Archive for May, 2007
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RSS for dummies
Although RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is really simple and useful, websites are struggling to explain what it is, and more importantly, how people can benefit from it.
Getting started with RSS is a step by step process filled with obstacles and from a user perspective - not very user friendly. First of all, the average user has never heard of RSS and a “What is RSS?” blurb packed with techie terms such as atom, aggregator, RSS, XML, feed and feed reader can easily scare people off.On top of that, most RSS explanations only describe what RSS is, but forgets to explain the real benefits with RSS from a user perspective. What will it do for the user? Why is it better than email? What is the difference from the traditional way of using the internet? If you can answer these questions with as few techie terms as possible, then you might be able to get these people to subscribe to your feed.
Our friends at Common Craft have produced this excellent video which explains RSS in plain English. Thank you!
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Veni, Vidi, Visa
We came, we saw, we went shopping.
Google provides access to a great repository of knowledge capable of settling any pub-born argument. The likes of MySpace bring people together in new and interesting virtual communities. But what of the important things in life, like buying gadgets or shoes?
Though there are many aspects of eBay which make me wonder if they do actually employ any professional web developers, you have to admit they have created the ultimate shopping mall - an almost infinite number and variety of retailers and without all the usually associated walking about.
I buy a lot of stuff off the Net (in particular eBay), several things a month - much to the interest and amusement of my colleagues. In my opinion there are three main benefits to “virtual” shopping compared with “real” shopping.
- It’s cheaper.
- There’s more choice.
- It’s easier.
Let’s start with cheaper. Last year I bought a new flat screen TV. In Currys it was £1,200, in Comet it was £1,100, on Comets website it was £1,000. After a quick search of the Internet, we found someone selling it for £650. That one purchase saved enough money to pay for our Internet access for the year - and some people wonder if they can afford to have the Internet? I say can you afford not to have it!
Choice. Especially when it comes to Christmas and birthdays, you can spend a long time traipsing round the shops looking for something “they” might like. However, most people have a special interest. With eBay, any special interest becomes a potential present. They like the Denver Broncos? Oh look, here’s a Denver Broncos cigarette case. They like lizards? Oh look there’s a belt buckle in the shape of a lizard. To actually find these items in “real” shops, you’d probably have to burn a lot of shoe leather. (I have bought both of those items in the past by the way)
Ease. Well obviously there’s a lot less walking as previously mentioned. However, there’s also the difference between lugging these things home or having them delivered to your door for you. Now when it comes to Christmas, I personally find it much easier to sit in front of a PC, order a few things and have them delivered - rather than getting jostled in the crowds with heavy bags of presents in the middle of winter whilst having “Mistletoe & Wine” played at me.
I’ve just got a new phone (the lovely Nokia N95) and I’ve used eBay to buy loads of cool accessories for it, a 2Gb memory card for under £20 (instead of £40 from the shop), cases, screen protectors, extra batteries and desktop chargers. I’ve even bought a pocket sized Bluetooth keyboard for it! Even if the shop had sold all of those particular items (and most of them they didn’t), they would have charged me at least twice as much. For buying small electronic goods (high value, low postage) you can’t beat the Net.
There are of course a few things to remember. First of all, know what you are buying. There’s a lot of rubbish on the Net (and in shops), so try to find reviews for the item first. Secondly, think about the delivery costs. It might actually be cheaper to walk down the shops and buy it yourself, rather than pay to have it delivered. Don’t just settle for eBay, sometimes you can buy these items cheaper from other websites!
People often worry about the safety aspect of online purchases. Well, I believe it is the safest way to use your credit card. Compare that to handing your card to a waiter in a restaurant, or reading the details out over an unsecure phone line? With most online purchases you have the option of recorded delivery and postal insurance, so you don’t have to worry about things not turning up. eBay/Paypal are very good at handling disputes, but I personally haven’t really had any need to involve them in the past. The only other thing to worry about is the addiction, it’s so easy and there’s so many things to buy that you can get a little carried away and forget that virtual shopping still takes very real money out of your bank account!
