You know you should be doing usability testing on your websites. But how often do you? My guess is that an overwhelming majority of people fall into the never/rarely camp (myself included). So why are so many of us neglecting something we KNOW we should be doing? Because in the past, it has been an expensive, royal pain in the butt!

I wanted to share with you some fast, simple and cheap (yes cheap) ways for you to dive into usability testing. Each review you read are actual case results for this modern crib bedding site.

Paid Results:

Site: http://www.UserTesting.com/

Cost: $29
Verdict: Fan-Flipping-Tastic!

For  $29 UserTesting.com will match you up with a video & audio recording detailing user experience as well as written summary.

Information provided for the test:
Demographics: Female, 18-34, United States, $40, 000 to $100, 000
You are a parent, expecting a child and you are shopping for items to furniture the new nursery.
-Look for a crib bedding set that you like. Review the features to ensure it has a fitted sheet, bumper, blanket, & skirt.
-You already have the Two Wide Changing table, and you would like to submit a product review on this product. you like and give it 5 stars.
-Look for a changing table. You want to send the link to your friend of two changing tables that you like. use the “send to a friend” link to do so.
-Look for a crib that you like. Before you add this item to you cart you have a quick question about the return policy. Review the return policy, and determine if you can return this product. (please note in response if you found this information).
-Add the Crib to your cart.
-Look for a rocking chair that you like and add this product to you cart.
-Once you have added all of these items to you cart, you decided you do not need a rocking chair, and remove this product from your cart.
-Complete the online checkout, using random (fake) information for the billing, shipping, and credit card details. The order will not fully process, as the site is in testing mode

What we got back:

Usability Testing – UserTesting.com Review from aj ghergich on Vimeo.

UserTesting.com matched us with an actual expectant mother who shops at similar sites! She provided a 20 minute video review and completed all tasks required and then some.  I was personally floored by the quality!

Site: http://www.EasyUsability.com/

Cost: $15 per review
Verdict: Worth The Money
For  $15 EasyUsability.com will provide you with a detailed written summary of your user testing questions.

What we got back:
http://www.easyusability.com/usability_tests/363/final_report
You can actually see all qualification questions and answers by clicking on the link. For $15 a user we got some pretty detailed feedback to our questions. I was not as blown away by the feedback, but did I get my money’s worth? Easily!

Site: http://www.FeedbackArmy.com/

Cost: $10 for 10 reviews
Verdict: Worth The Money
For  $10 FeedbackArmy.com will provide you with 10 answers to a list of questions you create.

Information provided for the test:
1. Can you return crib bedding sheets that have been washed once and you have had them for 30 days?
2. Can the Nurseryworks Two-Wide Changing Table be returned 15 days after it has been received?
3. Try to find the Lulu crib bedding set made by Glenna Jean (brand). Did you feel it was difficult to locate on the website.
4. Is there free shipping for the Studio Crib by Nurseryworks (brand)?
5. You need to contact BabyAuthority. Did you find it easy to locate the phone number, email or another method to contact BabyAuthority?
6. If you order a Central Park Crib Bedding Set by Glenna Jean (brand) today, when would this order ship out?

What we got back:
http://www.feedbackarmy.com/get_feedback.slp?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.babyauthority.com&code=ed11171d63b5afe2fd1a507a01762d5c
You can see the 10 unique sets of answers to our 6 questions by following the link. Again, nothing earth shattering but I think this was a really great value. 10 different people saw the site and gave us (for the most part) detailed answers to each question. This is very valuable feedback for $10.

Free Results:

I have tried a bunch of free usability sites in the past and mostly got back what I paid for..nothing! I do not want to slam anyone for providing a free service so I will just direct you here.

http://www.conceptfeedback.com/ – I have found this site to be a good place to get a review from “graphic design” types. It is free of charge and a good place to post screenshots of a site before it is live.

