How big of a role does a domain name play in the user's decision to go to a site? What I mean is if Amazon had been called Just Books instead, would it have mattered? I am sure there is no research for this, but I do wonder if there is some research showing the optimal letter count in domain names. What makes for a quality domain name? Any thoughts?
Also how do you feel about non-conventional domain names such as gada.be? Do these serve only to confuse users?
]]>Now we have to worry about Google doing exactly what Microsoft did in the past. Last week Google launched Google Reader and it received many mixed reviews, however like Microsoft in the past, they didn't have to release a product that was better, they just had to get one out and they have almost already won the online RSS reader wars (I know many of you geeks will never switch from your default reader, but I am looking at the millions and millions of people who don't use your readers).
Not too long ago Bloglines dominated, but they grew complacent and new features or designs have been far and few between. Because of this new services such as Rojo have come and stolen much of the thunder and even worse Google is primed to now take all of the attention.
Same thing occurred with Google's Blog Search. Google moves at the speed of a small company because its products are only worked on by a small team of people. Just because your product may be better it doesn't give you the right to rest on your laurels because Om Malik or the guys at TechCrunch mentioned how wonderful it was. Everyday you have to wakeup and assume a big player is going to join the game. I know these are the happy money times, but you have to develop in fear. In fear that someone smaller and faster is going to launch today. In fear that Yahoo/Google/Microsoft will decided they want a piece of the pie. In fear that your customers will turn against you.
A couple of people question why we add so many sites so fast to the Network. It's because I don't want to look behind me one day and wonder our competition is catching up. I don't want to have to wonder how we let it get like this or why we grew complacent. It's not enough to be just one step ahead, you have to be 10 miles ahead. If that means doing things a bit unconventionally then so be it. I also understand that growing too fast can be detrimental to our image and so we are doing new things to take care of these issues. Developing in fear doesn't mean just looking behind you because you have to know what's ahead of you as well.
Same goes with this blog. I write often for fear that I will be forgotten one day. Maybe having the best blog doesn't mean much to you, but it could mean the difference between getting a client or not. It could be the difference between being recognized by 10 other blogs or just one. They say every second a new blog is born. That means there is another second that your blog could be forgotten by your readers. Why give them that option?
If you are a follower of the eXtreme programming methodology you know that one of the mantras is "release fast, release often" (sorry, 37signals did not come up with this). Well I think you should apply this to your web app, your blog, or even your client work, but should add one more part to it.
Release fast, release often, release quality.
It's tough for anybody to beat that.
]]>It started with Yahoo! acquiring Upcoming.org and then AOL acquiring Weblogs, Inc. and finally Verisign purchasing Weblogs.com. I seem to recall this type of craziness happening before and a lot of people promising themselves that they wouldn't allow it to happen again. Well I fear the bubble will be much stronger this time around and its burst will be even more damaging because many of us really did believe we learned from our mistakes the previous time.
We are at a point where everyone has an idea that they feel will succeed and earn them a significant amount of money. However, what's the gameplan if that doesn't happen? Impossible right? Any idea can work in this type of environment and that's why everyone starts a blog network. If WIN can be bought then surely anyone who decides to launch a network with over 10 sites will have a chance to be bought...
When I had the idea of the 9rules Network in my head I got really excited, not because I thought it would make me rich, but because it had the potential to leave an impression on the web. I know many outsiders are still skeptical of what the Network is and that it just a club of sites. Because of the Network some writers have received greater exposure and others have acquired new jobs. New friendships and partnerships are being formed on a daily basis that more than likely would never have occurred if the Network didn't exist. Cheesy? Possibly, but if there ever is a crash, I know this idea will still be around and running on all cylinders.
But what does 9rules, Inc. get out of all of this? We get to be right in front of almost over 100 (and growing) influential sites on the web in many different categories and now two languages. We have developed relationships with each and every site not by trying to sell them anything or making false promises, but just because we have put them first. How many companies have the opportunities that we now have?
A couple of months ago if you would have asked me whether or not I would have taken funding for this company I would have responded by telling you that is the wrong question to ask. The real question would've been whether or not a VC would have had the patience to allow us to build these relationships first before we moved on to making them money. I don't think any of them would and I think that is a very good thing because it means the idea of the Network should be around in any type of economy and environment. Not just the ones that get people giddy.