That’s it - happy shopping!
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Communique
Communiqué is Precedent’s own email newsletter. It covers insightful articles, ‘best from the blog’, and news and information about upcoming events and seminars. This month’s theme is digital marketing as we’re officially launching or new digital marketing offering. Dean Russell discusses what this means for you, why it’s about more than just email campaigns and why now.
Why would I want to subscribe?
Our newsletter is designed to provide useful information on everything from web 2.0 to branding and digital marketing. It’s free and delivered every two months.How do I subscribe?
Simply click on the ‘signup for our newsletter’ link on our home page and fill out the form. All we need is your email address.How do I unsubscribe?
Simply click on the unsubscribe link in the newsletter or send a blank email to unsubscribe@precedent.co.uk with ‘unsubscribe’ in the subject field.We value your privacy. We never have and never will sell your email address to another company and we won’t send you any ad-email or spam. In fact we only ask for your name and email address for the newsletter
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History at the Races
As a consultant at Precedent, every now and then, you get to work for a client with a very different business to those we would normally consider to be in our core areas. Newmarket Racecourses is just such a client. Many aspects of its business are familiar, such as venue hire and event promotion, and the actual horse racing is not unknown to anyone who has had a flutter on the National, but never have I worked for a commercial client with such a rich history and heritage.
You can find out about the site we planned, designed and produced for Newmarket elsewhere, but for me the beauty of the job was, as advertising execs like to put it, ‘living the product’.
When Newmarket first came to us they made it quite clear - the new website had to be delivered before the first race meeting of the season. And so it was. Everyone at Newmarket was really pleased, and I was invited to attend the first race meeting of the season as a guest. Arriving via the ‘posh’ entrance, I was introduced to numerous employees as ‘the man who sorted out our website’. They had all had a look at the new site and they were delighted with it too. This felt a little strange, since in normal circumstances the only feedback we receive about our work is from our direct client contacts. Even stranger however, were the hourly announcements over the public address system informing the ten thousand or so, racing fans in attendance, of the launch of the new Newmarket website, a site that not only contained all the latest news from Newmarket but also ‘celebrated the rich history and heritage of everything that is Newmarket’. I prayed the site hadn’t gone down.
Which brings me to the point about the history and heritage of Newmarket, since up until this point I had only seen pictures of Newmarket, talked at length to the client about marketing objectives, and read all about why it is considered ‘The Home of Racing’.
But there I was, living the history. A history that goes back to when Charles II realised that the heath land around Newmarket, and in particular the mile long straight now known as the Rowley Mile, was ideal for racing horses. This same straight, alongside which me and many others were losing our shirts, has been used continuously since the 17th Century, and is still used today for classic races such as the 1000 Guineas – named after Charles’ liking for betting 1000 Guineas on a single race, a sum that at the time would have bought the whole of the town of Newmarket, and a substantial part of the surrounding Suffolk countryside, if not the whole county. And I was there, in the thick of it.
But it wasn’t just the ancient history that I was a part of, what about the modern history? Who among the crowd will remember the day that they looked across the parade ring to the ‘VIP’ area, near the weighing room, and remarked to their friends, “Heh look, there’s Michael Owen talking to Frankie Dettori”? I mused on my way home that evening that maybe one of these celebrity spotters might have then asked “And who’s that other tall bloke in the brown jacket?” and one of the Newmarket staff, on hearing the question replied - “ That’s the man who sorted out our website”.
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Pulp your fiction
Let’s face it, the concept of the paperless office was one that was never
going to work. Despite a plethora of techno gadgets and wizadry, we all shove a paper note or two in our pockets when we’re on the
move. What’s more, traditionalists everywhere bury their head into paperback books in the comforting knowledge that staring at backlit screens for long periods of time is really bad for your eyes (even though we all do this every day at work).Today (15 May 2007), however, LG Philips LCD announced the development of the
world’s first A4-sized colour electronic paper - that doesn’t rely on backlighting and conserves energy by ’sleeping’ when not in use. Measuring only 0.3
millimetres thick, the paper-thin, bendable viewing panel, has the
ability to display 4,096 colours. This is an exciting development as it takes
portable access to online information to a new level - roll-up laptops,
books, presentations, ipost-its… the list is endless.If e-paper takes off it will be interesting to see how it affects the mobile phone market, which is slowly adapting itself as a platform for web content. A roll-up mobile to fit any pocket possibly? The capacity to hold a large quantity of content on a small portable unit made the ipod, e-paper has the potential to bring these factors to the book market and even web content.
