As 2009 comes to a close, 2010 will usher in some fantastic changes for applications.  I am making three application predictions for next year, showing the application landscape’s constant shift and change to meet new user and market demands:

1. The Rise of Social Security Apps
   As phishing, worms and viruses become more prevalent on social networks (see: Koobface and Mikeyy); I predict in 2010, we will see a rise of applications and browser add-ons dedicated to improve security on social networks.  These apps will function as scouts, preemptively warning users to impending dangers, such as worms that intend to gather sensitive information available on your social network profile.  The need for these types of apps is clear and would provide a great protective benefit to consumers.
2. Location finds its way to Desktop Apps
   There are many great social location-based services gaining momentum with users as of lately:  Gowalla, Foursquare, and Loopt are just a few.  Yes, these services are generally best rendered on a mobile device.  But I predict, in 2010, that many of these services will create auxiliary desktop apps.  Presence on the desktop would offer an enhanced user experience: persistent views into location of friends, trip planning/scheduling, landmark information and media, local event information, management of digital collectibles, and account management options.
3. Application Indexing Improves
   I’ve written previously about how application indexes should improve.  These services, such as Wakoopa, catalog desktop applications and their related usage data. I predict these services will improve greatly in 2010.  Currently, their user base skews heavily towards the tech-savvy audience.  To truly index the world of applications, these services need to gain acceptance from all demographics and I predict they will crack this nut next year.  These services will then grow in popularity on a scale comparable to mobile app stores, such as Apple’s App Store and Google Android’s Market.

So there you have it; three application predictions for 2010.  But surely there’s more than just this.  What predictions do you have for the application landscape next year?  Be bold and leave your predictions in the comments!

Eric Montag, Product Manager, W3i, LLC
Eric is a Pragmatic Marketing Certified Product Manager and uses his experience in internet marketing to lead the charge in product research, planning, and execution from both a consumer and business standpoint.  

Add-On-Con was a buzz-worthy event for marketers and developers of browser add-ons.  My last posting recapped how browsers plan to lead all application platforms.  If you didn’t catch it, read it here.  In this post, I will cover the Add-On-Con buzz on add-on business models.  In my next post, I will cover the Add-On-Con buzz on add-on distribution channels.

Add-On Business Models

Paid Model

• Marketplace for add-ons.
  • Developers agreed that a marketplace, promoting the buying and selling of add-ons, is desirable.
    • The marketplace should provide an embedded payment platform.
    • A concern was raised by a developer, Chris Finke, regarding whether or not you could establish a user-base if you charge users.  Add-ons rely heavily on receiving buzz through the add-on galleries and with users which could be less effective if you begin charging as this creates higher friction.
  • Firefox mentioned a marketplace was one of the most commonly requested features from developers through AMO.
  • Firefox announced its plan to release a marketplace at the end of 2010.
• One developer, Eric Jung from FoxyProxy, is already having success with charging for their add-on.
  • Subscriptions he recommended as the best method for charging for add-ons because they allow the developer to create an ongoing stream of revenue which supports continuing to update the software.
  • Eric prefers leveraging the freemium model to drive the initial paid conversions.
• Contributions (donations) so far are not impressing anyone with Firefox.
  • Top developers are earning just $1,000 per month.

Ad-Supported Model

• Promotion – Developers are using add-ons to promote websites that have their own business models.
• Search Advertisements – Yahoo spoke about providing search advertisements, for syndication, as a source of revenue for add-ons including, but not limited to, toolbars.
• Installer Recommendations – I shared results from a recent W3i survey of 502 users which showed that of the ad-supported solutions, app/add-on marketers preferred the method of users seeing ads within the installation or download instead of ads in their application, or participating in market research.  Check out W3i to learn more about generating revenue through the installation of your add-on.
• Data – It came up several times that the data captured from add-ons is a potentially lucrative source of revenue.  Appeasing user’s privacy concerns and monetizing data were viewed with skepticism by most developers.

During my ten years of experience distributing add-ons and consumer apps, I learned that it pays to test various business models.  There is continual evolution, so it pays to discover and test new models to stay afloat.  For more information on using the W3i Application Network to generate revenue for your browser add-on, click here.

