Project83 { Websites that Smile! }

September 30th, 2008

Coming Soon

“Coming Soon” is a perpetually bad habit I see on the web. There is no doubt you have seen the following many times over …

Why do we feel the need to tell users that something bigger and better is on the way? In any case, “Coming Soon” sends a bad message about you …

1. It sets expectations. 9 times out of 10 when people say “coming soon”, they don’t have a definite time that they expect whatever it is to be ready. So why set expectations with users when most times it leads to a total letdown? It just makes you look bad.

2. It’s a waste of time. Those two words provide no substance or benefit to users, so why say it?

If you don’t have time to build a site or add a new feature, that’s no problem. Throw up your logo and a couple paragraphs about your company on a page and leave it at that until you have something else of value to provide.

A classic example of using “coming soon” as part of your public strategy on a large scale is with Microsoft and Apple.

Microsoft, for example, LOVES coming soon. They love talking about the future, and all the great products they are working on that will change our lives … soon. Forget the here and now, it’s all about what’s coming. And more often times than not, once the product hits the shelves it does not live up to the hype.

How about the Microsoft Surface computer? They have set incredibly high expectations by touting videos and demos all over the place for months, but the product really makes no difference to me until there is a DATE when it will be available for public consumption.

Apple, on the other hand, has mastered the art of hype and keeping secrets until they are worth sharing. They worked on the iPhone secretly for years, and never said a peep about it until they had a release date. Looking back, I believe their strategy resulted in an unprecedented demand for the phone.

I believe my mother said it best when I was a kid, “some things are just better keeping to yourself”. That is, until they are worth sharing.

Posted in Web Development - 1 Comment

September 23rd, 2008

Winning in a Slow Economy

Housing Market Crash

Slow economic times are good for business.

Feel free to re-read that sentence and let it sink in, then I will explain why.

A (temporarily) struggling economy is capitalism’s way of “balancing the scales” so to speak; ridding this country of greedy executives, companies that have made far too many poor decisions, and those that forgot profits are not necessarily what brings about long-term success.

The beauty of capitalism is that customers are the boss. They choose who wins. Companies that trade in their loyalty to customers for stockholder value end up paying the price eventually. For many companies, this is their time, and rightfully so.

I don’t care what business you are in — failure is a choice companies make when they stop putting customers’ best interests first. And I can prove it. Take 2 industries that are struggling a great deal in 2008, the mortgage industry and the airline industry. Housing and energy are sure to be of grave concern in the upcoming election.

The housing industry slump is quite simply the result of subprime lending (see in Wikipedia). Big banks began selling mortgages to people that quite frankly could not afford them. They knowingly approved loans for people that would not be able to pay, and attached a much higher interest rate to the mortgage because of the risk involved. Banks screwed their customers, but most importantly found a way to increase profits. It was a winning plan until people could no longer afford to pay their mortgages.

Companies like Countrywide were so highly leveraged in subprime mortgages that they simply ran out of money. Screwing their customers practically crushed their business, or at least forced them to be bailed out by another big bank.

Subprime lending is a choice, and not all mortgage companies thought it was the right thing to do. Take Hudson City Bancorp, for example. This 140-year-old New Jersey company chose not to write subprime mortgages and their shares have gone up 50% in the last year. Or how about ING Direct? They made the same call, only lent money to those that could afford to re-pay it, and in approving over 100,000 mortgages have only had 15 foreclosures to date. (more in this article)

These two companies made decisions that were best for their customers, and have thrived during a tough time in their industry.

We are all aware that the country’s biggest airlines have lost their focus over the last several years. Company executives have been so busy bloating their capacity (more carriers, more planes, more routes) that they forgot about customers. When fuel prices rose, the big 6 airlines lost roughly $6 billion in the 2nd quarter of 2008.

Is fuel really the problem? Or has it simply magnified everything else that is broken about these companies? Again this is why slow economic times are good for business. It is time to weed out companies that have forgotten about their customers in exchange for companies with better values.

Despite rising fuel costs, leaving customers in the cold was a choice made by most airlines. Southwest Airlines did not make that choice, and consequently earned their 69th consecutive profitable quarter this year (to the tune of $121 million). While other airlines got fat, Southwest started hedging fuel in preparation for a storm. They are committed to customers with policies like free baggage checks, and are now rewarded by carrying more passengers than any US airline.

By no means are economic times like this enjoyable. However, they are necessary to keep our capitalistic society in check. Love your customers and you too can win BIG in a slow economy.

Posted in Business - 1 Comment

September 9th, 2008

Follow-up: The Leap to New York City

In late June I moved to New York with my wife and two dogs for the summer. In a previous article I laid out reasons for taking this leap of faith, and what I was hoping to accomplish. Now that we are safely back in Nashville, I wanted to write a follow-up and talk about how the experience went.

Overall I could not have asked for a better experience. I learned a lot, met some really great people and found ways to continue building our small companies. After all, New York is full of people that are the best in the world at what they do, so it was incredible to be in the middle of it. The energy everywhere you look was enough to get me up and to the office right next to Wall Street each morning.

Here is how I stacked up on my 4 objectives:

1. Take Advantage of Proximity (B-)

Meeting new people and trying to earn new business cold turkey gets me out of my comfort zone very quickly. So I will admit, I did not make the most of potential work available in the city. However, I did make the most of existing relationships, and find ways to build our business as a result.

