The 4WD Button

One night I got the 2 AM call every parent dreads:  “Dad, I’ve been in an accident!” My 18-year-old son, on his way home from work, was fine but shaken up.  It was winter and the roads were snow packed with spots of ice.  He was an experienced winter driver, but cruising down the freeway at 60 MPH in the middle of the night he hit a patch of ice, lost control and went into the median. Because of deep snow, the Blazer was propelled in then out on the other side, into the opposite traffic lanes.  Fortunately, there was little traffic at that hour, so there were no other cars around.

Smashing into the median bent the frame, pushed the engine back, cracked the radiator and other damage.  Check out the picture of the front license plate holder and you’ll get an idea of the devastation.

He was able to drive it to a friend’s repair shop, and I went to pick him up.  On the way home he shared the details and revealed that he had failed to push the 4- wheel drive button.  “Why??” I asked.  “I didn’t think I needed it,” was his response.

The Chevy Blazer he was driving had a button on the dashboard that engaged the 4- wheel drive.  Most of the time we drove in 2-wheel drive mode since the gas milage was better.  But when it snowed, that button was great! One click, double the power and control.  But he didn’t think he needed it!

$2500 in repairs or engage the 4-wheel drive?  Seems like an easy choice but it wasn’t as simple as that.

Today we see the same rationale. I hear people say ‘oh, I don’t need Linkedin’ or ‘I just don’t get Twitter’.  These are the new 4-wheel drive buttons of marketing.   Failure to use them will cost you.  

Internet marketing demands that your organization leverage every tool and advantage you can employ, including:

• Youtube video. The second largest search engine on the web and owned by Google.  Ignore it at your peril.
• Social media, especially Linkedin, Twitter, and Facebook.  Depending on your product, service and audience, one can be more effective than another.  It’s vital to know which applies to you and why.
• Press releases.  News of product offering, expansion, customers, awards, etc., helps push your name and site in search engine results.  Tell the world your news.
• Blogging.  Consistent posting of solid information is the foundation of organic SEO.  Blog about your customers and how they use your product, or changes in the industry.  The list is endless.  Make sure it’s well written, interesting and helpful.
• Think creatively.  The first rule of marketing is to set yourself apart from your competition.  In other words, don’t follow the leader.
• How can you tell your story differently?  Think of the memorable ads of the past.  Most of them were creative and emotional.

These activities are critical to your internet identity and building strong, organic SEO.   Not understanding and engaging them will cost you.  Just like driving in the snow without engaging the 4-wheel drive.

Weak Passwords: “Jesus” Can’t Save You From Password Hackers

“Jesus” is the 21st most common password employed by internet users, but it’s not strong enough to protect your data.  Hackers work around the clock looking for ways to steal your identity, money, and private information. And poor password choices makes their work easier.  http://www.youtube.com/user/CoppermoonWebDesign

Use ‘strong’ passwords to protect your data

We tend to use passwords that are easy to remember, without considering their security strength.  If you are on the internet, you use passwords to look up your bank account, get mail, access Facebook or Twitter, buy the latest best seller from Amazon… each task requires a password.  Most of us view website password management as annoying at best, and a real headache at worst.  Your opinion probably depends on how many password accounts you have.  The more you have, the more of a hassle it seems.

What does a secure password look like?  At least 8 (12 is best) characters, with upper and lower case letters, symbols and at least one number.   Something like ‘A9bQgJt1rzL&’ . But that is hard to remember, so most of settle for something like ‘abc123’ (number 4 on the list) or ‘ninja‘ (number 23).

There are ways to make your passwords both secure and memorable.  For example, let’s say you moved to Phoenix in 1991.  Intermix the letters and numbers, something like this: PHo19en91iX  That is a strong password and one you can remember.

Security software developer Splashdata just released its annual list of the most used and insecure passwords. Their list is based on analysis of file dumps from online hackers.  Some of the entries are surprising, others not so much.  The most used password?  ‘password’ .

Here are some basic password rules to protect your identity, money and information.

