March 2006

2 Year Anniversary – 2 Years Of Writing The SitePoint Tribune

Happy anniversary to me!

It’s been 2 years today since I started writing the SitePoint Tribune – a newsletter for web professionals that now has 135,000 subscribers.

SitePoint is one of the web’s biggest and best resources for web developers and has been helping web developers since 1997.

With 108,000+ forum members it is widely considered to be among the best (if not the best) for web developers.

Who Would Have Thunked It!

Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine I’d be writing a newsletter for 135,000 subscribers, let alone a book that sells for $247 US. My old English teacher would be proud!

Probably the best thing for me in writing the Tribune is the fantastic feedback I get – I’ll continue to try and write stuff that is informative and entertaining and is of interest.

Thanks to all those who read it. If you haven’t subscribed yet and would like to take a look, check it out here.

Thanks again.

Brendon

Cheers,

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I Don’t Get No Respect!

Here’s an Instant Message between Tina and I talking about some listener feedback regarding our podcast (Internet radio show):

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Brendon: I got some good feedback from a listener:

“When driving the dynamic range is a little high. That is if loud enough to hear quiet speech, then it blows your ears when it gets loud (e.g. when you laugh)

Perhaps Tina could compress the sound slightly, to reduce dynamic range”

christina.goodman: I already do compress the sound quite a bit
your laugh is very loud

But i can make sure i add extra compression in the very loud parts

Brendon: I don’t like to think of it as a loud laugh. I like to think of it as a “brand differentiation”!

christina.goodman: Your laugh is about as good for our brand differentiation as a car crash!! (poor listener probably almost drove off the road when he heard your screech/laugh/bray)

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• My laugh is okay! – Click here to listen to a 20 second grab from a recent show
• Click here for the latest podcast over at TailoredPodcast.com

Have a good night.

Brendon

Cheers,

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Target Your Market (And Add Your Own Experience)

According to research group Forrester Research 20% of people ages 13 to 17 regularly read blogs. And the chances are they’ll continue to embrace this style of content.

And according to Bridge Data (I’m referencing others here, I can’t find ‘Bridge Data’ anywhere), 80% of podcasts are listened to on the computer.

All modesty aside (!!), I love how we provide access to our podcast at Tailored Podcast. You can just hit the play button or you can download it to your computer.

We did that because we just ‘knew’ that most people would listen to our little show straight on their computer.

Cheers

Brendon

Cheers,

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It’s The Story, It’s The Perception

About 18 years ago I wandered into an art gallery in a holiday town I was visiting. Amongst these hundreds of paintings I saw one across the room that immediately captivated me.

I just had to buy it. Then and there. There was no question. So I went over and saw that (unluckily!) it was not by some unknown artist selling his art work for not much, but it was by one of Australia’s more famous artists.

After paying an arm and a leg I dragged that painting out of there and it hangs at home. I still love it.

Pro Hart, the artist of my painting, died this morning after a long illness. Vale Mr Hart.

I Nursed A Blind, Crippled, Sick Man…..And Then He Painted a $400,000 Painting A Few Weeks Later

As regular readers might know, I was a Nursing Sister/Clinical Nurse for 10 years after leaving school and training for 3 years.

Back in the 80′s I cared for a legendary artist (he was revered amongst the entire art community as one of it’s hugely influential figures) as he neared death. He was blind. Crippled. Incoherent.

He recovered a little, enough to go home, and left our little hospital. He lingered on for another two- (2) years before eventually dying a little before receiving a telegram from the Queen.

In That Period He Painted

And in that two- (2) years he painted quite a bit. And I know, because I saw his artwork from that time displayed in various galleries. I read about the huge prices being paid.

All because of a name.

It wasn’t because of the art. Because the paintings of that time had a look of someone taking a paintroller to a canvas and rolling it across. Then the name: Misty Day or some such nonsense!
It’s Not About The Art, It’s About The Story

Art, for the vast majority of people, isn’t about the art.

• It’s about the story.
• It’s about the notion of owning a famous piece of artwork.
• It’s often about snob value.

It’s The Same In Marketing

And it’s the same in marketing. Seth Godin talks often and passionately about marketing being just stories we tell potential customers and the stories they tell themselves.

Seth posts too often and eloquently on the subject for me to direct you to just one. Check out his blog instead.

I probably bought the expensive painting of the famous artist in that holiday town all those years ago because I wanted the cache that came with it.

The story about the other guy – the old, blind artist – was probably for me the start of my marketing training.

It’s about telling stories that your customers want to hear. And everything about your business tells a part of that story.

Brendon

Cheers,

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Is Pee Wee The Best Cowboy You’ve Ever Seen Or What?

Assume Slow Cowboy Drawl: Hi y’all. I have this client ya see, and like my client sells…..well, he sells horse bits on the range.

Pee Wee is a natural – he’s authentic and believable and trustworthy and nice.

Check out Pee Wee Stevenson talking about his new Pee Wee Horse Bit. It is, and I didn’t direct it, (I just asked for a video of Pee Wee talking about why he invented the bit) absolutely brilliant.

The audio isn’t the best, Pee Wee stumbles over some words…..but it all adds to the story of the bit. Wonderful stuff.

Brendon

Cheers,

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Effective Communication 101

Here’s my email reply to Tina here in the office to an email she just sent me.

“Great. love it. Well done. Write it up. Thanks. Bye.”

I looked at that and thought “That’s a good email. Gets my message across and doesn’t waste Tina’s time.”

Every second saved is a second more you can spend on client work.

Cheers

Brendon

Cheers,

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How To Design Web Sites

As regular readers know, I really try and avoid just stickking a link in a post and saying read this.
But if you are at all interested in how you should design web sites (especially for oldies) then read this.

It talks about usability issues and is by Tim Fidgeon over at SitePoint.

Cheers

Brendon

Cheers,

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