If you have ever written a business plan or talked to an investor you know that you are expected to come up with an exit strategy for your company. Although a very good idea for a lot of companies, I hate trying to come up with one for just the Network. When I look at the big picture of what 9rules, Inc. is going to accomplish I can see an exit strategy, but for just the Network I would like to think there is no need for one. Even if all my partners left me because they are tired of me not brushing my hair, I would like to think that this Network that we have built can still stand on its 100 legs.
Idealistic? Yes. That's just how I work at times.
So what happens if a company comes up to me and offers me 8 or 9 digits for everything that we have created? That's easy, I take the money, but it would be much easier to create a couple products and services where I don't have to worry about that exit strategy occurring and that's the path we are about to take.
Because AOL paid $25 million for 31 blogs in which only a couple should be considered quality and Verisign forked over around $2 million for a pinging service. Not the only one on the web, just the one with the weblogs.com domain.
Well I guess I shouldn't be that worried because this just means that if you create a quality product that is useful to many people you should do just fine in the future. Isn't that how it always is though?
]]>If I continue with this site for a couple of years and end up with thousands of sites linking back to me, is it my obligation to keep the site up for as long as possible? When you really start to think about it, pressure starts to mount. Maybe there is some responsibilty for you to keep the site up, but should you? I can read the words of a book printed in 1604, but will people be able to read the words of this entry in 2404? A lot of questions I have, yet no answers.
Who am I kidding? My words mean jack.
]]>Few of the other community sites like Friendster and MySpace allow the personalization of profile pages like MySpace allows.
How important is it for a site or page to differentiate itself from the rest of the crowd? Facebook although wonderfully desinged (nice going Bryan, doesn't allow for the customization of pages and therefore every profile page looks the same. Now there are many other factors to the success of MySpace over Facebook, but I wonder how big of a role did customization play?
When Weblogs, Inc. started, every single site looked the same. I always hounded Calacanis about branding and making every site unique, but I also understood the dilemma he was facing. When you have over 80 sites, it's not feasible to make every single one look different. Sure you can change some colors around and do a different logo, but 80 unique designs in a short period of time is nearly impossible.
How much of a role did design play in the success of WIN? Again, I am not too sure of this, but I don't think it's a coincidence that the most popular sites in the network are the ones that offer their own unique designs.
With the Fine Fools sites I never had any intentions to change the designs of the sites so that they all stood out on their own because it was just my own little project and doing a unique design for 2-3 new sites a week just wasn't going to happen. However in just this short period of time since I introduced the Community I realized it won't be just a small project and that the writers will want their sites to be at least slightly different from the rest.
But how can this be achieved? The challenge involved is that I would like for each site to exhibit a bit of personality while also maintaining a certain look and feel so that people are aware it is part of a Community. But really how important do you think something like this is with regards to the success of the site? I know I have asked this question a million times in the past, but can you really have one template that helps each site achieve its own branding, while also maintaing the overall brand of the Community?
]]>Last week we were offered a "generous" sum of money to fund some of the projects that we wished to work on. Initially, we jumped all over the offer for the simple reason that we continue to tell ourselves that if we could get away from doing client work for a couple of weeks/months then we could dedicate 100% of our time to the stuff we really want to do. After some time though and a lot of discussion we decided to turn down the money mainly because the offer didn't feel right to us. I wish I could say it was an easy decision to make.
I admit to being very proud of what we have accomplished with the 9rules Network in just under five months, but also realize that it is just a small step to where we plan on taking our company. I am also very pleased to see the work we are doing at Business Logs and glad to say that we are overloaded with client work. But again that is only a step in the direction we wish to take.
If we wanted to do client work for the rest of our lives then the situation we have at Business Logs would be the perfect scenario, but we wish to make our own little mark on the web just like every other startup. However, we seem to have encountered a problem that no other person in the world has encountered: we need money for survival. I know, I know this is insane, but for us this is the case and therefore we continue doing client work with the ability to make some small dents in our projects while also running the Network.
37signals talks about how bad VC funding is and the fact that it is anti-Web 2.0. Well Scrivs talks about how they have been one of the most successful design firms in the world since 1999 so they had a bit of time to save up some money and hire David to code Basecamp for them. Well then you should've started with a project that was going to bring in instant revenue before you worked on the Network says the audience.