Ryan Weber, Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Co-Founder, W3i, LLC
Entrepreneur and pioneer of Internet marketing focusing on increasing revenue and distribution for digital downloads.

      I attended my first Add-On-Con conference on December 11^th at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View.  I was very excited to attend the event, which my company W3i sponsored, as I felt the stage was set for an epic battle between the browsers over who was the best application platform.  The winner of this battle in my mind could very well be the dominant application platform for all applications for the next decade.  History I felt was unfolding before my own eyes.

I will recap the Add-On-Con conference by breaking down the buzz surrounding browsers, add-on business models, and add-on distribution channels in three postings starting with browser buzz.

Browsers

Google Chrome technically has leaped ahead of competition

• Developers I came into contact with generally agreed that Google Chrome’s support for add-ons is technically superior when considering both user and developer ease of use.
  • Chrome is more gracefully handling resource management when many add-ons are installed on the same browser.
  • Security is improved with Chrome so that users can better understand what is being required by an add-on and more easily manage.  This also supports a lower burden for developers as they do not have to wait to be reviewed by Google in most cases to be listed in their gallery.
  • Users can install, and begin using add-ons, without needing to restart the browser.
  • Development is faster and easier.

Side note:  Google is betting on web-based applications, over native applications, for mobile and desktop devices (read more).  They believe that the web has won and that the browser will become the platform that matters and is hence where they are investing most heavily.

On December 8^th, Google released Google Chrome Extensions support with their latest version of Google Chrome.  This release was the first in which users were able to install browser add-ons which included providing access from their gallery.

• Mozilla’s Jetpack project for Firefox, targeted to release May/June 2010 as part of Firefox 3.7, appears to address the last three points above.
  • Jetpack creates a sandbox which limits access to the browser for add-ons and then allows access to the add-on depending on the access required as declared in an add-on’s manifest  (similar to what Chrome is doing).
    • This improved security is similar to how Chrome manages it.  Firefox plans to still review new add-ons before listing them in AOM (http://addons.mozilla.org is Firefox’s add-on gallery) but the review process will be greatly reduced due to a more efficient process.   The review process might be under a day in fact
  • Jetpack will merge with current Firefox add-on supported technology for a single solution to users in 2010.  That is, there will be a single gallery of add-ons for users with no distinction made from those existing to those that are built using Jetpack
  • Jetpack allows users to install add-ons without requiring a browser restart
  • Jetpack supports an improved ease to develop add-ons by allowing developers to use web development technologies instead of using XUL which is required today.
  • Their goal is for Jetpack to be the main method for add-ons by version 4.0 which has a target release of October/November 2010.
• Microsoft is generally regarded as being in a distant third with regards to technical support for add-ons.

Role of the browser

• Mozilla vs. everyone else
  • Mozilla’s priority is to focus on users rather than focus on commercial interests.
    • Mozilla is not looking to adopt practices just because they are commercially successful for Apple’s iPhone App Store.  Apple as a company is viewed as having a commercial focus compared to Mozilla which has a user focus. 
    • One example that manifests this is that Mozilla will not be supporting DRM (digital rights management) for their marketplace at launch.  This may present challenges for developers who wish to succeed with charging for their apps when there won’t be an effective solution for protecting their software from users that choose not to purchase.

Ultimately, a commercial success enables an ecosystem which promotes the development of great applications.  All of the browser providers, I believe, get this.  The only difference is how quickly they adopt new commercial methods.  I view Mozilla as being slower to adopt when compared to Microsoft or Google.  This may cost them speed to market but may also keep them from making mistakes regarding satisfying users.

