At work we've deployed a technology called click to call. The company we are using is LivePerson, and they have a really nice all around solution, it has the click to call features, full blown chat, co-browsing and the ability to pick customers that exhibit certain behaviors to approach for a call or chat. You know how you'll be on a site and a on screen message will pop-in asking if you want to chat with an agent? It's that sorta stuff.
How successful is the technology? Right now it's performing ok, it could be a LOT better, but it could be much worse. I think it needs more time in our deployment to really get it settled and work out some of the "issues". I believe our biggest issue is with our customers. Not that your stupid or anything, but it's a new technology, and also how do you convey in a small button "If you click this button your phone number will be called immediately and our call center will be called at the same time to connect the two of you." That would be a rather LARGE button. So we're going to be working on some a/b testing to see if we can convey the message better. One thing we have done is placed a tool tip box over the button, but the issue is it take a second to appear so by that time the mouse has moved or the customer has moved on.
Also another issue, the phone needs to be near you! If you're at work, put in your work number to be called (just in case anyone's reading this)
It's a great technology to help getting customers on the phone and our business is centered around that happening.
For my 20th birthday (or a anniversary of it) my wife got me a Nintendo Wii. Yes I want it for me, and I also wanted it for my kids. And you know what? I'm really glad I have it. My kids stand up and move vs. sitting in front of the TV or Computer. The first day I had it my daughter turned to me and said, "Daddy can you wipe off my forehead? I'm all sweaty". So that's good. What are the benfits of the Wii? It's the first true next generation system I've seen since the Nintendo came out. Yeah sure the PS2, XBox, 360 and PS3 have all taken huge steps in graphics and performance, but the Wii takes huge steps in playability. The games for the PS3 are no different (yet) than those on the 360 or PS2. While the Wii has no real comparison. Heck I haven't even played anything other than a handful of games, the 5 sports games that came with it, and Zelda.
"So what you swing a controller at the screen, it's not even HD!?!" ... You're right, good news neither is my TV. If I were going to go out and buy an HD TV, HD DVD or Blue Ray then I'd get a PS3 since it's cheaper than a Blue Ray player, but I'm not so I won't. Nintendo has truly made me reconsider them as the top of the industry. They fell behind with their Game Cube and N64, but came out of the gate's swinging with the Wii. I've only had issues getting the wireless hooked up and working. (AND YES I SWITCHED to Channel 11 or 1, so if you have a solutions other than that one, post it ).
With seeing the Wii bringing you more into the game what is it going to be like in 10 years? With new technology being introduced daily, I can only imagine. Intel showed off an 80 Core Processor today, so now think of having all of your movement tracked. Turning and facing a monster, wearing an interactive head set vs. hooking up to a TV.. the possibilities are endless.
I haven't written a lot about my new job, since I've been busy with the ski season etc. But I thought it would be an appropriate time to write once and a while about it.
I wanted to talk about PPC(Pay Per Click) and Click Fraud. I work with Yahoo and Google to pay for ads and I have a substantial amount that I spend on it. So fraud is a big concern. Now my amount compared to some is small, but when you do the math some of the numbers can be astronomical.
Let’s look at some figures. Click Forensics says that click fraud for Q4 was 14.2%, and Shuman from Google believes it is high Shumans Blog. Let’s say Shuman is right and the number is high, lets half it. So 7.1% Click Fraud... If you advertise and spend only $100k that's still $7100 in fraud. My opinion is that too much, and I'm sure everyone would agree. I do believe search engines are doing a better job finding and correcting bad clicks, but I would say they are more in the realm of 1 - 2% vs. 7.1%, so that still $5-6k someone's losing. Now if Click Forensics is right then the numbers balloon up.
"But Google credits you"... They sure do but they don't tell you what clicks were credited etc. I don't blame them, but still I don't know if they simply look at my $.10 clicks and write them off and keep the fraudulent $5.00 clicks... I just don't know, and THAT is the problem. I do not trust them since they police themselves.
Looking at raw data from Click Forensics on my companies logs, I'm seeing a HUGE potential for click fraud. For Google alone on a single account I've seen several thousands of $ in possible exposure, so even getting a portion of that will add up to big returns.
What can people do to reduce their exposure to fraud?
1. Don't advertise on content networks, they'll kill you ever time (yes I know I have adsense on my blog :P )
a. if you choose too, watch your terms that get high clicks and think of removing them
b. look at your logs and look for possible places of high clicks that do not have a lot of page views.
2. Watch your high bids and strip them from your campaign.
3. If you don't want to remove the high bid terms, reduce the amount you want to spend.
4. Look into click forensics; they have a free product that people can use, if you spend a lot give them a call.
That's it for now. Feel free to comment on it, I'd love to hear from others.
I wish I could say this story was about me, or something I was a part of, but it's not. It's a wonderful true story about a truly wonderful man and his son. It's about believing and loving, about caring and simply being. Read the story and watch the video:
[From Sports Illustrated, By Rick Reilly]
I try to be a good father. Give my kids mulligans. Work nights to pay For their text messaging. Take them to swimsuit shoots.