In time hopefully everyone will understand why we started with the Network and why we have made it our core. In our eyes, it just made sense.
It would be nice to know where your paycheck is coming from, but it isn't so nice to have that added bit of pressure and departing with a share of your company. However, as my good friend Mike Davidson likes to say:
Better to own 75% of $1M than 100% of $0.
And wait till you see what his new company is coming up with...hotness x Web 2.0
Before last week I thought if we ever got an offer for funding I would take it no matter how ridiculous it was simply because it would free up a lot of time to devote our resources to secret projects #1-85. But that wasn't the case and believe me its not easy walking away from six digits. Now we just know that if we do take any funding it will have to be an offer we are comfortable with and not just one that allows us to work on what we want to work on.
Like the question above the answer is yes and no. We are not actively seeking out VCs to talk to, but we definitely won't turn our backs if any wish to speak with us. We can continue to move along doing what we do, but probably not at the pace we would like. We don't need funding, but we do want more time away from client work.
Don't take this entry as an excuse for not getting things done. On the contrary, it probably has more to do with our inability to turn clients away. It's tough to walk away from the new challenges presented to us daily. With that said we have decided to devote small periods of time to what I call Quick Hit projects. What are they? Nothing special. Just offering services that are already available, but just doing them a little bit better. A little bit more our way.
Finally, let me offer this piece of advice to all the CEOs of young startups out there. I know how it feels to be responsible for a team of individuals that look for you to guide them and help them reach that big payday, but if a VC comes with an offer and it just doesn't feel right to you, then just walk away. There will be more down the road.
]]>*sigh* I have to add more words to this entry just so that it doesn't break the homepage. That's what I get for not paying attention to where I am posting these trivial entries. I place the blame completely on Bob. Yeah, that Bob, the one in the corner.
]]>*The grammar isn't bad, that's big Snoop Dogg telling it like it is.
If you own a site and you wish to partner up with us (or anyone else for that matter) you have to bring something to the table. It is really admirable to want to partner with the 9rules Network for example, but to do so I have to ask what would you bring to the Network? How would you help make the experience better for its users? I get answers to these questions, but they are never good. It all comes down to the person basically saying, "I know the Network gets a lot of traffic, so let's partner up so I can get more traffic to my site." That just doesn't cut it.
You have a wonderful idea, but it doesn't work out in the end. The reason usually comes down to the effort you put into it. I have made the mistake of joining so many ventures with people that I have spread my resources thin. If I can't depend on others to take action then usually these ventures go no where.
Our team has created some successful sites. They are not successful in the Nick Denton network sense of the word, but for me they are successful because I understand where we started and where we are looking to go. They are successful because I can see the amount of work I have put into them. You want a successful blog, put some work into it. It never fails.
Business is the same way. Put a lot of work into it and you are on the road to success. Of course I am assuming that the business plan and ideas are solid because without those foundations you have no path to walk on.
If you wish to start something, better tighten up on those time management skills because you will need every second you can get. I have been in many discussions with people who wish to start a business, but the only thing holding them back is time. Usually the only thing required to start a business, besides money, is time so it's time for some sacrifices to be made.
It's a shame how easy it is to start a website or blog. It gives people the idea that after only a few hours of work they can begin making money. Besides using shady tactics this is nearly impossible. I can't tell you how much effort it takes to make a million dollars, but I can tell you getting that first $10 takes time, effort and a great strategy. People who understand that are the type of people we enjoy partnering with.
Finally I will leave with some tips when looking to start a business, site, blog or partnership:
My list:
And to put into words my thoughts on this subject enter Cameron Moll.
]]>Though the idea of a *personalized* 80/20 — from the perspective of the reader — is likely still relevant, regardless of my original list. I personally don’t have enough time in the day to stay current with hundreds of sites. I still look to a few dozen to keep me current on trends and news. And that was the original intent in penning the list.
Who are the top 20 today? I’m not positive a global list along those lines is even all that important now, but I’m certain each of us as readers still has our own 80/20 list…
At about 2am this morning I made a post in the 9rules Member forum about a couple of sites that I own that have been sitting idle for some time. I asked if any of the members would like to write for the sites and mentioned the terms that I would come up with. No big deal.