Add-ons today

• Firefox released the following figures:
  • 1 in 3 Firefox users have at least one add-on installed
  • 1.7B cumulative installs to date
  • 14,526 add-ons, listed in AMO, as of December 11^t
    • 5,697 added this yea
  • 190M add-ons in us
• Add-ons must get reviewed to be in AMO
  • New add-ons are currently reviewed in under two weeks
  • Updates are averaging less than a week
• Developers are struggling to maintain cross-browser support
  • IE, Chrome, and Firefox are generally viewed as important where as a panel of developers viewed Safari as not worth the hassle.
  • One solution suggested by the panel was to consider building your add-on on top of a framework so that you do not have to deal with the complexities of each browser.  An example of a framework is 3quency, a W3i product, which allows developers to build sophisticated custom toolbars using a single code-base without having to worry about updates or compatibility with various browsers.

The future of add-ons

• A panel comprised of browser providers (Chrome, Opera, and Mozilla) discussed that a decentralized mobile web will rule (eventually) and that this will lead to the mobile web (including mobile add-ons) surpassing native device apps as the dominant platform for application developers. 
• The panel agreed that they all wanted to support increasing the capabilities of the browser so that there are fewer and fewer trade-offs when building applications for the browser compared to building them specifically to any native device.

Stay-tuned for additional postings on Add-on Business Models and Add-on Distribution Channels.

Ryan Weber, Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Co-Founder, W3i, LLC
Entrepreneur and pioneer of Internet marketing focusing on increasing revenue and distribution for digital downloads.

It might surprise you to know that the average add-on in the Firefox Gallery received about 100,000 installations.  It might surprise you more to know that the average application in the W3i Application Network (AppNet) received 1 million installations (850% more).  W3i is an effective browser add-on distribution channel.

In my role as VP of Corporate Strategy I oversee our Product Management team which leads our market research efforts.  Much of my team’s research is focused on application distribution and discovery.

In this post, it is my goal to share with you a few insights which we learned through market research to help you find the add-on distribution channels that are a great fit for your app.  This is important because the number of apps is increasing exponentially and for your app to get discovered, you need to utilize the most effective distribution channels available.

The top add-on distribution channels are:  search, download directories, affiliate marketing and display advertising.  However advertisers that use an installer recommendation system, like the W3i AppNet, categorize it as one of their most effective distribution channels.

Add-on advertisers should consider scale, quality, and price when considering distribution channels.

1. Scale – When considering scale, a user might consider the quantity of applications competing for distribution as well as the amount of distribution available.

   The W3i AppNet may not drive as many downloads as the Firefox Gallery (usually referred to as AMO after the URL http://addons.mozilla.org) in aggregate; however, with far less competition the average app receives 850% more installs.

2. Quality – How will the users perform that install your app?

   W3i works with advertisers to understand their key performance indicators and then works with the advertisers to match up their app to users which meet their KPI goals.  Simply put, W3i works with the advertiser to find users that find their app relevant.

   In a recent survey of 502 users, we found that users that prefer to pay for their software using an ad-supported solution, the preferred method is to see ads within the installation or download instead of ads in their application or participating in market research.

3. Price – How much will it cost to get quality users?

   W3i believes in a value-based pricing approach.  The app advertiser pays per install but the rates per installation are set based on the value created by those installations.

Now that you armed with some criteria to consider when evaluating add-on distribution channels you can leverage this criteria to assess the various distribution channels available for your app.  In doing so, you can establish effective distribution channels which are a good fit for your app.  This will allow you to remain relevant and not get lost in the crowd.

Ryan Weber, Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Co-Founder, W3i, LLC
Entrepreneur and pioneer of Internet marketing focusing on increasing revenue and distribution for digital downloads.

Kris Tufto was the CEO of Minnesota-based, Jasc Software during their growth phase from from 1998 to 2005, a period that saw Jasc grow from what was rumored to be $5 million in revenue to over $30 million in revenue before their eventual sale to Corel in 2004. Jasc Software was most widely known for their Paint Shop Pro graphic editing program. Kris is presently working on his second ramp up at Minnesota-based Marketing Bridge, a SaaS-based channel automation software.

Rob Weber is a co-founder and VP of Business Development at W3i, provider of marketing solutions that increase distribution, revenue, and engagement for consumer applications.

Interview December 10, 2009

Rob Weber:   What Minnesota tech entrepreneurs do you most respect/idealize?

Kris Tufto:  Seymour Cray (Cray Research), Bill & Richard Lawson (Lawson Software), and Joel Ronning (Digital River).

