All Things Cahill

Category: Web 2.0

  • Post Olympics Reviews from Lenovo

    When a project ends, good companies do post-mortems to determine what worked, what didn’t to help them improve institutionally, while identifying possible opportunities created, and mitigating any risks exposed. Great companies do this and they do it in a way that the rest of us can benefit as well.  Such is the case of two excellent post Olympics assessments from Lenovo.

    Esteban Panzeri
    Esteban Panzeri

    First off, I’ve got to call attention to Esteban Panzeri’ post “End of Madness Recap” from his blog, “The Challenge”.  Since I spend a lot of time in the trenches shoveling bits and bytes around, I naturally gravitate to the folks that turn the dreams into reality, and on this project, Esteban was apparently the guy.  

    He comes up with an excellent list of lessons learned and among them:

    • Ideas will flow like rivers, it is execution that matters
    • One must learn to focus and discard things quickly
    • Anything can be done
    • Outsourced stuff does not always work as it should
    • Distributed content is the future

    “Ideas will flow like rivers, it is execution that matters” – a line I am printing out in 72 point type to hang in my office.  Yes, indeed, ideas are important and without them, there is no innovation, but too many of us forget that at some point we need to stop talking a start doing.  Only a select few ever truly learn this lesson. (more…)

  • Geek.com Relaunched

    For the past couple months I’ve been devoting a lot of my time to the re-release of http://www.geek.com – the online technology resource and community for technology enthusiasts and professionals.  We’ve added a lot of social networking tools, and also done a general wordpress/bbpress upgrade which will allow us to easily take the latest releases in the future.  

    This is important on a couple of levels, first off, this is a site that has over 10 million unique users a month. That ought to put to rest the “WordPress doesn’t scale” talk I hear around the net.  Wordpress scales just fine for large sites if you set your server up properly:

    (more…)

  • How Does The Web Define Authority | chrisbrogan.com

    How Does The Web Define Authority | chrisbrogan.com.

    A great post that really brings to light a lot of questions about how authority on the web is defined.

    Personally, when I think of Alexa, I think of the time when I had  Reel-time.com readers install the Alexa Toolbar.  Even though we were a niche site, we were able to get it into the sub-10,000 list which is a place that no niche site should turn up. So, for the record, I never use Alexa as a statistic and frown upon reports which mention them as a credible source.

  • 5 Simple Mistakes Bloggers Make

    5 Simple Mistakes Bloggers Make

    I wish I could tell you that I never made any of these mistakes, but that just isn’t true.  A couple of these items have cost me dearly, and honestly, the first one I have learned not once, but twice.

    If you’re starting out, this list can save you a lot of trouble in the future.  If you’re an experienced blogger, you may find some pain down there:

    • Own your domain – I’ve had lots of calls looking for help to move people off Blogger.com, Typepad.com and other blogging sites.  If you’re going to blog, invest in your own domain so you don’t have do deal with the agony of moving from joesblog.blogspot.com to www.joesblog.com and suffer the inevitable drop in traffic that will come when you move.  I know this one all too well.  I  blogged at Vario.com and when I stopped working with them, had to rebuild my readership here. Not a lot of fun for someone with an ego like mine, let me assure you.  You could also ask http://fakesteve.blogspot.com/ as we found we couldn’t get his traffic moved from that site to his own domain.
    • A corollary to this is letting your domain expire.  If it does you only have a short time to get it back before a squatter grabs it or it is gobbled up by a domain reseller.  Used domains are big money…
    • Hosted vs. Self-Hosted System – I really love the freedom of having direct access to my own installation of WordPress.  The problem is many non-technical users don’t bother to keep their installations up to date.  My advice is that you go with a hosted service (and I recommend WordPress.com) for your site if you aren’t up to maintaining yourself.  You may find you can’t add all the plugins you might like, but it’ll be virtually impossible for you to completely hose your site. Alternately, you need to get setup with someone experienced who can manage the technical end of your site.  Software updates, theme modifications, plugin setup etc. are the types of things you’ll want.  Be sure to check that the person has a list of sites where they have done similar work using the same system.
    • The Snarkfest – At some point we all seem to channel Anthony Bourdain.  Let’s face it, we’re all critics at heart.  The thing is, just because we have an opinion one way or the other, doesn’t mean we’ve got a right to  question someone else’s right to exist.  Remember that your opinion is just that.  Everyone’s got one, so before you shoot your mouth off and take someone to task, have some actual facts to back you up. This isn’t just a blog phenomena – it happens on Twitter even more.  A couple weeks ago I made a snarky comment about Drupal developers. The comment was made with a cocktail in hand, and was a reflection of my dislike for the Drupal system, but I quite unfairly disparaged Drupal developers.  I really wish I could take it back, and I am thankful that Jim Spencer called me on it.
    • Plugin-orama – At some point, all WordPress users will discover the WordPress Plugin Directory.  It’s a great repository of all kinds of wonderful functionality, most of which you have no earthly reason to add to your blog.  I’ve seen way to many blogs completely hobbled by incompatible plugins that have changed the functionality of the site so much that it has become unusable. The thing to understand is that plugins are just like the people who write them, fallible.  Many are out of date, some are not coded well to begin with and there are a few that are downright security issues.  Think twice before you introduce a new plugin to your blog.Similarly, many bloggers end up on the “Theme of the Week” club.  Find a good theme and stick with it.  The look is part of your personal brand, so try not to change it too often.  Personally, I find the simpler the better.
    • More Ads Than a Stock Car – At some point, we all think how nice it’d be to actually get paid for blogging.  Ads are a great way to earn money, and they are also an excellent way to send readers running for the hills.   David Churbuck calls it “NASCARed” with tons of little ad impressions running on your site, creating one huge and ugly impression on the reader.
    I hope these help you avoid the problems so many of us have made in the past.  Please use the comments to add some other simple mistakes  you’ve seen!
    Resources: 
    Search Engine Land – Twelve SEO Mistakes Bloggers Make