Fast forward to 11:30am this morning and I get an email from Duncan Riley telling me that he heard through the grapevine that I am starting up some network owned sites and that I was paying 100% of the advertising revenues to the writers. Geez, this might get out of hand fast I thought, so I figured it best that I write about it now.
It started all with the entry on Preordering books. I knew the best way to sell the books was to prove once again that I could make money from sites starting from scratch. I looked at the domains I had and saw that some of them could be put to good use. I also figured that I could make some extra money and put my Yahoo Beta account to good use.
Looking to further help members of the Network I saw how I could bounce many of my entries on these sites off of entries posted on member's sites. I thought I would help them out even more with attaining traffic and readership.
Then another lightbulb flashed above my head and I thought I would ask 9r members if they would like to write for any of the sites. I took it a step further and thought I would ask anyone out there if they would like to write for these sites.
This is the main reason I didn't even want to write anything on this issue. The comparisons to the wonderful b5media will no doubt be made. I explained how this idea came about and it's different from b5. b5 is their company, this mini-network is not part of 9rules and I can't say I will be around to coach you or give you high-fives (even though I probably will). If you want to learn to be a great writer then b5 is definitely a great option for you.
Just thought I would get that one out of the way. 9rules is my baby and that's what I am watching over. Speaking of which, you really should try to catch a glance of 9rules Network 2.0. If you ask Rundle nicely, maybe he will preview it.
If this was planned for a couple of weeks or months and became business option #1 I would definitely have put more thought into this compensation plan. As it goes, here is what I came up with:
Sorry, I would've came up with something more difficult, but I already explained the reasons for these sites so anything more difficult would just make my life more difficult. Yes I own the sites and therefore the content and if you are against that kind of thing, that is what the 9rules Network is for. However, these sites will be promoted as I will be getting back to hitting the pavement for my case studies so take that for what it's worth.
There are no banner ads up on these sites and if they do show up I will make sure to speak to all writers about compensation for those ads before they do.
You will also get linked back to your site (if you have one) on every entry you write along with a cool little bio page because bio pages are cool.
Warning: The concepts behind these sites aren't new and there are already more well-established players in these fields. But who cares? I had the domains so I am using them. Ignore the fact some of the logos say "9rules Joint", remember these have just been sitting idle.
If you have a topic that you want to stick in this conglomeration talk to me and we can do a site up.
I guess just shoot an email to scrivs{AT}workboxers.com (hmmm, maybe it should be the WorkBoxers Community) with what site(s) you are interested in and how often you plan on writing. As is the case with 9rules not everyone will be allowed in. I am not starting these sites without the intention of them being top-quality so even though you will have fun working on them, you best make sure you are serious about your commitment.
I don't have an agreement or anything written up, but if you saw the 9rules Member Agreement then you know it will be short and sweet.
I will probably write more about this project Monday, but for now I am going to take a nap and enjoy my weekend. You should do the same...unless you are at work, in which case you shouldn't even be reading this site.
]]>Designers should design sites that they are comfortable with calling their own, yet also follow the guidelines that their clients have set for them. However, there are design issues that sometimes clash between the two parties and a lot of the time I have seen that it is the designer who has to make the sacrifices.
]]> Damn EgosDesigners are egotistical creatures and they should be. You put all your effort into creating something and to have someone come in and tell you that it won't work can be traumatizing. What is worse is when the client doesn't trust your decisions and decides to add her own little tweaks to the design. As a designer what do you do? “The customer is always right.” Well that works when you just want the money.
Everyone has bills they must pay, but they also have happy lives that they must live. Designers who are passionate about their craft care about the work they put out. If they make a design decision then they do so because they firmly believe in it. Convincing a client about your decision seems a lot easier than having to convince other designers on a team who share different beliefs.
I know there are some out there who will tell me that they just do what the client asks of them because they just need the money and have responsibilities to attend to. That's cool, just don't take this entry too seriously then.
Designers transform ideas into visual elements. Clients should hire you because they have an idea and you are the designer who gives that idea a visual identity. When clients begin to try to takeover the design and its visual identity then that shows a lack of trust in the designer. It's no fun working for someone who doesn't trust you to do a job they paid you to do.
Don't get me wrong. I think it is okay to challenge a decision, but at the very least the client should be open to hearing why the decision was made and understand as the designer you bring in your knowledge from the field.
