Dustin Coates

Generally the most exciting thing to happen to me at work is getting a quality link with just the right key phrase (vehicle shipping, if you're wondering). But a few weeks back we got an interesting photo from a uShip fan. I thought, "You know, I think Valleywag would like this." Sure enough, they linked to it.

And, luckily, the post on Valleywag took off on Digg. It ended up with 159 Diggs, just missing the front page. While a social media hit on your own site is always welcome, so is something that links to you on someone else's site--because chances are the post on uShip wouldn't have gotten nearly that many Diggs.

An update to my Microsoft Gatineau Review with more information from Analytics 2.0:
Ian Thomas commented (Hey Ian, no comment love over here?) that the five dollar fee will be soon, plus there will be another refresh coming up. Good news on the removal of the fee--I hope the other improvements will go a long way in creating a Google Analytics slayer. Competition can only be good for this niche.

A while back Microsoft had announced that they would soon have an analytics offering for the general public, jumping in yet again to compete with Google. While the project is still in closed beta, here's a first look at Microsoft's foray into the free analytics space. I have to warn you, it's about to get ugly.

How many clicks does it take to get to the center of a Microsoft product?
One of the first things I immediately notice is just how difficult it is to get where I want to go. Let's say I just want to see how many visitors I've had that day. I log in, click Analytics, click Profiles, choose the profile I want, and then see how many visitors I've had that day. For those keeping count, that is four clicks versus two for Analytics.

Alright, well let's see how many people are visiting my About Dustin Coates page. As a baseline, Google Analytics takes three clicks (none if the page you are looking for is one of your top five most popular). Gatineau takes five. While this doesn't sound like much more, it's actually much worse in practice. You have to click through each individual folder to get to the page you want to see. This might usually involve you having to open your site and find the exact path of the page you want. Worse, if there's any way to see what is your top rated content, I can't find it.

But what about the demographic information?
Gatineau's strongest selling point was that you could see the demographic data on who visited your content. But, as you'll see in the graphic below, that doesn't work too well, either. Around 90% of all visitors came back as unknown for a given segment. The only demographic segment that comes back with meaningful data is geographic location and on this as well the data is not presented as usefully as it is with Google Analytics.

Other issues with Microsoft Gatineau
-How do I find out what pages people are landing on for a given search term? This another one where, if it's offered I can't find it.
-Goals and funnels can't be set up within the profile viewing area. I have to go all the way back to the list of different profiles.
-Gatineau is pretty slow. This is a minor point, but with all the clicks that are required, it adds up.
-It's not entirely free. You have to create an AdCenter account if you want to use it, which is five dollars. Google doesn't require this and, honestly, I wouldn't pay five dollars for Gatineau at the moment.

In closing
To be completely fair, Gatineau is in beta and there are obviously improvement coming along (for example report exporting is not available at the moment). However, Gatineau has a long way to go, even considering the private beta tag. Microsoft can compete with Google if they want to do so, but they aren't even close right now.

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A couple updates. One: Changed the recommended sites on the right, to better reflect what this blog is about. Check them out, as they're all great sites.
Two: Have a lot of posts coming up. I've been putting together a link development training manual for work, and I'll be writing some of my thoughts on putting it together and some other link development posts.

In the meantime, as always, feel free to contact me at dustin@dcoates.com

This past week saw a sharp increase in traffic coming to dcoates.com with my post on sites that use Facebook Beacon bringing in the bulk of that traffic. What did I learn from the experience? Let's take a look.

Post ahead of the curve.
My first post on Facebook Beacon was on November 17. While this wasn't immediately after I noticed Beacon, it was soon enough that I identified that there was a gap online: finding a site list was difficult. Plus, it was before most others started noticing Beacon. This had the positive effect of allowing my post to be indexed before people really started looking for information on which websites use Beacon.

Make your title stand out.
The original title of that post was "41 Sites Using Facebook Beacon." Good... but it could be better. If you search for "sites that use Facebook Beacon" or "Facebook Beacon sites" I'm not number one. But, as others have pointed out, being number one is overrated. What I did have was a title that stood out when scanning the page. And I have no doubt that that is what drove much of that traffic.

