How this site works, (because I have no interest in making this easy for the folks who have lost the ability to pay attention, I feel the need to explain) what to expect... You have reached a page that has been listed with a status of [BO] • What you will find on suchly designated pages are simply sketches, my notes... half realized full blown comments on __________, this here notion.
Basically this site is my note book... A MESS? Certainly • But I am hoping that you'll find a nugget of interest; Something that perhaps will spur a desire in you to contact me; and get the ball rolling on YOUR project, perhaps? ...for now... it's all just [BS]&[BO] ...enjoy (and do comment, please) Your website is, well... was....and then, the opinions on websites... unfold (in-Un-sequentially):
December 6th, 2012... I hate your FAcebook page, tooA new thought boiling up in all this thinking about websites: As weary as I've groan after years of continuously nagging folks that their web sites are crap, meaningless and as organizationally damaging to their marketing objectives as that ad-guy they have, sitting there, on retainer...
I am getting sick of having to YELL at people, day in, and day out. YOU DO NOT HAVE a Facebook page; there is NO SUCH THING AS A FACEBOOK PAGE... we are not launching a stinking facebook version of your stupid web site! Facebook is a stream... your message in motion! - The only people who visit your Facebook TIMELINE are people with too much time on their hands, OR... good folks who want to review and get a sense of the items you will be "running through" their newsfeed. My own mistake in a lot of ways... but really, for the next 17 years please excuse me when, each and every time someone around me say the words FACEBOOK page. As, like the old man on the porch; I intend to WAG my finger and bitch... ...sigh, youth is wasted on the wrong people! |
You are dumb as... a rock, if you are stuck on your own island
Nothing says "website" like a cheesy "microsoft bluish" image of a horribly large, or is it actual sized windows pointer pointing at a URL prefaced by http://
Really... STOP counting...
...stop counting on your website.
This is the first draft of my trying to make this point. Yes, your website IS important; but not that so important.
And, yes, I'd be more than happy to discuss this with you! |
DRAFT 1, OCTOBER 27, 2012: There was no such thing as a website... I mean, really, did websites ever positively distinguish themselves from other communication medium, other format; magazines, catalogue, newspapers? Oh sure, there were some clever layouts, many employed a mix of media, animation, video... but most were just glorified glossies, brochures... babble. I for one am glad we don't have to put up with websites any longer.
In all seriousness; WHAT is your website? AND, when is your website? Perhaps your your website an Island in the stream? Your collection of goo in the torrent of Facebook posts, tweets, instagrams blog posts, email even? It just sits there. ...sits there. Your blob of goo, sitting there; in the stream... your Island in the stream. So, do you really think someone, 'surfing' that stream is actually going to stop? Have a look? And, if they do stop and have a look, do you really think they're going to stay? Are you, is your business really THAT special? - I doubt it. Yup, its your island in the stream... hundred of millions of folks are racing by every nano-second; you've put up a flag, attempted notice... look at me, this is my island in the stream and these are my shiny things. Come over here and take a look. Honestly, what are your expectations? Whatis your focus, your intent... Why on earth would do you want someone to stop? You really want to pull one of these folks off the stream (where they appear to be having, oh, just so much fun)... you really want to pull them over to your island in the stream, tie their jet ski to your dock? Have them "stop" and do, what exactly? Read all of your "About me" page? Have you completely lost your mind? Outside of taking a quick look at that big new arch-ee-tect designed house, maybe the flashy cars in the garage, your jetski, boat, whatever... who gives a rat's crap about all that GOO you've collected and set up on your little island in the stream... "What are you offering"? Nothing? Gotta go... go have fun on the stream. You think you have a good story? A pretty picture? ...a Product? ...a Service? There are a bazillion products and millions of people offering these same services on billions of islands dotted all over this stream; many with much bigger, more shinier arch-ee-tech designed houses... much more enthralling "All About ME" pages... So, eventually, you will come to realize, you are pathetic. You, sitting there on your Island in the stream, not that unique, that product; that service just another choice amongst millions. Sell the Island, move back to the city? - I would never suggest anything so drastic... I would however suggest... STOP focussing on your damned Island. Sure keep it neat and tidy. Spruce it up every now and again; better yet plant a garden and change it with every season, plant a few perennials, a couple of annuals... That big old arch-ee-tech house? Be honest now, the minute you moved in, it felt wrong, didn't it? It really didn't quite fit. That big o'l house... forget it, buy a nice tent. When you tire of it, pitch another. For now, and to wrap this at a point... FOCUS ON THE STREAM... figure out what exactly it is you want people to DO if they visit your island in the stream; my guess, you want them to BUY something, OR at the very least become prepared to BUY something. Focus on the stream, get out there... pull that boat of yours off the dock, get out there and start talking to folks. Bring your message to them, show it to them... HECK, bring your product and your service with you; they might just buy it OUT THERE, on the stream. Oh sure, invite them back to your little island in the stream; invite them to a nice dinner, show them around your library. If they sit for a while, relax and read, this is NEVER a bad thing, but this is NOT a business model. Come on, they way you're set up now, really the chance of your being noticed is remote... AND even if you do get noticed the chance of anyone getting off their jetski long enough to get past your "All about ME" sign, and into the one room you want them to actually visiti in that big ol' arch-ee-tect home of yours... 0.000000000001% conversion... [BO] eventually, more POINTS to be made: 1) Your website is merely a moment in your digital strategy 2) Focus on the whole, not the bits and pieces 3) Aggressively sell, don't sit on your Island flashing semaphore message out into the stream 4) Get out on the stream, engage your customer... tag them in the stream. 5) Oh sure, invite them to your Island in the stream; but really, when they get there offer them two things... Tell 'em what's in for them... and then, sell it to them...AND THEN WE FOLLOW-UP...
APRIL 12th, 2013... It's been a while since I popped into this topic bucket. Found this nice graphic about starting a website. Listen... if you don't have #4 covered. You are wasting everyone's time.
Facebook Post: OCT 28thRecently, while completing a frustratingly laboriously form required to be filled in in pursuit of a gig; I was asked... "what websites do you frequent?"
Errr... (pause, thinking, scratching my head), er, none? Perhaps its all semantics, but if you exclude The Globe, NYTimes, Drudge, RCP et al as news media rather than websites; if you exclude Amazon and such as a retail outlets, rather than say, websites; if you exclude Facebook, Quora, Linkedin et al as my social network rather than, you know websites... If you exclude Solve360, Harvest, gmail et al as my workspace, my desktop rather than... Is there still such a thing as a website? Unfortunately, many believe there is... I've been (quietly) pounding my fist with clients these days as I try to move them beyond this "website" centric thinking; (putting it perhaps too pompously), this 20th Century thinking (?)... I agree completely that this thing you continue to call your "website" is an absolute essential part of your digital, 'social' arsenal. But, it's not a "website". It's a __________, and YOU have to let me know WHAT __________ is; what your objective is; and it is that objective that will determines just what your "website" actually is. OH, and I will not speak a word of your ascetic, your brand image, your message UNLESS I feel that your ascetic, your brand image, your message is getting in the way of your objective... Oh, and if the core objective of your website is NOT to express the benefits of your product or service and to "sell" that product our service to your customer, I might call you an (idiot) (quietly) :-) -------------------------------------- In other news; after 20++ years, I've finally built my OWN website! This is the first time I've linked to it; it will NEVER be done, as it being DONE is NOT my objective. At this time, the objective is to help answer questions like: "what websites do you frequent", more thoroughly :-) It needs work :-) |