It’s that time of year again peeps. As I said when I posted about setting your clocks forward one hour a while back I am finally, 32 years of age, starting to remember in what direction to turn the clock. Now it’s just about remembering on what date.

So here it is *drum roll* (click READ MORE!):

On Sunday, the 30th of October 2011 at about 03:00, set your clock back one hour to 02:00.

For those of you who are still having issues with what direction to turn the clock, here is another phrase to remember it by. Apparently it has been around since the early 20th century but it is new to the Swede writing this:

“Spring forward, fall back”

Read more about DST, ways to remember and which countries are affected here: http://www.timeanddate.com/time/dst/2011b.html

Google Analytics is extremely comprehensive and full of detailed information about who and what might be visiting your website. However it is not very end user friendly and it is easy to get lost in the web based user interface. Accessing your stats on the go is a quicker and more convenient way of viewing these stats and while no replacement for the web based interface it comes pretty darn close with apps such as Analytics Pro that also supports exporting and printing. Maybe it is a bit misleading having the VS in the title since I actually use both of these apps equally, a little bit depending on how much time I have on my hands and how much info I want to access. Read on for a comparison of these two apps for the iPhone.

My thoughts on Analytics Pro (5.99 USD / 45 SEK)

After selecting your profile you're presented with this page where you can get summaries and more details.

Link: http://www.blackburninternet.com/analyticspro/index2.php

At a first glance you would probably assume that this is the more advanced Google Analytics app of the two, an assumption that would be correct in this case. There are many more visible options and more buttons to click, which can get a bit confusing at first. It’s more in your face and not as subtle (or should I say hidden?) as in Quicklytics. It takes quite alot of navigation to get to the meaty parts and the statistics that you are after. Once you get there though it is nicely presented using graphs and lists plus support for a landscape mode to display fullscreen graphs, something that I don’t use that often, but still a nice touch.

Both of these apps support multiple profiles. However, something that contributes even more to the extra clicks is that in Analytics Pro it doesn’t remember the profile / website that you were on last time you used the app, meaning you have to click your way into it every time. This becomes quite tedious when you focus on a specific site but have plenty of other sites in your Google Analytics account. It also takes some processing time for it to refresh stats when starting the app which will force you to wait even more.

Graphs look even prettier in landscape mode.

When you first enter your profile you can get pre-defined summaries of today, yesterday and the last 28 days which provide a nice overview of everything from keyword stats to top content, all listed on one page for you to scroll through. If you wish you can define your own time period using a nice calendar view. Something that I couldn’t find was a setting where you could compare your stats with a previous time period though, something that Quicklytics has (albeit a bit limited). To Analytic Pros defense I can say that the daily visitor list handles comparison on a day to day basis quite good though.

Analytics Pro has a clean and good looking user interface. This is the keyword analysis graph.

A very nice feature in Analytics Pro is that it supports export of your statistics to a text- or PDF-file which you can email to yourself. It also has support for printing which is a very nice touch these days with the recent release of Air Print and Google Cloud Print.

Pros:

• Advanced details and list views
• Nice graphs and GUI
• Landscape mode
• Export to TXT, PDF and printer

• Sometimes a bit slow with alot of navigation
• No default profile or memory of last profile active
• High price tag

My Quicklytics impressions (1.99USD / 22 SEK)

When entering Quicklytics you're instantly presented with statistics from your Analytics profile.

Link: http://escoz.com/quicklytics/

While Analytics Pro most definately is the more advanced and better looking of these two apps Quicklytics focuses on ease of use and accessibility and that is why I like it. Unlike Analytics Pro Quicklytics remembers the profile that you were previously on and as soon as you start the app you are presented with small graphs showing visits, pageviews, bounce rate and pages/visit. You can easily change the time period that is displayed either to the pre-defined intervalls which are today, yesterday and month or just add your own custom intervall.

A quick swipe to the left or right and you can get this overview on each of your Google Analytics profiles. Should you require more detail you can click on the big graph and you will be presented with a list containing more filters such as operating system, hostnames and browsers. The presentation of this information is quite grey and bland unlike Analytics Pros colourful and detailed graphs with landscape support.

