Social Media Tuesday: Ping.fm

No, it's not a radio station or a ping-pong website, or a ping-pong website that works as a radio station that adjusts on how you play the game and your aggregate score.

Ping.fm went public a little over a year ago and hadn't been of much interest right away for me. What is it? It's a simple way to organize your updates if you just need to blast something out.

For example, I signed up for Ping.fm and linked my (deep breath) Twitter, Facebook, EJM Designs Facebook Page, MySpace, TBN Ning, Google Talk, LinkedIn, FriendFeed, Plaxo, and Yahoo status.

I probably hit my Twitter 2-5 times a day, Facebook and LinkedIn every day or two, and ...wait. I still have a MySpace? Exactly. As a part of so many social networks, I don't really have the time to dig into every single site and update each status. And because stagnancy and silence is the death rattle of social media credibility, Ping.fm rocks out to that purpose. I'll still personalize my Twitter and Facebook and LinkedIn more often, but to keep the rest fresh, I love this for a simple solution every couple days or so, or if something that important needs to be passed on.

The best part? Simple. Email, password, name if you choose. The rest is just setting up logins. One post and BLAMMO - everyone knows your business.

Let me know if you've had any experience with Ping.fm and if you have if it's been a positive or negative one.


Bonus Trivia: the top-level domain name ".fm" is for the Federated States of Micronesia. Awesome!

How Much Does a Domain Name Cost?

$10 or less.

Back after the internet transitioned from military to civilian and Network Solutions set up a fee schedule and was the only way to register, it was $100. Now it has been decentralized so much that you can get domain names for $7 - $10 at places like GoDaddy, NameCheap, and many more sites.

The reason I mention this is that I've had experiences with clients (see my post on Portability) who were not aware of their options and I even received a letter from a company today - a company with whom I did not register my domain names to begin with, but who wanted me to transfer to them at $30 per year.

These companies are not just trying to stretch their profit margin, they are preying on people who simply do not know better. This is bad business and unethical by its very nature

To be clear:

Under no circumstances should you ever pay more than $10 per year on .com, .net, or .org domain names.

Be wise. Shop around. And always have someone you can talk to (for free) if you have a question about web stuff. It'll keep more money in your pocket.

And if you don't have that person, my number is in the sidebar ;)

New Schedule for The EJM Designs Limited Blog

I recently wrote on why a blog publishing plan can save you many hours the rest of the week.

And this is the next step in that idea, which is creating a thematic calendar for you to follow. The upsides to putting together a calendar for yourself are twofold:

1. I have just created a template for myself. That means no more fretting about what to do for each day; I've already got a topic. And I've just saved myself more time by creating that lens for each day.
2. For your readers, you are giving them (that'd be you) something to follow, an expectation and a repeat business. Keep up with that schedule and you grow a dedicated following.

Here's my weekly list of themes that can be seen in my right column from here on out:

Monday
And...GO! Getting your week going, on Mondays we'll be addressing items of motivation and inspiration, or how to avoid lack of those things when running your own business.

Tuesday
Social networking ideas. What's going on in Cincinnati and elsewhere in the world of marketing and networking and making it personal. Yes, that means getting out there and shaking some hands.

Wednesday
Twitter in the news! We use Twitter every day. Here's how that's playing out for other people through the headlines. You'll be sure to find humor and concern as people misuse, disuse, and learn to cope with ubiquitous technology.

Thursday
Tech Fetish. Tech wonders from around the world - what's hot, what's new, what's way the hell weird. All brain candy.

Friday
YouTube you need to tube. Interesting videos that might provoke thought but will probably just hearken LOLz. It's Friday. Just enjoy.

Saturday and Sunday
That's the time I spend with my business, myself and my family. Move along folks, nothing to see here. But there might be. And that would be bonus for you.

And 5 posts a week is not the be-all and end-all of the plan. There will always be something more during the week. Maybe not daily, but I've got a whole lot to talk about.

Point being: putting together a vague plan is not an option. You must court your audience with promises of certain types of news. The witty commentary is up to you.

Thoughts, recommendations, experiences with scheduling? Comments are always open!

The Trouble With "Vision"

I've been doing a lot of work recently with my own business (see sidebar) and in that work, I invariably come across both direct (web design, SEO, search marketing, social marketing) and indirect (general marketing and public relations) companies and their web presences.

Most of their sites are straightforward and professional enough to keep a browser's interest, providing the necessary information about what they do and how to contact them. However, there are a couple of common items I continue to run into that are just not good design/business.

