Ed Kohler over at Technology Evangelist has written an interesting article on five critical considerations for effective website design.
While the article is aimed squarely at the corporate community, there’s some great data points in the article for all web developers, including bloggers, although I would like to offer an alternate view on one of the views expressed.
1. Will the site be valuable to users?
“.. first, what’s the point in building something that isn’t valuable?” and “.. who’s going to link to a site that isn’t valuable?”
A valid question with great answers, one would think. However, it’s not really quite as simple as that.
It’s not what I think is important, that draws readers to this site (yes, all twelve of you) — rather it’s the content that draws readers.
This relates more closely to the actual question, that is “Will the site be valuable to users?” — with the right content, the answer is a resounding “Yes!”. Value, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. It doesn’t matter (to an extent) how “important” I believe I am, it’s the relevance of the content I create, that will generate a reader base. If one is marketing products, or concepts, having the right mix of content will be a make or break deal.
Again, this is the case for many professional bloggers, who’s very livelihood is based primarily on content. There is one question however, that to my mind was absent from the article and it relates to viewer feedback:
“Am I prepared to listen to my target audience and adapt to their needs?”
It’s one thing to believe one has the perfect formula for online success, be it as a commercial entity, or professional blogger (of which, I am not), or even for a humble blogger, who wishes to cover their costs through advertising — it’s quite another to be open to the possibilities. Being able to adapt, not just grow, but truly adapt to encompass a ‘need’ within your market, or reader-base is perhaps the key to online success.
≡ This is a journal entry relating to the topics of concepts, internet.
Brendan Borlase is a Systems and Network Administrator living in Adelaide, Australia, having lived, worked and breathed Information Technology for over 12 years. Learn more.
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Feb 16th, 2006 at 10:20 am
Great points, Brendan. I could have been more clear about the need to listen to users. #3 was based on that idea, but didn’t specifically mention it:
The resources include the time to listen to users, make changes, and analyze the effects of those changes.
Feb 16th, 2006 at 10:48 am
Listening to the users is always a tricky balance though. People don’t always know what they want; they just know what they think they want. Plus you have the added fun of figuring out which subset of your users you’re going to satisfy. You see this happen in MMOs over and over and over again. The players whine that the game isn’t what they want, but the developers have their idea of what the game should be; eventually the developers cave, give the players what they want, and then the players aren’t satisfied with that (either a different subset is angry because their cause is being ignored or the same players are angry because the fix didn’t have the effect they wanted or any other number of problems).
So how do you balance all the possibilities? Do you just pick your subset and say “Sorry, go somewhere else if you don’t like it” to the rest? Do you try to compromise (so that everyone is a little unhappy ;) )?
Anyway, you definitely bring up a good point. Being inflexible is being unadaptable, which is death in any evolving community. The tricky part, I think, is when and how to be flexible.
Feb 16th, 2006 at 11:04 pm
Very true, Jena. Feedback can be a wonderful driver for change, but of course it needs to be tempered with the goals of the website and owner. :-)
Well said. Being able to adapt to a changing environment, or need is very much something to be mindful of. I think this is one of the most powerful side-effects of blogging, over conventional mainstream media methods.
The ability to seamlessly discuss the possibilities. It’s one of the primary reasons I am still blogging. Granted, this site is just as much an outlet as a resource (which reminds me, I must continue work on my wordpress plug-in).
Feb 21st, 2006 at 4:35 am
Hey just wanted to say I love how you did your site. I tryd using the heminway template but it doesnt have half of your content. Could you help me out to make mine like yours?