That stats presented can be compared to last week or last day which is more than what Analytics Pro had, but I would still want more in the comparison department. And even though Quicklytics allows you to easily swipe between your profiles I would wish for more of an overview just because it would be easier to quickly select a specific profile. The order in which the profiles are presented can be defined in the settings, but still.

Pros:

• 

  Keyword analysis and comparison with a previous period after navigating further into Quicklytics.

  Fast and easy to access basic stats with a minimum amount of clicks

• Compare to last week or day
• A little bit cheaper

• Quite boring GUI and graphs
• No export
• Lacks the depth of Analytics Pro, which is actually the point (so maybe a pro then? )

Should you choose Analytics Pro or Quicklytics?

The answer lies within you and the way you want to access Google Analytics on your iPhone. If you only want to view quick visitor stats and get to the more advanced analysis when you get back to your computer, go for Quicklytics. If you wish to get more detail, nicer graphs and export features go for Analytics Pro it is the more complete of the two which also shows in the higher price tag.

Or, you have the obvious choice of going with both, which I did. I think it is worth it and I do use them both equally. If I quickly want to show my colleagues how many more visitors this blog has compared to our company website I fire up Quicklytics every time, because it is displayed instantly. If I am away from the office and without access to a computer Analytics Pro is my poison.

For a while I have been taking some pictures of the ongoing demolition of the sports center in Halmstad (Halmstads sporthall). It’s a combination of my fascination with old, rusted and eerie buildings and the fact that I pass this area several times every week, therefore I have been given a great opportunity to document its demise over a long period of time.

Check out the pictures I’ve taken on both my Flickr and PicPlz profile and the video is available below or on my YouTube profile.

Boat ring by Nissan in Halmstad.

It’s hard to coordinate, and I can’t really say that I have been able to do it successfully, atleast not in my own country. It’s a combination of loving what I do, I just can’t stay away from it, and the fact that it’s always easier to “disconnect” when visiting another country when perhaps your phone won’t work that good and you are focused on other things, new and unseen.

This year I will stay in Sweden most of the time with a couple of visits to Denmark and Copenhagen which is quite close to the west coast about 2 hours from Halmstad.

Let me know through the contact page if you are visiting Sweden or Denmark and maybe we could meet up for a coffee or beer! I’m also on Twitter @ErikRudling (English) and @ErikSWE (Swedish).

Have a good summer!

As I have mentioned previously I am writing the articles here partly for slightly egoistic reasons, for me to have something to look back upon as a resource, but perhaps mostly for you guys. If I can help you make better informed decisions when choosing what type of software or service to go for without having to go through page after page of link farms then I am happy.

19.53 Swedish crowns or about 3USD / 2EUR, this sites first AdSense earnings.

That being said I do have advertisements from Google Adsense in the right column —> out of the way and not very intrusive and also in the middle of the articles. I am doing this mostly out of curiosity and to find out how monetizing works (making money on your website).

Since the AdSense account has to exceed 700SEK before it is paid out I will continue to brew my own coffee.

I added the Quick Adsense plugin to my WordPress administration allowing me to select where I want to place the ads on the site and also choose if I want a certain ad format to appear at a specific location on the site. So far it seems nice and easy to use!

Another plugin which I use is the Google Adsense Dashboard. This one displays my daily earnings on the dashboard when you log in to the administration panel in WordPress. Even though mine usually says that I have earned zero dollars, I can imagine it being a nice addon for sites with more traffic.

Today I decided to visit the AdSense account after quite some time away from it and turns out you guys just bought me a cup of coffe, there was about 3USD / 2EUR in accumulated earnings. Thanks, I appreciate it! I’ll make sure to let you know when you bought me a cold beer, that will be my next milestone!

Thanks for the coffee and greetings from a warm Swedish west coast!