Along with getting a couple of new projects/clients we will be revealing in the near future, I got to start new projects with existing partners like Whiteboard Media in Philadelphia, Voxel Dot Net (our hosting partner), Merchant Plus (our merchant partner), Ubersmith and Twistage. These are all great companies that make sense for us to partner with. Just being there was enough to generate new and exciting projects for the next six months.

2. Enjoy the Commute (A)

It was a transition to travel to work every day, as opposed to working from home. Overall I REALLY enjoyed it, so much that I came back inspired to seek out an office space for our team. As long as you minimize distractions and find ways to get in a productive “zone” (I recommend headphones), being in an office with others is a huge plus. I got more done, and was able to relax much easier at home.

The problem in returning from the New York office commute is that the newly-acquired habits did not stick. I’m back to working more, working later and struggling to make the most of my time for an entire day. Once we find the right office space maybe I can look forward to enjoying the commute again.

3. Blog More (A+)

I am proud to say that I DID make blogging a higher priority while in New York, and I think it will continue that way. This is my 9th post since the initial article about this trip, which is a really great pace for me. At least one article every 10 days is my goal, and I love doing it.

The thing with blogging is MAKING time for it, because you will never HAVE time. I really love it, and come up with a new idea for a post it seems almost every day. This was a great goal that I am pleased to have accomplished.

4. Launch a new Application (A+)

This is a really funny goal to look back on. I actually moved to New York with plans that we would launch an application we have been using and working on slowly for about a year. However, that never happened. Over brunch a couple weeks after moving, a lightbulb went off and I pitched the guys on Feed My Inbox.

Less than a month and only about 3 days of development later we launched, and are now tracking over 3,000 feeds for people through email. The future is very bright as we continue working on new features for Feed My Inbox.

So YES, we launched a new application. It was just not the application I was talking about in the original article. It’s a good thing we don’t plan more than a week in advance for hardly anything, or else Feed My Inbox would not have happened.

In Closing

If you find yourself contemplating a LEAP of faith today, whether it be leaving the 9-5, taking your business in a new direction or simply moving somewhere to see what happens, ask yourself one question: “other than fear, what is keeping me from taking a leap today?” Chances are, the answer is nothing, and the rewards on the other end of a successful leap are great. Make it happen!

Posted in Business, Project83 - 2 Comments

September 2nd, 2008

What We’ve Learned in 3 Years at Project83

On Monday, we celebrated Project83’s 3rd Birthday! As with most any birthday, we had the opportunity to reflect on how the company has grown, talk about the cool stuff we have achieved and dream a bit for the future. Although the photo below may be slightly confusing, these are green, blue and grey (sort of) cupcakes my lovely wife made to celebrate.

Birthday Cupcakes

I’ve been lucky to partner with fantastic guys from the beginning that make our work something to be very proud of. A huge thanks goes out to Denny and Jared, also my partners in our little software startup. I also owe a great deal of thanks to the newest member of our team, Jack Behar. I am continually challenged by these guys every day, and they make what we do a lot of fun.

In order to create value with this post, I wanted to talk about a few things learned over the last 3 years. So here goes …

1. Get Serious About Customer Service

People in our business are not always very good at customer service. Usually it’s a mixture of pride, procrastination and bad communication skills that give geeks in our business a bad name. I continually struggle with the first of these things, but luckily I have been taught the importance of customer service.

I don’t really care how smart you are or how good your work is. Success is still measured by your ability to help people and deliver on what you promised. We’ve never spent a dime to market this business, and have always had plenty of work solely because I take it upon myself to make sure the customer is happy.

We have clients that would probably be happy to point out that I am not perfect, but I believe they could all agree that I give everything I have to helping them succeed on the web.

2. Learn from Mistakes

I have never worked for a web company other than my own. Some might consider it a rather daunting task to start something with no real understanding of how the industry works. I saw it as an extraordinary opportunity to make a lot of mistakes, and learn quickly from them.

Everything I know about managing projects, doing proposals, writing contracts, designing comps and building websites is the result of trying different things and making mistakes. In order to properly learn from a mistake and take action, keep in mind you have to recognize it as a mistake and not make excuses or blame the client.

We have learned something new in every project, and after 3 years of making mistakes, I think we are really starting to do fantastic work. What we have learned by doing in 3 years could never happen by reading textbooks or working at some big agency with silly rules. Just get out there, and savour every single opportunity to learn from a mistake.

3. Promote Yourself!

I see companies all the time that are so mixed up in client work and other priorities that they have no time to spend on their own brand and long-term vision for the company. Why is it that marketing companies always have the worst websites? Why don’t they practice what they preach in marketing their own business? I for one would never hire a web company that did not have a website I really liked.

Fact is, your website, your logo, your copy and your other stuff is the best opportunity to gain new business and make a great first impression. Don’t get so mixed up in the here and now with client work that you forget to always be making your own stuff better.

We are actually working on a re-design of this site right now. It’s hard because it takes a ton of time and does not bring in immediate income, but seeing the big picture means knowing how important the new site will be in attracting our ideal clients down the road. It is a great long-term investment and gives us the opportunity to work on a project where WE are the boss.

Here’s to many more years of helping people, making mistakes and trying to improve all that we do to promote our services.

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