Anthology Creative Feeds By: Category: Random Bites

Active vs. Passive Business Sites

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0500

So you’ve got a company, and you’ve got a website. Unless you’re a web-based company you probably hope that people will find your site either by advertising or search engines directing them to your site and that the site visit will lead to business for your company. This describes the standard passive web site. It sits there and waits for someone to visit it, hoping to help in the process if it can. An active site offers something to visitors. It doesn’t stay the same all the time and is updated to encourage regular visits. It supplies information that may be helpful to visitors. These updates don’t have to be drastic or even design changes. Blogging, social media integration, photo galleries of projects that your company is involved in, or even links to stories from your industry create change and can help drive users back to your site for return visits. Updating your site (if you even have the ability) in simple ways to provide tools, information or updates to your current or potential clients is a great way to turn your web site from a passive tool in your marketing, into an active one. Having a site that is a destination as opposed to a stop-through can give your business a leg up in becoming the expert that your clients are looking for and the name that they will remember.

How Searchable are you?

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0500

Last week an attorney friend of mine asked me if we could build him his own site outside of his firm’s using his name as the website domain. He wasn’t attempting to separate himself from his colleagues, he just wanted search engines that might be looking for him, as opposed to the firm, to be able to more easily find him. My advice was that not only should he do it, but each of the other partners in the firm should do the same thing. A simple landing page with personal contact info as well as links to the company or organization main page and social media links are an easy way to make your organization as a whole more visible online and can lend a more prestigious appearance and a larger footprint in web search results. Also, individuals who may know your public faces of the company or front line employees but not the organization its self can more easily find more information quickly. These sites can be easily expanded for blogging purposes or as online destinations to send clients for specific services. The more links that feed back to your organization via web search, the better results you'll have being found online.

Potential, Productivity, and Refining the Work Process

Thu, 05 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0600

While I lived in New York, I participated in a leadership exercise that illustrated the potential of productivity under pressure. Our group was divided into two teams and given the task to create an actual product, build a website, and provide a way for someone to purchase the product online. Now, this process could take as much as three months or even more to complete. However, we were given a mere three hours. Both teams kicked into high gear as soon as the clock began, and three hours later, both teams had a product, a functioning website, and an online purchase option. Granted, the products did not look that great, the websites were extremely bare, and the payment option was done through PayPal, but - both teams had completed the almost-impossible objective. Many times, we do not really push ourselves. We find a nice steady pace and stick to that. It’s comfortable. However, by not pushing ourselves, we are not meeting new challenges. If we are not challenging ourselves, we are not growing. And, if we are not growing, we are not reaching our potential. Part of our philosophy at Anthology is to push things to the max. Most of our deadlines are aggressive. Our time budgets are aggressive. And we demand excellence. However, by pushing hard and creating difficult objectives, we are constantly refining our process and growing as a team. Our tiny successes become big successes and our tiny failures becoming huge learning experiences.

Life Optimization and Efficiency

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0500

I have always been a freak about efficiency - I guess it is a combination of having an appreciation for aspects of engineering and having the tendency to be slightly obsessive-compulsive from time to time. Optimization yields efficiency. In my day-to-day life, I try to optimize whenever possible - from lines of code in a long web app to simple things like how many loads of laundry I do in a given month. I always try to find the fastest way to get from point A to point B without affecting the quality of the end product. Optimization is really key to progressing and evolving as an individual. As you optimize aspects in your life, you can begin to take on new things, bigger responsibilities, and explore different options. Programmers always boast about optimization of code, but I think the principle can apply to all areas of our life - even design. Some of the best designs I have seen have been optimized for simplicity and communication. It is all about getting the core functionality of something and removing the clutter.

Created by Anthology: Election Countdown Widget Lands as Featured Download on Apple.com

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Recently, Anthology created an election countdown widget for Apple's Dashboard (OS X) to help promote a new site called Help Me Vote 08. Help Me Vote provides a leadership analysis for each of the presidential candidates, Barack Obama and John McCain - then allows you to compare your rankings with others. This morning, Apple featured the Election Countdown widget on the homepage of the widget directory. Awesome. Download the widget: http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/justforfun/election2008countdown.html http://helpmevote08.com/widgetry

Top 10 Best Commercials During the 2008 Olympic Games

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500

The 2008 Olymipcs not only showcased the best athletes in the world, but also the best commercials in the world. Clearly, the marketing opportunities are huge during Olympic broadcasts and several companies stepped up to the plate. The following commercials are the best of the 2008 Olympics - they are engaging, compelling, and inspiring. 10. Coca-Cola: Bird's Nest 9. GM: I Was Made For You 8. Home Depot: Sweat 7. Visa GO WORLD Series: Michael Phelps 8 Gold Medals 6. GM: Gas Station/Chevy Volt 5. Coke: Olympics and Special Olympics 4. Visa GO WORLD Series: Kerri Strug 3. Nike: Courage (I've Got Soul) 2. Visa GO WORLD Series: Come Together 1. Visa GO WORLD Series: Derek Redmond And a Bonus... the worst commercial of the 2008 Games. McDonald's "Golden" Sandwich Commercial