This blog does not generate thousands of visitors each day, much because it’s quite new and I have no real aspirations of making profit on it, I’ll admit that if I do make profit I won’t complain though. I’m doing this because I like what I do on a daily basis, and this blog is a great way to record this both for me and to help other people out. When I posted the Plaxo VS Soocial article there was a noticable increase of visitors. This was due to more retweets on twitter, attention from Plaxo themselves and more Facebook sharing than I ever had before.

The other day though, a much more drastic increase of visitors took place. This post is about how an article on one of Google’s major flaws and the neglect they sometimes show their Google Apps customers, paying or non-paying, increased my unique visitors with nearly 700%, atleast for a day. Read on…

It all started with the +1 button. For those of you who managed to miss all the fuzz about the +1 button, just think of it as a Facebook like-button for your Google search results. Here’s a clip explaining it:

Some history,  in third person:

• 1st of June: Google release the +1 button for integration onto your own website. Previously it has only been shown in search results, with you being unable to add it to your site.
• 17th of June: Erik Rudling (me! ) installs the plugin on his wordpress based blog, erikrudling.com. He quickly realizes he can’t use the +1 feature himself after shamelessly trying to start a positive +1 trend on his own site. It is not working because he is using Google Apps.
• 17th of June, an hour later: Erik writes an article where he is expressing his disappointment on +1 not working with Google Apps. It does get some attention, but not more than usual.
• 28th of June: After being awake for 40 hours straight and dealing with a hefty workload in one of his companies, Erik falls asleep and this happens:

Google launches their new project and the world is ablaze with in-depth articles and user comments.

After initial review I am quite impressed with the look and feel of Google+ and I really do think that they are on to something here. To me it seems like their most promizing attempt to enter the social segment yet especially looking back on failed attempts with services like Buzz or the cancelled Google Wave. Now it is important for them to not only show what they can do, but how to get people to use it and make available and accessible to everyone.

Which brings me to this one thing…

Google+ currently does NOT work for those of you with Google Apps, something that all of a sudden became painfully apparent in my visitor statistics from Google Analytics. They went from:

Looking like this...

...to this.

Why? Well it seems like hundreds of disappointed Google Apps users found my previous article on Google +1 not working with Google Apps accounts. Something that is also clearly visualized in the search phrases that brought most of these unhappy Googlers to this very website:

google profiles is not available for your organization.

Another one? Sure, by all means:

oops… you need a google profile to use this feature.

Will I ever be able to use Google Apps with +1 and the Google+ Project?

There are some positive indications. In the article that led to all this I got some really good comments, one especially, from gehremee who pointed me in the direction of a thread on Google’s support forum where disgruntled Google Apps users gather round the fire and share stories of disappointment. He also mentions this Google group where we recently saw a glimmer of hope in the shape and form of John Costigan from Google who states that:

We’re actively working on making Profiles (and Google+) available for Google Apps – it should be available in the coming months.

Even though that glimmer is slightly dimmed when another user replies with:

What happened to “coming in a few weeks”? (http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2011/03/coming-soon-to-google-apps-1-button-and.html)

Empty promises like these are one of the factors that can make me look around for a better service provider.

The reason I don’t leave is because Google Apps makes my daily work routines alot easier to maintain. When new services like the ones mentioned above launch and leave me hanging I do feel frustrated. I like being one of the first to try the new shiny products that Google launches but the features I have in Google Apps are still more important to me. Worth mentioning is that I also have a “regular” Google account with a profile attached to it, which makes it easier to try out the new stuff not accessible from my Google Apps account.

If Google were listening in on this I would recommend them to stop making promises they can’t keep, be clear in your public announcements about compatibility issues and start paying more attention to the people that pay their salaries (that’s us). Ignorance can be dangerous in the long run, no matter how big your company is.

Thanks for tuning in and I am looking forward to your comments and to be honest, if Google fixed the Google Apps incompatibilites I guess I wouldn’t get this traffic, oh the irony.

I also replied to some questions regarding this subject on Quora here and here.

