We’ve all reveled in the guilty pleasure of the “fly on the wall” phenomenon before:  how about the time you found the love note on the playground at school that was intended for a different recipient; or, the time you stood on the other side of a wall overhearing a conversation that you were never meant to hear?

Although the idea isn’t new, the web is proving on yet another level that candid postings attract attention and can prove profitable. Two sites that I find entertaining are overheardintheoffice.com, a collection of overheard office conversations, and postsecret.com, a collection of anonymously revealing postcard messages. But beyond the curiosity I find in the day-to-day candor and oddity of human thought and conversation, I notice that, on both of these sites, the creators have managed to publish books of their collections. Ingenious, I have to say. Set up a site that appeals to our curiosity of the candid, let the public post away, collect, and publish in book form (easier said than done, but still a generally straightforward model). It seems that publishing companies may be increasingly interested in taking these online collections and reproducing them in print, although I’m personally not aware of other examples. There have to be others.

So there it is. Human nature — unedited and uninhibited, an appeal to our curiosity, shared on the web – finding its way into print, and a couple of witty site publishers enjoying the dividends.  Another effective, but simple, example of the web at work.

I admit I probably use the Internet and visit more web sites than your average person. And, the average homepage visit for 80% of the sites I see … ? Approximately 5 seconds. I’m a power surfer. When I’m searching for something, be it reference material, product information, or travel planning, I’m on super-speed mode in my search. And, in this mode, the first impression is everything.

Within just 5 seconds, I evaluate a web site on these 5 key factors:

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This third installment of our executive series discusses a critical component of Web Analytics — the technology. This is a subject that deserves quite a bit more attention than a blog post, so I will gently skim the surface of the topic. In many ways, choosing an analytics package is a typical software evaluation exercise; but, there are a few unique “big picture” considerations you should be aware of. The following are a few logical divisions of the space:

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During the recent redesign of viget.com, the question came up: should we force external links to launch in a new window, or leave it up to the user?  It was time for a Lab Poll.

Some justify the launching of new windows as a way to keep users from leaving their site; but, as Jakob Nielsen pointed out way back in 1999, it can have the opposite effect – by rendering the back button useless.  His list of design mistakes had “breaking the back button” and “opening new windows” ranked #1 and #2.  The thought is that users who browse full-screen (and may be less savvy) won’t notice the new window launching and will be baffled with a busted back button.

Have times changed?  As screen sizes grow, more users are surfing with their browsers sized down, making multiple windows more manageable.  Firefox users, of course, have long embraced tabs, and many configure new windows to open a new tab.

The consensus?  Everyone agrees that internal links should stay in the same window, of course, and that launching new windows without warning (e.g., pop-under ads) are a no-no.  The collective (majority) opinion, with the noted objection of a couple of usability purists, is that external links, though, should open a new window and include an icon indicating that they will.  We’ll work on that here, will you? 

I’m planning to post the results of a recent Lab Poll — but, first, a little background.  It used to be the whole staff all fit in one room, shared the same conversations … and I could pretty much tell you where “the company” stood on various topics.  The collective opinion took some healthy internal debate to achieve; but, once settled, it was at least clear to everyone. 

These days, we’re by no measure a large company; but, the mindshare is spread out a bit more and there’s just that much more expertise to pull from.  So, when someone says “what’s Viget’s definition of Web 2.0?” or “what’s Viget’s favorite Chris Farley movie?” it’s not always as easy for me to say anymore.  Hence, the Lab Poll.  It’s nothing fancy; it’s still informal — and happily inefficient.

When a topic comes up that would benefit from the collective wisdom of our staff, we pose the question via email, tally results, and discuss the topic over lunch during our weekly staff meeting.  Some questions are yes/no, while some require some explanation.  Some results surprise me, and some are just what I’d expect.  Regardless, Lab Polls always generate some good points, and we’ll do our best to share them here.

In the first installment of this executive series on Web Analytics, we created a quick business case for Web Analytics. Before we start thinking about the technology, we need to step back and look at what needs to be in place before you invite that analytics salesperson into your living room.

Web analytics data is useless by itself. Without establishing standards and processes (the who, what, when, and how questions), you may find your investment returned nothing more than a set of pretty pie charts to adorn your office walls. Although elegant reporting is an interesting feature of many of these tools, the real value comes when the numbers drive change. We call this process Active Optimization, and it has three major components—reporting, analysis, and action. How you implement these three will be unique to your organization, but I’ll introduce them here.

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Web business is booming again — and, as a result, new staffing requirements emerge every day. Like many of my colleagues at fellow web consulting firms, however, I find it frustrating to sift through the [virtual] mound of resumes to identify those perfect job candidates.

I’ve been with Viget Labs since we started (in my basement no less!) and have been at the forefront of our recruiting activities since Day 1. Over the years, I’ve read thousands of resumes and cover letters and have interviewed hundreds of candidates. If you’re interested in applying for one of our job openings, I’d like to share 5 tips on what we look for and how to grab my attention and distinguish your application from the rest of the pack.
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The short definition of Web Analytics is a set of tools and processes for collecting data through your web site. Although that sounds about as interesting as tracking average daily fingernail growth for Fido, Analytics become extremely valuable when you understand what you can learn and what you can do with that information. Maybe even a little exciting.

There are three big-picture reasons to care about Web Analytics.

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Our May 1 re-launch date for viget.com was inspired by the CSS Reboot.  It’s a little movement that’s growing in popularity each year and has generated some great new designs. Check them out and vote for the Viget site if you like what you see here.

Viget Labs was founded in 1999 to help businesses find success online. Over the years, we’ve been fortunate to collect a very bright and talented team and, through our work with some fantastic clients, we’ve learned a lot about what it takes to plan a great web strategy, develop a useful web application, design an intuitive web interface, and implement effective web marketing.

With the Four Labs blog we hope to share some of our experiences, insights, and expertise with you, our loyal readers. At times we may be arrogant, boring, or flat-out wrong; but, we will always be positive and respectful and will post only with the best intentions. We welcome your questions and feedback.