attracting lots of visitors, online attention and buzz. Edwards is even in Second Life - could these guys be too web-savvy?

Edwards' site is definitely the most innovative and contains the most substance, community and deep content.

Surprisingly, I think McCain's site may be the worst due it's lack of  true customization and depressing black-and-white template. Black-and-white can (and should) be used effectively - McCain's team has overdone it.

Rudy's is the most boring, but that's probably due to its Exploratory Committee nature. I suspect it will be built up much more in the coming months.

I do tip my hat (but certainly not my support!) to Romney for the En Espanol feature. Where the heck are the other candidates on this?

Interesting but possbily irrelevant sidenote: Clinton, McCain and Edwards all use a favicon on their site. Rudy, Barack and Mitt do not. Does a favicon indicate a top-contender whereas a "no favicon site" indicates a lesser candidate? I doubt it, but if McCain, Clinton or Edwards is our next president, well, you heard it here first.

Dell Hell - A Thing of the Past or Back to the Future?

Uber-blogger Robert Scoble is applauding Dell's efforts to reach out to its customers, admit the company's mistakes and improve customer service going forward. Granted, there is still along way to go but how many other top-tier companies do you see admiting their mistakes and actively engaging in conversations with customers? That's right - practically none. Dell should be indeed be applauded. Of course, the proof is in the pudding and there will be plenty of sceptics watching Dell very closely over the coming months to ensure that the company is doing what it says it will do. But, Dell does seem sincere in their desire to correct past mistakes and make good on their promised improvements. This is a great example of effective corporate blogging, but it needs to be backed up by effective corporate actions.

Congratulations! You are Time's Person of the Year.

You did it! Wow, what an honor! You, yes you, are Time's person of the year.

 

In a move that acknowledges the ascendancy of the social web, Time magazine has named their Person of the Year for 2006, and it's you, me, all of us. Millions of people around the globe comprise the social web and the number is growing everyday. Today's Internet is an increasingly a place where people easily create and connect, transcending borders and time itself. It is a people-power thing. It is all about you.

The big players of the social web - YouTube, Flickr, del.icio.us, Blogger etc. - are the obvious catalyst for so much of the current evolution of the web and they get the requisite attention in the article, but the people, the contributors - the fuels for these sites is what what makes them great. And that fuel is you.

Technorati Tags in Typepad

Adding Technorati tags just got a lot easier using Typepad. By customizing the display of your "Compose a New Post" page, you can choose to add a "Technorati Tags" field to your posts. Just enter category or topic tags right into the field after you write your post and Technorati will automatically index your posts according to your tags.

This is a major improvement to the Typepad system and will allow people to more easily find what they are looking for, increasing pageviews for small business owners who use tags effectively and consistently. I am a major advocate of tagging and this feature makes tags much easier to implement. So, get tagging!

Use the News to Get More Pageviews

Blogging about news in your industry is smart. It provides ready-made content, plenty of discussion, consistent traffic AND helps to establish you as a thought leader. But, roaming the internet for every tidbit of industry news can be frustrating, time-cosuming and unproductive. Here's how to do it right.

You're probably already following news in your industry to some degree. Take that investment of time and energy and increase its ROI by blogging about that news. Industry-specific sites and Google News are more than enough to get you started.

For this post I will use the example of news about the wastewater treatment industry - you know, the folks who take over after you flush the toilet. This business niche has plenty industry-specific sites and an constantly replenished supply of stories on Google News. You should be actively following these type of industry-specific sites and news stories via RSS feeds. Using these sources and accessing them via their RSS feeds is the crucial step to productive industry news blogging. To make it easy, you can grab an RSS feed for any search terms you choose on Google News. That is huge and it bears repeating and explanation.

You can grab an RSS feed for any search terms you choose on Google News. Just go to Google News, enter your specific industry and click "Search News." The results page will have choices for RSS or Atom feeds on the left-hand side (see images below). Save this link to your newsreader and voila, a never-ending stream of industry news perfectly tailored to your niche.

When news breaks, offer commentary and links right away. Comment on other blogs and provide trackbacks. Use your blog to demonstrate to the world (or more importantly, your costumers and prospects) that you are an expert in your field, on top of relevant news in the industry and plugged into the discussion. Your profile and credibility are instantly raised, along with your site's qualified traffic and pageviews.

Blogging about industry news and events can be relatively easy when set up properly and executed consistently. The here today/gone tomorrow nature of news is well-suited to a blog. Plus, when news breaks, industry insiders and observers rush in to analyze reaction and gauge the discussion. As someone in the same industry, you need to be engaged in that discussion, offering insightful analysis, quality links and interesting perspectives. Staying up-to-date by using the tools discussed here is the perfect way to engage people, offer commentary and analysis and continually attract more visitors interested in your industry.