There’s a notable lack of good software to bring all the different contacts on several different platforms available today such as mobile, desktop and multiple Google Apps accounts. Even though contact enriching services such as Gist tries to do this it fails on a couple of points that are critical to me.

• No two way sync with for e.g Google Contacts (this is a MUST!)
• Slow and bulky UI

Today I use Google Contacts on my primary Google Apps domain as my base, my one point of sync for mobile (iPhone) and desktop devices. My first encounter with the need to sync between several Google Apps domains occurred when I started up another business and wanted to have my business contacts on more than one Google Apps domain.

In terms of hardware I use an iPhone and a desktop PC on a daily basis that are synced with my primary Google Apps domain, so whenever I enter information into any of the devices they are in sync with the main Google Contacts. On the PC I usually access my contacts through Gmail, but on occassion I also use Thunderbird, which is configured to sync with the above domain using the Zindus plugin.

I was surprised to find that syncing between two different Google Apps domains was not available straight from Google which raised the question “There must be more people than me that work for several different companies (domains) that need their contacts kept in sync?”

Today I will give you my opinions on the two services that I like the most for the above task, those being, bring it on (you know there´s a VS coming right?):

Soocial VS Plaxo

Soocial – light weight contact syncing with neat features:

My solution so far has come in the shape and form of the contact syncing service called Soocial. Soocial syncs my two Google Apps domains and, if I should need it, other services such as Hotmail, Yahoo and Outlook etc. It does this with great success and it adds small but convenient features like merging duplicates, correctly formats my phone numbers and it even syncs my contacts profile pictures.

This functionality is really too good and too transparent for me to drop in favour of services that focus more on enriching your contacts with integrations to different social media services. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for adding more information to my contacts, preferrably automatically, but there must be a way of syncing them back to a contact manager such as Gmail or even the native contact manager in the iPhone through Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync.

Soocial offers a free service for those of you who have less than 250 contacts and 2 connections. If you like me have more than this you will need to pay about 3 EUR / 4.5 USD per month for the next step which is up to 1000 contacts, 5 connections and more. For more details you can visit Soocials pricing / plan page.

But if I want more? Can I not get some juice in my contacts, can I not pimp them with the latest info and what not? There is a way and I will tell you all about it below.

Plaxo – Letting your contacts control their own information

I tried Plaxo a while back and then it suffered the same fate as Gist does today, meaning no 2-way sync with Google Apps. Therefore I was pleasantly surprised when they updated Plaxo so that now it does indeed support syncing back to your Google account (or other service).

Plaxo, unlike Soocial, links your adress book to other Plaxo users. Meaning if I add you to my contacts and you also have an account at Plaxo.com, it will suggest that I update my contact info with the information you entered on your own. You can set the sensitivity towards these types of updates, either it can perform this automatically or you have to approve all changes.

Features include a more comprehensive duplicate merger than found in Soocial, Plaxo also seems to sync your contacts on a more regular interval than Soocial. Some downsides though is that Plaxo currently does not support syncing of contact pictures back to Google Contacts and I have had some error messages appear when syncing with multiple Google Apps accounts, something that disappeared after re-connecting, but still.

“Usually I am allergic to having to start an app in order to call people…”

There is a mobile app (only iPhone and Blackberry at the moment) available for Plaxo, it basically replaces your current Exchange sync (the one I have to Google Apps) with it’s own sync of your address book to Plaxo.com. Usually I am allergic to having to start an app in order to call people, but this app puts the contacts in your native adress book aswell as making them available in the Plaxo app.

However the sync between Plaxo and your phone only occurs when manually starting the app, which is not good, and which is why I am sticking with my Google Apps Exchange sync, which almost instantly shows me contact changes and updates. Plaxo has said that they will introduce Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync in the future, so I do have my hopes up for that though since it would mean the contact pictures would also be synced.

I mentioned Gist earlier in this post and a comparison is inevitable I suppose. Gist is definately more comprehensive when it comes to social media and finding information on blogs and websites. Plaxo does have some, even though very limited, interactions here aswell. You can tell Plaxo to post FaceBook status updates when you update your Plaxo status and vice versa. You can also display your Tweets on your Plaxo status. You have a dashboard where you can see recent updates made by you or your contacts. This is by no means as comprehensive as Gist, but still worth mentioning.

