Just reading this over on Conor O’Neill’s Argolon blog: should a small business blog about development of a new product? I think the answer has to be a resounding yes.

Gordon Murray of eWrite in Cork is apparently considering chronicling the trials and tribulations of product development in his blog. As Conor points out, there are naturally concerns and challenges for any business in opening up to very public online scrutiny… concerns surrounding intellectual property, and the time and effort involved in maintaining and updating a vibrant and compelling blog.

But open, honest communication is what it’s all about in this Web 2.0 world. The interactive web is about much more than pushing a marketing message — it’s about engaging in conversation, dialogue, debate.

I have to agree with Conor: this is a great idea. Brave souls like Gordon, who embrace the opportunity to engage with their audience online, to build a vibrant community around their brand that transcends the boundaries of their organisation, will, I believe, reap very real dividends down the line. Who knows, the community Gordon builds through his blog may even contribute constructively to the product development process — solving problems, making suggestions, requesting features….

Not so many years from now, collaborative product development will become the universally accepted norm. Sharing experiences and harnessing the collective wisdom of the crowd will be as natural as checking your e-mail in the morning. But for now its still bleeding edge… still the province of trail-blazers like Gordon Murray.

So go for it Gordon… and good luck. I for one will be looking on with interest.

Chronicle the development of an app and a business? | Argolon

Surely not! Isn’t analytics all about data and charts and KPIs and dreary, tedious… well, statistics?

The ability to measure and track everything on your website is of course one of the major boons of online marketing. With a little bit of foresight you can see what’s working, what’s not and invest your time and money doing more of what works and less of what doesn’t. That’s digital marketing gold dust… so why aren’t people more receptive to the stats?

The answer? Because while data, and the things you can do with it might occasionally be construed as cool, it’s never, ever, going to be seen as sexy… or is it?

Enter Avinash Kaushik, Analytics Evangelist for Google, among other things, who believes that web analytics is like Angelina Jolie. That’s right… Angelina Jolie.

it’s sexy, it kicks butt and is a goodwill ambassador!

Avinash’s post is entertaining, practical and right on the money; if you want people in your organisation to embrace the power of web analytics to improve their bottom line, first you have to woo them. Entertain them, give them stuff that’s tangibly and immediately useful, stuff that makes their job easier… stuff that makes them believe. Before long you’ll find them coming to you for more of that "sexy" insightful data you seem to have on-tap.

I’ll stop there — go read Avinash’s post, he has it more than covered!

Browsing through the latest "the day in search"  on the Search Engine Land site, an article title "Is Content King? Or Is Search?" in Business Week caught my eye. It’s an interesting article that goes on to look at the tensions that inevitably creep in when tech companies and traditional media collide, but I can’t help feeling that the fundamental question is flawed.

The answer, of course, is neither. The answer is the user, the audience, the digital consumer… call them what you will.

Think about it. Content is there for one reason, and one reason only… to attract and deliver value to the consumer. Search engines are also in the business of delivering value to the consumer. Their entire business is built around satisfying the consumer’s need for great content.

In the digital world advertisers and marketers aren’t in control… neither are the search engines, ad networks, social networks or any other body corporate. The user is King, they’re in control… now more than ever.

I’m in Dublin for the Search Marketing World 2008 event tomorrow. Organised by Interactive Return this promises to be a great event. Chris Sherman, Partner & Executive Editor, Search Engine Land is delivering the Keynote at the event, and I hope to be speaking to Chris at some point about how he sees Search marketing evolving over the next few years. Look out for details of that conversation after the event.

I also plan to speak to Vanessa Fox Features Editor, Search Engine Land, Entrepreneur in Residence, Ignition Partners about the meteoric rise of social media and its implications for digital marketers, and to Brian Clifton, Head of Web Analytics for Europe, Google about the crucial role of web analytics in the digital marketer’s arsenal. I’ll be posting here about the conference in general, and my conversations with these experts in particular after the event, so be sure to check back.

Looking forward to tomorrow.

Technorati Tags: Search Marketing World 2008,Interactive Return,Chris Sherman,Vanessa Fox,Brian Clifton,digital marketing,Ireland

Apparently today (01 April 2008) is the official "day without Google" day.

How did I find this out. Uhm… well, I saw the ReadWriteWeb article in a Google search results page. Oops, too late!

The concept is being championed by Alternative Search Engines — which lists the 100 top alternatives to the incumbent search behemoth. Sorry guys, while it’s a novel idea, I wouldn’t hold my breath.

It got me thinking how much many of us have come to rely on Google. I use GMail for non-business e-mail and IM, Google Analytics to track statistics for my websites, Google Reader to keep track of my RSS feeds, Google Docs to collaborate on documents, Google Alerts to flag things worth reading, Google Maps to find places in the real world, and of course Google Search to find everything else.

In fact, the thought of NOT having Google is quite a scary one… and that, in itself, is a scary thought! I guess like so many people today I’ve become pretty much institutionalised at this stage. Why? Because Google makes my life easier in so many little ways, and that’s very compelling. It makes it hard to leave behind… and the better they get at it, the harder it becomes.

Is there really a viable alternative out there that can rival the services and quality of search results Google offer at the same competitive (FREE) price? Even matching Google won’t be enough — because to entice users away from the Big G, to make it worthwhile, any competition is going to have to offer something substantially better. And from where I’m sitting right now they’re all a long way from doing that.

As for a Google free day… well, maybe next year….