• Never post or send your password via email, text, instant message, or on social media sites
• Don’t use your name as your password
• Don’t use the names of your spouse, kids, or pets as passwords
• Change all of your passwords at least twice a year
• Don’t use passwords that could be cracked by looking at your Facebook page.
• Never disclose your passwords in response to an email or a phone call
• Use some type of password management program that can be locked (of course, you have to remember the password for that!).

Here’s the list of the most commonly used passwords, in order of popularity.  If you use ANY password on this list, change it immediately!

password

123456

12345678

abc123

qwerty

monkey

letmein

dragon

111111

baseball

iloveyou

trustno1

1234567

sunshine

master

123123

welcome

shadow

ashley

football

jesus

michael

ninja

mustang

password1

Multiple Computing Devices: Do You Have An App For That?

How do people use your website? Do you have a mobile app specifically for smartphones? What about an app for tablets such as the iPad? When would a visitor access your site from a desktop or laptop?  Consider what you want people to do when they come to your site, and under what circumstances they would use each of these devices.  Consult your Google analytics to see which devices and browsers are used to view your site.  The answers will guide you in developing the correct web design strategy for each platform.

We don’t replace technology, we add devices

The other day I walked into my office and glanced at my desk, with the 2 large monitors connected to a MacPro tower desktop.   Next to the monitor was my laptop with my iPad sitting on top of it, and my smart phone on top of the iPad

It struck me, as I looked at the stack of electronics on my desk, that we don’t replace technology, we add devices.  Each one serves a unique computing purpose, depending on where we are and what we are doing. The device we use is dictated by need and location, not by the website we want to access.  In fact, we expect the website to deliver regardless of the device we choose!

Last month we visited Disneyland in California.  Before and during the trip, I used all 4 of my devices in distinct ways.  I used my desktop to map the route we would take, not to print and follow, but to calculate the budget we would need for gas.  I wanted to see the distance in miles based on the various routes we might take into Orange County.

Once on the road, my iPad was handy to show where we were en route, and possible places to make potty stops (very important!).  When we checked into the hotel, I used the laptop to look for details about the attractions and lore of Disneyland.
Did you know that after the place closes and everyone has gone home, the park is overrun by feral cats to keep the mice population in check? We trust Mickey had a Fast Pass to get away from them!

Once in the park my smartphone apps told us the wait time for specific rides, about places to eat, and of course, the weather.

When we adopt a new technology, we don’t replace the old stuff.  We just add capability.  Your website must deliver your message regardless of how it is accessed.  Otherwise, visitors will move on to someone’s who will.

Person of Interest: Mike Ballif

Rock band guitarist, concert promoter, real estate professional, college professor, and internet entrepreneur.  These are just some of the roles played by Mike Ballif.  Today, his company Class Star http://classstar.comdelivers online continuing education for real estate professionals.  The course takes the student through the lessons, presents tests, and electronically certifies to the state licensing agency that the mandated training is completed.  He understands the power of web video and how it contributes to the success of your website.

Mike Ballif, CEO of CLass Star
Click to watch the video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCS5DZ_G2hY

A few years ago, Mike saw the revolution taking place before him.  He embraced the possibilities of using the web to deliver the required learning and certifications to streamline the CE process. He now wants to take his success to other professionals. Online learning has developed rapidly over the past 10 years.  Universities, technical programs, and even high school courses provide web-based training, certifications and degrees.  These programs and systems recognize the diverse needs of students while offering a variety of teaching and learning methods. Developers have noticed the trend and thousands of learning management tools have been created.  Some are full, web-based systems or plug-ins, while others integrate to other software powering an ever-growing field of online learning sites. A Google search of ‘online learning’ yields about 722 million results!  Everything from simple tutorials on YouTube  how to sew on a button http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrSs_DiJ-ZA  to MBA programs.  Even small companies can utilize these tools to train their staffs without great costs. All of these programs face the same challenge – delivering high quality content in an interesting way, so most programs include some type of video presentation. But dry lectures are worse online than in person.  A video talking head reading a lesson is more effective than Ambien.   At least in a classroom you can torment a neighbor to keep both of you awake.  However, interesting and interactive video can hold students’ interest while delivering powerful lessons.

