Linkwheels, Growing Lists, Good Metrics, and the UX of Videogames – The Monday July 4th Roundup

 

Isn’t it some kind of holiday today? Happy Independence Day to our friends down south.

So Google+ was released last week and the internet was ablaze with information about it. Ironic, since there isn’t really that much to say about it… Perhaps more interesting (or just as interesting) was the fact that the ICANN decision on TLDs includes allowing any company to register their TLD. Of course, it will cost $180,000 just to apply.  Not to mention some of the search engine issues with corporate TLD’s and relevance to users.

Anyways, this week we have Forrester’s views on Google+, problems with linkwheels, good metrics, and what we can learn about UX from videogames.

Create

• Apparently Forrester agrees with me about Google+… kinda. They actually think that it will be big with small groups, despite the lack of group management features that I complained about beforehand. I still think that until it gets a better group functionality (circles aren’t groups, they’re a method of contact sorting) and more event/group management features.
• GetElastic has 10 Ecommerce replatforming mistakes covering a range from management problems to technical solutions. A pretty good list.

Attract

• Another top ten list? What’s happening to me? This time it’s Brontoblog on 10 tactics to grow your email list. I have to question their recommendation of using pop-ups though. Ugh.
• Linkbuildr has a good warning about using link building programs to develop linkwheels. Specifically an example of a client who used SEnuke to develop a large link wheel strategy and later saw their rankings tank. A shame, and a hard lesson to learn.

Analyze

• Looks like Google +1’s are implemented into GA now. There are a variety of nice reports under the “social” tab, as well as some new metrics in Google Webmaster Tools.
• Avinash has more advice on metrics, specifically how to avoid bad metrics. Classic Avinash, good advice, complex metrics, ninjas.

Optimize

• UX Booth has an interesting post talking about the user experience of Fable III, and how it mirrors a lot of the same UX problems we see in websites. It’s a pretty interesting take on the problems with the game, focusing both on how UI choices convoluted what should have been a simple menu process, and simplifying gameplay lead to an unengaging game.
• Today I came across Pro People’s massive roundup of user experience resources. Not much to say about this except that it’s huge and has way more content than I have been able to go through yet.