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A hug online…
I’ve just seen a fantastic example of the power of the internet today - when reading about the ‘Free Hugs Guy’ - Juan Mann. Mr Mann who keeps his identity secret started the free hugs campaign in Sydney in 2004.
He has since become a very huggable stranger - offering anyone who wants one - a free hug. Since then, he has hugged over 500,000 people.
What does this have to do with the power of the internet I hear you ask? Mann had thought about travelling to spread his hugging campaign to each country and territory in the world - however this has not been required as the internet has done the job for him. YouTube have a video of his antics which has since spread throughout the world. As of now 14,193,171 have watched the clip.
As Mann himself says: “The internet has changed the way it happens. Now it happens online. I spend four hours a day answering emails.” If it weren’t for the internet it would not be possible to spread the ‘hug’ without a huge amount of time and money. It’s a great example of how a good strong message can spread rapidly from the idea of one man to millions around the world.
There are now ‘Free Hug’ campaigns across the globe, from Hollywood, Tel Aviv, Amsterdam, Peru, Milan to Tokyo. I counted 13 different countries who are taking part in the campaign. It sounds corny, but just watching the free hugs, made me want to give/receive a hug! I never thought the internet would make me want to get up and give someone a hug!… but it did…
So when you have the time, watch the ‘Free Hugs Guy’ and give someone a hug today!
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Customer service, virtually
When is a website not a website? When it’s a virtual world. Already, the 6 million citizens of Second Life
already know the benefits of having an alter ego in the form of an avatar in a
virtual world. The site, which is largely used as a social networking site is beginning to develop more and more
into a business tool. Having already created its first millionaire last year (a
Japanese woman who bought and sold land in the virtual world’s currency – the
Linden – that can be converted into real US dollars), major names such as
Adidas and Oxfam have built up a parallel business in this online universe.Raising
money in this virtual world is not the only benefit to be had by business, a
new use has been developed by Sun Systems who have taken the virtual world to a
new level – that of the virtual office with the help of its MPK20 business tool. As well as having eight building locations in
the real world, they have now added a ninth – in the virtual world called
Wonderland – where colleagues can view online presentations or hold meetings. Any
problems commuting or catching a flight to make it to an important presentation
could soon be a thing of the past. Perhaps next, interacting in this way could be
how more companies of the future deal with their customers online – an
unnerving thought that this could be seen as adding a more ‘personal touch’ to
interacting with consumers online.See how other businesses are using the virtual world for their business
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Video to kill the TV star?
Despite the
recent rapid burst of YouTube onto our monitor screens, I can’t help thinking
the use of streaming video is still in its infancy. As more and more websites
embrace the multimedia capabilities that an online presence offers over
traditional media, featuring the odd streaming video or video download, it
still feels like we have a long way to go in terms of integration and benefits
to the user and organisation.It is true media has become more fractured, illustrated by some of the mainstream TV channels
offering us video on demand (Vod) as a way of reaching us when the TV set is turned off. YouTube has also created a few limited entertainment channels (see left). However, what is there to prevent us, in our new world of user-generated and bespoke content, going one step further and syndicating relevant video ‘programmes’ on our websites to create
our own ‘channel’ specific to our needs and interests? RSS news feeds give
us grouped information on issues we are interested in but if, say, the fashion
or construction industry, adopted a video news channel housed on their website
it would surely give the site the edge over competitors. By hosting a niche
online channel, specific to an industry sector for example, using news agency feeds,
perhaps we could all soon broadcast our own online video channel (perhaps called a V channel?) embedded in our websites.
