Hard Work, New Features

It should come as no surprise to anyone following this blog that our development staff has been hard at work on our website. And thanks to all the efforts by my team, I am proud to announce a new version of Compare Book. While this is not a major release (our last complete rewrite was launched just 2 months ago; it will be a while before we do that again), the new features we are rolling out do represent a major step forward in the power and functionality of our site.

This version includes many changes, some big and some small. Over the next couple of days, I plan on highlighting several of these changes, not only to market our service, but also to discuss the debate and discussions behind them.

No business decision, no matter how trivial, is a total win-win. Every change comes with a cost, a risk, and a potential for failure. Even those which, in retrospect, seem blatantly obvious, typically represent a fair amount of speculation. Which is why I find it so fascinating to learn not just what someone did, but why they did it. In this process, I hope to shed some light on the inner workings of our decision making process.

At Compare Book, we have divided all our tasks down into three primary categories: increase market share, expand into new markets, and improve purchase ratios. Virtually all of the changes this new version includes can be pegged quite cleanly into the "improve purchase ratios" category. They were designed to make the purchasing decision easier for our customers - to help them feel confident that they have the right book at the right price. So while we don't intend on this update to increase our traffic very much, we do hope more visitors will complete their transaction, and purchase a book.

Will it work? Will we see an increase in book purchases over the next few months? Well, that's the risk we are taking.

Usability; riding shotgun.

Not to toot my own horn, but I know a fair amount about usability. I have been to several of Jakob Nielsen's Usability Week Conferences, I have read more than my share of usability books, and have run several user-response labs. Typically, I am the "go-to guy" for all things usable, because I have the background, and I understand the core responsibilities.

Which is why I am the right guy to tell you that sometimes you have to toss usability out the window.

I am not doubting that usability is important - it is paramount to designing a successful website. But there is a fundamental problem with usability; one that Jakob Nielsen would never confess to. But my sideburns are not quite as large... I am ready to confess the truth. The overriding goal of usability is to ensure your design allows the user to do what he wants in the most simple and intuitive way as possible. Sounds all well and fine. The problem comes when your business' goals are not the same as your user's goals... which is pretty much all of the time.

So who wins? Ninety-nine percent of the time, I would side with the user. After all, he is the one that is paying your electric-bill, so you better make sure you are keeping him happy. But there are instances when you must place the user's designers on the back burner. This is rare; the exception rather than the rule. But you must know when it is time to do so, and then strike as necessary. In a website of a thousand design decisions, you get to make 10 of them, so make them well.

One lesson I am only now learning is to not over simplify your user interface. At CompareBook, we have built some extremely powerful book comparison features; features that put us clearly ahead of the competition. But there is only one problem: no one knows about them. I recently had the opportunity to interview several of our most active customers, people who use the site on a daily basis, and here is the kicker: not a single one of them had any idea about our advanced features.

For the sake of simplification, we hid much of our core functionality (which represented nearly half a year's worth of work) behind a single link, and no one ever found it. That single link, in the name of usability and simplification, has cost us untold business.

Naturally, we are in the throws of rectifying this problem, but at what cost? Will our pages be more cluttered? Absolutely. Will they be more difficult to navigate? You guessed it. But will more visitors employ our advanced book comparison tools, resulting in higher conversion rate to loyal customers? Well, that's the hope, anyhow. There is a pretty good chance I will be back here in 6 months, bemoaning this decision, and once again pounding the drum of usability. Only time will tell.

But until then... usability can take the back seat.

A Division of Labor

Do you remember back in the good old days of computer processors? Back when something like "dual processors" was a rare and sacred phrase uttered only in the presence of a power-tie-wearing salesman from IBM. Back then, people "in the know" threw around the phrase "multi-tasking" a lot, not because their computers could actually do it, but because they thought it made them sound like they were "in the know". Back then, desktop processors couldn't multi-task. In reality, they were stuck with multi-tasking's snot-nosed little brother: multi-threading.

Yes, it is true. Typically one must don his or her pocket protector before they would know (or in fact care about) the difference between multi-tasking and multi-threading, but bare with me for a moment. Multi-tasking means exactly what you think it means: doing multiple things at the same time. Multi-threading, however, means doing one thing for a few clicks, then putting it down, picking up a second task, and working on it for a while. In multi-threading, you are not doing two things at the same time; instead you are switching between two tasks quickly enough that it gives the appearance of doing two things at the same time.

Did I lose you? Too bad; we're plowing forward.

Larger companies get all the breaks. They are the star performers who have enough resources at their fingertips to "multi-task" their goals. There is never a need to put development on hold so they can focus on sales. I've never heard of a Fortune 500 company placing marketing on the back burner so they can work on product research.