The only negative is that they force you to review 5 sites before you get a review. I understand why of course but this leads to comments left by others that “feel” forced. All in all it is one of the best free sources out there. Use it!

http://fivesecondtest.com/- This site is great but I use it more for banners & graphics on sites or actual posters vs an entire site.

Summary:

Ok, no more excuses. These sites will provide you with a low cost of entry and fast turnaround (most of these test were done same day). If you are not doing, or rarely doing usability testing now is the time to start. It is addicting and will provide some of the best ROI you have ever seen.

If you enjoyed this post please RT, Sphinn or Comment. Thx!
Special thanks to @babyauthority

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Did you notice that Twitter added  list functionality to follow this week? I have had a few people ask me what is the purpose? So with that; here is 4 ways to use Twitter lists:

1. Niche Follow- Simply put lists allow you to follow groups of people based on their niche focus. As Social Media becomes more prevalent in the business word, the ability to focus your tweets on verticals will become more necessary. That reason necessitates the need for Social Analytics. The lists are another way to organize and focus.
2. Topic RSS- In a way the lists are almost an RSS aggregator of niche topics. Much like http://www.search.twitter.com allows you to pull RSS feeds of #keywords, listing allows you to focus on topics.
3. Who to Follow? – This is an easy one. If someone is being put into a lot of lists, then they are Tweeting items of value. Being added to lists is almost like getting a high rating! This will keep people honest. I know I have started looking at how many lists folks are on before following them.  I have made simple criteria of 3 lists before following them.
4. Business Intelligence, Competitive Intelligence & Industry Pulse- What a great opportunity to pull in all of the industry experts, stakeholders and players into one list and monitor what they are up to. A huge BI opportunity that all businesses should jump on!

Here is the SEO List we made: http://twitter.com/authoritydomain/seo

I am not sure if you know this, but Twitter lists have been available prior to this week. Here is a few to check out:

TLists: http://www.tlists.com/ (thx to @TazmanianTayTay)
TweepML: http://tweepml.org/TweepGen/createnew.aspx

Ultimately, the ability to organize your followers by niche is much needed! If you have other ideas, please share them in the comments.

@derekshowerman

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Yesterday I posted two videos on my Facebook wall and realized that they both are great examples of how Social Media is allowing even the smallest business or individual stand eye to eye with large organizations or celebrities. Both are a true David versus the Goliath story. Or is it?

Case 1: AARP posted this video:

What I love about this video is how viral it has become with a positive message attached to a brand. But the beauty is any one person could create a video like this and help build their own personal brand that rivals the likes of AARP. Dollars are no longer needed to market effectively.

Case 2: Ask for what you want & come across capable:

A former client of mine recently became a free agent. She is a bright lady that knows how to use Social Media to market not only a corporate community- but her own brand as well. Case in point above! What is beautiful is she can use this video as the spine of her job finding campaign. Point to it with external links and use the keywords she wants to rank for in her job search. She also shared the video with her peers who..well….shared it again. Case in point here! I will share this post in all the usual DoFollow channels and she will receive the very same link juice and viral exposure that we will. My point? 10 years ago the brand of an individual had no chance of being seen in the very same channels as Google and Microsoft – for free no less. This is affecting the News Media- the many is reporting news better then the major new agencies. Read Craig Newmark’s article- “A Nerds Take On The Future Of News Media”. Today, the gap between the bigs and the smalls, the corporations and the individuals has shrunk. The playing field has been leveled. Corporate responsibility is prevalent (a plus in my eyes) while their weight is decreasing, while the individual has more opportunity to be seen and thrive! Another plus! Before long there will no longer be a goliath, just a whole lot of David’s – some with a greater commitment to their brand! Which begs the question, what are you doing to grow your personal brand or your companies brand? Opportunity is ripe for the taking! Have you thought about your brand when watching the AARP and Naomi Marr videos?

@DerekShowerman

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As advances in technology move forward, the needs of online users change, the methods of advertising also experience an evolution over time. One of these more recent advertising methods has been link building. There are a lot of varieties of link building. Moreover, there are new rules that have to be followed to ensure the success of this method. But the benefits hardly ever change.

