Tips for Creating a Unique Web Site Experience for Visitors
October 22, 2012
Sticky sites are considered engaging and well-designed so that visitors find it hard to leave the site. In “Making Your Site Sticky for Both Search & Social Users,” Jordan Kasteler discusses the differences between search and social users and how to design a site with both in mind. He points out that search users are keyword based whereas social users begin with a click on a social network. Kasteler shares this tip on creating a unique experience for the user:
Personalized. We’ve come a long way since the days of sales-brochure websites. Your website shouldn’t look like every other site out there; rather, your audience should be able to instantly get a sense of what makes you different from your competitors.
He goes on to add this about in-site search capabilities:
Easy-To-Navigate, Easy-To-Use. For the search crowd, this means having an easy-to-navigate site with prominent menu options and an effective in-site search function. The social crowd should be attracted to these key features on your site: sales, promotions, popular blog posts, etc.
When you’re weighing options for Web site search solutions, consider Mindbreeze InSite to add a powerful and customized search experience for your Web site visitors. InSite is powered by semantic search and is customizable so you can give your site the most intuitive features and add some ‘stickiness’ to your site.
Philip West, October 22, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext.
IntelTrax Summary: October 12 to October 18
October 22, 2012
This week the IntelTrax advanced intelligence blog posted some informative stories regarding the state of big data analytics technology and its impact on marketers and retailers.
“Big Data Particularly Useful for Marketers” examines businesses can mine data that they are already collecting in order to increase revenue. The pressure to create a marketing strategy that is both customer and market driven is intense, and it has caused many marketers to turn to analytics solutions for aid:
“Marketing analytics used in conjunction with big data will help many organizations properly evaluate their marketing performance, gain insight into their clients’ purchasing habits, market trends and needs and make evidence-based marketing decisions. As one example, look at how politicians are using big data to identify their target audience and reach out to the so-called “silent majority.”
“Using Big Data Analytics to Predict Consumer Behavior” is another article that discusses the impact that big data analytics has on marketers. It examines changes in consumer behavior. Now, instead of marketers running the show, it is the customers who are leading market trends.
The article predicts:
“In the not-too-distant future, you will be able, for example, to change your contact information with many vendors at once, rather than many times, over and over, at many different websites. You will declare your own policies, preferences and terms of engagement—and do it in ways that can be automated both for you and the companies you engage. You will no longer have to “accept” agreements that aren’t worth reading because, as we all know, they cover the other party’s butt but expose yours.
In addition to your personal tool kit, you’ll have software that can knit together your apps with the services offered by companies, saving work for you and creating business for them—all in real time.”
Many smaller companies that are new to the analytics scene are choosing to invest in Google Analytics over some other solutions. “Google Analytics for Dummies” shares an article that provides a step-by-step look at how to use Google Analytics to determine the success of your sight.
However, the author explains:
“Google analytics are meaningless if you can not take the information it gathers and make necessary changes on your web site. Not everyone realizes this, but there are other companies out there that offer even more comprehensive analytics services than Google. Digital Reasoning has spent the past decade creating automated understanding for big data. Its flagship product Synthesys addresses big data challenges in the enterprise market – including Financial Services, Healthcare, Insurance Fraud, Electronic Discovery, and Enterprise Risk.”
Digital Reasoning is a company that has been working in the data analysis and management field to create a solution that takes the pressure off employees and automates the process. Synthesys is used by marketers worldwide to understand market trends and gain valuable insights into customer behavior.
Jasmine Ashton, October 22, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Big Data Creates Jobs and PolySpot Delivers Information
October 19, 2012
Big Data has been helping to increase efficiency and generate ROI for businesses, and now it might just help in lowering unemployment. Read Write Web’s article “Big Data Is Creating Big Job Demand” tells us that Big Data is opening the door to some computer savvy positions now and in the future.
Corporations are investing in employees that are proficient in software development and have a nice mix of IT related skills:
Even if you are not an engineer, many hiring managers want candidates to have a thorough understanding of the software development lifecycle. More development equals more QA or ensuring a project, product or service meets certain standards and satisfies requirements. Programming has been at the top of the career skills lists for quite a while, and there are no signs of this demand abating any time soon. Between big data and mobile-application demand alone, those who code well should have more employment opportunities for some time to come.
The innovative technologies keep developers in high demand and increase the need for skilled technical positions. Companies utilizing Big Data solutions that offer insight enabling infrastructure components such as PolySpot solutions will be set once the workforce is in place because these solutions deliver information securely to all employees.