Forgetting clients now we move onto the experts in other fields. You have the Usability experts, the IA experts, and the Design experts. When working separately and sticking to their field they are marvels and benefit everyone. Its when they attemtp to force their ideals upon other fields or make their field seem more important than the rest the trouble begins.
Jakob Nielsen (does anybody talk about him anymore...hell is he alive?) was good when he stuck with usability. Then he just got silly and started to place usability above design. I have heard usability people tell me that usability is important and not necessarily the look of a site, but I have yet to have a designer tell me that a non-working, beautiful site is acceptable. IA people draw up the wireframes and then like to get involved in the aesthetics of the site. It makes you wonder why there are separate fields when everyone seems to be interested in everyone else's field.
For some reason it seems the designer is the one that has to make all the sacrifices and not the usability guy. I admit that a lot of the IAs I have met are good at offering an opinion on aesthetics without trying to force their opinion down your throat.
You know that a website is collection of parts. It has usability elements, IA elements, design elements, and coding elements underneath. All these elements work together so why can't the people who build the sites learn to work together?
On personal sites you get to play the everyman role. You have to be the expert of all the elements that form to make your site. Over time you understand what sacrifices you had to make due to the way your site evolved. You listen to other's opinions and some you keep and others you throwaway. When I critique a personal site I do so without knowing the thought process of the designer. I let them explain why they did what they did and everything makes more sense. You can see why one element had to take precedence over another.
With the rise of the CSS galleries it seems not even our own playgrounds can be used for our enjoyment without a horde of designers turning the design inside out. I wonder if some designers have a secret place that no one knows about. Hopefully you don't have to make sacrifices that effect your satisifaction with the end design.
]]>To learn how anything works in this world most of the time you have to dig into the guts of it. You can not sit there and look at it and figure out what little intricacies make it tick. I can not look at a computer and tell you how it works. I could read a book and then tell you, but how could I tell you how much thermal grease should really be applied to a cpu/heatsink without having done so myself? If you want to understand your page then you have to make it...by hand.
Every artist has a story behind their painting. They can tell you that every stroke has a purpose. Nothing is ever done just for the sake of doing it. When you hand code your pages every item you add is added for a purpose. You take a greater sense in what you are doing and have a greater understanding of your own pages. Your work should be your own and if you do not understand it then it never becomes your own.
I have a theory about classical literature. I believe that there are more classical works and will always be more classical works written before the typewriter than there ever will be after. The reason I believe this is because writers had to take more care into what they put down on paper before the typewriter came about. They could not waste too many resources on unnecessary words. When they wrote the first "T" in "The" to start the novel they knew why they did it. They felt the "T" being written and therefore immersed themselves in their own novels. Their works truly became their own. You can never get to that level of immersion with a typewriter or word processor. You can not get to that level with a WYSIWYG editor.
Hand coding your pages gives you unprecedented control over where each element appears on the page. You control where each element goes. You control how your code is formatted. You have the power.
I am not saying that you should write out every single XHTML page on your site. It would be silly to hand code a hundred headers when all you need to do is write one header and simply include it in all of your files. I hand coded my header and side bar for this site. I hand coded the templates to every page and therefore I know what makes this site tick. I do not hand code my entries because there is no need. MoveableType does this work for me. The site is coded and now automated for me so that I can focus on the content that I write (be it through a keyboard). My entries usually only consists of a <p> here and a <h2> there.
I never understood why schools make their students design pages through WYSIWYG editors. I am sure there are reasons, but to me it is like teaching someone how to paint by numbers. If you really want to be good and gain an appreciation for your own hard work then hand coding is where it is at. After you become somewhat knowledgeable in XHTML/CSS then by all means find the best tool for production.
]]>When I say this I do not mean generic audiences like single white males age 20-35. What I mean are specific types of audiences. For this site I perceived my audience to be web designers and others who may have some interest in design or programming for websites. This along with my message helped me to develop the design of the site. I realized that most designers work with resolutions above 800x600 and so I made just a little bit wider than that. Content wise, I know I have to bring something different to the table to attract readers because there are plenty of other well-established design blogs out there and I also know what kind of style and tone is allowed. Finally, I knew that most designers would respect a minimalist site because they would also see the usability involved along with the design and understand that it is not easy designing something simple that is different. Once you have figured out your intended audience (besides "everybody") then you can have a better idea of how you should structure your site.