Link Building has great benefits and that is the reason why more and more number of website owners want to get it incorporated in their SEO process. The practice of link building is simply getting other websites to link back to yours. Despite how very important it is though, most webmasters don’t have a genuine link building campaign because it’s typically a very lengthy task to perform. But don’t let this be a reason you don’t do at least some link building for your website. You’d be doing your company a huge disservice by overlooking this vital Search Engine Optimization step.

1. It puts you in search engines.

Unless you’re found in Google, Yahoo, and MSN, your online business is non-existent. It also doesn’t help if you’re found a lot of pages away in search results. Your main goal should be at least among the top 10 on the targeted keywords you’re using. Research says that online users click the first website in the list, believing it’s the most relevant answer to their query.

2. Links make your site – and the internet – more usable, and useful.

Links provide simple site navigation between documents and other website’s. In addition to surfing through sites, links substantially increase the usability of site information since words within an article, website, blog, etc… can be linked – or extended out in a tree-like manner.

3. Links Create Direct Traffic. More links = more traffic.

Clicking a link from a trusted source is one of the most popular ways for people to find a new website. If a user is on a website they trust, they are likely to follow links that it recommends or that a user finds interesting – or at the least, users will follow links that make the destination site appear to provide some valuable information.

4.Links Build User Trust in You – Word-of-mouth is the best advertising there is.

If users see a link to you on a popular or respected site, their level of trust in what you say or what you offer is likely to be higher.

5. Cheap One-way linking

Cheap Linking can come from many methods and provide many benefits. Writing articles and submitting to article directories can be one method.  Posting your own blog with a link back to yours, link directories and social networking sites are all great places to link onto with no or very little costs involved, from which all highly benefit your site traffic.

6.Links Build higher page ranks

PageRank is still a major factor, the major search engines consider when determining where  websites are ranked. The reasoning is simple: if you have many links pointing to your site from other unique sites, your content probably is quality, important information. Every webpage is given its own PageRank. Your PageRank will be determined by the PR of the pages that link to you.

7. Links Tell Search Engines and Users What Your Pages Are About

To determine what a web page is about search engines look at a few critical elements on a web page, but just as important is the text used in links that point to your page – from within your site and from outside sites. If you could describe yourself in two words, what would they be?

8.Links Are Trackable and Provide Market Intelligence – Find out who, what, where, when, why, how – and use it.

There are a few methods of determining who links to you, and this information can be very valuable in providing market intelligence such as;
- competitor strengths/weaknesses (find out who links to them, request a link)
- consumer/user opinion (what people are saying about you/competitors on blogs/forums)
- potential suppliers (industry insiders who liked/linked to your site)
- source of testimonials
- reveals potential PR hazards (negative posts/links)
To determine who links to you, you can first check your traffic logs for ‘referrers’. Once seeing who has generated some traffic for you, you can find out whom the search engines have listed that link to you.

9.Links Reveal Strategic Partnerships

Upon reviewing your traffic logs or doing a simple link check on any of the major search engines (as mentioned above) you may encounter some sites that link to you that can reveal sources of mutual benefit, such as;
- marketing partnerships (develop reciprocal ad campaign)
- service or product suppliers
- potential employees
- potential contractors
- or for support/education/help

10.Links Are Assets – They Add Value to Your Property

Your website is your internet property, and it has value. What gives your website saleable value is the amount of traffic the site can generate. As we’ve shown, links are one of the most important factors in generating substantial website traffic, search engine rankings, trust, publicity, market intelligence and more. A substantial link network offers significant value to the overall package when determining a website’s value.

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Are you always on the go just like me? Use your iPhone to keep yourself updated on your current SEO. These 4 iPhone apps are easy to use, and very helpful for professionals who travel often but need to stay in the know.