LeelandOnline.com: The Opposite Way Splash for Leeland

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Anthology recently had the opportunity to develop a custom spash page for the band Leeland. The project consisted of time-released videos of each band member on the splash page. These videos were humorous and received great response from fans. A secondary page was created to communicate the band's "Opposite Way" movement - living the opposite way of the world. This page carried a more serious tone and allowed people to leave stories about how they were living the opposite way. The stories shared here were inspirational to other fans. LeelandOnline.com
The Opposite Way Movement
Leeland on iTunes

Facebook: Personal Life vs. Business Life

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Video Link

Now that more and more people are jumping on Facebook these days, it is becoming increasingly difficult for professionals to separate their online business life from their online personal life. As the video clip above proves, the convergence of these segments in social media are starting to cause problems for professionals.

Which brings up a good question: Should your business life and personal life really be segregated?

Whatever you do in your free time is a reflection on you, right? You are you. Your actions on the weekend reflect on your 9-to-5 life and vis versa.

If you like to go out and party on the weekends, be ready to take responsibility for images that may be posted of you on Facebook. Be ready to have friends write things like "you were totally wasted last night" on your wall. These are reflections of you. You should not feel that you need to hide that, and if you do try to hide that, you are not being true to yourself.

Facebook has allowed anyone that you befriend to journey with you in your personal life. They are able to see where you go, follow what you do, and monitor who you hang out with. You are not able to separate these and exist effectively in the social media world.

The only way to keep embarrassing content from showing up on Facebook is to realize that your business life and your personal life is one. And people will respect you if you act accordingly. If you do not place yourself in potentially embarassing situtations, you have nothing to worry about. A little integrity can go a long way.

Itegrity in your personal life = interity in your business life.

Cabin Experience Followup

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500

I posted earlier this week about our cabin vacation to Gatlinburg, TN and the lessons of how your brand and the customer experience is one in the same. A comment left on that entry was an example of the very concept I was trying to convey. After reading about our horrible experience, my sister, Bethany, commented with links to a fantastic cabin her and her husband had rented:

Sorry you place wasn’t all you hoped for Next time, try Mountain Laurel Chalets. http://www.mtnlaurelchalets.com/chalet_index.html We have used them more than once and have never been less than pleased. Here is the cabin we stayed at last Christmas. http://secure.instantsoftwareonline.com/StayUSA/Property.aspx?coid=0210&propid=SCHONBLICK Bethany

She had a great experience and it turned her into an evangelist. This is what every company should strive for - having the customer evangelize on your behalf. This penetrates through the influence layer since the marketing is coming from someone within their circle of influence, not outside it. Thanks for making my point, Bethany.

Experience Branding: What We Can Learn From A Cabin in Gatlinburg

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Your brand is only as good as your customers experience your product or service. Negative experiences yield a negative brand. Positive experiences yield a positive brand. Additionally, your brand is affected by your advertising or marketing attempts only to the extent of whether you live up to your claims. My wife, Rachael, and I took off for a weekend getaway to Gatlinburg, Tennessee this weekend. It was a last-minute trip and fortunately, we were able to book a cabin rental. Our excitement quickly drained to disgust when we arrived. The driveway was eroded where it met the road, so we nearly ruined the car trying to accelerate quick enough to overcome the large ledge. We were then greeted by several species of bugs when we finally got inside - a insect killing spree was required. We discovered there was not even a battery in the smoke detector - which I assume is against the law in the rental business. There were holes in the walls in the bathroom. We even found writing on one of the walls. The shower knob kept falling off and the bathroom fixtures were not secured to the wall. Then, on our second day, we were infested with ants - hundreds of them - all over the kitchen. Needless to say, our experience was less than perfect. The rental website painted this cabin as a perfect getaway location. In fact, the cabin was named “Hidden Heaven.” Ironic. Because of our experience, it has affected our thoughts on not only this cabin but also the company that rented it. We will never use this company again. There is no telling how many other cabins they have that are in worse condition than a run-down motel. How your customers experience your product or service is EVERYTHING. Strive to create the best experience for your customers in any way possible. A good experience will not only bring them back for more, but they will become evangelists on your behalf.

The Coolest Browser Trick You Will See Today: Change CNN's Website

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Goto CNN.com (you can even try it here on Anthology Creative). Then copy & paste the following line of code into the address bar: javascript:document.body.contentEditable='true'; document.designMode='on'; void 0 Hit Return. You can now edit the page freely. Select some text, change the copy, drag and resize the images. See - Anthology Creative was just featured on CNN's homepage:

Bummer that you cannot add your own images or move full block elements around, but it is a nice way to trick friends and family - if only to act as if you hacked CNN.com.

This trick works on any website.

Just as a sidenote: this trick does not actually allow you change the public page, so you will only see the changes in your browser.

Wow, Netflix Knows More About Me Than I Thought

Sun, 16 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0500

I was browsing through my Netflix account today and stumbled upon this recommendation that seemed to be a little too accurate: