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.
Monday, 28 February 2011
Tuesday, 15 February 2011
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:
Proportion. That's the key.
More soon.
'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?
Proportion. That's the key.
More soon.
Monday, 7 February 2011
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:
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.
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.
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