Web 2.0 | SiteIQ

Archive for Web 2.0

The new CA.com | One step forward, three steps back

By Marty Gruhn · Comments (2)

Wednesday, July 21st, 2010

The new CA.com has retained its powerful “snacking” architecture but missed the Web 2.0 & social media memos

In case you haven’t noticed, CA.com recently launched a new site. As is our custom, we’ve delayed our deep-drive about six weeks to let the CA.com team find snafus and work out the bugs. Now it’s time to put the site through its paces. Here’s our Cliff’s Notes analysis: (siteIQ clients can read the complete analysis here. (log in required)

Pros

CA.com has retained its product marketing “snacking architecture,” which is one of the most powerful in the business. If you haven’t seen this in action, pick any CA product and follow the bouncing ball.

CA.com is one of few sites that know how to craft marketing content as a set of questions that speak to visitor objectives. If you need inspiration, CA.com is the place to start.

CA.com’s new design is consistent across the site; not many page owners missed the memo. CA.com is yet another example of the iterative design strategy we discussed in a recent post.

CA.com makes great use of tab-top organization on its product level pages (shades of Sun.com, yikes!). Overall, a tab-top tour de force.

Neutral

CA.com’s play on mega-menus brings it into the fold, but these menus are much less impressive than those deployed by Cisco.com and Juniper.net. Close, but no cigar.

Cons

CA.com just couldn’t resist the “eye candy” factor on its home page. In this case, it’s those revolving boxes that use type fonts that are a Mr. Magoo moment at any screen size – and whirl at the drop of a hat. Here, CA.com gets a B+ for visual impact – and D- for usability and relevance. Read More→

Comments (2)

Categories : Design, POV (point of view), Social Media & Social Networks, Web 2.0, Website Launches

Tags : ca.com, Social Media, Web 2.0, website launches

Why social networks, communities, and Web 2.0 aren’t B2B shotguns

By Marty Gruhn · Comments (1)

Wednesday, April 7th, 2010

It’s time to stop fiddling around and apply them where they matter

The French have a wonderful phrase “plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose”. It’s an elegant way to say that the more things change, the more they remain the same.

That’s certainly the case when you consider the complex B2B buying process. Since our last update in 2006, this process remains the same. It’s still dictated by task forces and committees who must wade through 17 steps to get to the finish line. Participants are still purchase influencers, rather than the decision makers companies crave. Websites still influence only 5 steps in the buying process.

But that doesn’t mean that everything remains the same. Read More→

Comments (1)

Categories : Communities, Marketing, Social Media & Social Networks, Strategy, Web 2.0, eSelling

Tags : B2B buying, B2b selling, Communities, eSelling, Marketing, podcast, Social Media, social networks, Strategy, video, Web 2.0, webinar

The new siteIQ.net – Every Web team’s nightmare

By Marty Gruhn · Comments (2)

Tuesday, March 30th, 2010

We launched a new Website this week. It has plenty of bells and whistles and some cool technology that I’ve always admired on other sites. After the launch – and the requisite champagne toast – something smacked me upside the head.

This site is an example of an important inflection point.

Why? Because we conceived, designed & built this site in about 3 weeks. We didn’t have an interactive agency. A horde of programmers. Consultants. Contractors. Just us.

The reason this was doable is because our new site is built on an open-source WordPress platform, a template we tweaked and improved, plus an bazillion readily available plug-ins that nixed the need to hand-craft advanced features, bells and whistles — and important management tools (such as SEO optimization). Instead of getting out the coding book, we spent our time deciding which sets of features and capabilities addressed our visitors’ needs.

Oh, and one other thing. Designs, layouts, color palettes and cool doodads can be changed at the drop of a hat. Site management is a snap – and so is the document management system. Read More→

Comments (2)

Categories : Design, Strategy

Tags : Design, SEO, tipping point, Web 2.0, website design, website development

Mega and Fat Become the Fashions of the Day

By Marty Gruhn · Comments (2)

Wednesday, February 10th, 2010

Click on this graph to see a lightbox of all best practices in this post

Five Websites are setting the pace

It’s interesting how something starts to hit a tipping point on the IT Web. Mega-menus are one of these designs – and fat footers aren’t far behind them.

In the mega-menu race, there are two main strategies in play, and some good and best practices worth considering.

On the strategy side, we have two basic approaches in evidence these days: mega-menus targeted at straight navigation – and those that add product marketing, corporate marketing and call to action dimensions. In every case, there are great examples of both approaches on the IT Web. Here’s some places to start: Read More→

Comments (2)

Categories : Design, Navigation, Usability, Web 2.0

Tags : brocade.com, dell.com, Design, emc.com, fat footer, hp.com, insight.com, juniper.net, mega-menu, microsoft.com, Navigation, newegg.com, novell.com, Usability, Web 2.0

Why IBM Software, SAS, EMC, Intel, Brocade & Deloitte made the cut

By Marty Gruhn · Comments (0)

Monday, February 1st, 2010

This week we started our Q1 evaluations of 23 Websites, plus additional sites selected by our clients for comparison.

We’ve mixed up the siteIQ eBusiness Index for 2010. In some cases the decision was based on eliminating Websites that haven’t improved over the past year and don’t provide any good or best practices worth tracking. In other cases, sites have fallen off our list because they don’t exist anymore. That would be EDS.com which was integrated into HP.com — and Sun.com which went off the airwaves last week.

In both cases, these sites are a loss to anyone who cares about good and great practices. Don’t bother to follow them to their new homes. Their presence inside of their new parent’s sites is nothing to write home about.

Here’s some more about the new sites added to our roster – and why we’re singing “auld lang syne” to others. (If you are a siteIQ client you can read more about what we expect from these and other leading sites in 2010 in our new executive brief in the siteIntelligence Research Center). Read More→

Comments (0)

Archive for Web 2.0

The new siteIQ.net – Every Web team’s nightmare

Mega and Fat Become the Fashions of the Day

Five Websites are setting the pace

Why IBM Software, SAS, EMC, Intel, Brocade & Deloitte made the cut

Categories

Receive New Best Practice Alerts

Follow Marty Gruhn on Twitter

siteIQ Poll | How Does Your Website Sell?