Kris Tufto:  By the way, did you know that Jasc’s founder, Bob Voit was from St. Cloud? You didn’t know that so many great tech companies had their roots in St. Cloud, Minnesota, like W3i, did you?

Rob Weber:   Digital River is truly one of the great Minnesota start-up success stories. I understand that Joel Ronning was on your Board of Directors while at Jasc.  For those of us who do not know Joel as well as you do, can you tell us what you see as his greatest strength as a tech entrepreneur?

Kris Tufto:  Joel’s greatest strength was his understanding of the power of distribution and how to build an aggressive culture.

Rob Weber:   What were the core things you needed to do to grow Jasc Software during your tenure?

Kris Tufto:  From an internal perspective, develop a Product Management function, better organize our sales process, and reorganize various employees to different roles. From an external perspective, I had to formalize software distribution channels, change industry trends as it relates to the product cycle, and implement a global release strategy.

Rob Weber:   You mentioned software distribution a couple times now. What were your core software distribution strategies at Jasc?

Kris Tufto:  We broke them down into four channels, and those were direct, retail, VARS, and International. With our direct channel, we relied on Digital River as our commerce platform. Many consumers expected to purchase Paint Shop Pro direct because it was shareware. In my last years at Jasc, we utilized paid search marketing as well as affiliate marketing, but during my tenure they did not provide substantial growth opportunities. In retail, we relied on big box partners like Best Buy, CompUSA, and Walmart. Best Buy was our top partner. With VARS, we mostly focused on North America, with partners like Software Spectrum and Tiger Direct. International was a compilation of direct, retail and VARS, depending on the country.

Rob Weber:   Fast forward four years to today, if you were still running a consumer software company like Jasc Software, what would you expect to change in terms of software distribution?

Kris Tufto:  Retail would be only a fraction of what we were seeing back then. We would rely much heavier on direct marketing, like paid search and affiliate marketing. I would also use W3i’s distribution channel.

Rob Weber:   In the consumer application world, there is a lot of buzz around social apps and mobile apps. What do you think about using these new platforms in a consumer application business today?

Kris Tufto:  At Jasc, we were very Windows centric. We would look to new platforms like Google Operating System. The problem in using alternative operating systems is the development resources they require. When you have a very big legacy code base, it is a tough decision to port to a new Operating System.

Rob Weber:   What were the unique challenges you faced in growing Jasc in Minnesota?

Kris Tufto:  The Midwestern culture is not a high tech culture. It is not fast moving, it is more engineering oriented and methodical– where you take the time to get everything right. In high tech, you need to create a culture where you expect to get only 80% right. At Jasc, I threw out “Minnesota nice”.

Rob Weber:   How did you compete while at Jasc with your Paint Shop Pro application while facing a David versus Goliath competitor in Adobe and their Photoshop application?

Kris Tufto:  We looked at Adobe Photoshop as the sun. In order to beat them we always focused on edge markets and motored around them.

Rob Weber:   Kris, I think the world’s consumers and designers who use photo and graphic editing software owe you and your team at Jasc a big thank you. Why? You guys came around and lowered the price point significantly in the product category of photo/graphic editing applications. Jasc was in many ways as good as Photoshop, and in some ways better at a much lower price point. Before Jasc, there was no substitute $100 product, there was only Photoshop at over $400.

Kris Tufto:  You are right, Rob. Adobe didn’t think Jasc was a real threat until they released Adobe Photoshop Elements as a competitive response in 2001 to 2002 timeframe. This validated our model, and caused us to work even harder.

Rob Weber, Vice President of Business Development and Co-Founder, W3i, LLC
Rob is an Internet marketing pioneer with over nine, profitable years evolving W3i in the Integrated Interactive Media industry.

When looking to distribute free consumer software, there are many different methods of distribution.  Some of the more successful distribution methods are:

• Online marketing promotions
• Affiliate programs
• Physical distribution through retail
• Word of mouth

If you can get all the software distribution you need from the latter, then this blog post probably isn’t for you. But for the rest of us who can’t ever get enough, here’s a tactic that tends to get overlooked -software aggregators. 

