development

Two results for December already!

December 8, 2010 By Dan Thornton

Having written about how I was going to work flat out in December, it’s nice to be able to share a couple of examples of it working already.

Firstly – I’m pleased to say that a recent pitch has been successful, and I’ve now got a couple of new clients to work with. Happily news of my availability appears to be resulting in a steady growth in demand for my services – which is brilliant news both for me and my bank manager. And a big part of that has been down to the fantastic response by a group of wonderful people I’ve had the pleasure of connecting with over the years – your assistance continues to be invaluable, and without naming you individually, I just wanted to say a big thank you for all your support and more!

While I’m thanking people – every blog comment, link to my sites, reweet, like on Facebook, @ message, DM, recommendation to a social bookmarking site etc – these are hugely appreciated and they all have an effect on me personally as well as helping to improve everything I’m doing – so thanks to everyone reading this, whether it’s on the site, via RSS, a social network….

Secondly – I’ve been thinking a lot about the potential concerns clients may have, and finding solutions for them. One potential concern might be that by hiring what is essentially me on my lonesome, they might encounter some risks if I get abducted by aliens, or that I might not be able to offer the range of services that a larger, full-service operation might be able to provide.

So, I’m pleased to say I’ve been speaking to a small number of the very best people I know in various areas. That means that I’m not only able to plug-in respected experts to cover in the event of an emergency, but I can also offer project-managed delivery of various additional services, whether it’s a design for a social media profile, or a complete website or mobile application build. So you really can go from nothing to a complete website, social media presence, and have content supplied whilst only ever dealing with one person!

Not a bad start for the month!

3 great new iPhone apps from Absolute Radio

December 17, 2009 By Dan Thornton

I’m obviously biased, bearing in mind I’ve been responsible for them, but three great new Absolute Radio apps are now available for the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch.

They combine a really nice alarm clock with bespoke wake-up messages from either Christian O’Connell, Dave Gorman or Frank Skinner. And once the message has played, you’ll automatically hear your choice of Absolute Radio, Absolute 80s or Absolute Classic Rock.

The most difficult part of the project was probably stopping feature creep with all the other great ideas we were having – the important thing I had to remind myself is that the app has to function as a really good alarm clock first and foremost, otherwise there’s not much point. After all, we’ve already got a fantastic and extremely popular streaming radio application, with the iAmp (Now updated to feature Absolute Radio, Absolute 80s, Absolute Classic Rock and dabbl). And with various studies and reports suggesting that up to 70% of people have done away with an alarm clock in favour of their mobile, we’re hoping the apps will be popular.

So check out:

The OC Clock Radio

Dave’s Clock Radio

Frank’s Clock Radio

One of the really nice touches is the app store icon, with a great moment of creativity from AR Web Editor Anthony, which sets it off really nicely, and means it looks great alongide the iAmp and LiveAmp on your iPhone.

Lovely.

My new motto

October 23, 2009 By Dan Thornton

Despite previously ranting about ‘personal brands‘, I figured it was worth sharing a new motto I’m going to be adhering to, from this day forth.

It paraphrases two people who are notable for imparting great wisdom – Seth Godin, and Randall Graves. And obviously there will be a full press conference and press release available shortly for the official unveiling.

So here it is:

‘Ship, or get off the pot’.

I thank you all for your interest. If you have any questions please email them to an address which will be mostly ignored, or occasionally checked by someone who won’t care unless you work for a national newspaper.

For a more eloquent, thoughtful and reasoned bit of thinking, check this video of Seth Godin out:

HT – Simon Andrews.

How much does it take to make a Twitter app?

January 2, 2009 By Dan Thornton

It’s a popular question today, after both Techcrunch and Mashable covered the launch of The New Platforms Fund, which will invest between $1000-$3000 in 10 ideas (plus human support), in exchange for a minor equity stake.

Techcrunch was pretty disparaging about the idea (headline: If you are really, really desperate for cash, these guys will give you $3k) Mashable’s take was a bit more open about the diea.

If you want to apply, the form is here.

But what is quite interesting is the debate in the TC comments around how much this could actually fund – obviously it’s not enough to pay for a team of developers for a year, but could it help 1 or 2-person start-ups just out of college to spend a month or two on one idea?

Or, given the current state of the economy and job market, could it be enough to make the mortgage payment for a month whilst you try something different? Or to get the services of a developer or designer for a week or two to make a simple concept into reality?

After all, Stocktwits got more funding after just two months.

But do you think $1-3k is enough to get something started? And is it worth giving up some equity in order to reach another round of funding?

Successful websites need a tailored proposition

June 3, 2008 By Dan Thornton

The most important element of a successful website isn’t the technology, the content, or the marketing. It’s having a clear and defined proposition which is understood by the entire team – and most importantly, by the users of the website.

I’d always been implicitly aware that the likes of Google, Ebay et al had a clear purpose upon which they’d built success, and yet I’m as guilty as anyone of putting the cart before the horse, and trying to fill something with content, and market it, without ensuring that there was a clear proposition in place. That’s even true of this blog, which has evolved over time, but really began as a general internet/tech blog. Even now, posts like this are somewhat at odds with my main focus on community and social media marketing!

Anyhow, since moving from editorial to marketing, I’ve had the chance to see how much a clear proposition helps the titles I work with – much of it driven by great work by one of my colleagues, Charlie Watson. Suddenly there’s a clear purpose and drive which can be lacking, particularly on sites which have been going for some time without direction.

But it’s also important to remember that direction and proposition may need to change over time, and be adapted in response to your audience. And that was underlined by a great meeting with the Ditto team yesterday. I can’t say what’s changed quite yet, but I can say that I’m constantly impressed with the way they respond to their audience, whilst maintaining a clear focus and proposition.

I guess it great propositions boil down to:

Define a clear and simple aim for your site which differentiates itself from competitors, and aims to answer the needs of your audience.
Monitor how effective the proposition is, and be open to changing it. Noone has ever got it exactly right first time – but the biggest websites listened and evolved more quickly than their competitors.
Don’t be tempted to keep adding ‘and also this’ to the proposition. It needs to be so clear and simple you can convey it with one look at your homepage, or in a few words in ad advert or message board. Or even in a logo. You can’t do that if the proposition is 3 paragraphs long with an appendix! Google’s proposition is summed up by a logo and search box.

Oh, and if that does help you build the next big thing, my commission is around 10%!