With that being said, I think I should shut this blog down again.

There’s a trap that we all fall into in Web development, which is building something we want and then trying to figure out how to get people to use it.

Let’s take a different approach, identifying an audience first and target their needs.

I know that’s not as much fun, but really, it’s the most logical approach.

We’ve all built sites that have underperformed and if you look at the main factor, it would probably be that there was no underlying need for what we’d launched. I’ll use IndyPaws.com as an example:

We built the site for pet owners in central Indiana to socially connect, but looking back there was clearly not a large enough audience to make this a viable brand following that model.

What we should have done instead was build the site with a focus on galleries, games and contests - concentrating more on the “fun” aspect. I wouldn’t have eliminated the social networking, just downplayed it.

The problem I’m faced with now is that the users have already rejected the product, so relaunching it will not be an easy task. You only get one chance to make a first impression, so it’s important that to research before building - so that it’s no longer a crapshoot.

All of the projects we’re going to concentrate on in 2009 will we audience-first, and cool-factor second.

Stay tuned for more updates.

OK, I’m not sure if I could pull off this look, but these canvas messenger bags are freakin’ awesome.

They were available at superherostore.com, but they’ve since sold out.

In the event that they do become available again, I’ll probably buy all three. They were listed at $29.99 at the time.

Pirate

They say a man should always dress for the job he wants,
So why am I dressed up like a pirate in this restaurant.
It’s all because some hacker stole my identity.
Now I’m in here every evening serving chowder and iced tea.
Should have gone to freecreditreport.com (yee-hah!)
I could have seen this coming at me like an atom bomb.
They monitor your credit and send you e-mail alerts.
So you don,t end up selling fish to tourists in t-shirts.

Dream girl

Well I married my dream girl, I married my dream girl,
but she didn’t tell me her credit was bad,
so now instead of living in a pleasant suburb,
we’re living in the basement at her mom and dad’s
No we can’t get a loan, for a respectable home,
just because my girl defaulted on some old credit card,
if we’d gone to FreeCreditReport.com,
I’d be a happy bachelor with a dog and a yard

Car shopping

Well I was shopping for a new car, which one’s me
A cool convertible or an SUV
Too bad I didn’t know my credit was whack
cause now I’m driving off the lot in a used subcompact
f-r-e-e that spells free
credit report dot com baby
Saw their ads on my TV
Thought about going but was too lazy
Now instead of looking fly and rolling phat
my legs are sticking to the vinyl
and my posse’s getting laughed at
f-r-e-e that spells free
credit report dot com baby

Question: Who spends an entire afternoon working on a coverletter, only to notice AFTER sending, that he’s mislabeled the opening as proJECT manager, rather than proDUCT manager?

Answer: Yours truly.

However, that brings to mind an important point; we ALL need an editor. Whether it’s writing code, designing interfaces, or scripting a storyline, collaborating with others will result in a stronger product.

I think that we have a tendency to try and do everything on our own, in order to prove just how talented we are. The problem with that line of thinking is that you could miss an obvious problem.

Let’s use IndyMoms.com as an example. When I first designed the look for that site, the color scheme was based around the color orange, which I liked a lot. However, when I showed it to my wife, she had a very different reaction and I was a bit miffed at that. She suggested an alternative, violet/tan scheme.

As much as I wanted to be right, it was more important that the site be perfect, so we asked several people in the targeted demographic which they preferred. The purple design won 8-0.

The point is that we must encourage a culture of interdependency, where we can bounce ideas off of others.

Our Innovation and Development group uses Basecamp for just that purpose. We set up projects in it and then use writeboards to shape the requirements. For the visuals, we post jpegs and then use the commenting feature as a way for team members to suggest improvements. We also utilize Basecamp to track todos, milestones and documentation for all projects. Y

Basecamp takes a fresh, novel approach to project collaboration. Projects don’t fail from a lack of charts, graphs, stats, or reports, they fail from a lack of clear communication. Basecamp solves this problem by providing tools tailored to improve the communication between people working together on a project.

You can also give people outside your organization access to as much - or as little - of the project as you need. For example, Basecamp features a simple permissions system that allows you to specify who can see which projects. For example, if you want Employee-X to see only 5 of your 13 projects, just uncheck a single checkbox on the projects you don’t want them to see.

My favorite feature is that it saves me time in the note-keeping and meeting-holding departments. People can access the files at the leisure and they document their comments themselves - saving me time.

Now if only I’d posted that cover letter on Basecamp, first.