]]> Look at the majority of programmers' blogs and you will see that they understand their intended audience, even if they do not know it. A programmers' blog like Simon's or Sam's does not try to wow you with their designs. Their intended audience is more than likely other programmers who can actually understand all the technical and programming information that they talk about. Programmers may not care about the look and feel of the site just as long as it contains interesting content for them to go over. However, if you are a designer and you are creating a blog, more than likely you would love to garner the respect of your peers so maybe you should put a little more thought into your blog.When Dave talks about colour I know that he must have some general idea of what he is talking about before I even read the entry. Looking at the site I can see his use of colors and therefore already make the connection that this site is made by a creative designer. I am sure being a well-respected designer Dave knew that his audience might be looking for a little more from him. Jason Santa Maria can picture the audience of ALA and create a site that is very wide even though out of nowhere you will find many designers speaking out about their 200px wide screens.
Sometimes it can be hard envisioning your audience or if you are working with a client who does not know their audience then you may have to come up with your own audience (or the client needs a different business). Nobody talks about this better than Keith Robinson in his article Persona Sketching for Better Web Sites. Old? Yes. So what.
Reaching your intended audience on the web can be very difficult since the web is international and it is hard to track what type of people come to your site. However, this should not prevent you from trying to design for a specific audience at the beginning. If over time your audience changes, then maybe you should think about a redesign. However, just try to keep your audience in mind when designing your site.
]]>You can see the problem of not delivering the message when companies try to expand to other areas that do not fit their business model or stick with their intended "Mission Statement". The message is your mission statement. It is the path that you wish to travel. Sometimes it is safe to veer off the path, but be careful because if you go too far you and your users may get lost.
When designing any site, from the very beginning to the very end you must keep the message at the surface. Once you lose track of the message that you are trying to deliver you lose track of the design. Sure the design might be nice, but if it is not effective then there is no point. When you add an element to your site like an image or border, question whether it enhances the design and message or does it take away from them. If it takes away or does nothing then why did you put it there? I am not saying that you should question every second that you design because there are times during your design process where you need to let go and just create. Great things can come from that. However, after you let yourself go, look back and see what can be improved. Focus on the message.
Not all sites that have great designs and deliver the right message are successful and all successful sites do not have great designs (Yahoo, Amazon, eBay). On the web there are many factors that can contribute to success, but I am not focusing on that. If your role is to design then do so. That is what this is about.
The message I wanted to deliver with Simpl(e)y Done (man I need to write more there) was that life could be easier if the sites and products we interact with were easier to use. I couldn't get that message across with a complicated design. With Whitespace, part of my message was to show how important the community is so on the homepage you have large comment numbers.
If you take a look at Apple's site there are some clear messages that can not be missed. One is that Apple's are easy to use. Another is that with an Apple you can expect cleanliness and elegance. Apple is serious about the design of their products and the experience that their products provide to users. This commitment to design is reflected greatly in their website. Their website reflects their mentality.
You can look at most of the successful sites on the web today and see how their design brings focus to their message. If you can think of some sites that don't deliver their message well please let me know. I tend to forget these sites and only remember the goods one. Can you blame me?
]]>At Business Logs we seem to be encountering this problem and it is starting to get on my nerves. You want clients coming to and you especially love it when they heard about your work through the grapevine, but for some reason it also got passed down the grapevine that you do work for $5/hr (exaggeration). We are in the business of building and nurturing brands through communication. A company's brand is the last thing they get to hold onto, yet it seems it's the first thing they are willing to skimp on.
Now I am not talking about throwing out a $15,000 proposal for a $2,000 job. I am talking about $3,000 jobs being knocked down to $1,000. There is always some bartering involved.
We are run by two millionaires, but seeing that we are a young company we don't have that much money.
My personal fave will always be:
But we found someone else who can do it for $xxx, but we really love your guys style.
I am going to start a new strategy and markup 50% higher than usual and when they scoff at the price drop it down to what we usually would charge and they will think they are getting a deal. Branding is not a used car dealership. Sure, design isn't the only part of a brand, but it can play a major role in it.
Maybe we do charge too much. Maybe competition has gotten so fierce on the web that beggars can't be choosers. Who knows.
Whatever. Frustration has gotten the best of me and I need to rant for the 87th time this year. I am going to work for Template Monster.
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