Also worth noting is the desktop notifier that is available for Windows users. This will notify you of any updates that your contacts are making to their info and or feed. You can select how sensitive it should be and when it should notify you. Could be a neat program to stay up to date on what your contacts are doing, however I have yet to see it in action (need more Plaxo friends?).

Plaxo is also available for free, but unlike Soocial, it does not offer any type of 2-way sync in the free version. To get the sync you need to get the Platinum Sync package (30-day trial available) which clocks in at a slighty more expensive 5 USD / month. You can visit their pricing / plan web page for more info.

The verdict

I just recently went from Soocial to Plaxo due to Plaxo’s addition of 2-way sync with Google accounts. I am skimming the surface of what Plaxo is capable of and it seems like a neat service. I like both services, but if it is just contact syncing that you want I would suggest going for the marginally cheaper or even free (if you have less than 250 contacts) Soocial.com, their service has been excellent!

If you, like me, have more than 250 contacts you would need to pay for the service anyway, whichever you choose. If that is the case and if you have a desire to become more active with your contacts – adding more information, utilizing a more advanced duplicate merger and web interface I would suggest Plaxo.com.

I’ve always been a bit confused when it comes to some services not working with Google Apps accounts. Take my Google profile that I had to fix with a separate “private” Google account just because I couldn’t log in using my Google Apps account that is associated with my business.

Why? It seems to be such a small thing to make the profile page work with Google Apps, it’s not like it is a technical marvel integrated with 20+ advanced services. It’s just a profile page with links and images.

So anyway today I decided to install the +1 button from Google and went with the Plus One plugin for WordPress. All seems good so far even though I would have wished for some more alignment options in the plugin (yes I know I can do it myself). So when trying out the plugin by clicking on the +1 icon it I am presented with the following:

Oops is right. Never mind me trying to +1 my own site (I know I should be ashamed! But I wanted to start a positive trend! ) I just can’t +1 any site since I have a Google Apps account. So here we go:

Please @Google and @GoogleApps stop punishing me for having a Google Apps account, atleast move over your less technically advanced services so I can use them. Thanks, bye bye now!

Oh, by the way, +1 my site for me, please?

(I can’t +1 yours yet though, but if I could I would and when I can I will!)

Noticed that myPhoneDesktop had an update waiting for me in the app store, seems that it now has enhanced support for the Motion-X GPS Drive and Mercury Browser. I use this app quite often, it is nice not having to enter for example phone numbers that are displayed on your screen manually on your phone, just highlight it and click ctrl+c+c and it will basically dial it for you. You can read my full review of myPhone Desktop here and below is the message I got from its author Alexander Krivov:

I am very happy to let you know that myPhoneDesktop v1.8.1 has been released with greater support for MotionX-GPS Drive, new Mercury Browser support and more…

 

myPhoneDesktop is a universal app and a perfect companion for your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch as it crosses huge information sharing gap between your Desktop or Web browser and your iDevice. As result, you can use myPhoneDesktop’s full-featured Web or Desktop clients to make Phone Calls, send long SMS, copy large amounts of Text, send long and complicated to retype URLs or store images on your iDevice.

 

myPhoneDesktop’s power not limited by built-in functionality of iDevice. myPhoneDesktop makes it easier to use third-party apps directly from your Desktop. You can add tasks to to-do apps like InstaTodo or Appigo Todo; Send address or geo-location to NAVIGON MobileNavigator or MotionX-GPS Drive; Send SMS or make Phone Calls using Google Voice and much, much more…

]]> http://erikrudling.com/myphonedesktop-update-v1-8-1-supports-motion-x-gps-drive-and-mercury-browser/feed/ 0 http://erikrudling.com/google%c2%b4s-lack-of-personal-support-and-why-im-still-with-them/ http://erikrudling.com/google%c2%b4s-lack-of-personal-support-and-why-im-still-with-them/#comments Sun, 15 May 2011 15:45:05 +0000 Erik Rudling http://erikrudling.com/?p=267

It’s no secret that Google´s support is lacking in many aspects. Their customer relations rely heavily on their customers helping themselves and eachother. They have an extensive database filled to the brim with help articles and guides and that is all good, but sometimes it just isn’t enough.

