TellTail Signs

Thoughts on "Home Pages"

Year-end Top Ten lists are generally annoying. (Having said that, I reserve the right to write my own gimmick post, if I think it will give me more traffic.)  In any event, Google Blogoscoped has posted a list of "10 Web Trends That Should Die in 2006." You can read them all, but my favorite is #6:

6. “Let’s do a traditional homepage for our company.”

A traditional homepage typically consists of:

• A nested navigational structure with no way to find out which parts have changed,
• A lonely press release corner titled “News”,
• Practically no external links unless the site linked to is an official partner in some way,
• A hypothetical “front-door navigation path” approach to usability, which is so ’94,
• No signatures or date stamps below articles,
• Advertisement bogus content, which no one cares to read about.

I hope in 2006, major companies who are still on the web 1.0 train will upgrade to the world of blogs, podcasts, RSS, etc., and replace their “homepages” with it. The most important part of all of this, next to the technical buzzwords, is really about direct communication from people within the company to the people reading along on the web. This has all been put down years ago in the Cluetrain Manifesto, which should be on the desk of everyone working at a web agency.

I completely identify with this.  I've talked to a lot of folks this year about subjects like blogs and podcasts, and I can't tell you how many times I've heard, "Well, we're already spending $X,000 to have someone rebuild our website."  I want to grab them by the shoulders, shake them, and scream: "Save your money!!"

Sure, a site rebuild is sometimes necessary.  But have you seen what folks are able to do with blogging software nowadays? There's no reason most corporate websites shouldn't be rebuilt with WordPress or Typepad.  Check out AgWired, which I mentioned the other day.  Chuck's website is his blog.  His blog is his website.  There's no separation between the two, because there's no need for it.  A blog-type site can enable a businsess or organization to do everything it does with its regular website, and more.

I don't advocate blogs because they're "cool" or "new" or "trendy."  I advocate them because they're the best way to communicate with an audience.  They are essentially the closest thing we've seen on the Internet to a real electronic "storefront," complete with the shopkeeper on duty to answer questions. Techical issues aside, a blog is just simply the best model for communicating, marketing and building loyalty among potential customers. Period.

Stormhoek: Internal Disruption & Consumer-Created Content

From Gaping Void comes news that Stormhoek, a relatively small winery, doubled its sales in less than a year.  How?  By blogging.  A few of Hugh McLeod's key points on the topic:

*  "Blogs are a good way of making things happen indirectly."
*  "...by interfacing with the blogosphere, it fundementally changed how Stormhoek looked at treating their primary customers."
*  "[Blogging] caused an internal disruption, both within the company and the actual trade."

McLeod argues that the "disruption" is actually the key part of this story.  By producing a blog, Stormhoek disrupted the market and disrupted its own sales process, helping itself stand out over and against the hundreds of thousands of other vineyards in the world. Telling the Stormhoek story made the sales process easier.

This goes back to something I posted yesterday. Businesses need to relearn the basic concepts of marketing and communications. Even good businesspeople have often shied away from real honesty, afraid to admit their foibles and shortcomings. A good blog tells a story -- warts and all -- and in doing that, causes the kind of "internal disruption" McLeod is talking about, fundamentally changing basic business techniques.

Blogs, Reliability and Honesty

Steve Mays today points to a great column on corporate blogging. It's here to stay, according to Rich Karlgaard, the publisher at Forbes. And since Steve was so kind as to pull out a few of Karlgaard's key points, I'm going to put them here, too:

* Blogging is not overhyped.
* Don't judge blogging by the "average" blog.
* The best bloggers write about what they know, and when the don't know, they link to more knowledgeable sources.
* Blogs really do threaten the mainstream media.
* Good companies and honest businesspeople have little to fear from bloggers. Bad companies and shady dealers will get their heads handed to them in the blogosphere.

Go read Steve's blog for all the other fine stuff he has there (including a bonus link in this post, to Doc Searls on corporate blogging, branding, etc.).

Regarding the last point about good companies and bad companies: I'm convinced this is the main reason we're seeing such a reluctance to enter the blogosphere on the part of so many people. We've been conditioned to "talk up" our good points and "minimize" our bad points for so long, we simply can't imagine writing, even for a brief moment, about something we've done wrong. Even good and honest businesspeople are afraid to be too good, or too honest, for fear that they'll scare away customers to the competition. But over time, we're simply going to have to to relearn the concept of marketing and communication at a very fundamental level if we're going to make an impression on an ever-more-savvy and ever-more-skeptical public.

Blogging Columbia

Our initial effort in tourism blogging is underway!  We've set up a blog for Columbia, Missouri, that will feature a lot of the cool stuff going on there.  (Heck, the city is so cool, it actually has a store called "Cool Stuff.")  We'll be collecting stories, flickr photos, and anything else we can get our hands on.  The idea, as always, is to tell a story.  In this case, we want to do more than provide a "slick brochure" of the city.  We want to make this blog a living, breathing place that shows what it's like to experience Columbia.  Check it out -- and if you've been there, help us out by sharing your own experiences in "the smart, innovative, artsy, eclectic, clever, savvy, vibrant, too-dynamic-to-fit-into-a-short-tagline city."

Breaking the Ice

Another example of an ultra-niche podcast: ice fishing. 