What is RSS?

RSS. Those three letters have risen to a place of prominence in the last few years. Some believe that RSS is the end of email (wrong). Others believe that RSS is a bit player, that it won't last and is of no use to the small business owner (also wrong). We'll cover the potential for RSS to transform your marketing in a future post, but first we need to find out...exactly what is RSS?

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) in the new technology that people are using to "subscribe" to their favorite blogs. Think of subscribing to a blog much like subscribing to the newspaper. The newspaper arrives at your doorstep each and every morning. No need to leave home and go get it, no wondering if its there and no concerns that you have mistakenly receive yesterday's newspaper.

The same applies when using RSS. By adding a blog's RSS address to your computer's software, all of the latest posts from the blogs you subscribe to are delivered to you every morning or whenever you choose to log-on. You just log-on and all of the posts that you haven't read yet are ready for your review. You can pick and choose what you want to read, subscribe or unsubscribe from different blogs or share posts  and other useful content with colleagues.

The beautiful thing about reading blogs and other web content using RSS is that you don't need to go from site-to-site checking to see if the content has changed. One log-in delivers all of your new content right to your virtual doorstep. No surfing to a bunch of sites that may or may not have been updated since your last visit. Let the software do the hardwork of checking those sites or blogs and you can enjoy the fruits as you sit down to read the new content that has been electronically delivered to your virtual front door.

As RSS technology becomes more widespread, the type of content or information you can receive via RSS becomes broader. Not only can your favorite blogs be delivered to you every morning, you can also receive weather, news, your calendar appointments; heck, even your favorite World Cup team's schedule can delivered to you via RSS. So, start by getting an account with Bloglines or Newsgator (two easy-to-use, web-based "newsreaders" - this is the software that finds new content from your favorite blogs), subscribe to a few feeds (start with this one) and let the fun begin!

Web Tool Review: Google Notebook

Google Notebook is now available to use for free. I will let Google define Notebook and then I will talk about how small businesses can benefit:

"With Google Notebook, you can browse, clip, and organize information from across the web in a single online location that's accessible from any computer. Planning a trip? Researching a product? Just add clippings to your notebook. You don't ever have to leave your browser window."

Picture an online filing cabinet that has unlimited storage and doesn't take up any space. Each row of cabinets is called a "notebook." Your notebooks contain what notebooks often contain - notes, ideas, things to remember, clippings, phone numbers, pictures, etc. - the stuff you jot down or need to keep close-by and have ready at moment's notice. If your small business had a filing cabinet (Notebook) called "Sales," then that Notebook may contain sales leads you've jotted down, an article from the online edition of your local newspaper's business section, directions to your post-lunch sales meeting, etc.

OK, now that you have some idea of what Google Notebook is, let's briefly explore how it works and then look at actual benefits (the whole reason this darn post exists!)

You'll need a free Google account to log-in and use Notebook. Once you're properly outfitted with your new account, you can log-in and let the fun begin. Adding things to your Notebook is simple, with fast, single-click, intuitive steps and a super-clean-and-crystal-clear interface. You can take notes from a call, grab that link you've been meaning to save or just write down that great idea you had earlier today! Notebooks can be organized into sections, for example, your Sales Notebook may have sections for Leads, Clients, Marketing, etc. Notes, sections or entire Notebooks can be deleted and added. You can also share any of your Notebooks, if you choose, by making them "public."

So, what can Google Notebook do for you? Well, the Sales Notebook example is a good one. I've used Notebook today to take notes during a conference call today. I also made a quick list of file attachments I needed to send to a colleague. Later, I saved a few links for a large project I am working on and published the links to my team by making the Notebook public. While browsing this evening, I had a brainstorm and typed some quick notes in my Ideas Notebook. I can now access those ideas (and all of my Notebooks!) from any computer, share them with the world and best of all...these online filing cabinets never need to be moved.

(The true genius of Notebook is the ability to automatically add things to your Notebooks directly from your web browser without having to go to the Notebook page and log-in to your account as usual. This is done via an "Extension" to your browser. More on Extensions coming soon.)

Tonight, I set up Notebooks for my business, my family and even my golf game. They all contain easy-to-organize and easy-to-find links, articles, notes, ideas and helpful information I may need anytime. Google Notebook is a very handy tool for small businesses that I would recommend trying to see whether its for you. It still has some room to grow (import/export functions, labels or "tags" for Notebook items, being able to add to your Notebooks via email), but as with most Google products, it will probably get better with age.

Are you using Notebook? Leave your comments and let me know you like it, how you're using it or any other thoughts regarding Google's newest product.