Great websites do, not say
Never tell people what you’re going to do for them on the Web. Just let them do what they came to do as quickly and simply as possible.
“Welcome to our website.” What? I’m in a hurry. I don’t want to pass meaningless pleasantries with your website. I don’t want to shake its hand. Or talk […]
The first corporation was built on content
Sears Roebuck was one of the very first large corporations. It was in the mail-order business. It used content to make the sale.
In 1906, Sears Roebuck opened a mail-order plant in Chicago. It was the largest business building in the world. The Sears catalogue stated that the plant was using “every known mechanical appliance for […]
Web history: middle of the beginning
The Web has only just begun to make its mark. As we approach 2008, we are only in the middle of the beginning of a revolution that is transforming humanity.
I often meet web professionals who are frustrated with their websites. This is quite understandable. Change can seem quite slow at times. I have even […]
The collaborative Web
The essence of the Web is about linking, sharing and collaboration. Productivity and value creation is driven by cooperation.
Humans love the myth of the great individual overcoming overwhelming odds to achieve incredible goals. We seem to need to know that someone is in charge; that someone is leading, directing, managing.
There is no one person in […]
Every website is NOT different
Every time I hear someone say that “every website is different” I want to rush outside, grab an ancient oak, rip it up by its roots, swing it wildly and lop the top off the nearest mountain.
Every time I hear someone say that “everybody is different” I want to rush outside, race up the nearest […]
Thinking Web, not website
The Web is the network. The Web is the organization. Your website is not important. Reaching your customers is.
A website has substance. You can count the number of webpages and the number of visitors. It is something you can show to your manager. It is something you can talk about in a way that others […]
Web customer rejects silo mentality
Organizations have an overwhelming desire to own and control. Even within organizations, each unit/department is constantly trying to prove that it is important.
The intranet emerged as a classic organization chart structure. Each unit wanted its own website and everyone wanted a link on the homepage. Each unit was not so much concerned with helping […]
Web ecosystem: rise of the grudger customer
On the Web a new type of customer is rising. One more and more immune to marketing happy talk. One that wants facts before emotion.
In his seminal book, The Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins explores the idea of the sustainable ecosystem. In one game of life there were three players: suckers; cheats and grudgers.
Each player […]
Web Metrics: Don’t be slave to the next HIT
Early website management was obsessed with volume. Today, an increasing number of page impressions can mean a website is failing rather than succeeding.
I still hear senior managers and journalists quoting HITS when they want to say something impressive about the Web. (HITS stands for How Idiots Track Success.) A HIT is a totally meaningless measure, […]
Honest marketing works on the Web
The web customer is not a fool. The specific reason they are on the Web is to compare and evaluate. Give them the facts.
Some airlines have an incredibly underhanded approach to pricing. Aer Lingus is an airline I fly with almost once a week. It is dramatically better than it was five years ago, but […]