Pokeseo

Pokeseo is a great app that lets you check Google PR (Page Rank) for any domain. You can also use this to check the number of Backlinks for Google, Yahoo, Bing and AOL. Use the “email this report” feature to save all your data.

iSEO Tools

iSEO Tools has three features. A SERP Analyzer, inbound links analyzer, and Web directories. The SERP Analyzer will tell you on what page your keyword is found on Google. The inbound links analyzer uses Yahoo Site Explorer service. A great way to analyze how many links you have for your domain. The last feature shows you a list of web directories. You can use this option to submit a link for your domain to increase your link popularity.

SEOIT

SEOIT will analyze a domains >page source elements, HTML source code, title, meta keywords, meta description, meta tags, body text, stop word ratio, word count, meta phrases, length of phrases, stop word removal, anchors and link text, complete link list, complete anchor tag, anchor inner text, images/alt tags, back links, inbound links from Google. This application is very easy to use, and keeps everything well organized.

SEO Search Ranking

SEO Search Ranking App uses a graph SERP Analyzer. This gives you the ability to monitor your current and past rankings. Being able to monitor the change in rankings on the go is very useful. This application also lets you monitor an unlimited number of keywords. You can organize each report by domain categories under “My Domains”.

Pricing:

SEO IT – .99 cents
SEO Search Ranking – $1.99
Pokeseo – .99 cents
iSEO Tools – .99 cents

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We are consistently looking for new and inexpensive ways to market our E-commerce sites.  Like many E-commerce sites, we operate on a shoestring budget, and are always looking for the least expensive ways to promote our site.  We have found one of the best ways to market the site, with a very small budget is to partner up with the manufacturers that we represent on our sites.  Here are three ways to utilize the skills and services that manufacturers offer to their dealers.

1) Print Advertisements-Many manufacturers will run print advertisements in trade publications.  Ask the manufacturers that you work with if you can be involved with these publications, by paying a small fee to have your website listed on the print advertisements.  Your website can be listed as a place that sells the manufacturers products.  In return, this is also helping the manufacturer pay for the advertisement. 

2) Website Listing on Manufacturer’s Site-If the manufacturer has a website with online retailers listed, typically a “where to buy this product online” or “online retailers” section, ensure your website is listed.  This is a free link that the manufacturer should have no problem putting up.  Some manufacturers will only put your link up on their site once you have reached a pre-set yearly sales number.  Ask the manufacturer what the requirements are to have your link listed. 

3) Promotions  - Find out from your sales representative what promotions the manufacturer is running and when they will occur.  Most of the time they will have it listed in a special area on their website, possibly homepage, or in a print publication.  Ask to be involved in the promotion, to ensure that customers know they can take advantage of the promotion by purchasing from your website. 

Manufacturers are always willing to work with you to help sell more products.  Typically, they have a marketing team in place, and are more than helpful.  Utilize the resources they provide to you for being their dealer.   We have found the above three ideas are a great to start to working with manufacturers on the marketing of our sites.

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New to Social Media? Here is a list of folks I value who you could say are the doers in Social Media. Some folks talk the talk, but don’t walk the walk. This group are the Social Media doers in the business world. I find their insights valuable and I know you will too!

