TheWayoftheWeb

Content and Digital Marketing Specialists

projects

I’m still here…

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It may not seem like it, but I’m still here! And I’m remembering why quick informal ‘Tumblelog’ style updates can be so useful when there’s not enough time for the epic style which suits WordPress better, because at the moment there are a number of plates spinning, and not a lot of time to write my own stuff.

Just some of the multiple dinner sets currently rotating at high rpm include:

  • 1 big client contract coming to an end – already had one team member say I’ve made their job much easier, which is nice.
  • 2 really interesting proposals for new business, including one which is right up my alley.
  • 2 Jodanma website builds either reaching client sign-off or completion. Which means we might be able to put some awesome plans into practice for the actual Jodanma site at last.
  • A couple of new writing assignments for clients.
  • A decent output on OnlineRaceDriver and FPSPrestige, plus the launch of a third niche gaming site with MMO News now up and running (Anyone who fancies volunteering any articles etc, PR people looking to send out info/review copies of games, or advertisers, please do get in touch!)
  • Some business admin stuff.
  • Talking to a number of very skilled people about bolstering both the marketing and design/development resources I can offer.
  • And the joy of having major car maintenance issues, and all the other accumulated stuff that goes on when I’m not glued to a laptop…

Plus there’s numerous other existing leads and clients, videogames to test and review, WordPress continuing to deliver interesting new bugs and problems, and a final potential longterm project to flesh out in the next couple of weeks. But it does mean that I’ve got a stockpile of things to write about when I get the chance to sit down and blog again, so it’s almost like a holiday in terms of recharging my creativity here. Except with less of a suntan.

December – an opportunity for great work?

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Dominated by Christmas, the month of December often seems like a chance to relax a little, and churn out some blog posts looking either back at the past year, or making a few predictions for the next. And while I’m probably going to end up writing some variations on those themes, I also have a much better plan for December this year.

I’m going to be working harder than ever to take advantage of the fact some people will be easing off. Whilst I know a lot of great companies and individuals will be working as hard as they do for the rest of the year, if even 5% of the rest take a bit of a break, I need to be making the most of that opportunity!

TheWayoftheWeb:

In terms of freelancing and consultancy, I’ve got a small and growing number of clients, which is great news. But to make it truly sustainable I need to increase that number, so the fact that many companies will be looking to improve their content and digital marketing for 2011 is a great opportunity.

On that note, this blog will be more focused going forwards. I’ve had some very nice offers to contribute to some very good sites, and I’ve struggled to find topics which I didn’t already cover. But with my concentration on content creation and marketing for my own business, it makes sense to funnel some of my writing on the media, journalism and publishing onto some more relevant sites…

Personal Projects:

  • OnlineRaceDriver.com: In under 12 months, the site has done really well with sustained growth in terms of content contributors and traffic. But the difference between a nice little blog and a publishing business comes down to the business model, which is something I want to prove can work for smaller sites.
  • 140Char: I started 140Char almost 3 years ago now, and although it’s been great fun, the time and effort to run it hasn’t evolved into something which makes a good enough return. For the last month or two it’s been mainly dormant while I look at whether it continues with some big changes, transfers to new ownership, or the content gets archived on a free host for the time being.
  • DPiP: The first two Peterborough meet-ups have gone well, and I’ve been talking to a couple of people about how we can involve DPiP into something which offers more educational and business opportunities alongside the social side of meeting local digital people for drinks. Most of that should be in place for the next meetup in January.
  • 1-2 new projects: At the moment, I’ve probably got just enough time and space for one, possibly two, of the new projects and ideas I’m been discussing with a couple of people. In the next week or so it should be clear which is the best business proposition, and I should be able to start talking about what is going on.

So a pretty busy time. As ever, client projects come first, with OnlineRaceDriver remaining as an example of building a site and business with great content and some of the digital and social marketing techniques available for very little financial investment (time is another matter!). DPiP is very much something which will grow with the involvement of everyone that has expressed an interest, and I’m pretty confident one of the new projects will soon evolve into a productive business interest.

Of course, I’m not suggesting you shouldn’t make time for friends and family over the holiday period – especially as someone with a young family to indulge and spoil this year. But all the time I can be building a future for my family, that’s what I’ll be putting first this year!!!

Hello, I must be going…

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For me, it’s no longer just the title of a 1980s Phil Collins album, due to the fact I’m no longer with Absolute Radio.

It was a mutual decision, at a rare time when there’s a healthy break between projects. And going into a company of incredibly talented and digitally-aware people from senior management down to reception, I was well aware that the key objectives of knowledge transfer and integrating digital marketing throughout the business contained an element of self-redundancy at some point.