Jennifer Shockley, October 19, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Zeppelin looks to enter the Ring with Other Social Business Tools
October 19, 2012
In “Yammer, Jive, Microsoft SharePoint are ‘Blank Pieces of Paper,’ says Zeppelin,” Meghan Kelly relays comments from Zeppelin on the social business tool’s potential to connect employees in the workplace. Zeppelin co-founder Anze Vodownik voiced opinion at the DEMO Conference that Yammer, Jive, SharePoint, and the like claim to be a new Facebook or Twitter but are installed in a company and become underused. She had this to say about the Zeppelin service:
Zeppelin lets employees put quick blurbs about their day in front of coworkers. It connects with Google Analytics, Basecamp, Microsoft, and customer relationship management systems, and allows employees to upload files and photos. You can also sign up for a daily or weekly summary of what is happening on your team.
The company launched its private beta today. Right now, Zeppelin is only going after the small to medium-sized business market.
SharePoint is a ubiquitous platform that is only increasing adoption rates. When it comes to encouraging collaboration in the business environment, consider a third party application that also taps into all of your information, including social media channels. Mindbreeze facilitates the comprehensive incorporation of all electronic data repositories and connects seamlessly with SharePoint. Social business and employee collaboration fueled by efficient and comprehensive access to information is possible with Mindbreeze.
Philip West, October 19, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext.
The Google Search Appliance Adds Bells and Whistles
October 18, 2012
A version of this article appears on the www.citizentekk.com Web site.
The Google Search Appliance is getting along in year. A couple of weeks ago (October 2012), Google announced that Version 7.0 of the Google Search Appliance GB-7007 and the GB-9009 was available. The features of the new system are long-overdue in my opinion. Among the new features are two highly desirable enhancements: better security controls, faceted browsing. But the killer feature, in my opinion, is support of the Google Translate application programming interface.
Microsoft will have to differentiate the now aging SharePoint Search 2013 from a Google Search Appliance. Why? GSA Version 7 can be plugged into a SharePoint environment and the system will, without much or fuss, index the SharePoint content. Plug and play is not what SharePoint Search 2013 delivers. The fast deployment of a GSA remains one of its killer features. Simplicity and ease of use are important. When one adds Google magic, the GSA Version 7 can be another thrust at Microsoft’s enterprise business.
See http://www.bluepoint.net.au/google-search/gsa-product-model
Google has examined competitive search solutions and, in my opinion, made some good decisions. For example, a user may add a comment to a record displayed in a results list. The idea of allowing enterprise users add value to a record was a popular feature of Vivisimo Velocity. But since IBM acquired Vivisimo, that company has trotted down the big data trail.
Endeca has for more than 12 years offered licensees of its systems point-and-click navigation. An Endeca search solution can slash the time it takes for a user to pinpoint content related to a query. Google has made the GSA more Endeca like while retaining the simplified deployment which characterizes an appliance solution.
As I mentioned in the introduction, one of the most compelling features of the Version 7 GSAs is direct support for Google Translate. Organizations increasingly deal with mixed language documents. Product and market research will benefit from Google’s deep support of languages. At last count, Google Translate supported more than 60 languages, excluding Latin and Pig Latin. Now Google is accelerating its language support due to its scale and data sets. Coupled with Google’s smart software, the language feature may be tough for other vendors to match.
Enterprise searchers want to be able to examine a document quickly. To meet this need, Google has implemented in-line document preview. A user can click on a hit and see a rendering of the document without having to launch the native applications. A PDF in a results list appears without waiting the seconds it takes for Adobe Reader or FoxIt to fetch and display the document.
What’s not to like? The GSA GB-7007 and GB-9009 delivers most of the most-wanted features to make content searchable regardless of resource. If a proprietary file type must be indexed, Google provides developers with enough information to get the content into a form which the GSA can process. Failing that, Google partners and third-party vendors can deliver specialized connectors quickly.
Search Technology Delivers Enterprise Information
October 18, 2012
Generic server markets are desperately trying to hang on to their hardware margins but the new competition comes with some renown. Corporations like IBM and Cisco are seizing opportunities to create a unified computing system that might just drive the smaller servers out of business according to GigaOM’s article “Does Big Data Really Need Custom Hardware?”.
IBM is using their built in expertise and reputation as leverage in attempt to corner the Big Data market:
There are many who think that data processing will require something above and beyond a typical x86 set up, such as a box from SeaMicro or Calxeda machine with low-power cores that are networked to work in parallel to parse many bits of data in small chunks. Others are thinking farther ahead and envision new architectures that mimic the human brain. These boxes aren’t about the whiz-bang tech inside; they’re an admission that services wrapped in a box are the main opportunity ahead for larger vendors.
Information management software already exists that can effectively and securely extract and enrich raw data within an enterprise-wide environment. The hook for IBM is to draw users to their other PureData services and push out the smaller companies. Enterprises have been relying on smaller scale developers such as Polyspot for information delivery solutions so it is unlikely that these innovative companies will be bullied out of their field of expertise, even by someone as colossal as IBM.
