Things web professionals never say - Part 1

Let's here it for the good old Yellow Pages!

Picture the scene. It's early - very early on a Sunday morning. I have a busy day ahead starting with a long and time pressured drive to the north. But it's okay, I'm awake and moving.

I go downstairs and turn the handle of the living room door. Everything is going to plan. I should point out that I don't usually schedule to this degree but these actions are important. Stay with me.

As I turn the handle there's a little 'ping' noise and the handle suddenly doesn't want to work anymore. It takes a couple of seconds for the importance of this to dawn on me. I'm in my hallway, I have access to the upstairs of the house, but I'm now locked out of the living room, dining room, kitchen and my office. Everything I need to progress my day is behind this door. And, as I may have mentioned, it's an unearthly hour on a Sunday morning.

So, I poke at the lock for a bit. A credit card would be useful - in my wallet ... behind the door. Some really useful things in the tool box - in the laundry room cupboard ... behind the door. I could break the door down - but this doesn't seem like a cost-effective long term solution. I need a locksmith. A plan begins to form. I need to go out. 

And for that, I need shoes.

Yep. In the cupboard under the stairs. Behind the door.

But it's okay - because I remember there's a box of shoes sitting at the bottom of my wardrobe. These are shoes that didn't make it into the cupboard under the stairs because I don't wear them anymore. Damn, I'm just so resourceful.

Of course, there's a reason why I don't wear these shoes anymore. I discard the white, snakeskin Cuban heels I used to wear in my days as lead guitarist with Sweet Young Thing and settle for the cowboy boots. It's a good look in the early hours of a Sunday morning in residential Bath. Really.

Suitably shod, I head out and am pleased to find the local news agent open for business. And it is here that I find the solution to my problems - the kind offer of a Yellow Pages and a telephone. Withing a few minutes I have an emergency locksmith on the way (not the first guy I called - yes, I know it's early on the Sunday morning but the price was a bit steep. I need a door opening. I don't want to build an extension) and the day is saved.

I would usually choose a service like this by browsing websites. Yes, I'll take into account price, but I'm more likely to be influenced by the quality of the website. Professional interest. But, in a time of crisis, that big yellow book saved the day.

Next time you're at a presentation on digital marketing and somebody kicks off their talk by theatrically blowing the dust of a telephone directory, please remember my story.

Guys, here's a tip - cowboy boots are really rock 'n' roll ...

Next up, Number 8 Web Management goes all digital again.

More soon.

Go west!

The soundtrack today is In the Court of the Crimson King. I hadn't listened to this album - really listened - for best part of 20 years. Can't understand why - it's incredible.

Anyway, last time up I promised you some introductions.

Hello.

I'm Adrian.

During the week, I am Number 8 Web Management. I look to help small and medium size businesses make the most of their web presence. One of the reasons for this blog is to illustrate just how useful it is to find a place where you can still send out your message, but you can switch to a conversational tone and kick off your shoes a while. I mean, I've told you what music I'm listening to right now and have explained my business within a couple of paragraphs and when I read it over - yep, it looks okay.

At weekends this time of year you will find me at the Recreation Ground in Bath or occasionally at whichever ground the blue, black and white is being worn in combat. And that, my dear readers, is what brings a Geordie born former Londoner to the West. Rugby.

Bath had been our weekend bolt hole for some time - a fantastic place to come to get away from London for a weekend. And then something really strange happened. We went to the rugby - Bath versus West Hartlepool sometime in the late nineties. Something clicked into place. Suddenly, our weekends away started to follow the fixture list and then we discovered our London location gave us easy access to several away fixtures. And then, after the near disaster of not being able to get tickets for a home game with Wasps, we admitted our rugby problem and bought our first season tickets. But we were still in London ...

People said 'You can't move house just because of rugby!'. Actually, you can. But in truth, it wasn't just about rugby by then. Over the years we had found, and been welcomed into, a friendly and supportive community to the point where we knew more people in our 'weekend city' than we did at home. So here we are - loving life in the West Country.