It’s a testament to the team at One Golden Square that in the 14 months I’ve been there, we:

  • Launched over 20 mobile applications which have had downloads in the millions, and driven sustained growth in mobile listening and engagement.
  • Connected with tens of thousands of new and existing listeners via social media, with each account now run by a key stakeholder in the business. Those connections have increased by a multiple of about x1000 in 14 months, with a corresponding effect on engagement with the Absolute Radio websites and specific content items.
  • Launched a number of new brands, including Absolute 80s, Absolute Radio 90s, Absolute Radio Extra (with Rock ‘n’ Roll Football), and the re-launch of Absolute Classic Rock.
  • Redeveloped key content areas of the Absolute Radio website for natural search optimisation, usability and user engagement with fantastic results.
  • Developed internal digital and social media policies which encourage engagement, and utilised an internal planning and collaboration tool.
  • And increased and improved the utilisation of paid search.

And that’s just some of the things which spring to mind…

It’s honestly been a privilege and honour to work with a group of people who are not only skilled, but also extremely passionate about building a new brand which is clear and transparent to both employees, and most importantly to consumers.

In addition I’ve also met and worked with great people from external companies, and if you’re one of them and I haven’t already thanked you, then I hope this counts.

And as for the future?

It’s quite an exciting time – I’m working on a some projects with various people, I’m looking over what I’ve achieved with my own digital projects in the past, and I’m taking the chance to speak to a whole host of new people about various opportunities, whether on a short or long term basis. So if you’d like to chat, please do drop me an email (thewayoftheweb at googlemail.com).

An intriguing new Twitter profile…

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First update of the week is a little bit of Twitter oddity. Following on the heels of Downing Street and Tower Bridge (Sample update: I am opening for the SB Lady Daphne, which is passing downstream), is a new Twitter account, Stopped Clocks.

It’s dedicated to locating and documenting all examples of public clocks which have ground to a halt in the UK as the first stage in getting funding to fix them.

And the reasoning behind it?

“We don’t like seeing stopped clocks, so we hope that one day we can get them fixed. More than that, stopped clocks are immensely sad things, they represent a disconnect with our past and our heritage so by drawing attention to them we hope that it makes people think about this, and pitch in to help.”

One of their earlier Tweets show they’re embracing new media to help bring the past back online:

“the whole project depends entirely on crowd sourcing, so twitter is perfect“

Online collaboration isn’t always an easy option…

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There’s a tendency to look at User Generated Content and online collaboration as an easy way to create content, products and services without some of the hassles of a traditional business.

And it’s easy to understand why: No ground rent, no equipment or infrastructure costs, no limitations on who can be involved etc. And no need to necessarily pay contributors.

But it isn’t an easy option, and there are several major risks to any online collaboration which requires more than one or two people:

Trust: How quickly do you place your trust in people to deliver on their promises, to deliver them on time, and not to take good ideas elsewhere?

Management: Is there some kind of leadership or guidance to keep things moving, and to clearly articulate the vision and strategy etc – which may have been decided democratically. How do you keep momentum going and inspire people to continue even when things can be tough?

Politics: How do you deal with disagreements? Infighting? Rivalry?

Reward: How do you supply a justifiable return to contributors for their time? Financial or otherwise?

Communication: How do you keep people updated, and make things simple and easy to contribute?

Those are just the first few problems off the top of my head. The reason they come to mind is that I have basically decided to cut all responsibility for Disposable Media, leaving only the possibility of contributing the occasional blog post or article at some point.

It’s been a lot of fun, particularly when I was given the honour of being Editor, and we had a fast growth in audience – all from a group of people working for no financial reward and contributing articles, designs etc via a forum. In my time on DM, I only ever met two of my colleagues in real life in the space of two years!

But having realised that I don’t have the time and energy to drive DM forward, I stepped down to take a back seat and a more advisory role. And what then happened was quite painful to watch, as some infighting and sabotage began, communication became worse, trust was lost, and many people started drifting away.  I don’t place all the blame on the Editor who replaced me, as there have definitely been people who have used a period of change for their own agenda.

Hopefully it will rise from the ashes, as over the years it’s had some very talented people, and some great articles and content. On the bright side, it’s shown me that although I was far from perfect, and made several mistakes, I did achieve a lot in keeping things going, and always trying to drive more organised and efficient systems to make life easier for everyone – and it also highlighted the need for communication and rewards, which will hopefully help me on other projects.

To be honest, the real risk to online magazines isn’t just the problems of collaboration – it’s also the arrival of new aggregated delivery services in a magazine format – i.e. systems that take your favourites from services like Last.fm, and then produce a custom magazine around them, like Idiomag. It plays on a simple philosophy of mine which is becoming more and more realistic and reinforced – ‘The most effective targeting of an individual, is the targeting they do for themselves‘

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