On the other hand, small companies are forever in the state of "multi-threading". They typically do not have enough man power to dedicate anyone to a single task. So the graphic designer is also responsible for marketing, your developers are running the research labs, and your accountant is filling in for sales.

Obviously not a good thing... right?

Wrong. Computer companies did not migrate the desktop to a multi-processor architecture until quite recently. Why? Because multi-tasking doesn't really speed things up. Any time you have true multi-tasking, you run into the dark side of CPU's known as "thrashing": spending more time managing the multiple tasks than the time you saved by doing two things at once. Larger companies have much the same problem. Think of all the layers of management necessary to keep big business afloat.

Wearing several hats not only eliminates red tape, but even more importantly, allows you... in fact requires you to prioritize more efficiently. When your development team is working with sales on a daily basis, it doesn't take long for their minds to open. They get instant feedback as to what is helping to close a sale, and what is not. Multi-threading requires each member to be conscience of the rest of the team, rendering your company much more nimble.

So don't be afraid to place a project on hold. Have no fear putting IT on the phones for a while. You might be surprised how much faster your company will run.

Introductions Duo, or "Why the ??"

Compare Book is a book price comparison tool. And so are about five thousand other websites, give or take. "A crowded market place", you might refer to it as, and you would be right. So what sane corporation would dare launch a new product into such a competitive atmosphere?

When did I ever claim sanity?

There are many reasons we decided to launch a book pricing website; some good, and some perhaps not as good. But if you boil it all down, you end up with one thing: opportunity. Opportunity is the sole reason any decent website, or blog for that matter, is created. If there is no opportunity, then there is no reason to exist. Even the incessantly dull "personal blog" (the modern equivalent to the vacation slide-show), if executed correctly, has an opportunity associated with it: to connect with distant friends, or make connections with total strangers.

And what of the "crowded market place?" Don't forget: those are your words, not mine. But it helps to remember that there is a difference between perceived opportunity and actual opportunity. The price comparison market gives the appearance of being crowded and overworked, however the reality is that this the field is just asking someone to come take it. Here are just a few of reasons why:

1. No Clear Market Leader
A "clear" market leader is someone who owns more market share than his nearest three competitors combined. There are several unique opportunities available when going up against such a Goliath, but that is still a tough road to travel. Lucky for us, no one website has this kind of lead. The top website, CampusI.com generates just over 200,000 visitors per month, followed closely by BookFinder.com at roughly 180,000, and then AllBookStores.com at 170,000. Despite this arena being several years old, the market has still not crowned their king. Opportunity.

2. Lack of Product Saturation
Even though many big-name companies have dipped their toe into this market, including CNet and Google, there is still a remarkably small amount of product saturation: most casual Internet users still have no idea you can search for the lowest price of a given product. Chances are that you, my web-savvy, blog-reading friend, know several price comparison sites, but you are not a typical Internet user. Well over 50% of the Internet surfin' public have never heard of a price comparison site - a fact we desperately seek to change. Opportunity.

3. Completely Stale Marketplace
This is my personal favorite point, which basically boils down to this: our competition stinks. I won't go into specifics now (got to save something for later posts), but the fact is few if any of the other book price comparison sites have updated their content, much less their technology in years. The Internet has moved to a totally new state, and they haven't even packed their bags. RSS, Ajax, blogs - these are the up-and-coming technologies, and as far as I know, there is only one site that employs them - CompareBook (are you suprised?)

Introductions, or "Who the ??"

The Internet, to borrow from Douglas Adams, is big. Really big. And yet, no matter how big the Internet gets, it seems to be constantly filling up with mind-numbing personal accounts of this, that and the other. With this jumble in mind, I am pleased to present Bookstrapped - yet another mind-numbing personal account, though it is my personal account; that alone should be worth something.

This blog is two things: a personal account of my bootstrapped ventures into the world of online business, and... well... er... humph. It's just one thing. As this is a fairly "personal" blog, I felt it was only appropriate to christen its hallowed pages by introducing the author.

My name is Jeff Beck, and I am an Internet Entrepreneur, or "Interpreneur" for short. However, in the spirit of full disclosure, it should be noted that I am a very bad one. I launched my first company while in High School - Savant Technologies. Yes... I know what savant means. But for some hazy reason, it sounded cool at the time. Shortly after completing my education, I started another company, Interworks Inc., which launched with what seemed at the time to be perfect timing: directly into the 1990's Internet bubble. Should I say more. No, I don't think so.

Finally, a few years back, my current partner and I launched Alliance Enterprises - with our first product (at least worth mentioning) the primary topic of this blog: www.CompareBook.com. Unlike nearly every company mentioned on Techcrunch, Compare Book has no outside venture capitalist to pay for fancy advertising, which would instantly projecting us to Web2.0 stardom. Instead, we have our measly operating budget, based entirely upon how much money we make. In essence, we are bootstrapping the entire operation.

Here goes.