Promoting your website is good. Having others promote it is better.
Not long after I wrote the post I submitted it to Mixx, thinking it had a chance to catch on. And...it didn't. It's sitting right now at 8 votes--not exactly the viral spread I was hoping for.

Which leads to the second half. The bulk of the traffic came from a post on Consumerist. The best thing about that is I didn't e-mail the link to Consumerist and I didn't post it in the comments--someone else did it for me, which is the primary rule of social media: write something good, and people will promote it for you.

Have any lessons you learned from your first post to "hit it big?" E-mail me at dustin@dcoates.com or leave a comment below.

Blockquote is a new feature at dcoates.com where I'll take quotes from historical figures, authors, politicians, etc. and examine what it can teach you about blogging and seo. As this is the first in a series, I'll look at two quotes.

William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway are considered to be among the greatest American writers. Both won the Nobel Prize for Literature (Hemingway five years after Faulkner) and both influenced countless writers. Each, as well, had a writing style distinct from the other. This is best exemplified by remarks from 1947:

Faulkner: "...he has no courage, has never climbed out on a limb...has never used a word where the reader might check his usage by a dictionary."

Hemingway, of course, shot back with a quip of his own:

Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words?

Who should you emulate when writing for your own website? I'm coming down firmly on the side of Faulkner.

Less Writing Equals More Readers
Unless you're someone like Malcolm Gladwell, you shouldn't be aiming for novella-style posts. People are increasingly using feed readers and have numerous other sites that they want to read in addition to yours. Short posts are a way to make sure they read more of what you have to say.

This isn't to say that you can't pack a lot of information and entertainment into few words. Hemingway famously wrote a story containing just six of them--"For sale: baby shoes, never worn." You can surely squeeze your latest post into a few paragraphs.

By saying more with less you can actually get your audience to read more of what you have to say. Which means more pageviews, increased participation, and a larger audience. Something to keep in mind when writing your next blog post.

Now that I'm back from vacation, posting should continue as regular. As always, contact me at dustin@dcoates.com

Since my last post about Facebook Beacon there has been a wide range of reactions to the new feature. In fact, I first knew something was up when I heard someone offline saying, "Hey, what's that on my Facebook page?" Then it hit me: If you don't read the Internet news and blogs, you probably didn't know this was coming. For Facebook, this has been another blunder for what is otherwise a pretty remarkable company.

Facebook has learned seemingly little from the newsfeed fiasco. In that instance, as with this one, Facebook rolled out a new feature without notifying the users of it first. In the end, Zuckerburg apologized and learned the entirely wrong lesson. It wasn't only the privacy issue that upset users--it was that Facebook was changed and users weren't warned ahead of time.

Facebook took the stance then as they seem to be taking now that "this feature is really nifty and you should like it because we do" without realizing that the people who make Facebook and the people who use Facebook are not the same. Facebook users are not the early adopters and are not the web savvy. And they don't read the Facebook Blog. In fact, Facebook launched a feature and nobody showed up. So they had to remind them again.

It would be easy, then, to think that it's just those who don't use the Internet much that are upset about that. Except that isn't quite right. Even the technologically sophisticated dislike Facebook Beacon. Even if you think it's not a big deal in part, the sum equals trouble.

Things seem to be changing on the Facebook Beacon front, although Dare Obasanjo points out that what needs to be done is undesirable for Facebook. Responding to Moveon.org, Facebook has said they will institute changes, which will likely mean adding features that were present in early working versions of Beacon. If you don't want to wait, there's another option. You can disable Facebook Beacon through some Firefox plugin action.

So what does this all mean for Facebook? Facebook has made another blunder that they should have learned to avoid. Whether they learn more from this one is to be seen. Even if they do, the question remains on how to properly monetize the site. Facebook's click-through rates are simply atrocious and the site has to make money somehow. Beacon was obviously an idea in that direction, but if Beacon fails, does Facebook have any other options waiting?

Facebook Beacon is the new form of advertising on Facebook. Essentially how it works is that when you do something on a participating site, it will send that to Facebook and your news feed for all of your friends to see. Personally, I like the idea in theory. I do a multitude of things on the web that I'd like to share with friends, but most of them are on Facebook and that is the extent of their social media use. Facebook Beacon allows me to share that with them.

