EVERYTHING WORKS OUT

Wasting time on analytics

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:06:18 -0700

Most web masters know that they need to track what people visiting their website are doing.

Thanks to tools like Google Analytics and Crazy Egg it’s easier than ever to track how long someone is on a web page, where they click, where they came from, what they see, and what areas of a web page could use improvement (for whatever purposes).

When looking at the analytical results, however, most people focus on the positive. “We received 4,000 new visitors to this page,” or “The click–through on this ad went up 200%!”

And that’s just wrong.

When running analytics, focus on the low numbers. Where your visitors aren’t going, where they aren’t clicking. Then work on improving those areas.

Set your analytics tool to ignore the high numbers, if possible, and focus solely on the few, that’s how you grow. That’s how you become better. That’s how you get value from traffic and click reports.

The Wonderful World of Vending Machines

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:57:52 -0700

While I love me some RedBox from time to time, nothing can top these incredible vending machines.

I remember seeing BAMN, a self–serve restaurant of sorts, on some Food network show months ago. The idea is simple and the maintenance (both for the owner and consumers) is both effective and relatively painless. I definitely want to stop by and pick up a daily special. And their slogan, “satisfaction is automatic”, is perfect.

What if other businesses offered their serves a–la–vending machine?

Google as an anthropologist

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 06:41:54 -0700

Ben Casnocha believes that we don’t lie to Google.

Someone once told me that there is nowhere we are more honest than the search box. We don’t lie to Google. Period. We type in what we’re thinking — good, bad, and ugly. There’s probably no piece of information that would better show what’s on someone’s mind than their stream of searches.

Is Google our answer to social science and the questions of individual thinking (the deep kind, not what you tell everyone you’re thinking)?

Then again, what can we really learn from suggested searches when things like “Where does Miley Cyris live?” pop up when typing in “Where does”?

(Via Gruber.)

The Power of Time Off

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 19:19:12 -0600

Stefan Sagmeister, of N.Y. design studio Sagmeister, Inc., closes his studio for one year every seven years and has found incredible success because of doing so.

In a February 2009 TED talk, Sagmeister speaks of The Power of Time Off. During these years when the Sagmeister studio is closed, they don’t take any client projects on, and Sagmeister himself usually takes off to explore a different part of the world for the year.

“Like many things in life that we love we adapt and become bored,” Sagmeister says. “After a short while everything begins to look the same.”

After a certain amount of time Sagmeister began to find that his studio’s design work was starting to look the same. A plastic eyeball hidden away in the pages of a book eerily reminds us of a perfume bottle similarly buried in the pages of a hollowed–out book.

By removing himself, and his fellow workers, from their regular environment, Sagmeister was able to not only gain a fresh look at the world, but also nurture the things that he loves doing.

According to Sagmeister: we spend about 25 years of our lives learning, then about 40 years where we’re working, and we typically tack on another 15 years on the end for retirement.

It might be helpful to basically cut off 5 retirement years and disperse them in between the working years. Doing this is clearly enjoyable, but more importantly: the work that comes out of the years flows back into the the working years and society as a whole, rather than merely benefiting a grand child or two.

Taking part in a sabbatical has proven to be a successful campaign not only for Sagmeister, but also hundreds of thousands of other creative thinkers: authors, artists, educators, and scholars.

Take a moment to plan out your future over the next 40 years. How can you take part in a sabbatical or something similar? How can you break with your working routine to find more purposeful or creative work?

Note to self: Buy vintage Indian motorcycle, fix it up, give it...

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 11:19:24 -0600

Note to self: Buy vintage Indian motorcycle, fix it up, give it away to your son (if he’s into that sort of thing).

"You can never solve a problem on the level on which it was created."

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 22:22:08 -0600

“You can never solve a problem on the level on which it was created.”

- Albert Einstein (seriously)