		chrisbrogan – Chris Brogan President, New Marketing Labs. More? http://bit.ly/cbbio . email: blog at chrisbrogan dot com
		jowyang – Jeremiah Owyang Partner, Altimeter Group. How I use Twitter http://tinyurl.com/24lv65
		AaronStrout – Aaron Strout CMO – Powered, Inc. (and dedicated husband/dad)
		rhappe – Rachel Happe Connector of ideas and people. Fascinated by social dynamics. Principal at The Community Roundtable – @TheCR
		RonPloof – Ron Ploof Dad, Author, Speaker, Consultant, New Media Management
		TomHumbarger – Tom Humbarger social media, marketing, community strategy, community management, consultant, blogger, runner, father of 4 – how can I help you?
		marksylvester – Mark Sylvester Solving problems using Visualization. Personal and Quasi professional observations here. @intronetworks for work related thoughts
		mikepascucci – Mike Pascucci Social Media/Online Community manager, AAA Mid-Atlantic
		juliaroy – Julia Roy Social Strategist, digital influencer and creator/host of Tweet Week, a video blog about Twitter. Show archive: youtube.com/tweetweek
		DerekShowerman – Derek Showerman Director Of Social Media & Senior Social Media Consultant @ Authority Domains. Former SM Consultant @ Mzinga. Mets fan! Perfectionist & analytical sith nerd.
		adamcohen – Adam Cohen Partner at digital agency Rosetta, Leading Search, Online and Social Media Practices, Red Sox, Celtics and Patriots fan, Dad of 3 amazing boys
		BryanPerson – Bryan Person Social media evangelist at LiveWorld. Keywords: Husband, Dad, Austin, #RedSox, breakfast
		KateDickman – Kate Dickman Crayonista, Social Media Gal + Community Manager for Panasonic’s new online community – LivinginHD.com
		mwallcomm – Mark Wallace VP Social Media, commonground Social Network for Environmental Professionals – Lawyers, EH&S, LEED, Green Building, CRE, etc.. Dad, Hockey/Sports Guy, Music Fan
		GeorgeDearing – George Dearing blogger,media tracker and Telligent evangelist working on the real-time web [georgedearing.com]
		justinmwhitaker – Justin Whitaker Freelance Geek. Socal Media Bunny Rabbit.
		glennhilton – Glenn Hilton I own ImageX Media a Drupal web design and development firm. I’m passionate about social media, technology, authenticity, and everything that’s good.
		ShannonPaul – Shannon Paul Social Media Manager @ PEAK6 Online. The views expressed on this profile are mine and do not necessarily reflect the views of PEAK6.
		ChadNorthrup – Chad Northrup CoreBlox co-founder, Dartmouth Alum ‘96, Boston sports nut, beer lover, husband, and dad to 2 little girls
		Marc_Meyer – Marc Meyer Dir.of Social Media and Search, Principal at DRMG, and Co-founder of Hashtagsocialmedia.com

You bulk follow them here:

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A lot of people ask me which SEO’s they should follow on Twitter. I have constructed a list of 40 top notch individuals and loaded them into TweepML. So now you can auto follow them with once click! Simply click the link bellow to add them all at once.

Top SEO Experts On Twitter (click link to auto follow them)

These experts will keep you up to date with the latest and most cutting edge SEO. For those of you who enjoy monotony you can manually follow them the old fashion way from the list bellow.

I am certain that I have inadvertently left someone deserving off of this list. Feel free to suggest them in the comments bellow.

PS. Yes I included myself in the list..Shameless..I know right!

