Page 44 - AVN June 2013

Business Sense_06.13 5/20/13 6:59 PM Page 44
CROWDSOURCING | By Stewart Tongue
Tools of the Trade
Industry leaders share tips on high-tech solutions to common work problems
TECH NEWS
Beginning this month, AVN is adding a new feature designed to pick the brains of adult industry insiders. For the first line of inquiry, reporter Stewart
Tongue asked business leaders this question: “What is the most interesting new software, service or business tool that you have started using in the last six
months?” The responses highlight several methods of collaborating on work remotely and using deeper levels of already known tools to gain even more
productivity.
In addition to software that help evaluate stats and sites, other tools that ease the burden of administrative tasks faced by every successful company were
brought to light during these interviews. Each tool dovetails nicely into a suite of functional pieces of software that can allow you to expedite tasks and stay
on track while getting more done during the course of each day.
Best Known, Least Utilized: Google Analytics
“I read the Harvard Business Review looking for new business tools, and now I spend
more time going over how to use Google Analytics than I ever thought I would,” said
Michael of ZTOD.com. “In going over Analytics, one of the key elements that I have
spent a lot of time on in the last two months is understanding the use of goals better,
and seeing how to use them in conjunction with funnels and multi-channel funnels.
Defining goals for things like declines really changes your perspective on your billers.”
Google Analytics is perhaps the best known and most underutilized traffic tool
ever built. Most webmasters have used it at one point or another to check basic
traffic pattern data or identify obvious problems with bots or disadvantageous
landing-page designs. However, Google continues to refine the level of detail
Analytics offers with enhanced real-time stats, goals and custom reporting.
Whether you have never used the software before or have been using it daily
for years, a visit to Google.com/analytics to look over the newly evolved
functionality is time well spent. Even a few minutes can quickly improve your
profitability by putting current data from your own site to better use in your
marketing campaigns.
greater efficiency. As the JIRA site suggests, issues are everywhere—they aren’t just bugs
in your code. Issues are tasks filling your inbox, ideas proliferating in spreadsheets, and
requests hiding in legacy business systems. JIRA is designed to easily capture and
organize your issues, prioritize them, and allow your team to take action on the items
in a sensible priority order. The software also includes many features that enable your
whole team to stay up-to-date with the activity going on around you.
Master List: Any.do
Connecting to your own task list from anywhere is also easier now thanks to
software from the Any.do website. “I’ve started using Any.do as a simple task
manager that syncs between my phone and other devices,” said Clement of
VideosZ.com “They also have a chrome plug-in and it’s hooked directly into
my Facebook account, so it’s a very simple and useful tool that allows me to
keep all of my tasks up to date on all my devices. I used to have different lists
in different locations, and things are so much easier now that I am in
constant contact with my schedule of meetings and tasks no matter where I go to
do business.”
Analyze This: KISSmetrics
“The most interesting software I’ve obtained recently is
KISSmetrics,” said Jose Jimenez of NaughtyAmerica.com. “It’s
like Google Analytics on steroids because you can send not only
events through Javascript but also server-side scripts like PHP.
It’s great because it allows more flexibility in tracking user
behavior, and knowing what people are doing when they visit
your site is essential to maximizing profitability.” A long list of
third-party add-on tools have been created for Analytics users
seeking to add their own enhancements beyond what Google
currently includes.
The KISSmetrics.com website explains that while Google
Analytics tells you what happened, KISSmetrics is designed
to tell you who did it. KISSmetrics attempts to fill in the
gap by showing you every action each individual performs
during a visit to help you identify who your most valuable
customers are and how to get more of them.
The software is available for free via Chrome or in the iPhone app store
and was voted one of the best apps of 2012 by Appstore and
Techcrunch.com. It also includes optional support for task sharing to
help teams make progress together in a more mobile work environment.
Keep Priorities Straight: JIRA
“I would have to say the most interesting tool we’ve used in
the last six months is without a doubt JIRA,” said Jason of
Crakmedia.com. “Being able to streamline and pri-
oritize tasks for our development team has
seen our efficiency and productivity
increase exponentially.”
The software, which can be found at
Atlassian.com/software/jira, includes a 30-
day free trial offer. It is designed to streamline business
planning while fostering a task-oriented approach to creating
Managing Project Management: Basecamp
Basecamp.com may be one of the oldest and best-known collaboration
tools out there, but it continues to attract new users every day because
of its versatility and stability. “My favorite tool is without a doubt
Basecamp,” said Moreno of DatingFactory.com. “Basecamp is a
productivity tool and a project management tool which is very simple
to use. Unlike many others out there,
Basecamp has almost zero learning
curve and lets you become a
proficient user pretty much
immediately. Dating Factory
has employees all over the
world, and for us Basecamp
is a great tool to share
projects, ideas, instructions
and goals with all of the
members of the company.
You can add projects, files, and
documents, manage different calendars, and
most importantly set reminders for yourself or your col-
leagues. Basecamp makes my project management a breeze
and improves our productivity in so many ways every week.”
The company website also boasts a 97 percent approval rat-
ing from customers and thousands of new users every week.
44 | AVN.com | 6.13