Your Shot

Let Us Know What You Want to Read

Joe’s last post to this blog invited you to tell us what you’d like to read on the Learn & Explore pages of NikonUSA.com. I want to give that invitation a resounding endorsement.

For the last several years I’ve been focused on developing editorial and educational content for our websites. Having your input would be great! I want to know what you want to read about and what we can help you learn.

Do you want to know how to take great pictures of your collectibles to sell on the Internet? Are you planning a trip and need to know how to take pictures in a hot and humid climate? Are your attempts at capturing the perfect holiday card photo falling short?

We want you to enjoy the picture-taking experience, so let us know how we can help. Send us an email by way of the Site Feedback link at the bottom of every page on the site. Tell us what information would be most useful to you. We want to know what you want to read.

Introducing...a guest blogger

I'm excited to introduce to you a member of my team here at Nikon, Inc., who will be making appearances on this blog from time to time and writing her own posts. Frances, the Assistant Manager of Internet Programs, is primarily responsible for developing the educational and editorial content on the NikonUSA website. Additionally, Frances edits the product and marketing information, often working closely with Nikon's professional photographers, marketing and technical staff members to generate ideas for articles and videos.

Frances will be posting to this blog in an effort to generate conversation with you about educational topics you'd like to see in the future on our site. Welcome aboard, Frances!

Conversation Topic: Learn & Explore

Before I get into this new topic, I want to thank you for your constructive criticism on this blog. I appreciate the feedback. Remember too, that this blog is something new for us too. We're still figuring things out as we go along. So stick with us here, and keep coming back.

That said, let me turn our attention to a new topic for discussion. Namely, the Learn & Explore section of the NikonUSA site. While we are continuing to iron out the product details, we are exploring ideas on expanding the educational content available on the site. We have compiled a preliminary list of topics that you want to learn more about: photography techniques and other how-tos. Some of our ideas include tips and advice on how to:

• Take sports and action photography
• Set white balance on the camera for different lighting situations
• Get true-to-life skin tones
• Freeze action or capture motion
• Use fill flash outdoors
• Read the manual

And the list goes on. What else do you want to learn? Let's start a conversation about the kind of topics you want to hear more about in your continual quest to become a better photographer. In the coming days, we may be bringing on guest bloggers from Nikon, Inc., to share their thoughts on content, and your suggestions will really help steer this conversation.

What do you think about this blog?

We've had this blog up and running now for a few months, since the launch of the redesigned Nikon USA website, and your insights and opinions have already helped us prioritize next steps. Is this blog continuing to be helpful and interesting to you? What would you change about this blog to improve it?

Keep in mind that we started this blog as a way to promote conversation about the redesigned website. Your ideas and feedback have been very valuable thus far, and we want to keep this dialogue going. In what ways could we continue to keep visitors coming back and sharing ideas on the blog?

The Vast Network of Sites

Let me start with another big thanks for the comments...keep 'em coming.

Some recents comments pertain to site performance in Firefox. As it relates to www.nikonusa.com we did conduct acceptance testing in IE, Safari and Firefox before launching without siginficant issue but we'll definitely check that out again.

As for comments about Firefox performance of the D3 and D300 microsites I'll make sure the development folks at Nikon Corp. in Japan hear the comments. A lot of the sites you see coming off Nikonusa.com are developed in other areas of the world so we try our best to apply global standards to development to deliver consistent experiences. We'll keep plugging away at that to make sure the network of sites is the best it can be.

The Weekend Update

Some this won't be as funny as the SNL version but hey here goes. If there is one thing that has become clear is that we all have our own preferences. The lens page is the perfect example. Some like the new groupings while others prefer the old listing style. As mentioned in an earlier post we're developing some alternative views for that page to account for the various style preferences. Look for that in a couple of weeks.

Also, some comments about the accessory images. In an effort to get the site live we used a generic accessory shot for a couple dozen of the hundred accessories that we make available. We're also working on reshooting those to be specific to the product. So those will start to roll out soon.

The homepage experience is getting a fresh update in the coming weeks as mentioned previously. We're going to reduce the flash animation to get to the end state quicker, which ultimately means faster loading times.

We're also starting the production of a couple dozen technology demonstrations to give visitors a better understanding of how Nikon products take the best pictures possible. We have our list that we are starting with but if there are topics or technology that you would like to see demonstrations on here is your shot....

Product Info

Apologies for the delayed post but have been traveling and thus off the 'grid' for a week. Now back behind the wheel. There's been some discussion around wanting more info about products directly on the respective product pages. We've tried to consolidate info / links as best we can so let's hear your thoughts and ideas about what specific information you would like to see on the product pages...

Sharing your insight with our development team

We’re now finished with our global meetings as well as a two day summit with our web development team in the US. These meetings were all about what we need to do in the short-term to improve the new site experience as well as in the longer term to drive competitive advantage. And this blog was incredibly helpful in that discussion.

Our team is now focusing on some short-term fixes such as speeding up the image experience on the home page. This has always been part of the plan but the strong comments coming into the blog have elevated the priority of that change so thanks for the input.

After discussing the comments focused on the flash opening, there was some significant debate as to whether the main navigation was clear enough for those who had issue with loading of the site. Were visitors looking for core product information not going directly into the product area? Was the Find Your Nikon naming in the navigation not clear enough to direct visitors? Did we over think the naming of the product area? What are your thoughts?

Live from Tokyo it’s Monday Night…

Well it’s Monday night somewhere. We’re coming to you live from the headquarters of Nikon Corporation – Tokyo, Japan. We have a global internet meeting where we’ll discuss a number of topics including our new website in the US.

Speaking of which, a lot of comments so far – on and off line – have been about the homepage experience. The overall site design and architecture was built around the needs and wants of various user segments. While the main navigation and search tool provide an immediate pathway for those interested in getting to product content quickly, the intent of the homepage filter (which really needs a name in my opinion – Fred is not an option) is to provide a tool for those users that want to explore imagery.

Over time, the plan is to start weaving in educational and editorial content into that image detail bar that accompanies every image. For example there is a picture of a young boy making a key save during a soccer game. You might be diving into that picture because it is the type of shot you want to capture of your son’s soccer game. There is an opportunity to serve up an education based article by someone like Dave Black or Mike Corrado talking about how to get better sports pictures of your kids.

We’ll also look to add other filters based on your feedback. For example images using specific Nikon technology like Vibration Reduction or Face Priority AF, Nikon’s face-finding technology. Or by lens type. And we’ll definitely be integrated the COOLPIX cameras into that tool as well. So let us know what ideas you have on that front.

Comments on Comments

Some really good points so far so keep ‘em coming. There were a couple of comments through the blog and the general feedback form on the site about the lens landing page. Kurt posted a comment that he preferred the old lens page that listed all the lenses instead of the new one that is categorized. This is a really good insight and something we’re going to look at. Should be easy enough to provide the option to view by category or view an entire list. Good call Kurt.

We also had some comments that we didn’t publish since we want to keep this focused on the website itself. Those comments were regarding Capture NX, Firmware downloads and the like. For questions about products / services please visit the Nikon Knowledge Database

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