  • Aaron Strout in Boston Globe

    The Boston Globe this morning “Working the Network” about how employers are and job seekers are using social networking.  It prominently features Aaron Strout of Mzinga (on twitter, he’s astrout and definitely worth following – I do…) .

    The salient point in the article is that we need to be very careful what we put on line now.  The article, quoting a recent college grad: (more…)

  • The True Gold of Blogging – Link Relevance

    Throughout new media, we keep hearing one term over and over again: relevance.  The ad networks seek to provide relevant ads, we try to provide relevant content, we all seek relevent metrics to judge our success.

    Merriam-Webster defines relevance as:

    1 a: relation to the matter at hand b: practical and especially social applicability : pertinence <giving relevance to college courses>2: the ability (as of an information retrieval system) to retrieve material that satisfies the needs of the user

    Many of the links we get aren’t really relevant.  This morning I had a few that were caught by Akismet from various sploggers where they had automatically grabbed my summary and posted to the site with a link back.  Basically they’re running a low value Google Adsense farm.  You might want to occassionally look at those links though, as just this week one of the sites I work with had to send a DMCA take down notice to a splogger who was copying their material wholesale (legally, I am told we lose our copyright if we don’t protect our copyright).

    (more…)

  • Building Blog Readership – An Evolving World

    When I started this site in March, after I stopped working with Vario Creative, where I had previously been blogging, I expected that the same traffic building steps that had worked for me before would work here.  After 5 months, I can safely say, that’s not the case.

    You see, when I started blogging at Vario, the important keys to getting readership were Technorati position and getting trackbacks from other sites.  In today’s world of sploggers and spammers, the trackback is dead, and Technorati is increasingly irrelevant.  In fact, now Google Blog Search is really the source for accurate linking information, so much so that WordPress has a feed of links from them in the blog dashboard.

    My stats have been looking really good, upwards of 240 readers a day, but when you dive into them, you’d find that the majority of the traffic is coming from Google and is associated with an image of a shark eating someone.  It’s driveby traffic, they come into the site, and it’s one and done.  No long term readers, no comments, no added value.  Yesterday, Google realized the error of their ways and my image is no longer showing up in Image Search.  The Google well has run dry.

    (more…)

  • WordPress as a Small Business Content Management System

    National Gallery and Gift Shop using WP as a CMS 
    National Gallery and Gift Shop using WP as a CMS

    I’ve been telling everyone for a while that WordPress is a Content Management System – now I’m ready to prove it.  I’ve set up a small site for The National Gallery and Gift Shop in Sutton, MA using WordPress and I’m thrilled with the way it’s turned out.  

    Before I mention the features of what has been setup, you need to know one thing – I was able to train them how to enter content, manage their calendar and add products to their product gallery all in two short sessions, about 3 hours of training total.  They have created most of the content you see on their site. 

    Here are the general features I’ve provided:

    • Completely editable content by non-technical personnel
    • An online events calendar they can easily manage
    • A full product gallery which is both simple to use, and can handle tons of products and product lines (more on that in a minute)
    • Online newsletter capability (that’s a blog to the rest of us)
    • Contact form that pays attention to Akismet for anti-spam
    • Google maps directions
    Product Category Listings for Dept. 56 Collectibles
    Product Category Listings for Dept. 56 Collectibles

    WordPress Product Gallery

    That’s right, a product gallery for WordPress.  It uses the WordPress Photo Gallery feature, which means you can upload 10 products at a time, manage both product title and caption, plus add a full description.  It’s dirt simple to use.  