If I have one concern, it's what my hybrid Geordie/West Country accent will sound like in a couple of years ...

More soon.

Technology is the servant of strategy: Social networking and business revisited

First off, can I draw your attention to this neat Shelfari widget over on the right? Scroll down a bit. There. Secondly, can I point you in the way of Content Strategy for the Web by Kristina Halvorson? It's a really useful (and easy) read for anybody working on a web project (especially project stakeholders) and its recommendations will help ensure content is not a last minute panic. The Nixon book is most excellent too. I'll try to keep the shelf stocked with interesting web stuff, but don't be too surprised if US politics crops up there too.

'Technology is the servant of strategy' is the mantra of Number 8 Web Management. Do what works, do more of what works and then do what works better. If technology starts to take the lead over strategy, there will be tears.

I was speaking to a local business owner the other day about his use of Twitter. He seemed to have it pretty much sorted. He needs to build relationships with his customers and Twitter offers him a good channel to do this out of hours. A few minutes at the end of the day - a few sales and some useful contacts made. Marvelous.

And that seems about right. A tool which extends a big selling point of the business (customer service), conveys the tone of voice of the brand, and provides useful information. The time it takes is in proportion to the results it achieves.

As I see it, the big problem for small business adopting social networking as part of their marketing strategy is the near impossible task of planning. 'Planning', we are told, is the secret of building a successful business. I heard a speaker on this topic recently talking about how your message on <insert name of social networking platform here> could be seen by several gazillion people within seconds. Great. But I'm going to struggle to resource any kind of response to that.

I hear a lot of people say '<insert name of social networking platform here> is there, therefore your business must be there too'. Not so. Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. Yes, it makes sense to be where your customers are but do they expect to find you there? Do they welcome you there?

So, to summarise my findings over the past week:

• Yep, social networking sites can work if there's a good match for your business and your brand.
• There are a lot of these sites out there. Be selective on what you use.
• Plan what you're going to say. And what you're going to say next.
• Manage the time spent carefully.
• Can you adapt your tone to the site? If not, should you be there at all?

Okay, I'm not quite the sceptic I was a week or so ago. I guess it's all about proportion. No doubt the Twitterati will take the events in Egypt last week as being proof positive that you can change the world in 140 characters. Yep, no doubt about it, an incredible example of effective communication. Of course the other 'trend' listed on Twitter at the same time as the uprising was about ... tomatoes.

Proportion. That's the key.

More soon.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet

It's not unknown (and here I risk showing my age) for Radio 4 to be the entertainment of choice here at the Number 8 Web Management office. Not today though. After the sad news of the passing of Gary Moore, it has to be 'Victims of the Future' today.

While I enjoy Radio 4, I have to admit that nothing heard recently fills the gap created by the loss of Alistair Cooke and the Letter from America. I've always been fascinated by America. As a youngster I immersed myself in American youth sub culture. I read comic books and listened to Kiss. I guess my tastes have matured now. I'm a serious student of American politics and I read old comic books because nobody ever improved on Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby. I lost track of Kiss when Ace left.

So, the 'content' of Cooke's weekly broadcast was of interest to me. One week, I might be entertained with an anecdote about small town America and the next, informed by Cooke's take on a major political event or figure. Regardless of the story, I could lose myself in this beautifully written and masterfully delivered example of broadcasting.

I'm holding up Letter from America as my shining example of 'good content'. The combination of:

• An interested audience
• A consistent theme
• Variation around that theme
• Preparation, crafting and delivery

I've been reading/hearing a lot about 'content' recently. It's always struck me as strange that the actual words on the page are often the last thing people think about when building a website. You've got the design, you know how the site is going to function, it's all nearly there, right? You ask when it can go live and the mean old web manager spoils all the fun by saying 'When can I have your content?'