So now will Mike add video star to his resume?  Keep an eye on his website to find out.

Do We Still Have Any Privacy?

The recently leaked video of Mitt Romney at a private fundraising event has caused a lot of discussion in the political sphere.  Believing that his comments would stay in the room, he made some candid statements. Someone recorded the speech and gave it to a news outlet.  On a talk show after the video was made public, commentators discussed the speech and its effect on the presidential race.  The moderator asked her guest “Don’t you think Mr Romney had an expectation of privacy at this event?”.  The guest replied “There is no privacy anymore!”.

In today’s world of the Internet, cell phone cameras, GPS tracking in mobile devices, social networks, and other technology, how much of our privacy have we given up?

There may be a false sense of privacy when we are on our computers or phones, since we seem to be alone.  This is mistake.  There is nothing more public than the internet.  Nothing.  Think of it like streaking naked at a football game.  Pretty hard to keep that a personal, private event.

Social networks are the worst place to assume privacy.  A recent Wall Street Journal article describes how Facebook has increased its sales of member data to marketers so they can study the links between ads placed on the worlds largest social network and shopping habits.   http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443862604578029450918199258.html?mod=djemTECH_h

Here are some tips to retain the privacy you have left.

• Think of anything posted on a social network as the flu.  Anyone can easily ‘catch’ it and pass it on.  Comments, pictures, etc., that you share can go viral… as in a virus becoming an epidemic.
• Use private browsing to foil tracking cookies.  Many browsers have this option, but to be sure, use    http://www.google.com/webhp for private Google browsing, and DON’T sign into your Google account.  This lets you see search results that are unfiltered by your profile.
• Big Brother is watching your IP address (http://whatismyipaddress.com/ ).  Your internet provider routes websites to you as you request them via your browser.  While you type in ESPN.com, your IP address connects to 199.181.132.250, the IP address of ESPN’s servers in Burbank, CA.  ALL of this traffic data is saved. Your internet provider, the internet provider of ESPN and several systems in between all know that you were checking the scores of last night’s game during that important presentation by the CEO.
• Turn off the location services of your smartphone or tablet until you need it.  Your travels are tracked (and saved) whenever these services are enabled.  They are helpful when you’re looking for an address but generally it’s best to keep your location to yourself.

There is a tradeoff between sharing your information for a better experience and privacy.  Just don’t give up your privacy ignorantly.

Beer Money

At Oktoberfest in Munich this year, buying beer and trinkets just will be easier than ever before.  A local start up, Payworks http://www.sacbee.com/2012/09/17/4827747/mobile-payment-at-germanys-oktoberfest.html,  hopes the largest festival in the world will be a showcase for their mobile payment technology.  When one of the nearly 7 million visitors orders a Bavarian hat or stuffed animal, they will scan their card into a device plugged into an iPhone. The cardholder can electronically sign on the screen, then the phone instantly processes the payment.

SmartPhone processing credit card

The smartphone/card reader combo isn’t new.  Several companies in the U.S. have deployed plugin card readers over the past couple of years, and are now working on the next generation, combining location services (the GPS in your phone) with payments.

The question is whether this is a permanent solution, or just a step to full mobile payments that will go the way of the cassette tape?

Credit/debit cards are widely used and accepted, both by merchants and consumers. Today the mobile payment technology revolution looks more like a gold rush.  The major banks and credit card companies like VISA and AMEX, phone systems including Verizon and tMobile, tech giants Apple and Google, and a myriad of small start ups are all scrambling for a motherlode payday.

This frenzy will produce big winners and big losers. The complex forces of markets, regulators, marketing and adoption will take their toll.  Questions abound with few clear answers at the moment.  Questions such as will phone systems fall under banking regulations? What new equipment investment will burden merchants? And will Apple’s Passbook lock out Google’s wallet?

One thing is clear: Consumer adoption of smartphones guarantees this push to the next form of currency.  We may leave home without a wallet, keys or sunglasses.  But few of us forget our phone.

The outcome will effect all of us and how we buy stuff.  Whether its that new suit at Nordstrom, a triple latte at Starbucks, or trinkets at Oktoberfest, your smartphone will handle it.