1. Daron Babin
   http://twitter.com/SEORockstars
2. Andy Beal
   http://twitter.com/andybeal
3. Andy Beard
   http://twitter.com/AndyBeard
4. Greg Boser
   http://twitter.com/GregBoser
5. Jim Boykin
   http://twitter.com/webuildpages
6. The Caveman
   http://twitter.com/the_caveman
7. Christoph Cemper
   http://twitter.com/cemper
8. Ryan Clark
   http://twitter.com/linkbuildr
9. Brian Chappell
   http://twitter.com/brianchappell
10. Bruce Clay
    http://twitter.com/BruceClayInc
11. Matt Cutts
    http://twitter.com/mattcutts
12. Rand Fishkin
    http://twitter.com/randfish
13. Vanessa Fox
    http://twitter.com/vanessafox
14. Todd Friesen
    http://twitter.com/oilman
15. Patrick Gavin
    http://twitter.com/PatrickGavin
16. AJ Ghergich
    http://twitter.com/authoritydomain
17. Michael Gray
    http://twitter.com/graywolf
18. Mike Grehan
    http://twitter.com/mikegrehan
19. Gypsy
    http://twitter.com/theGypsy
20. Halfdeck
    http://twitter.com/Halfdeck
21. Rae Hoffman
    http://twitter.com/sugarrae
22. Julie Joyce
    http://twitter.com/juliejoyce
23. Todd Malicoat
    http://twitter.com/stuntdubl
24. Lee Odden
    http://twitter.com/leeodden
25. Melanie Nathan
    http://twitter.com/melanienathan
26. Dave Naylor
    http://twitter.com/DaveNaylor
27. Gyutae Park
    http://twitter.com/Gyutae
28. Branko Rihtman
    http://twitter.com/neyne
29. Jeremy Schoemaker
    http://twitter.com/shoemoney/
30. Barry Schwartz
    http://twitter.com/rustybrick
31. Bill Slawski
    http://twitter.com/bill_slawski
32. Ann Smarty
    http://twitter.com/seosmarty
33. Danny Sullivan
    http://twitter.com/dannysullivan
34. Brett Tabke
    http://twitter.com/btabke
35. Ralph Tegtmeier
    http://twitter.com/fantomaster
36. Dan Thies
    http://twitter.com/danthies
37. Aaron Wall
    http://twitter.com/aaronwall
38. Eric Ward
    http://twitter.com/ericward
39. Gerald Weber
    http://twitter.com/the_gman
40. Jill Whalen
    http://twitter.com/jillwhalen

Update:
Laura Thieme
http://twitter.com/bizresearchlmt

Top SEO Experts On Twitter
(click link to auto follow them)

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I was recently putting together a document for benchmarks involving Social Media, and to make sure I wasn’t missing anything I did a Google search to see if I was missing any benchmarks. What I found was interesting was most everything was for pay, which makes little sense. There isn’t much giving away of intellectual property with sharing how to set goals? So with that, here are 5 benchmarks that your social media presence can strive for. If you reach these goals you will see success:

Twitter- Number of followers. In order to effectively spread your message and engage successfully we suggest organically getting over 1000 followers, and over 100 Tweets.

Facebook Fanpage – Once you get to 50 posts with unique content (articles and blogs), and over 200 followers you will see some calls to actions occur.

LinkedIn Group – Same deal with 50 posts, but with Linked In usually 100 followers on LinkedIn does the trick. We have found most folks on LinkedIn are inclined to participate in business ventures then on Facebook. So less is more!

Youtube – Once you get 15 new video posted and shared in Social Bookmarking channels and embedded in your blog or social website, you will start seeing success. Remember unique content is key, so these videos need to be created by you and your organization.

Alexa – We have seen a direct correlation between traffic ranking under 800,000 and social media success. If you do your due diligence of sharing your unique content in DoFollow Social Media channels with the link pointing back to your blog or social website, you will start seeing success at achieving your business objectives once you get under 800,000 (lower the better- Facebook is ranked 4 in the world). Share the link to your unique content in as many Do follow Social Media channels! It is laborious, but incredibly important.

We have well over 200 benchmarks that we share with our clients. But these are 5 benchmarks that will help you be successful using Social Media if you do your due diligence (commitment to unique content) and track to these markers. Don’t hesitate to contact Authority Domains if you need additional help or guidance.

@derekshowerman

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Is your company struggling with its Social Media strategy? Ironically if you’ve been searching for an answer your lethargy might actually help you leapfrog the competition. The rest of this article deals with the benefits of socially integrating your site with Facebook Connect. Afterwards I’ll offer up a quick and easy referral strategy for your eCommerce site.

Theoretically there’s a war that’s being waged right now over your online entity. The main players are Facebook Connect, OAuth (Google) and OpenID (decentralized). While these giants battle it out for supremacy, let me save you a whole bunch of time, effort and energy. The war is over. The king is dead. Long live the new king, Facebook Connect.

Technologically all three services are fairly similar. Basically your user authentication is handled by a third party and a validation cookie is sent back to you the instigating site. OpenID is slightly different insofar as that anyone can run their own authenticating server. In the case of Facebook Connect and OAuth, Facebook and Google handle the validation respectively.

