Recent Blog Posts
Blogs » Archive for December, 2005
RSS icon “standardized”
Break out your HTML editors! After much deliberation, Microsoft has decided to adopt the same icon for representing RSS feeds (and Atom feeds) that is used in Firefox.
With this icon currently in Firefox and set to appear in Internet Explorer 7 next year, it will quickly become the standard user experience for feeds on the Web. Web designers would be well advised to begin using it instead of the familiar-but-problematic [RSS] and 
icons.
Forecast for 2006
Well, it’s that time of the year when we should all be looking to 2006 and how we intend to prosper in the New Year. (Actually, we all should have done this 3-6 months ago, but it’s traditional for media to focus on the New Year now, when it is a bit too late).
Last year I believe I challenged you all to set aggressive goals for the New Year.
This year, let’s do something different. I’d like to have you post your predictions about what will change in your marketspace and how you will respond with better service, solutions, or marketing strategies.
For instance, I have come to a realization (or at least have an educated hunch) that many people don’t just want “help” in the form of consulting services or how-to books. Most people don’t want to learn just for the sake of learning (with notable exceptions, as the Teaching Company has discovered; also, products that show people how to make more money are always favorites, and I and others continue to do well with marketing books and products). They want some official recognition of what they have learned, in the form of Continuing Education Units (CEUs) or Certification that …
Ruby on Rails 1.0 is out
Ruby on Rails 1.0 was just released, thus eliminating your last excuse (“It’s not even a stable release!”) for not trying the most buzzword-friendly Web development framework of the year.
For those who have been living under a rock (or, I must admit, for those who have been waiting for SitePoint to write about it), Ruby on Rails is a double-whammy of a programming language (Ruby) and a framework (Rails), which together form a powerful platform for building dynamic Websites quickly.
Ruby on Rails is designed around an agile development methodology, where you start by getting something simple working in a hurry and then build on that core with small changes that gradually produce the finished product. For example, it takes only a few minutes to configure Rails to access your database, from which it can automatically generate a set of pages to view your database records and add/modify/delete records through an administration interface. You can then progressively tweak that auto-generated Web application to get the look and functionality that you want.
Watch for plenty of coverage of Ruby on Rails from SitePoint in the new year. In the meantime, you can peruse SitePoint’s Ruby forum.
One hopes that the overwhelming response …
Adobe CS2 and the Case of the Disappearing Thumbnails!
For all it’s unquestionable power, Adobe Creative Suite 2 certainly has a number of irritating habits.
Number #1 with a bullet on my list has been it’s deliberate disabling of thumbnail views of Illustrator and Photoshop native files. Here’s a method to get them back.
Lessons from an Elance Pro Part II
This is a follow up to the Elance Pro blog a few entries ago.
I have a second project, similar to the one that the Elance Pro just did for me. He once again impresses me with his ability to close business. Here is how it worked:
1. I sent him specifications for the project.
2. This morning when I hit the computer, he instant messaged me immediately to thank me for the specs.
3. He asked me my budget for the project. I told him that it should be less than the site he just did for me. He agreed and suggested a ballpark. I agreed to that. He asked if I could start today; I told him early next week.
4. Now it gets interesting. He asked me if he wanted me to have him post the project for him. I said sure.
5. So he posted the project on my behalf and awarded it to himself!
This action not only “closed the deal” for him, but did two other things:
1. He saves 4.75% on elance fees by doing this on a repeat project.
2. He is able to automatically invoice me for half the project fees right away.
So with a brief IM conversation, this …
Landing Pages Now Influence AdWords Quality Scores
It’s no secret that the ranking order for AdWords advertisers has been determined by a combination of both factors that combine into a total Quality Score.
However, Google has now announced that landing page quality will be another factor:
Today, we started incorporating a new factor into the Quality Score — the landing page — which will look at the content and layout of the pages linked from your ads.
…
Advertisers who are providing robust and relevant content will see little change. However, for those who are providing a less positive user experience, the Quality Score may decrease and in turn increase the minimum bid required for the keyword to run.