There are many benefits to hosting your free software or trial software on sites like Download.com, Tucows.com and Softonic.com.  One of the most important things to look for when researching software aggregators is reputation, look for companies like Softonic.com that are a trusted source of downloads. If it’s not a trusted site don’t use it!  Many software aggregators  offer multiple benefits such as:

• Free listing programs
• Pay per download (PPD) programs at very reasonable rates
• Scalable bandwidth  

Listing your downloads with software aggregators can free up bandwidth.  If your product has a large file size or high traffic influxes, these sites have the ability to provide unlimited downloads to potential users without the worry of servers crashing and bandwidth overage charges.

Working with software aggregators does come with a couple of caveats.  The first is turnaround time.  This problem is mostly caused by us–marketers, developers, etc.  Due to the high volume of requests for listings on these popular aggregators, turnaround times can be days or weeks.  It can also take the same amount of time when you’re trying to remove a product from the site.  Be sure to plan ahead.

The second is the lack of reporting.  You don’t get much visibility into reporting, so before adding this method of distribution to your marketing strategy, be sure to know your Key Performance Indicators (KPI) so you have the ability to optimize.

And now the W3i plug! Apart from software aggregators there is another tool available to you to increase distribution; it’s advertising in the installer.  W3i has created a proprietary Application Network where the advertiser’s popular consumer applications are offered during the installation process.  This distribution method is performance-based and user generated.      

Just like when football coaches tell their players to keep their heads on a swivel, the same can be said for marketers of this generation.  There are many different vehicles of software distribution that you can use to get your software in front of consumers. Just make sure the vehicle you choose fits your marketing strategy and instead of telling you to think outside the box, because I hate that cliché, I will suggest that you work smarter, not harder, when trying to find new vehicles of distribution.

Mitch Bain, Marketing Manager; W3i, LLC
Mitch has 4 years experience focusing on Display Advertising, Search Engine Marketing, and Mobile Marketing, in the Integrated Interactive Media industry.

On a regular basis, it’s important to take a look at the application user experience and truly try to understand the value delivered to users.  When this topic comes up, some questions arise:

1. Since this is so subjective, how does one accurately measure value? 
2. How can you be sure your marketing is properly conveying value to end users?
3. How can one quickly and easily measure value?

There are a variety of ways to determine value; listening to your users is a big one, revenue generation can give some insight, but when asserting the value that an app communicates and subsequently provides, there must be a quick and easy way to measure value.  For this reason, we’ve created a tool called the Application Value Matrix.  Two performance indicators are used to determine the value that is communicated and delivered to users: attrition, which is the rate users uninstall an application, and acceptance, which is the rate users decide to download/install an application.  By plotting these two performance indicators, you can easily gauge how well you are communicating and delivering value, understand how these two metrics are related, and subsequently take action to improve.

The Application Value Matrix is divided into four quadrants:

1. Valued:  High Acceptance, Low Attrition
2. Misinterpreted Value:  High Acceptance, High Attrition
3. Unrepresented Value or Niche:  Low Acceptance, Low Attrition
4. No Value:  Low Acceptance, High Attrition

I challenge you to plot your apps onto this matrix.  By doing so, you can determine certain action items necessary to improve the value communicated and/or delivered to users. 

So, what does each quadrant mean?

Valued

This quadrant embodies effective value communication and delivery to users.  Users understand the value that the app provides up-front, thus there is high acceptance of the application.  Users value the application as they use it, thus there is low attrition.   Even if your application falls into this quadrant, it’s important not to stand still.  Continue to deliver value to end users through consistent improvements and by being the best of your breed.  Also, remember that delivering value does not mean piling on new features or adding unnecessary complexities.

Misinterpreted Value

Apps that fall into this quadrant have high acceptance and high attrition.  So what does this mean?  One of two things:  first, it could mean your marketing campaigns communicate value that fails to be delivered to users, thus causing high attrition.  If this is the case, look at your marketing assets and adjust the communication so it properly conveys the true value your app provides.  Second, this could mean (and this is probably rare) that your app is a victim of the “hype machine”.  Perhaps you have a lot of positive press about your app, causing a lot of people to download your application.  However, upon using it, a large percentage of users find that it’s just not for them.  Maybe it does deliver value to a subset of users, great; but seek to understand why the majority did not find value in your app.