V a g u e n e s s . . .
Maybe I missed the memo. Maybe nebulous ideas of what you actually do, descriptions rife with ideals and forms but no concrete language is what is of the moment. But I don't believe it. That's the trouble with "vision." Sure, it's necessary to have a mission statement, great to have a vision statement. But to format your web copy (you know, that primary - potentially only - contact point your potential client) on vague thoughts and non-targeted language could seriously be hurting you.

Then again, I can guarantee there are those consumers out there that eat that up. Not sure how to address those folks.

Mystery Bag O' Image Fun
If you use significant images to represent different aspects of your business then for the love of all things holy please make it intuitive. Or put labels on the images. The idea of a landing page with various, un-labeled images that represent varied and anomalous things or change on mouseover to reveal a "Hey, that's what I'm looking for!" label was tired after fifteen minutes at some indeterminate time in 2002.

People don't want to have to think too hard. Make them think about what they would like to find on your site, not figure out the puzzle of your layout scheme.

SO Out of the Box
So you want to go "out of the box" and have designed your website with a unique layout unlike any other. I commend you. But is it usable? If I want to do a quick two clicks to find out if you even provide web design, is it like solving the day's Sudoku puzzle in the paper to get to that revelation?

There are definitive conventions of web design that - while not entirely sexy - are conventions for a reason. Try to keep that in mind. I repeat: People don't want to have to think too hard. Make them think about what they would like to find on your site, not figure out the puzzle of your layout scheme.

Conclusion
Innovation and vision are good things in business and marketing. But people are on such a limited time schedule - and sickeningly low attention span - that it's the quick nuts and bolts that should be straightforward. If you want visitors to see your vision, put together a vision statement page with a prominent link. The fewer things potential clients have to think/worry about when visiting your site, the more follow-through you'll get.

Would you rather a low percentage contact you as to your exact services or a medium to high percentage contact you on details and pricing for what you obviously do?


So what are your thoughts? Is this something you've noticed? Is it okay? What do you want to see on the websites of service providers?

Comments always welcome.

Why Quick Template Websites Are a Bad Idea

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What Are Your Feelings on a Face?

My current avatar/image thing for all my social media is a lovely, lower-case "e" with a semi-transparent, desaturated version of the main graphic feature on my website. But it's impersonal, and I plan to change that in the next week.

"How do you plan to change it, Eric?" you ask. By doing what most people do for their images: use a picture of my face.

My question today is: What are your feelings about the avatars people use? Does seeing a smiling face imbue that person with an aura of trustworthiness? Does a logo or non-face do the opposite, as though a wall is up? And - finally - what are your thoughts on someone's baby or pet plugged in as their avatar?

I'll post on all these things and more as soon as I get my own mug up there, but wanted to know what you were feeling.

Branding, Um...am...pm.... BP: huh?

A month or two ago, I noticed that BP, known for its green/yellow flower "Connect" rebranding a couple years ago, had done something strange. They'd rebranded their stores and stores website with the following look:



Hrmm?

As a designer, this struck a sour chord with me. Why would BP, pushing the clean, airy green/yellow/white trio switch up their primary identity? And if they were switching up their primary identity, why in this direction?

The change strayed from their attempt at environmental and pushed oddly into already-established convenience. The orange-red of "am" pulls in Sunoco, Clark, and Speedway. The blue of "pm" also hits Clark, Sunoco, and Speedway. WTF?

I guess it wouldn't as bad if BP just wanted to melt into the mainstream of gas station convenience stores, but juxtaposed with the rest of their branding effort, the orange/blue design sticks out like an embarrassing stain, a desire to be the same in the middle of an effort to be different.

What are your thoughts on BP's convenience store branding decision?

CNN: You Need a Web Presence

If you didn't believe it before, believe it now: You need a web presence.

Today, CNN Money tossed out a great business article. #10: Get online. Now.

It's the basis of the ideas that run EJM Designs: we provide an online presence, make an online presence usable, and make a usable online presence visible to search engines.

Over 80% of American adults are online now, and the internet has easily taken the place of the Yellow Pages. The difference between the Yellow Pages and the internet is that despite a simple listing of your business online, you need a presence. You need to be found when people are looking for you, especially locally.

If you are not online, especially in this economy, you risk limiting the value your business holds for others. You risk people who need your services, who would be your customers or clients not making their way to your door.

Contact us. Contact someone else. But get online. Now is more important than ever.