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Happy 3rd Birthday
June 25th, 2008
HamiltonBerchman Design Group turns 3 this month of June in 2008. It has been a great adventure to start HamiltonBerchman and work with so many talented and interesting people. I have had the good fortune of working on some great projects and have had the privilege of helping many people and organizations get more from the Internet. Whether a complete web site or a consultation on Internet strategy and best practices it has all contributed to our success to date. I thank those of you who have been involved with me and HamiltonBerchman in any capacity.
What have I learned?
If there was one thing I have learned in starting this business its to never stop asking questions. Ask questions about everything; business, clients, projects, and yourself. Never settle for the status quo because there is always something that can be reexamined, revised, or improved. There is so much potential for growth by asking questions all the time, no matter the project or situation. Asking questions keeps you engaged, keeps you curious, keeps you learning, and it keeps you in the game.
So what is your Internet-based question?
How can I be of service? What do you need to know?
What is RSS and why you should care?
June 20th, 2008
With its early predecessors dating back to the mid-1990’s RSS, or Really Simple Syndication, is a fundamental tool in getting your content published to the widest audience possible on the Internet. Simply put, RSS is a web-based format for frequently updated content, such as blogs, news feeds, and podcasts.
Why does this matter to you and your business?
Because publishing content on the web matters if you want to get noticed. Good content helps people and raises your company profile as an authority and expert in your field or industry. Frequent content updates can contribute to better results with search engines when combined with other SEO (Search Engine Optimization) efforts.
RSS feeds are a simple way to package your content in a format that allows it to be spread to a very wide audience. And it makes it easy and convenient for people to receive what you have to publish. A company called Common Craft has done and excellent job at creating a short video presentation of exactly how RSS works, in plain English.
Here it is for your viewing pleasure and a BIG hat tip to Common Craft who create great explanation videos:
Is there anybody out there?
May 28th, 2008
I’ve begun reading the The Cluetrain Manifesto: The End of Business as Usual
The power of the Internet is that we all have the ability to communicate with one another on a one-to-one basis, or in groups. We have the power of our voices. The Internet is really not about marketing or commerce although it is very convenient to research and buy things. We can have conversations, share ideas, debate the merits of one thing over another. The power is in the communication and that is a 2 way street. The Internet is about expressing ideas, sharing knowledge, and having conversations and relationships with real people. And that is what I am doing with my company blog and my e-newsletter.
What I love to do is help people find the best way to use the Internet to communicate. Not everyone is trying to say the same thing and everyone listening is not necessarily doing it the same way.
So, the format of my e-newsletters has changed to find out what you think.
All my previous e-newsletter issues were sent to you in their entirety. Sometimes they were weighty emails. Now my e-newsletter provides you with a table of contents and then each piece of content takes you over here to my website to read more and allow you to engage in the conversation. Please share your ideas and opinions… I want to hear what you think!
What is the most powerful thing you ‘get’ from the Internet?
- Information?
- Communication?
- Relationships?
- Business?
I want to know, comment below.
Rushing To Deadlines
May 21st, 2008
We all feel it at one point or another. The large deadline looming over our back. Whether for a project at work or an errand at home the race is on to get something done before a deadline. The word deadline sounds ominous and can certainly produce feelings of stress and pressure.
Is there really a reason to rush to a deadline? I would say from experience, no. If there is enough lead-time, preparation, and room for negotiation there should be no sense of deadline. However, sometimes we are not so fortunate—something comes up unexpectedly that needs to be handled quickly, or a new project or task that comes up takes priority over what you are currently working on. No matter what the scenario it may create a sense of ‘stress‘ or ‘pressure.’
Feeling a ‘sense‘ of deadline and the ‘stress‘ that it may produce can cloud your judgment. If you are working on a project and the deadline is 8 a.m. Friday morning you may work late on Thursday to finalize everything. But people that need to sign off on the final version of that project may not be in until after 8 a.m. the next day—after the deadline. You may decide that the deadline is the most important thing—everything ‘looks’ correct and you have to hit the deadline. However, it would be best to renegotiate the 8 a.m. deadline with everyone on Thursday once it becomes apparent that meeting the deadline cannot happen without the proper approvals.
You should negotiate the deadline because the quality of the final work may be in question. The combination of pressure, stress, and time constraints may cause an oversight and something that is not correct could get published.
No matter the deadline situation you may find yourself in remember that it is all a matter of perception and perspective. If you speak negatively—”there is no way we can get this done”—you will convince yourself of whatever you speak. If you speak positively—”we can do this, lets ask for some help and see if we can get some more time”—you may find things to go smoother without the stress and pressure.
When looking at the deadline(s) you have you may want to consider these items:
- Take stock of what is on your plate.
- Can some tasks/projects be put on hold until you clear the pressing matter?
- Is there anything you can delegate to a co-worker, assistant, or sub-contractor?
- Renegotiate the delivery of your tasks, projects, or priorities with your superiors, or your clients. Everyone understands that things change.
- Take one task at a time and reassess when new things come up.
Getting things done by a deadline will always be with us. The good news is meeting them done does not always have to feel like a monster hovering over you. Take a deep breath, assess the big-picture, offload and delay what you can, and get-to-work!
How do you handle deadlines?
Do you have any unique ways of handling the ‘stress‘ of the situation?
Be True To Your Clients
May 6th, 2008
I read a blog post yesterday at The Selling Sherpa that I found interesting called One Cup Of Coffee. I actually find many of The Sherpa’s posts interesting, but the story in this one is something we, as customers, have all experienced at one point in our lives.
The story is about a customer service experience commentary on what you, as a provider of a product or service, should be focused on–giving your clients and customers what they want and need. We read that good service is not being delivered, an attempt at manipulating you is. It really is as simple as that. If you are not sure what your clients want or need just ask them. You can always email them individually or conduct an online survey.
