rebooting capitalism, and it has got me thinking about my beliefs on
things. Folks who work with me know my philosophies on the web but I
thought I’d share them with the world.
Here is my list in no order: More is better.
The internet craves data. It demands more posts, more updates more
web pages – more more more. Companies that can harness fractions of
the more, win in their pursuits.
Google controls data search
Facebook controls friend data
ESPN controls sports data.
Pick a spot own it and you’ll do ok.
Design is overrated.
Show me a website in any Top 100 sites (by traffic) that is
asthetically pleasing? Can’t find one? I didn’t think so. A lot of lip
service is given to design and what things look like on the web but
the fact is it doesn’t matter. People want information and they want
it fast. They don’t want artistic looking sites with cool animations
and flyopen, flyover navigation. They want it to work. Usability is underrated.
Now, how a sites data and navigation is structured that matters. The
nice thing about usability is that you can measure it. Look at
Craigslist, Google or Amazon? Little asthetic, lots of usability.
Apple is the exception.
Folks point to Apple whenever they don’t have a real strategy or don’t
want to face data (my opinion) Yes, Apple is an amazing, magical
company that has captured the publics imagination and they do
wonderful things, I do not deny that. The issue I have is they are
the example for everything and we have no idea what they do. They are
closed, propietary, don’t believe in transparency, hidden and driven
to secrecy. Basically, they operate in every way that the Internet
doesn’t. They are a Wonka Chocolate except they never open the
factory.
You don’t know what people want so don’t try.
The internet is vast. There are always new things to see or do. When
you are trying to curate your site and two things are close to fitting
into your site, don’t choose one verses the other – you should take
them both. The fact is none of us are the same and what I find
wonderful you could hate. Online there are no shelves or stocking
costs or inventory. Always take everything and put it on your site. Don’t throw anything away.
On the web being a hoarder is a good thing. Remember more is better
is the first tenent. Don’t get rid of old content, don’t sunset
domains, hold on to everything. Keep in mind you don’t know what
people are looking for, so don’t try.
Provide value.
Sure I said go big and take everything, but you do have to have focus
and give people information or products they need. If you are covering
cooking online don’t take content on fixing a car. Now you could talk
about cooking something off the top of engine of a car? So be
relevant but go big! Make sense, sounds easy? Good! What are your internet beliefs? Sound off and let us know what you think.
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