Unrepresented Value or Niche

Apps that find themselves in this category have both low acceptance and low attrition.  Again, this can mean one of two things.  First, it could mean that value is not effectively communicated to users.  Look at your marketing campaign and enhance the messaging so it truly communicates the problems your app solves for users.  Second, this could mean your app is niche.  A certain subset of users wants your application and this subset truly values your application.  If this is the case, formulate a plan to enhance your application to improve acceptance for new personas or markets. 

No Value

The meaning of this quadrant is fairly intuitive.  Very few users download your application and of those who do download it, have high attrition.  The good news is that in this quadrant, you have nowhere to go but up.  Ultimately, you need to focus on the value your app provides first before you look at enhancing your marketing assets.  This is not a “chicken or egg” scenario.  There is only one thing that can come first and that is delivering value.  Once you have achieved this, you can quickly follow up by improving value communication for a one-two punch.  To improve value delivery, ask yourself some questions:  Are you properly engaging users?  Are you truly solving a problem that exists in the market?  Is your app easy to understand and use?  Did you design it with yourself in mind and not your users?

I hope you find this tool useful as it is important to effectively create and communicate value.  This tool is not meant to substitute other important ways to measure the value your app provides, such as user feedback and other various performance indicators.  The Application Value Matrix is intended as a supplement, used to quickly and easily identify areas for improvement.

Eric Montag, Product Manager, W3i, LLC
Eric is a Pragmatic Marketing Certified Product Manager and uses his experience in internet marketing to lead the charge in product research, planning, and execution from both a consumer and business standpoint.  

On November 21st over 600 developers and entrepreneurs got together to discuss what’s important to Minnesota tech start-ups. The halls that Best Buy legendary founder, Dick Schulze, built made for a great location for the next wave of Minnesota entrepreneurs to begin spreading their wings.

Several Minnesota start-up thought leaders were on hand including Graeme Thickens of Minnov8, Robert Stephens, founder of GeekSquad, Justin Porter of the University of Minnesota Venture Center, and John Roberts attorney at start-up friendly New Counsel. There were many young Minnesota entrepreneurs on hand including Mynul Khan, founder of FieldNation, and Adam Sellke of Evolve, who was a recent semifinalist at The Minnesota Cup. I was surprised that there were several Minnesota entrepreneurs who had multiple successful companies with exits.

Minnebar co-founder, Ben Edwards, led a very interactive roundtable discussion for web app builders. Ben’s leadership was clearly on display as a large group of primarily independent developers came forward with their questions on how to market the technology they built. It was very interesting to hear a group of developers discuss marketing issues. From my first hand experience as an internet company founder, I know you need to wear a lot of hats.

The most heated discussion of the day was “Bootstrapping Your Tech Start-up” led by Kevin Spreng of Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi. Kevin provided tips for bootstrapping entrepreneurs such as hire contractors rather than employees, go without an office, and focus on execution. Near the end of his session, Kevin stated that marketing agencies were a black hole because marketing agencies spend a lot of money, and he advised start-ups to handle their own marketing.  Curt Prins, Executive Director at District 202 and marketing guru, responded with his disagreement and said not all marketers needed a large budget to accomplish results for start-up entrepreneurs.  A rather lively debate ensued (see tweets under #minnebar). Nice work Kevin and Curt in driving a stimulating discussion on the topic of bootstrapping.

Justin Grammens led a packed session on how to develop Android applications.  Justin explained how, unlike iPhone apps, Android apps require no certification or approval. He also created a simple “Mobile Twin Cities” app during the session. I was amazed at how simple creating a basic Android application can be.

Dan Frankowski and Max Harper from Blue Shift Labs led a discussion on coding with Google’s App Engine that intrigued a number of developers. The crowd was very engaged. The scripting seemed pretty straight forward.