What is important here is to know that trying to ‘pull one over’ on your clients by either not listening, not asking, or employing tactics that can be construed as trickery will ultimately get you nowhere. Be true to your clients. They will pay you for it.
Giving People A Reason
April 18th, 2008
How do you get people engaged with your business, product, or service in the digital space?
The great opportunity available to everyone using the Internet to communicate their message is the chance to innovate and create. A myriad of ways exist to engage people using the Internet. Depending on what you are communicating, what your defined goals and objectives are, and what strategies you employ will determine what type of success you will encounter.
Many of these experiences are based on tried and tested techniques, and people experience them on a daily basis. For example blogs, online forums, and email newsletters have all evolved in their own ways to give people a reason to engage with your message and the value you can provide them. The best ideas and practices bubble up to the top and are continuously refined to deliver the results people are after. You only need to go and look at the blogosphere to see the endless discussion on an ever-expanding range of topics about making things better, faster, and more effective.
Why should someone care about what you have to say? Why should they engage with you? What about innovation and invention in ‘giving people a reason?’ What are the ideas and techniques that have yet to be invented? These are new paradigms that interest and engage people on a mass scale in ways never thought of before. I do run across new examples of this from time to time.
An Example, Or Two.
There are two recent examples of this type of innovation from the music world. As some of you may know the music industry and their distribution model have been brought to the Internet in a haphazard and less-than-elegant way. Had music companies been innovative and not resisted change, their fate today might be different–but we digress. Our two examples come from the band Radiohead. The band earlier this year released their latest album “In Rainbows” first, and only, on the Internet. Other bands have done this before, but what Radiohead did was to allow people name their own price, and then download the entire album. Many people thought they were crazy to do this. Would people actually pay? Or would they just run off with a freebie? The feedback that I read reported that, on average, people paid what would be considered the price for a new CD. So, overall the experiment worked. Some people paid little or nothing, others paid a bit more and the result was proof of a new way to release an album for a major music artist. Radiohead then went to release the album on a traditional CD a few months later.
The second experiment involves remixing a song from their new album–the song is called “Nude.” This is not the first time an artist has done this on the Internet, but this time Radiohead is charging 99 cents per track to download. People then remix them to create a variety of new versions of the song. People can then upload their mixes and the public then votes on these mixes to arrive at the most popular version. To date there are over 1600 remixes submitted to the website.
It will be interesting to see what the final results are from this second experiment. What ways can you engage your prospects, clients, fans using digital technology? What examples do you see within your industry or others that get you thinking of ways you can give people a reason to engage?
The Importance of 450 pixels
November 15th, 2007
So much of what goes on behind the scenes of developing and designing websites is typically never considered by people who end up visiting the websites that are designed. These types of things would fall into the category of “things you don’t know, that you don’t know.” The importance of 450 pixels is one of these things.
So 450 pixels, what is it all about?
It is a measurement that has, through trial and error come to be what is arguably considered the right width for a column of text typeset on the Internet. Big deal? Well consider that whenever you read anything your eyes are scanning from left to right on a page. When the eyes get to the furthest right point they quickly scan back to catch the next line of text. The longer the line of text horizontally, the quicker we introduce eye fatigue over longer passages of text. Eventually when you continue to lengthen lines of text the eyes have a difficult time catching the next line. Frustration sets in for the reader and they are gone.
Observe most books have moderately narrow column widths for their text, it is this principle in action. In print this has been going on since the time of Gutenberg and best practices have come to find that approximitely 60 characters, typeset at 12pt in size is a comfortable column width. This measurement in print, when translated to the Internet, results in approximately 450 pixels of screen real estate.
So, what does this mean for you? If you want to keep people reading your content, apply the rule. You may have the most fascinating content around, but if it is difficult to read no one will. You could be losing out on increasing your exposure. This minute aspect of user experience should matter because it is at the core of usability.
Did you know about the importance of 450 pixels?
If not, do you feel it is important enough for you to consider its implementation on your website?
Failing to address their audience on the Internet
September 22nd, 2007Advertising Agencies are not the only culprits. There are many types of organizations that fail in their approach to using the Internet. In this post we are defining failure as not understanding what your audience wants and needs–information.
In a recent post at Web Ink Now titled Advertising agency websites: Digital masturbation David Meerman Scott makes a clear case why ad agencies have it wrong when it comes to their own web sites. Many times they also have it wrong when it comes to the web sites they design and develop for clients. Since ad agencies have made their bread and butter in the mediums of print and television it only makes sense that the would take what they know “works for them” in those mediums and apply it to the Internet. Problem is that this approach simply doesn’t work because the web is a different beast. It is a dynamic, hyperlinked medium that is in constant growth.
Ad agencies are not the only guilty party with regard to not “getting it.” Architecture, Graphic Design, and even Web Design firms are guilty and tend to follow a formulaic approach that most emulate–visit our web site so we can tell you how cool we are and at the same time stroke our egos. Now stroking egos is o.k. (think press releases about winning industry awards) as long as its balanced with content potential clients may need. The irony is that these organizations are versed in communications to a great degree and in this medium most tend to fail at being effective.
People visiting your website are looking for information. You do not have to capture their attention with “bells and whistles” because you already have their attention–they are at your website! You need to immediately offer answers to their questions and easy ways for them to explore to find what they want and need.
Presenting information on the Internet does not, and should not, be devoid of any style or artistic flair. Style and a distinct artistic approach enhances any web site and allows it to stand out in the “sea-of-sameness.” In particular when dealing with assessing graphic and web design firms the “look” of their web site may be the ultimate deciding factor.
However, if the style of your website is getting in the way of the substance it may be time to consider a redesign.
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