So, let's hear it for the people who write - the unsung heroes of the information superhighway. They have a matter of seconds to engage your interest with their subject and - and it's a big 'and' - they need to balance that with the need to be a good friend of Google.

'Content' is not something to be bought by the bucket load to fill out a website. Creating it is a skill and it's often the bit of the process that is forgotten about even though, without it, nothing would happen. You don't need people to look at your website, you need them to read it.

Rant over. Next up, as promised, I'll let you in on my progress with social networking in business and then I think we need some long overdue introductions.

More soon.

Social networking and business

As promised – Number 8 takes on something of a hot topic. Let’s be clear here, what I’m presenting is my current opinion.  At time of going to press you can call me a sceptic but I’ll be attending another of Business Link’s seminars on the subject this week and I have a stack of reading to get through. I’ll certainly be better informed by this time next week, but will it change my mind?

As I see it, the fundamentals of marketing don’t change. The customer is the priority and the brand is precious. What has changed is the way customers communicate with each other. But customers are still people Version 1.0 and Maslow is still in his heaven.

Here’s the problem. That first fundamental rule seems to sit comfortably enough. The customer is the priority and you’re only going to succeed if you place your offering in a position where your customers are going to see it – could be a market stall, could be a website. Up to this point, the prospect of finding groups of your customers on a social networking platform seems to be ticking all the boxes.

Sorry, there’s a ‘but’.

But, how do you protect your brand? Using social networking for marketing means losing control of the message. Rather than broadcasting your message (under control), you’re starting a dialogue (without control). But surely, dialogue isn’t a bad thing, is it? Nope, not at all. But do you have the time? And what’s to be gained? Do you have the tone right – to suit both the media and your brand?

Yes, I’m a sceptic. To me, it seems like a lot of effort for little return. Maybe all that will change in the week to come. I guess if it does, you’ll be amongst the first to know.

More soon.   

The Gap

Over the weekend a friend told me about a ‘pep’ talk given to her sales team. They were told to ‘pick up the ball and run’. Was that wise?

Well, if you snatch a wayward pass from a fly half, and you have the gas, there is a fair chance that the power and the glory will be yours. So, yes, there is something to be said for the analogy.

But these opportunities are rare – especially in a tight game. If an opportunity does come your way, rather than the chance to sprint the length of the pitch, you’re more likely to be looking into The Gap.

The Gap offers an opportunity to take things forward – the play breaks enough for you to see a chance to make some ground. If you see it, you need to use it because it won’t be there for long. What you gain from it is very much dependant on how well your team mates read what you’re doing and just how quickly they can form the supportive framework around you. How quickly can you turn an opportunist strike into a training ground phase where everybody knows their role?

So, yes, encourage your team to pick up the ball and run – but only if you’re sure you have the management and resources in place to support them. It may well be that they can make ground, but might not be able to cross the line themselves. Fail to support them and you could find yourself defending ferociously very quickly.

Okay, training done for the day. Ice baths all round. Next up I want to go back to the subject of the Business Link seminar I mentioned and talk about social networking and business, and then I have a rant planned on this amorphous thing we call ‘content’.

More soon.

Save Business Link

Very interesting Business Link seminar yesterday on market trends and technology. I'm going to take a look at some of the issues raised in the next few posts.

While the seminar gave delegates much in the way of food for thought regarding where their customers are online and what they're doing, it didn't answer any of the questions that have been floating around about the future of Business Link itself.

The rumour is that the Business Link service is threatened with cuts - maybe more than that. Personally, as a new kid on the block, I've found the resources and advice offered by Business Link to be massively useful and encouraging and I think it would be a tragedy to lose it.

Because, when you think about it, at a time when the economy is slowly getting up from its knees, if you can somehow group together people with ideas and skills they want to try out for themselves, and then empower them with an agency that points them in the right directions you might just be on to something. Something big. Something like ... a Big Society. No? Too cheesy? Fair enough.

So, Mr C. You might want to get back to us when you've had a chance to think this through. OK?