Mike Bollinger provided an introduction to HTML5. The tweets that followed said that HTML5 looked “amazing” and that users should stop using Internet Explorer 6 to increase the adoption rate.

Ryan Weber and I provided a summary of the top trends and winners in the application industry. Ryan forecasted that the integration of social and location-based mobile technology would be one of the most significant drivers of growth and change in the mobile app space.

My favorite discussion was the one facilitated by co-founder of Minnebar, Luke Francl, entitled, “Midwestern Startups: What is Possible?” Luke started by asking for those entrepreneurs that had worked in Silicon Valley to compare their start-up experience there versus their Minnesota start-upexperiences. One such entrepreneur answered Luke’s question by saying Silicon Valley start-ups aren’t as afraid to fail as those in Minnesota. Another entrepreneur said the biggest difference was how much deeper the talent pool was in the valley. Finally, someone joked that when he was in Minnesota, whenever someone asked where he worked, he responded with “I work for at a start-up.” When asked the same question while at an iPhone meet-up in Palo Alto, the response was met with laughter. Why? In Silicon Valley, everyone works for a start-up. The discussion next turned to several ideas on how we can make Minnesota a better place to create a tech start-up. Among the ideas identified were creating an incubator fund modeled after Y Combinator, getting the University of Minnesota to raise money to fund local tech start-ups similar to what the University of Wisconsin started a year ago, the creation of a new TechCrunch-like Minnesota focused community site, and taking advantage of Minnesota’s significant number of Fortune 1000 companies to provide a distribution channel for Minnesota-brewed new tech. Michael Gorman of Split Rock Partners, one of the sponsors, closed Luke’s discussion by saying he was looking forward to seeing where we would be in another year. Judging by all of the energy, and the way the Minnesota developer and entrepreneur crowd is starting to support each other, I am confident we will see continued growth in the Minnesota tech start-up community. I am looking forward to Minnebar 2010.

Rob Weber, VP of Business Development and Co-Founder, W3i, LLC
Rob is an Internet marketing pioneer with over nine, profitable years evolving W3i in the Integrated Interactive Media industry.

Please pass more turkey and mashed potatoes!

I am an art lover and an art creator.  Unfortunately, these aspects of my personality often clash with my job, designing banners, much like blaze orange clashes with pea green.  (Shudder!)  In an industry where user “clicks” are the goal, we are sometimes asked to do things that should be illegal; such as using designs that are copy-heavy and garish in color.  Why are users more likely to click on the least artistic banner on a webpage?  Are they honestly more attracted to tacky and gaudy?  Or maybe, just maybe, that designer has figured out how to lure in the unsuspecting user with the use of subliminal messaging saying, “click me… click me… click me…”  (Note to self: search “subliminal messaging conferences” and sign up.)

In the midst of all of this thinking (and contemplating Thanksgiving at the same time), I have come to a conclusion.  Designing “clickable” banners is a lot like planning for Thanksgiving dinner… add as many salads and gourmet goodies as you can, but stop fooling yourself!  People are really only coming for the turkey and mashed potatoes.  They do not care that Great Aunt Ermintrude has outdone herself in her use of Jell-O in the salad this year.  All your family wants is a chance to overdose on grilled turkey and gorge themselves on mounds of creamy mashed potatoes.  This is what I mean: users are looking for the meat and potatoes (the hearty stuff) of an advertisement.  Let them know exactly who you are and what your product is as quickly as you can.  Take out the fluff, take out the pretty.  Get to the heart of the matter so they can decide immediately if they are interested or not.  People don’t want to stare at the Jell-O salad for five minutes, trying to figure out exactly what surprises are in it.

Let’s take, for example, two of our display banners:

Version 1:                                                                      Version 2:

Version 1 outperformed Version 2 by nearly 100%!  At first glance, this may not solidify the point that I’m trying to make.  But what you can’t see in the screenshot is that Version 2 needs time to scroll through the different screensavers and features available before finally getting to the screen that is shown above.  Conversely, Version 1 shows everything from the get-go.  No waiting needed.

