Google Analytics is not free

Posted by Dave CollinsWebsite Usability

In September 2007 I wrote an article for our Competitive Edge newsletter on What Price Google Analytics. The article generated a fair amount of debate, yet despite the large number of people who were quite vocal with their disagreement, many also agreed. The point of the article wasn’t that Google Analytics is bad. The point was that Google Analytics isn’t … Read More

What should I call my product?

Posted by Dave CollinsMarketing

Whether you’re about to launch a new product or are considering renaming an existing one, deciding what to call it often proves to surprisingly difficult. One approach is to name according to what the product does. For instance some of our clients have products like System Mechanic, PDF Annotator and Advanced Outlook Repair. Another approach is to make the name fit … Read More

Website users ignore pointless pictures – how very odd?

Posted by Dave CollinsWebsite Usability

From Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox: “Users pay close attention to photos and other images that contain relevant information but ignore fluffy pictures used to “jazz up” Web pages.“ And he can prove it. Like many of Jakob Nielsen’s statements, it sounds absurdly obvious. So why do so many websites get it wrong? How many times have you seen websites using a … Read More

Conversion fraud – another AdWords thing that makes you go hmmm

Posted by Dave CollinsGoogle Ads

As an Adwords Certified Partner, we spend a major chunk of our week handling client’s AdWords accounts. A part of our process involves looking for anything that stands out as unusual. Try this for unusual. One of our clients saw an unusual increase in conversions. As much as we’d like to think this was a direct result of our efforts, … Read More

I’m a software developer. What software should I write?

Posted by Dave CollinsDigital Marketing

It’s a common question. Software developer leaves school or university and is great at churning out tight, functional, well-written code. Software developer doesn’t want to work for someone else, and likes the idea of running their own software company. But s/he doesn’t know what to write that will sell. They could start by following the wisdom of crowds through Google: … Read More