Jennifer Shockley, October 18, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Making Connections between Data with Semantic Search
October 18, 2012
In “Google’s Knowledge Graph: Implications for Search & SEO,” Bharati Ahuja discusses Google’s hopes for the Knowledge Graph to help deliver a more perfect search engine, or in Google’s Matt Cutts’s opinion, a knowledge engine. The Knowledge Graph aims to help users find the right thing, get the best summary, and go deeper and broader to discover more about the search to potentially answer the user’s next question before it is asked. Ahuja explains its impact on SEO:
The Knowledge Graph is also paving the way to new approaches toward SEO. Semantic search isn’t just about the web. It’s about all information, data, and applications. Data is the foundation on which such a web and search world can exist. Data in itself is meaningless, but when data gets linked because of its relationships with various data sets available on the web, it becomes useful and meaningful. So when users type in a query, these inter-connected relationships add context and the related information more powerful.
The power of semantic search in addition to relevant content is key to gaining and retaining an audience. A powerful search system that can make connections among vast amounts of data can also help deliver a better search experience for users. One solution worth taking a look at is InSite from Mindbreeze. InSite is capable of searching a wide variety of specific documents, including PDFs, Excel sheets, and Word documents, as well as searching social media sites and Web sites.
Philip West, October 18, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext.
PolySpot Releases New Administrative Console
October 17, 2012
PolySpot’s latest video explains the features and functions of Version 6 of its Administration Console. With this latest release, PolySpot leapfrogs of the administrative interfaces available from many other vendors. PolySpot Information At Work includes a configuration and administration console that covers the entire process, from connector management to search service creation.
The company has provided a video demonstrating the uses of this new administrative console and detailing these high-value enhancement; for example, the ability to configure views with a click, modify the document view with a single click, and autocomplete.
PolySpot, leader in information access solutions, has released a brand new administration console as part of the company’s infrastructure component, Information at Work. Information at Work is a cost-effective component that can help users develop applications to access the information they need.
The updated console provides quick and easy-to-use intermodule navigation with new navigation menus and focuses on providing guidance during the workflow of configuration. Other features of the interface include:
PolySpot Silo Breaker: Distributed data extraction framework.
PolySpot Sense Builder: Dedicated, asynchronous structuring and semantic enrichment platform.
PolySpot SearchMart: Service based on PolySpot InfoWarehouse used to publish index-linked search services. Can be accessed via a range of different applications using an XML/HTTP API.
The video can be viewed here. We think the video demonstration is useful and worth checking out.
Andrea Hayden, October 17, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Information Delivery for Mobile Workers: A Big Data Need
October 17, 2012
In the beginning of the Big Data craze, there was always the impending potential of tiny mobile devices, tablets and Wi-Fi connections bringing even more data to the table. Now, massive amounts of data repositories from all the user activity on exists, but the question of analyzing it effectively and quickly still remains on the table.
With the consistent boasting of the benefits of Big Data, it is no surprise that the TechCrunch article “Telefonica Wants To Turn Its Mobile Data Into A Big Data Business, Launches Dynamic Insights Unit” states the mobile industry is ready for their piece of Big Data action:
Big data is one of the key building blocks of the digital economy. Approached in a smart and responsible way it has the potential to transform every part of business and society. Telefónica says that Dynamic Insights’ first product will be called “Smart Steps” and will be aimed at companies and public-sector organizations to “measure, compare, and understand what factors influence the number of people visiting a location at any time. Presumably, it will combine not just user numbers over given periods but also track movements at particular locations.
Having access to all that data does no good without a reliable information management platform to allow enterprise wide access to relevant data swiftly and securely. We’ve got our eyes on PolySpot information delivery solutions.
Jennifer Shockley, October 17, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
How a Sitemap Can Enhance a Web Presence
October 17, 2012
Business2Community covers the importance of Web site indexing in its piece, “How To Build Your Own Sitemap in Five Minutes, and Why You Need To.” In it, the author discusses differences processes for simply creating an effective sitemap. However, he begins with an introduction.
When you ask most business owners and beginning online marketers what a ‘Sitemap’ is, you usually get two responses. ‘What’s that?’ or ‘That’s just too complicated for us.’ Sitemaps for your website aren’t impossible to make, and they certainly aren’t a waste of time. To understand why you need to make your own Sitemap today, you need to understand what they are and how they work.
The author then goes on to recommend various tools and techniques for effectively creating a sitemap. However, there are other solutions that not only automatically generate sitemaps, but also automatically crawl and index any organization’s site in order to enable effective Web site search. One highly awarded option is Fabasoft Mindbreeze InSite. Fabasoft Mindbreeze takes the guesswork out of indexing and mapping, reaping high results with little effort. Explore how Fabasoft Mindbreeze might enhance your organization’s online presence today.
Emily Rae Aldridge, October 17, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext.
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