Technology aside, where Facebook enjoys a massive competitive advantage is in the underlying social network that’s intrinsically built into the site. When a user connects to your site via Facebook Connect you as the site owner can use the FacebookRestClient to not only pull all of the demographic information that Facebook maintains on that specific user but additionally (and more importantly) you can also instantly pull all the demographic information on all of that user’s friends as well. This data used properly can be a huge boon for your company as I’ll explain later.

Some of the other features that Facebook Connect  offers are the ability to publish to the user’s newsfeed, tag friends, upload pictures, share links and change their status remotely (a la Twitter). That’s right, users on your site can publish directly to Facebook without leaving your site. There’s a whole host of other features that you can learn about from the Facebook Connect documentation page.

Ultimately what does this all mean for you? Let’s have a quick look of the competitive advantages to you, the online business owner:

1. Trusted Authentication – The trust actually runs two ways in this case: First your internal technology department can basically outsource all your authentication management system to a huge company (fewer headaches for you, less liability). Secondly, your end user gets peace of mind that a reputable ID management system is in place (much like the VeriSign GoldSeal, it promotes consumer confidence)
2. Simplify Signup – I know if I fill out my personal information on yet another social media site I’m going to snap and I know I’m not the only one out there who suffers from Social Profile Fatigue. Facebook Connect offers a simple and streamlined method for users to join your site without filling out a large form while still providing your eCommerce site with all the demographic information you want and need. Oh and by the way, since your users will spend less time signing up for your product or service, they can spend more time doing what you want them to (like buying stuff!).
3. Word of Mouth Accelerator – One of the least expensive and most powerful customer acquisition methodologies is word-of-mouth (‘free’ has a certain ring to it). By allowing your users to instantly and seamlessly publish information to your site as well as their own Facebook account you gain instant access to their entire social circle. Smart brands will learn that the key to getting content into Facebook is about providing a meaningful value exchange for each Facebook Connect interaction, prompting their users to naturally want to post to Facebook at every turn.
4. Business Information – Even if you’re planning on starting your site tomorrow, you can quickly and easily tap into years of demographic information that Facebook has been collecting. The value of each signup suddenly gets multiplied by a hundred fold each time someone signs up to your site (the average Facebook user has 124 friends).
5. Increase Traffic – According to Bob Buch, VP, Business Development at Digg.com: “..social community sites using the Facebook Connect API have seen their traffic increase from 30 -100%”
6. Instant Targeted Marketing – Upon logging in, the Facebook-powered profile can inform a much more relevant, targeted experience. A retailer can feature merchandise based on profile details like location, age, relationship status or even brands that the user has “fanned.”
7. Influencers – For anyone who’s read The Tipping Point you’ll instantly recognize and value the “Connectors”.  Facebook Connect makes it quick and easy for your company to recognize which users have the biggest social circle and your company can act accordingly (for example you can offer free samples to anyone who signs up for your service and has over 1,000 Facebook Friends).
8. Easy Implementation – One of the best features of Facebook Connect is that it is by far and away the easiest of the three libraries to implement. Basically drop their Javascript library onto your page and you’re ready to rock (there are other methods but this one is the easiest).

Quick and Dirty Viral Marketing

Few online businesses stand to gain as much from Facebook Connect as eCommerce websites. Ecommerce sites typically have a lot of users but little or no viral promotion. One simple type of promotion that becomes easier with Facebook Connect is a simple product recommendation system that has some sort of reward associated with it. For example earn a 5% discount off of all your purchases every time you refer product (x) through your newsfeed. Another simple Facebook Connect strategy is to offer a $20 gift certificate for every Facebook Friend referral.

What are your experiences with Facebook Connect? How are you using Facebook Connect, OAuth or OpenID to improve your site’s stickiness?

As always using music to inspire my programming. Here’s what’s in my iPod right now: La Roux – Bulletproof (Zinc Remix)

@alenauthority

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