Do you see what I mean?  Beautiful is not always better in designing banners.  It may be easier on the eyes.  It may prompt us to hang it on our wall.  But it does not always translate into user “clicks.”  I can only speculate on the reasons for this behavior… Perhaps the user likes to see the branding and product throughout the whole process.  Possibly, loud colors naturally draw the eye and compel users to click on them.  It could even be the voices in their head telling them that the world can be saved by clicking on that banner.  (Have you come across other reasons for users’ actions?)  Whatever the motivator, it doesn’t mean that you should stop fighting for gorgeous designs.  What it does mean, though, is that there should be a way to mesh these two taste palates together.  How can that sprig of parsley be added to the turkey?

Keep in mind when designing banners what the user is looking for; hook them with straight-forward facts and a strong call to action!  Art will not always need to be sacrificed for a concept that works, but strive to simplify your designs and feed your users’ need for information quickly.  In the words of Thoreau, “simplify, simplify.”  Take away the funky Jell-o creations and give them what they want – the hearty stuff that will keep them content and satisfied.

Jessie Schroder, Marketing Specialist, W3i Holdings LLC
Jessie uses her experience in internet marketing, graphic design, and testing to guide W3i’s focus of marketing promotions.

As I was reading about the growing use of social media as a device for content discovery, a couple things became clear to me.  First, the article mentions social media as the next great gateway for users to discover stuff that is meaningful to them.  I agree.  Social media is a great vehicle to find information and content from people you trust.  But recent news of Twitter’s stalling growth, Facebook flattening and MySpace’s descent into a ghost town (ok, not so recent news there) lead me to believe that social media will not displace conventional means of content discovery, such as search, information portals, etc.  So let’s face it, discovery will continue to pervade multiple channels.  It also became clear that most of these discovery gateways are reactive, involving users seeking out said content.  In the long run, that’s not enough.  In order to maximize discovery, especially in regards to application discovery, one needs to employ a multi-pronged approach: one that is both proactive and reactive. 

First, let’s talk about reactive methods.  Enabling reactive methods of application discovery can be time-consuming and produce results slowly especially if you are just getting started (sure, there are rare exceptions to this rule).  For a publisher, it usually involves methods, like SEO, that are set to invite users to discover whatever their content may be, such as a new app.  Even social methods require users to find you and subsequently follow you, which is indeed a passive step that must be achieved before a social conversation can start.  It’s sort of like standing patiently at a mixer, waiting for people to just come up and chat with you because you look cool.  While that might produce some results, the best way for those to discover you is to get out, introduce yourself, and bump a few fists.

So let’s talk about proactive discovery.  An app with a great user experience, solving user problems without an active user base is worthless.  Publishers need to take a multi-pronged approach to improve discovery in order to build an engaged user base.  This includes standard reactive discovery gateways such as search and social, but also proactive methods that get your app in front of actual users saying “hello, nice to meet you”.  It dawned on me that W3i’s InstallIQ intuitively fit as a distinct proactive method to virtually shake hands (or fist bump) with users.  InstallIQ engages users on the install of an application; meaning that you have users’ undivided attention and have taken control over your discoverability destiny.  This proactive method is as equally important as reactive methods, but is one that is often lacking from marketing plans.   Proactive application discovery has less up-front investment (much like going up to someone and simply introducing yourself – no need to cultivate and hone your meta data for someone to spot you) and produces quicker results (hey, some of those people will introduce themselves back!).  The numbers don’t lie.  Within 8 months of launch, W3i’s InstallIQ helped a weather widget install a staggering 1.5 million apps.  Within 6 months of launch, a shopping widget gained an active audience of 3 million users via InstallIQ.  A proactive approach to application discovery can produce great results.

W3i offers a chance to proactively engage users and increase awareness, therefore, leaping over the difficult discoverability hurdle.  So how has your application discovery destiny played out?  Have you taken control of it?  How has it worked thus far?  Let your voice be heard in the comments.

Eric Montag, Product Manager, W3i, LLC
Eric is a Pragmatic Marketing Certified Product Manager and uses his experience in internet marketing to lead the charge in product research, planning, and execution from both a consumer and business standpoint.