I’ve been studying a ton about User Interface Design (a more complete post to come soon), but wanted to share this slideshow I found through @uxfeeds twitter account.
Mind blowing-ux
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Food Trucks Nashville
March 18, 2011 By 1 Comment
We’ve been busy brainstorming about how we can use the power of WordPress to better our Nashville community. We’ve got several ideas that we’ll release later, but our first idea is FoodTrucksNashville.com Joel, our super coder dude, and myself, more of an average coder with a man crush on WordPress, are going to go get some Grilled Cheeserie today for lunch and then start coding.
Here’s a first view comp. What are your ideas or suggestions? Obviously, the names of the food trucks will change!
What’s next for WordPress
March 17, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Nashville WordPress Community and beyond,
I recently returned from my first SXSW Interactive Conference in Austin, TX. For those of you who don’t dork out 24-6.5 days of the week like myself, SXSW is like a dork spring break. All the big names in interactivity, social media, and technology are there talking about the latest and greatest trends and reminding us of the past.
I’m going to try and blog about all of the 15 or so talks that I attended, but since I pretty much have a man crush on WordPress and their parent company Automattic, I’m first going to discuss Matt Mullenweg’s presentation: Future of WordPress first.
Matt answered questions for about an hour, but two things really stood out to me which might be obvious to some, but they weren’t to me.
12% of the world’s websites are powered by WordPress.
I’ve heard so many times, “Oh, isn’t that just a blogging platform?” Not anymore! WordPress 3.0 should have put those thoughts to bed. Our site is WordPress powered. AND, Dell Connect asked the question if WordPress could power their platform and without hesitation, Matt responded, “Yes, we are ready for you right now.” WordPress is no longer a blogging platform folks.
Is blogging dead?
With the emergence of Twitter and Facebook, some are saying blogging is dead. However, Matt was quick to point out that a new WordPress blog is added EVERY two seconds. Again, WordPress powered sites have over a half a billion page views a month! That, in no way, shape form or fashion is a DEAD platform. This is a healthy platform that the world is using to express ideas and communicate.
So, what’s next and what’s next for WordPress and what’s next for WordPress in Nashville?
I’m going to devote a separate post to WordPress in Nashville, but for WordPress as a whole, here you go:
- JetPack: Check this article out and why it is important for WordPress here. For the first time, .ORG WordPress users will have the same features as the .COM folks. Thanks WordPress developers!
- Mobile: According to Matt and everyone else who has ever tried to use the mobile WordPress platform, mobile HAS to be faster. Tubmlr is killing WordPress in this area. Matt says he uses mobile daily and is reminded this needs to improve.
- WordPress is all about being a ginormous value for it’s customers. When people comment, WordPress listens. The future of WordPress is to get faster, easier to use, and to continually under promise and over deliver. I can’t wait to see what’s next.
What are your thoughts on the future of WordPress? Where do you see it going? Do you really believe as I do that it’s an emerging platform? Please share!
Thanks!
John
Unleash your marketing brilliance
March 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Today’s “ah-hah” moment:
“Marketing by interrupting people isn’t cost-effective anymore. You can’t afford to seek out people and send them unwanted marketing messages, in large groups, and hope that some will send you money.
Instead, the future belongs to marketers who establish a foundation and process where interested people can market to each other. Ignite consumer networks and then get out of the way and let them talk.”
Amen! Agreed! Yee-haw! No, I didn’t have that epiphany over this morning’s cereal. It’s actually from the introduction of Seth Godin’s book, “Unleashing the Ideavirus.” Not a new book and not a new concept. Yet this whole idea of viral marketing gets ignored by companies all the time.
In the forward, Tipping Point author Malcolm Gladwell says: “this notion says that the most successful ideas are those that spread and grow because of the customer’s relationship to other customers – not the marketer’s to the customer.”
Print that quote and pin it up in your cube or office. We’re willing to bet 75% of you reading this get in your own way by doing exactly the opposite of this.
5 Ways to Find Customers on Twitter
February 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Hootsuite rocks.
Most businesses think of Twitter as a promotional vehicle, a way to gain readers for a blog or increase site traffic, or perhaps announce new events or products. But it can be a useful sales-generating tool as well.
Let’s review some facts and figures as a why-should-you-care refresher:
- Twitter now has 105,779,710 registered users.
- 180 million unique visitors come to the site every month.
- New users are signing up at the rate of 300,000 per day.
Now you might be thinking: Super (sarcastic tone), so a lot of people are on Twitter. I knew that. And my small business is supposed to find my customers in the haystack HOW?
- Well, the size of your company doesn’t have much to do with it. If you know your Twitter objectives (aka boost sales) and target audience – Twitter can be effective regardless of the number of people on your payroll.
- Repeat after me: Blindly tweeting won’t get your business much mileage. Do: Avoid promotional tweets not tailored for your target audience. Don’t: Be robotic. Personal messages (ex: your CEO contributes every so often) will make your Twitter feed a personal face and credibility.
- Find the influencers in your industry. Then follow them, figure out what makes them successful, and contribute tidbits to the conversation.
- Use Hootsuite to monitor keywords, schedule messages, measure results and manage other accounts (like Facebook and LinkedIn) simultaneously. Interested in HootSuite? Sign up here.
- A relevant Twitter domain is a great (and easy) way to establish credibility with potential customers. If I tweet “Looking for affordable local antiques any recs?” I’m much more likely to respond to FabNashAntiques than storeTN37215.
Curious how other companies are using Twitter? Check out Mashable’s rundown of the 40 best Twitter brands in 2009 (a bit dated, but still interesting).