It seems, that at least some advertisers, are not so happy about the change because of the blurring of lines between content optimization & paid advertising, as well as the additional workload required.
The question it seems is, with hundreds of thousands of advertisers, and millions of unique landing URLs, who will determine the quality and how? Whether it’s hand checking when complaints are received, looking at PR scores for landing pages, or simply looking at URLs that AdSense publishers frequently filter, it’d be great if Google was open about …
Profit off a Single Word
Many people when thinking of how to monetize a site stop their search at banner ads. They might have a banner at the top, a skyscraper at the right, and another banner at the bottom, and go to sleep at night thinking that they’re doing all that they can to profit off their website. In reality there is much more to be done.
Now the number of banners you can use on a website is limited both by good taste, and by the amount of screen real estate available. If you want your website to fit in a 800×600 resolution and your content requires 700 pixels of horizontal room, then you don’t have many options for the side other than a skinny skyscraper.
So, to increase your profit per page view you need to think outside the box: not banners, but words. I previously discussed the business of selling text links and that is viable way to monetize your site while using very little screen real estate. You can also use text links from affiliate programs, which is a whole other topic and not one I wish to discuss today. Today I want to discuss …
How supportive is your family of your entrepreneurship?
Family support is essential to every successful entrepreneur, or at least sure makes it easier.
I’m blessed that my wife likes and supports what I do, although from time to time she tells me that one of my ideas is stupid. I usually go forward with that idea anyway, and she usually is right about the idea having been stupid. We had a recent argument about something unrelated to business, and at the end she exclaimed, “By the way, your idea about a website devoted to [subject matter of new website] is stupid. It won’t work.” I will go forward with the idea anyway, but you can see how this kind of occasional conflict is different than what spouses who are gainfully employed tend to have. Plus, given her track record, my confidence is shaken on this idea, and that is a bit depressing.
And, at times, when money gets tight because I’m investing in new ideas while waiting for other ideas to pan out, there can be tension. But it is appropriate, as my first responsibility is to providing for the family.
Parents, siblings, spouses — all of them have something to say when we start up a venture. Sometimes they can …
Shared Hosts and PHP5 Upgrades
Ivo Jansch made a comment in relation to this blog which got me thinking;
We have the same problem. The backwardscompatibility issues are small, and we could easily fix our own apps. But we also do hosting for several hundreds of websites not created by us. Getting all our customers to fix their sites (and providing them with a means to test) will be hellish.
What strategies can be employed by shared hosts to deal with this problem? Given that there isn’t a magic wand to fix it and many shared hosts have limited manpower, what to do?
For me, wearing a “shared host customer” hat, the number 1 issue is information – if a host want’s to migrate to PHP5, they need to communicate a clear schedule for doing so, with realistic time frames (e.g. at least 3 months warning). With that should be the warning that customers need to start testing their code against the new PHP version.
In general, as I’ve said before, think there is room for improvement on the type of information some shared hosts provide. All PHP installations are not the same, even when the version numbers are equal, that magic php.ini file or …
Business, ethics, and morality
In the last blog entry, “someone who cares” expressed dismay that I seemed “proud” to be sending work outside the USA.
This raises some interesting issues about business, ethics, and morality.
Here is my opinion, and I would be interested in yours:
First, the purpose of business is to generate a profit. Capitalism in and of itself is a system. A business in and of itself is a structure. Neither carries any moral implications at the start. Sell a product/service to people who want it, and sell it for more than it cost you to make/provide it.
Now, how we conduct business does have moral and ethical weight. There are many behaviors that are unethical, in business and in life:
- Misleading people with inaccurate information
- Negligence in safety
- Financial mis-conduct
- Non-competitive practices like collusion
- Corruption and fraud
- Environmental damage/pollution
There are also many behaviors that are good/nice things to do, and often also make for good business, such as supporting your local community with charitable work, by creating jobs, and by working hard to make your company a great place to work/learn. And there are fantastic examples of managing ethical issues, such as Johnson & Johnson’s famous response to tainted pain relief medication. Also, companies …
