Usability vs. revenue? Nope. Usability = revenue.

Over at BeyondVC, Ed Sim wrote

It is this battle between usability (simple and clean) vs. revenue (balance between getting what you want vs. being cluttered) that is constantly fought behind the scenes.

It's interesting that there's a perception that making a site usable is separate from doing revenue generating activities (like adding banner ads or splash entry pages, as was pointed out at Forbes.com. Even more interesting was the idea that there exists in many companies a battle between the two.

I'm not really surprized. But, I do know that there are more and more "enlightened" sites out there. They understand that usability is directly tied to revenue. Usability goes up, revenue goes up. And the other way around. Adding a few banner ads might get you some small short term revenue gains, but if you upset your paying customers, they're gonna go somewhere else (unless of course, your site is devoted to banner-ad seeking customers). There might be a few web sites that people will continue to go to even when they're hard to use, but yours probably isn't one of them.

There's lots of good examples out there, like 37signals. Take a look. Then make sure that your usability effort isn't competing with your revenue.

PodCamp Boston 2007

Engaging the audience with audio. It's big and it's picking up players everyday. By now you'll know that the Aleuromedia team has an enthusiasm and passion for video as a major communication medium. We believe that video has value in everything from internal corporate messages and corporate culture pieces, to relaying what might have traditionally been a white paper with greater detail and cognition, to dynamic product demos using video, flash and screencasting tools.

That said, our desire to bridge communication gaps and to increase the efficiency with which we share information endears us to audio tools. The goal is to communicate with each other the way we are most inclined to receive it.

Podcasts are great for sharing information because they are so efficient. We can relay lots of material, in small doses, and with great frequency using podcasts. Who could deny that it is faster and easier to tell someone your story than it is to document it? Bigger still, it is more relate able to hear someone share their story. The pace of their words, the inflection, the tenor and diction all have meaning we are already prepared to process and these keys provide us with so much more than our interpretation of the written word. Check out Chris Brogan's blog to hear what I mean.

Whatever you think Podcast are, prepare yourself to learn how much more energy they conduct, check out PodCamp Boston 2007.

Screencasts to social networks and fundraising.

I LOVE the internet!

Kenny ran into this great article on the Non-Profit Times about screencasting. The author Beth Kantor did a great job of going "101" on the topic. It was very cool timing because I've been working with some non-profits and non-profit solution providers to give them insight about New Media and Social Networking. Helping these organization understand what social technologies can mean to fundraising, event, and constituent management, for example using Facebook to work a community based event, or using Inner Circle to connect and stay abreast of what your donors are doing.

Well I liked Beth writing enough that I went to her blog and found that she is infact managing a fundraising campaign for Leng Sopharath. Beth is using Facebook, flickr, ChipIn and her blog, among many other social technologies to coordinate and communicate her fundraising efforts and mission. Kudos Beth! The name of Beth's blog is "How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media", you should check it out.

Screencasts are expected!

In the PC World Community Voices blog, Phil Shapiro writes:

If a company has gone to the trouble of designing a software program, but hasn't taken the trouble to create a screencast about the program, then they are apt to lose me as a customer. Seeing is believing.

I am so happy to read this! The screencast is an essential tool for all software sellers. The ability for a potential customer to see your software in action before a purchase shouldn't be an afterthought, it should be a requirement for a product launch. I hope more and more savvy customers start expecting - and demanding - them!

I also found part 1 of a nice article on screencasting. It's written by Beth Kanter, and it's a well written primer for folks doing their own screencasts.

Baby steps...the presenters used YouTube video clips

In the past week or more I have attended a few informational events. It's great to see and hear what people are doing, especially when they are passionate about their work. The biggest disappointment for me has been something I feel almost personally, like I'm just not getting the word out and helping enough people step outside the trap of business communication norms. "Step away from the PowerPoint templates people, everything is going to be okay."

I've watched time, and time again, individual and corporate representatives swing at lobbed serves and miss (or marginally return). The people in attendance to most of these sessions have paid to be there. They want to be educated and engaged; in all respects a captive audience. In each session I've watched slide shows with bulleted lists; some suffered the "too many words" demise while others struggled with just enough words but no compelling reason to look at the material.

What's interesting though is that I am seeing evidence that we are taking baby steps in the right direction. At least twice in the this last stretch of events a presenter used a YouTube video clip. Each time they achieved focused attention and great responses to those moments in their presentations.

I can't help feeling that these presenters could have captivated us all, I mean really hit the ball out of park, if they would just allow themselves to move out of the PowerPoint Time Warp. ("It's just a jump to the left, And then a step to the right.")

SwANH

Last week I was able to attend the SwANH (Software Association of New Hampshire) event, it was held at SERESC facilities in Bedford, NH. It was a nice day all in all, and SwANH has improved their overall presence in the New Hampshire technology space over the last six months tremendously. They have just recently renovated their web site, a much welcomed and greatly needed investment. The attendance for the event, the content delivered, as well as the facility choice was excellent!

HubSpot redux - another company that "gets it"

Just noticed that HubSpot has a video demo/explainer available on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bH4imqmSLEk). This another example of how this form of communication really is the best way to reach your audience. I do wish that this video was readily available (easy to find) on the HubSpot website, though.

HubSpot - an amazing reosource!

I don't remember what I was doing.

This happens too much lately, but that's another story. What I do remember was stumbling across HubSpot. They're located in nearby Cambridge, MA, and they produce some very cool software that does the SEO things, and at a very reasonable monthly price!!! They're currently offering their "Website Grader" utility free of charge, so I, of course, gave it a shot. Very sweet! Of course, I now need to go back and fix a whole bunch of stuff on the website, but, that's a good thing. I want more Googles!

So, go check it out. I know you want to.

Apple Design Awards 2007

One of the things I really love to watch out for is the annual Apple Design Awards. Its always a source of true software design innovation and a great source of inspiration - just how fun, useful and beautiful software (ok, hardware, too) can be! Check out some of this year's winners (and runner-ups): ADA2007. And, while you may think "Mac", many of the ideas are simply brilliant and can (and should) be applied to other platforms. Good design is contagious like that.

My faves: CODA 1.0 and Picturesque 1.0