But compared with Dick Hoyt, I suck.
Eighty-five times he's pushed his disabled son, Rick, 26.2 miles in Marathons. Eight times he's not only pushed him 26.2 miles in a Wheelchair but also towed him 2.4 miles in a dinghy while swimming and Pedaled him 112 miles in a seat on the handlebars--all in the same day.
Dick's also pulled him cross-country skiing, taken him on his back Mountain climbing and once hauled him across the U.S. On a bike. Makes Taking your son bowling look a little lame, right?
And what has Rick done for his father? Not much--except save his life.
This love story began in Winchester , Mass. , 43 years ago, when Rick Was strangled by the umbilical cord during birth, leaving him Brain-damaged and unable to control his limbs.
\"He'll be a vegetable the rest of his life;'' Dick says doctors told him And his wife, Judy, when Rick was nine months old. ``Put him in an Institution.''
But the Hoyts weren't buying it. They noticed the way Rick's eyes Followed them around the room. When Rick was 11 they took him to the Engineering department at Tufts University and asked if there was Anything to help the boy communicate. ``No way,'' Dick says he was told. ``There's nothing going on in his brain.''
\"Tell him a joke,'' Dick countered. They did. Rick laughed. Turns out a Lot was going on in his brain. Rigged up with a computer that allowed Him to control the cursor by touching a switch with the side of his Head, Rick was finally able to communicate. First words? ``Go Bruins!'' And after a high school classmate was paralyzed in an accident and the School organized a charity run for him, Rick pecked out, ``Dad, I want To do that.''
Yeah, right. How was Dick, a self-described ``porker'' who never ran More than a mile at a time, going to push his son five miles? Still, he Tried. ``Then it was me who was handicapped,'' Dick says. ``I was sore For two weeks.''
That day changed Rick's life. ``Dad,'' he typed, ``when we were running, It felt like I wasn't disabled anymore!''
And that sentence changed Dick's life. He became obsessed with giving Rick that feeling as often as he could. He got into such hard-belly Shape that he and Rick were ready to try the 1979 Boston Marathon.
``No way,'' Dick was told by a race official. The Hoyts weren't quite a Single runner, and they weren't quite a wheelchair competitor. For a few Years Dick and Rick just joined the massive field and ran anyway, then They found a way to get into the race Officially: In 1983 they ran another marathon so fast they made the Qualifying time for Boston the following year.
Then somebody said, ``Hey, Dick, why not a triathlon?''
How's a guy who never learned to swim and hadn't ridden a bike since he Was six going to haul his 110-pound kid through a triathlon? Still, Dick Tried.
Now they've done 212 triathlons, including four grueling 15-hour Ironmans in Hawaii . It must be a buzzkill to be a 25-year-old stud Getting passed by an old guy towing a grown man in a dinghy, don't you Think?
Hey, Dick, why not see how you'd do on your own? ``No way,'' he says. Dick does it purely for ``the awesome feeling'' he gets seeing Rick with A cantaloupe smile as they run, swim and ride together.
This year, at ages 65 and 43, Dick and Rick finished their 24th Boston Marathon, in 5,083rd place out of more than 20,000 starters. Their best Time? Two hours, 40 minutes in 1992--only 35 minutes off the world Record, which, in case you don't keep track of these things, happens to Be held by a guy who was not pushing another man in a wheelchair at the Time.
``No question about it,'' Rick types. ``My dad is the Father of the Century.''
And Dick got something else out of all this too. Two years ago he had a Mild heart attack during a race. Doctors found that one of his arteries Was 95% clogged. ``If you hadn't been in such great shape,'' One doctor told him, ``you probably would've died 15 years ago.'' So, in a way, Dick and Rick saved each other's life.
Rick, who has his own apartment (he gets home care) and works in Boston, and Dick, retired from the military and living in Holland, Mass. , always find ways to be together. They give speeches around the country and compete in some backbreaking race every weekend, including this Father's Day.
That night, Rick will buy his dad dinner, but the thing he really wants to give him is a gift he can never buy.
``The thing I'd most like,'' Rick types, ``is that my dad sit in the chair and I push him once.''
So my Nutri-system diet is still going on. I'm at between 15-20 lbs dropped. I'm feeling pretty good about the diet and the way I'm eating. Sometimes I'm tempted to just binge, but so far I haven't. I ate pizza with my family this weekend, but that didn't seem to have a lasting impact on things. My weight is in flux, but I'm still creeping downwards. I'll be adding exercise to my mix probably next week. I wanted to get used to the food change first and then add in motion. I think I'm about ready.
Overall things are okay, sometimes I feel hungry, but when I do, I just grab a little snack or chew on some gum. For some reason Gum is a savior for me. We'll see how things progress.
So been doing the diet thing. Been on it 2+ weeks now and have list about 15 lbs. Is it hard? Yeah lately it has been. Really hard since the weekend, but I'm getting it under control. I think I need to remember my vitamins.
But hey 15 lbs, and I think I'll have lost a few more by tomorrow since I haven't weighed myself for a couple of days now.
(just in case anyone's reading this)