Just as credit cards overtook checks and cash as the coin of the realm in the late 1980s, phones are poised to push them aside. So, here’s my credit card; I’ll take a large Bavarian hat in blue, please.

Big Data: Target Knows If Your Daughter Is Pregnant

In his book “The Power of Habit”, Charles Duhigg relates a most interesting tale.  A man enters a Minneapolis area Target store and demands to talk to the manager.  The manager listens as the gentleman angrily asks why Target mailed offers and coupons for baby clothes, furniture and other maternity items to his high school-age daughter.  Embarrassed, the manager apologizes and tries to explain it must have been some kind of mistake and promises to contact Target headquarters about the matter.  A few days later, the manager calls the gentleman to apologize again.  Sheepishly, the father admits that when he returned home, he spoke to his daughter.  She was indeed pregnant.

Target’s data analysis programs predicted that she was pregnant based on the girl’s purchases. Items such as unscented shampoo and lotions, vitamins and washcloths, as well as coupons she used, and other demographic data, all added to her customer profile.  And they are right better than 70% of the time.

As we walk, bike or drive with a smart phone, GPS, or tablet device, systems track our location. When we get email, go to a website, text, tweet or Facebook, our actions are stored.  Credit card data, on line purchases, coupons and gift cards used, and much more data, is all stored and analyzed for trends, patterns and anomalies. Why? All the better to market to you, my dear!

Companies and organizations need to know a lot about you, without you specifically telling them to accurately predict which book or movie you’re likely to buy, whether a cruise or bike trip is probably in your future, or which candidate you’ll vote for.  Many organizations predict whether a hurricane will hit New Orleans or Miami, study the human genome, or guess which players to trade for best shot at the world series.  All of this in turn requires a lot of data storage and management. A lot.

Welcome to the world of big data.

How much data you ask?  To put it in perspective, let’s use something we’re all familiar with as a basis of data storage- a music CD. A commercial CD holds about 3/4 of a gigabyte, or 750 megabytes (MB) of data for about an hour of music.  Your computer’s hard drive probably stores in gigabytes, or GB.  If you have a 500 GB drive, that’s about equal to 667 or so CDs.

1,000 gigabytes equals a terabyte (TB) or about 1,430 CDs.  Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, claims it uses 5.87 terabytes to store all of the entries.  The Library of Congress adds about 5 terabytes per month, and as of April 2011 estimate the data size of all its media at 235 terabytes.

A petabyte (PB) equals 1,000 terabytes, enough to fill 1.43 million CDs.  Now we’re into big data.  Walmart processes about a million customer transactions per hour, world wide. The download of this data comes out to 2.5 petabytes per month, or 167 times more than the media in the Library of Congress.

And what about Google?  How much data do they have?  Mountain View is very protective of this information, so no one really knows. But analysts guess it’s in the well over 200 petabytes in approximately 900,000 (that’s not a typo!) servers across the globe.

Orwell’s 1984 vision of an ever-watching ‘big brother’ doesn’t seem so far fetched in today’s wired and wireless world.  But instead of the government making you toe the line, Target wants to sell you a stroller.

Mobile Payment Technology and Adoption Gains More Traction

Every week it seems that mobile payment technology and adoption gains more traction.  Two articles were posted in the past few days showing that if you haven’t already started thinking and planning for the day when consumers use mobile payments more than credit/debit cards, checks or cash (combined!), now is the time!

First, the Electronics Transactions Association has formed a Mobile Payments Committee to study public policy, regulations and standards for  moving funds with a smart phone. Members include Visa, Mastercard, Discover, Wells Fargo and Capital One.  According to an article posted on VentureBeat,  AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, Google and Apple have joined as well.

venturebeat.com/2012/08/09/the-mobile-payments-committee-att-verizon-sprint-t-mobile-unite-for-the-future-of-payments/

Second,  Diane Mermigas writes in a post that “social media will move mobile payments to the next level”. http://www.businessinsider.com/social-will-move-mobile-payments-to-the-next-level-2012-8

Most organizations don’t use Facebook, Twitter, or texting with any skill.  Missing these vital communications links might mean your members, customers or patients could be picked off by someone who does.