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources officials think more anglers
are using MP3 players, so they've developed a 30-minute podcast packed
with ice fishing tips.

It's a good start. I can't tell from the story whether this is a one-time shot, or a continuing program.  Why shouldn't the DNR team with an ice-fishing equipment company to sell a sponsorship and program an ongoing program?  I'd think the demand for long-form programming would be pretty heavy--ice-fishing is a lot of sitting around and waiting, and sometimes you just get sick of the guy sitting next to you.  Any fishermen (ice or otherwise?) have any thoughts on this?

Anti-Geek and Loving It

Okay, I'm not really an anti-geek. But my favorite Christmas gift this year was not a techno-gadget (like usual); instead, it's my new Moleskine notebook. I admit, I'd never heard of Moleskine until stumbling across a blog put together by a big fan a couple of months ago. (Incidentally, is it still an "anti-geek" gift if I found it through a blog? It's a deep question.)

So, to the heart of the matter. This thing rocks! Even my "large-sized" notebook is easy to carry around. The pages lay flat when it's opened. It has a bookmark, and even has an elastic strap to hold it closed. Not to mention the spiffy accordion-style pocket in back for receipts or other odds-and-ends. Who needs a Palm Pilot? I'm sold.

And by the way -- let this be a lesson to you. I never heard of Moleskine before, but the enthusiasm of fans sold me on it. It's about story-telling, and my Christmas gift is proof that story-telling works. And as I finish out this entry, I realize that I, too, am just telling a story about this really cool product.

Wireless Tivo - More Power to the People

Check this out: Tivo has released a new wireless adapter that allows you to take your recorded TV programs to any room in the house, without wires. Yet another example of on-demand consumption.  Add this little gadget to the many enticements pulling consumers away from the old sources of programming, and toward the new sources along the Second Front.

Conversation Search

Very important issue being raised by Steve Rubel at MicroPersuasion - and also at the wonderfully named Lack of Motivation blog. I've wondered about this recently myself--why isn't Technorati (or anyone) searching blog comments?  That seems ludicrous.  It's like having a search feature on your message board that searches Topic headings -- but not the comments themselves.

First, Rubel:  “Still, shockingly, every single blog search engine is missing out on
the next great opportunity. They’re focusing solely on searching blogs.
They’re building great tools for bloggers, but they’re failing to
recognize that what we all need is a way to search the entire conversation. This is where the blog search war will be fought in the months ahead.”

And Lack of Motivation writes, "In some blogosphere monitoring we do for various clients, comments are
a huge part of measuring the pulse or sentiment of those writing about
the company or product. Is it a tedious process milling through all of
the comments to find those two or three nice nuggets? You bet it is.
Are comments invaluable sources of feedback that "only extend the long
tail of conversations in the blogosphere? Hell yes they are.

The comments at the Lack of Motivation post on this subject are pretty good, too.  Seems there are some technical reasons why this hasn't happened yet -- but I think it's got to be just a matter of time before someone figures it out. Comments aren't necessarily the stars of every blog, but they're a vital part of what makes most blogs tick. If we can't search them, we're not fully capitalizing on the medium.

Small, Big, and Buzz

Jeff Jarvis at BuzzMachine blogs today that "The fans are dicatating." He's talking about mass entertainment, but his point applies to all kinds of communication. He quotes a NY Times story about the public's role in creating entertainment stars:

In a world of broadband connections, 60-gigabyte MP3 players and custom playlists, consumers have perhaps more power than ever to indulge their curiosities beyond the music that is presented through the industry’s established outlets, primarily radio stations and MTV.

The title of Jarvis' post is based on a quote by John Janick, who co-founded an independent music label in Tampa. Janick continues, “It’s not as easy to shove something down people’s throats anymore and make them buy it. It’s not even that they are smarter; they just have everything at their fingertips. They can go find something that’s cool and different. They go tell people about it and it just starts spreading.”

Jarvis likes to say, "small is the new big." In today's post, he sums it up well: Is every star in the new world as big as the stars in the old world? No. But neither is the industry dependent on a blockbuster economy; success has new definitions and so does fame.

It's another embodiment of the Long Tail. People aren't forced to choose from 3 major TV networks. They're not forced to read only what's on the best-seller list. They're not required to listen only to Top 40 music.

I wrote a while back about the Second Front. Mass media has operated along the "First Front" for many years, bombarding consumers with messages intended to hit the most people with the broadest possible message. But new media (iPod, Tivo, the Internet), have enabled consumers to migrate to a "Second Front" for their information and entertainment. The Second Front is largely user-created, interactive, and free of traditional marketing. It's a series of niche communities centered on narrow interests. The NY Times article applies this to music, but it's happening everywhere else, too.

AgWired: Letting a blog speak

A great example of business podcasting is AgWired. Chuck Zimmerman is a former colleague I've been meaning to mention here for a while. He's doing some really interesting things with blogging and podcasting in the ag industry. His blog has all kinds of agri-marketing information on it, and it also serves as a nice marketing tool for his own business. It's a great model for how a blog can be the primary face a company presents to the public. Everything you need to know about Chuck's business is right there on the blog. Spend 15 minutes at AgWired and you know exactly what Chuck's capable of doing. And that's what a website should do.