If you have been with me for a while you know that I do love many of the products that Google put online and I rely on some of them every day. I have even taken it a bit further so that I am not only helping myself, I actually help and consult other people on how to use cloud and SaaS to help them make their daily chores less tedious and more effective.  I do this through my company NETRiK.se (shameless self promotion I know) and some external consultants here in Sweden. My focus lies on smaller companies and entrepreneurs, ranging from 1-10 employees.

99% of the time they end up in one of Googles own huge support databases filled with comments from 50 other frustrated users with the same problems…

I bump into issues with Google products at the very least on a monthly basis, with some of them falling into the small easily resolved category and with othersbeing deal breakers. And if they didn’t have me (ME! ME! ME!) the customer would be left to his or her own devices and getting in touch with Google is for most of these people a no-go. This leaves them searching the web for solutions and 99% of the time they end up in one of Googles own huge support databases filled with comments from 50 other frustrated users with the same problems and the same question on everyones lips; WHY DOESN’T GOOGLE HELP US?

I think that there are several reasons for Google not offering a more personal support:

1. You are not paying Google for the Premium Plus and Bacon
2. You are not paying Google for the Educationally Interselective Edition
3. You are not paying Google for the Business Package
4. You are not paying Google for the Enterprise Deluxe Plus Version

Why is it that they put all these free services on the market if they are not going to support them?

Well, first off, you are paying Google for all of this. Let’s face it, Google are making big bucks and these bucks are most likely, I might be wrong, not printed using Google cloud print! The money comes from you clicking on Google ads on searches or on their network. It also comes from companies that pay for the Google Apps Business (and the other) editions etc etc.

YOU pay their salaries and the pool table in their office, so, no, Google Calendar isn’t really free.

Google is at a breakpoint where more organisations GO GOOGLE as they call it. They shift over from Microsoft Exchange to Google Apps and I am all for that, Google Apps is superior in most aspects. But Google need to sort out their support even for the smaller customers. You think I might be shooting myself in the foot here, yes and no, companies with Google Apps NEED people like me to help them. If not that, they need someone employed within their own company that has enough expertise with Google Apps and similar, which is rarely the case if you have 1-10 employees.

I have friends and colleagues who are very Microsoft centric…

…and they don’t take Google serious. Something that according to me is a dangerous stance to take, but part of me can understand them. They say that Google cannot be contacted, and this comes from devs aswell as Exchange convertees. I tend to shrug it off and say that you can contact me, but when I myself try to get in contact with Google about a faulty Analytics account for over three weeks and no one hears me, then I understand the MS Exchange peeps.

“..but according to me if you put a product on the market you need to be able to support it aswell. In this case the customers bad experience is related to Google Apps as a whole, no matter if it is the free version or not.”

Regarding the conflicting analytics account that I mentioned above, I somehow managed to tap into the helpdesk for AdWords and they forwarded my question to the Analytics team. Nothing happened, but after contacting the AdWords team again the conflicting account was then updated, and it is now working.

The concensus is that it takes too long and my customer is left being frustrated and unsatisifed. I should mention though that this was the free Google Apps version, but according to me if you put a product on the market you need to be able to support it aswell. In this case the customers bad experience is related to Google Apps as a whole, no matter if it is the free version or not.

Don’t get me wrong, I really like many of Google´s products…

…and I will continue to support them. It’s what I do, I solve problems and help people become more effective, so for now Microsofts solutions are out of the picture. But Google need to get a reality check and start looking into their support and make it more personal and accessible as I think this is one of their biggest issues right now and it is an area where for example Microsoft is way ahead…

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