    Even better, because of the way WordPress works, we could easily add a Paypal B Buy Now button, or use Google to  to the system and have an online catalog.  It’s the type of feature that lots of people ask about, but generally go running for the hills when they realize how much work is traditionally involved.  I think in this case, we’ve got a very simple solution that could be setup with modicum of work.

    Events Calendar

    Online Events Calendar
    Online Events Calendar

    I hate Events Calendars, or at least I used to.  Everyone wanted one and they were generally a pain to get setup properly.  Once I got it setup, i’d generally find the customer gave up using it almost right away because the data entry pages were too hard to use.  

    In this system, I’ve opted for a very resilient plugin I found for WordPress and it’s integrated almost out of the box.  National Gallery runs a lot of art classes in Central Massachusetts, including Tole Painting, Quilting, etc, and they were able to get the full month of events online in about an hour.

  • Week 4 – Online Community Building Field Test

    The march to success continues.  This week:

    • We’ve jumped to 112 registrations from the first day of our trial.
    • We’ve had several users starting to post on their personal blogs.
    • I had a request to create a new forum for the Bicycle Commuter – and got the forum up in a couple minutes.
    • We were helped by the news today that Lance Armstrong will return to next years Tour De France.
    Again, I’ve been too busy with normal responsibilities both in terms of development (I just had a huge site move to QA, watch for more info on Sept. 18 when the reason for these posts becomes crystal clear) and with my admin/publisher duties for http://www.reel-time.com.  I guess that helps to highlight that when you’ve got a decent domain, and a fairly well setup site, things can happen without you.
    Wishlist:
    • A real admin – I’m not the guy to be running this site.
    • More hours in the day – I’m not doing this field test any favors with my effort level.
    • The ability to take what I’ve learned through another development cycle – yes, lessons have been learned. 
    • No email notice of moderation tasks – This is a big issue (but probably not for a more dedicated admin).  I sometimes don’t get into the admin area for a day or two.
    • A better way to see user blogs – I feel like their buried in the user profile and not as easy to find as I’d like.
    I’ll continue to follow up over the coming weeks, but I can safely say this is a success at this point.  It’d be more of a success if:
    • I did an email newsletter to users.
    • Started a post of the week contest with a prize.  Recognize the users, and they really take notice.
    Perhaps if I could dig up an intern somewhere.  BTW, if you’re into cycling, have some time, and would like to learn about running a community, I have an opportunity for you.  mcahill@namemedia.com

  • Online Community Building Field Test – Week 3

    (If you didn’t read the first post in this series, you really ought to start here…)

    I was really, really caught up with other issues last week, but even with that, the experiment somehow managed to continue rolling along on it’s own, which honestly is a big surprise to me.

    • The cycling.com server was upgraded to use the Akamai Dynamic Site Accellerator system, which has greatly increased page rendering speeds.  It’s not something a user would generally notice, but a fast site helps to create a good customer opinion.
    • We’ve had three User Generated Articles uploaded, and I’ve got one which is quite good live on the homepage right now.  This was unexpected at this stage, and is very exciting.
    • Since the little experiment started, we’ve registered 87 new users.  That is about as many as had registered in the previous 4 months.  The registration pace appears to be accellerating.
    • The forums aren’t really being used.
    • We haven’t had any impact on the Google Analytics – currently  traffic is somewhat static.

    Next steps

    • I’m not the right person to really build that site.  My theory has always been that to really build niche media you need some credibility in the field.  While I’ve got that in the Saltwater Fly Fishing space, I don’t have that in the Cycling space.
    • It’s time to develop a plan to start engaging users.  A newsletter to subscribers recapping Olympics coverage, and outlining a plan for the next month might be the ticket.
    • The site needs a real moderator.  Someone who is at home wearing lycra and talking about biking issues.

    There are a few other things I’d do if I had the time, on a system level.

    • We stupidly didn’t build an email alert into the system to warn us when a new bit of user content was uploaded, such as an article.
    • BBpress needs to be removed and replaced with a more full featured forum package.  Maybe it’s just me and my vBulletin snobbery, but I find that system doesn’t meet my minimal expectations for functionality.

    The total time commitment I put in last week was virtually nill.  I honestly was thinking that I was going to have to admit that I wasn’t going to be able to have an impact.  Now I’m reinvigorated, even though the time constraints I face are still a huge impediment.