However, I wanted to know which sites used Facebook Beacon. I couldn't find the information easily on the Facebook site, so I took to Google. It didn't seem as if anyone had compiled a list, though I did find a Facebook press release mentioning participating websites. Below is the full list and, when available, what information the websites send to Facebook. The one entry I found the most interesting was the one for Redlight. As I mention below, I couldn't find any site that went by that name that wasn't an adult site. Maybe the same people who share their porn viewing are the ones who are interested in Random Play?

1. eBay- eBay will send your auction listings to Facebook, beginning in 2008.
2. Fandango- Fandango lets Facebook know when you buy movie tickets.
3. College Humor
4. Busted Tees
5. iWon
6. Citysearch- Citysearch will most likely notify Facebook Beacon when you post a review.
7. Pronto.com- Again most likely will send reviews to Beacon.
8. echomusic
9. Travelocity- Travel plans booked on Travelocity will appear on Facebook Beacon.
10. Allposters.com- This shouldn't really be a surprise, as Allposters.com has been a heavy advertiser on Facebook all along.
11. Blockbuster- Movies added to your queue on Blockbuster Total Access will be sent to Facebook Beacon.
12. Bluefly.com- Probably another website that sends an update to Facebook Beacon when you buy something.
13. CBS Sports
14. Dotspotter
15. ExpoTV- Another review website.
16. Gamefly- Probably will be the same as Blockbuster--you rent a game, Facebook Beacon gets an update.
17. Hotwire- Probably the same as Travelocity in that Facebook Beacon gets an update when you book travel.
18. Joost
19. Kiva
20. Kongregate- Sends an update to Facebook Beacon when you play a game on Kongregate.
21. LiveJournal
22. Live Nation- Will probably send Facebook Beacon an update when you buy concert tickets.
23. Mercantila
24. The NBA
25. The New York Times
26. Overstock.com
27. (RED)
28. Redlight- Here's an interesting one, because I couldn't find anything under the name of "Redlight" that isn't, well, something I wouldn't want to share on Facebook. I doubt many people are going to want to share their porn habits to their classmates and coworkers. Who knows, though, maybe so?
29. Seamless Web- Just what I would want--Facebook Beacon notifying the moocher down the hall when I order food to be delivered.
30. Sony Online Entertainment
31. Sony Pictures
32. STA Travel- A no brainer, as STA caters to the student market and sharing travel plans with your friends is obvious.
33. TheKnot- Another obvious one, and one of two wedding sites on the initial list.
34. TripAdvisor
35. Travel Ticker- Another Hotwire offering on Beacon.
36. Typepad
37. viagogo
38. Vox- Doesn't appear to be live at the moment.
39. Yelp- This one is currently live. Add a review and it sends an update to Beacon.
40. WeddingChannel.com- The second wedding related service integrated with Facebook Beacon.
41. Zappos- Buy shoes, let your friends know via Facebook Beacon.

Know of any other services using Facebook Beacon or know of any ways the sites I've listed are using Beacon that I haven't listed? Shoot me an e-mail at dustin@dcoates.com and I'll update the list.

Update: Check out my newest post on the Facebook Beacon issue.

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No posts this week, but with good reason: for the past few days I have been in Mountain View, California attending the Under the Rader: Mobility Conference. How did I manage that? Proverbial right place, right time.

"Eighty percent of success is showing up."--Woody Allen

I've been doing quite a bit of research into social networks lately and, as such, Mashable is an extremely valuable blog for me to read on a daily basis. Last week they had a post asking for submissions as to who we thought was the most underrated website/startup. I thought, the folks I work for are pretty underrated--why not name them? And, sure, enough Mashable agreed.

I get the e-mail telling me I've won on Monday night--meaning I had less than two days to pull everything together. And that's just what happened. Between the time I found out that I won and the time that I left Austin, not much more than 36 hours had passed. In that time Mashable's post had made the front page of Digg and sent a ton of views my employer's way. And there I am heading out to Mountain View for this conference--entirely free.

The lesson to be learned from all of this, I suppose is just to show up. It took me less than thirty seconds to write that post--and I got a free trip and conference pass out of it and the website I work for got a load of publicity. When it's that simple, what's the harm in trying? There may be little chance that you'll win, but your time invested is so small that you really have no excuse.