Just as online banking changed the business nearly 20 years ago (yes, it’s been that long!), mobile devices and social media are shifting the world again.

Great Basin Engineering South Launches New Website

Great Basin Engineering South of Salt Lake City, UT has launched a new website, http://ROIEngineering.com delivering information about the company and it’s projects.  With over 50 years of civil engineering experience, Great Basin’s projects span 12 western states, from Washington to Texas, and Montana to California.

Working side-by-side with national retailers such as Kroger, Walgreens, and Target, local companies like Harmon’s and Bountiful Mazda, as well as developers such as Boyer Corp, Great Basin handled the civil engineering on a variety of projects, including fuel centers, large and small retail complexes, office and residential, and government developments.  Their objective is to maximize the developers’ ROI on every project by bringing insight and out-of-the-box concepts learned from their long experience.

Great Basin played a key role in developing The District, a multi-faceted shopping center with theaters, restaurants, specialty shops, a grocery store and large department stores in South Jordan, UT.  Currently the company is partnering with developers and Summit County on the Kimball Junction retail center in Park City, UT, and many others projects.

“We wanted a platform to showcase the diverse projects we have done over the years and to tell our story of helping developers maximize the potential of every project.” said Bret Wahlen, President and Managing Partner.

Great Basin chose Coppermoon to develop their website because of the company’s skill in strong design, video production and quick development time. Coppermoon’s common sense approach focuses on Great Basin’s strengths and capabilities.  A key requirement was the ability for Great Basin to manage the site without a programmer, and Coppermoon delivered.

Press Contact:

Rod Garlick
President, Coppermoon
Rod@coppermoonusa.com
801.660.0123
http://CoppermoonUSA.com

Google Sees Your Website Like An MRI

A few years ago I had an increasing pain in my neck and down my arm.  I went to the doctor and he ordered an MRI.  When it was over, the tech gave me a CD and told me to show it to the doc.  Being curious, I plugged it in to my computer and watched what appeared to be an X-Ray movie of my neck and spine.  Interesting, but I couldn’t really tell what was wrong.  (Watch this video as Dr. Corenman explains a neck/spine MRI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uO3xmPLrvvM)

After viewing, my doctor said I had a ruptured disk and was leaking the goo (he compared it to the filling in a Twinkie!) that separates the vertebrae. It wasn’t going away and I needed surgery to repair it.  The procedure was scheduled and I spend 3 days in hospital.

For most people, looking at your Google Analytics report of website traffic is about as clear as an medical MRI.  But it can reveal serious problems and opportunities, as well as track the marketing success of your website.

Google Analytics is powerful program that tracks all activity on your website.  http://coppermoonusa.com/analytics.html Google offers it free in exchange for sharing the anonymous data it collects.  The system shows how many visitors per day come to your site, which pages they visited, how long they spend on the each page, what keywords they used to find you, and much, much more.

Why is this of value?  Like the MRI, understanding the meaning of the data will improve your internet marketing performance and can increase your ROI.

Here are two quick examples.  One of our clients averages about 200 visitors to their site per day, and they pay an SEO (search engine optimization) firm to push them to page 1 of Google search.  But when we looked at the analytics, we saw that very few people are coming to their site using the keywords they are paying for. Armed with this data, they adjusted the keyword campaign to drive more traffic to their site.

For most credit unions and banks, visitors frequently come to their site and launch online banking.  Only a small percentage of visitors browse the rest of the site for information or offers.  Consequently, the site must deliver a clear and compelling message.  Many marketing departments spend a great deal of time and energy developing art and text, but have no idea how effective they are.  If there is an auto loan offer?  What percentage of visitors see it?  How many complete an application?  Of those, how many loans are approved?  This information gives you insight into how visitors behave on the site and what can be changed to improve performance.

Google Analytics, installed, properly configured and interpreted, can guide your internet marketing efforts to increase business and ROI.  Without it, measuring your online efforts are nothing more than opinion and blind luck.