That is not it at all, That is not what I meant, at all.

August 10th, 2010

That is not it at all, That is not what I meant, at all. Prufrock and Other Observations. T.S. Eliot

What role does humor play in getting your message across? Humor can be used to grab attention but the type of humor is critical for effective communication.  Use of tongue-in-cheek or sarcastic content on a website can lead to misinterpretation.  Even it was done in hopes that a company is perceived as “cooler” than its competitors, the message can be skewed.  Tongue-in-cheek content could be offensive.   Although using it seems plausible on first pass, is self-depreciation a quality one looks for in a business supplier?  Does it support the ability to deliver quality on time and on budget?  Or can it be read as not serious enough?  If you have a great site design with robust functionality supporting the user experience, why chance a message that could drive visitors away?

It could be the cost of being “cool”.

WordPress has changed. I see it in the numbers.

August 6th, 2010

The world is changed. I feel it in the water.   Galadriel  ’The Fellowship of the Ring

With apologies to J R Tolkien, another interpretation might be, WordPress has changed.  I see it in the numbers.

It is fascinating to watch the open source community  generate the exponential growth of WordPress.   Recent June 2010 stats, released by WordPress, detail how big.  On WordPress hosting alone which does not take into consideration 3rd party hosting, there are over 25 million WordPress publishers, 11.4 million blogs plus 13.8 million active installations of the WordPress.org software.

A 50 million user base is akin to every person in Texas, New York and Florida using Wordpress.

Three factors driving the growth are: it’s cost effective; features / functionality abound and, most importantly, control of the application.  No surprise, more shops are deploying WordPress driven content managed sites.  Here is our latest – Content Executive

Do you really want that “festive” picture of you posted for the world to see?

May 26th, 2010

It seems young adults are becoming more concerned about privacy issues.  Some have become more aware the hard way as the postings and pictures could have a negative impact on job interviews and/or promotions.   A recent survey from the University of California, Berkeley,  found that young adults now match overall online populations in wanting to guard their privacy. The recent and continuing Facebook  privacy concerns emphasize the point.  Actions do have consequences.  As Falstaff in Shakespeare’ Henry IV said, “The better part of valor is discretion.”   Not all activities need to be or should be known.

Personal Trainer on your phone

May 19th, 2010

Launched a new site TheGymPro.com that offers higher rep, fast pace workouts designed to be played on your Personal Video Player (PVP).  The workouts combine Cardio  and Strength training.   The site is subscription based giving unlimited downloads.

We used a catalog style interface, supercharged with quick loading FLV previews so the user isn’t waiting. All managed with an easy back end admin panel so TheGymPro are in control of the site.    Designed by 3000 LB Gorilla

March 29th, 2010

A recent Ad Age Poll wanted to explore if marketers are wasting online budgets by focusing so much on apps rather than the mobile web? Although marketers overwhelming think mobile web is more important (68% to 32%), the underlying issue is providing relevant content to the target audience no matter how it is delivered.  From Blayzer’s perspective, it all comes back to a solid, database driven web application to serve up the content.  If the user does not find value, it does not matter how it is delivered.

The Field of Dreams Syndrome

February 12th, 2010

Numerous people who wish to build or enhance their web sites are afflicted with ”The Field of Dreams  Syndrome”.  They are under the false impression that if you build or improve a site, traffic will magically flock to the site.    This just does not happen.  A good rule of thumb is to allocate at least as much money for marketing the site as invested in the site.  According to Entireweb,  47 million web sites were added in 2009 bringing the total number of websites to an estimated 234 million as of December 2009.  Sure some traffic will stumble upon the site but with 234 million sites, the odds are not in your favor.

Here is where the value of using Open Source resources is clearly evident.  Instead of using more expensive development,  Open Source provides the feature / functionality at a fraction of .Net solutions.  By  leveraging the Open Source community cost effective solutions are rapidly created leaving room in the budget for SEM and SEO.   They will only come if they know about it.