Myth world, part 2
29/04/2009
What, in your opinion, is the biggest myth on the web?
Hosting provider
Neil Hodson
1&1 Internet Ltd
A common myth certainly for business users is “I don’t have experience so I can’t create a decent website” – most hosts now deliver a simple, straightforward interface of online tools to create and manage websites, email, website files, preferences and domains. With these any new user can now create an active, functional and quality web presence within in a matter of minutes. If you can click a mouse you can create a website!
Neil Hodson is UK general manager at hosting company 1&1 Internet
Content specialist
Stuart Dean
Cognifide
For me the biggest online myth is “Design, Build, Test. Easy!” I have been in the business of building websites for well over a decade now and I have to admit I am still surprised at how much blood, sweat and tears goes into launching a site.
At this stage I should qualify my statements a little... I am not talking about a small five-page website, I am talking about large sites that touch lots of different areas within an organisation.
Now none of the following areas are hard in their own right (with the right team):
- Designing a great looking site, on brand that’s highly usable
- The act of creating XHTML templates that work cross-browser and are accessible to the correct level of WAI compliance
- Integrating templates into the CMS system.
So what is so difficult?
Well, very rarely do I get brought onto a project and see a release plan that has much (or any) detail following the Software QA phase. The plan for the design phase is well thought out with workshops, reviews, signoff points etc and the implementation phase is well planned with iterative cycles giving the customer visibility of what has been built. There is a software QA phase where the site is tested for functionally and for performance under load, and then that’s it “GO LIVE”, “Flick the switch”, “Launch party!”
But what about the content and what about author training? The content creation/entry and rollout phases of websites are very rarely well planned and on many projects they are not planned at all. The delivery of a website is much more than creating a design and building/testing software. It is a quite unique situation where stakeholders from brand, marketing, creative, technology and editorial all come together and work as a cross disciplinary team to deliver the end product.
The problem on a lot of projects is that the first time these different groups are even aware of each other is that “GO LIVE” milestone on the Gantt chart. Surprise, surprise there is then usually a month or two of blood, sweat and tears getting the site content entered, fixing layouts to fit content, making content accessible etc, etc.
There is a very good old saying that I think rings true for web projects, “the last mile is the hardest mile.” My advice is to make sure you have a strategy for content and it is on your plan, (ideally) as early as possible. Also you should plan for the last mile: if everyone is expecting the hill at the end they can work as a team and get up it together.
Stuart Dean is the chief executive at European software development consultancy Cognifide
Software specialist
Siim Vips
Modera
There are many myths related to the web. In my opinion, one of the biggest is related how efficient web and internet technology makes us. In many cases it’s true, if it’s used and approached in the right way, but then think of how much time we spend with the irregular placement of information and tracking our emails down because we cannot find what we need.
Although there continue to be leaps and bounds in the development of technology, unless you are close to the creation of it, people lose sight of how challenging it can be at times to build. We have to be mindful that human beings are the main cog in creating, building, managing and most importantly operating technology – and as such there is always room for human error.
Great technologies still need human input to perfect them, make them more relevant, useful and accessible. It is good to be challenged from a variety of different areas to create better technologies that can be used by a broader audience, although this needs to be tempered with how we can do this realistically with the platforms that we currently possess.
We are experiencing the rapid growth of the web and technologies that make it exciting, but it’s not for everyone. We need to steer to more inclusive technologies to fully harness the ethos of the web and bring the collective brilliance that should be on tap.
If we are able to manage expectations with what is possible now and what may come, then we strike closer to building more efficient technologies that do offer the platform to reach what more people crave.
Siim Vips is founder and CEO of Modera
Creative guru
Marc Peter
on-IDLE
There are a couple of myths that we encounter. The first: ”Content creates itself.” User generated content (UGC) must be stimulated and context relevant – it does not simply start out of nowhere. It must be monitored and maintained, and in many instances, it is a ‘cheap’ excuse for site owners who do not have relevant content of their own.
The second is, “Once I have a CMS, the content is taken care of”. Content management systems are just that – they format and populate content to the relevant location on a website, but that content must still be created, by the site owner and its agencies.
Marc Peter is the creative director of on-IDLE
Social media and comms expert
Rachel Hawkes
Elemental Communications
“Build it and they will come.” This phrase is so often used (you would think after all these years it would be defunct, especially as the number of digital destinations increases) and almost always misguided. Even established and well-known digital entities such as Google or Facebook can’t just launch a product/service and expect an audience to find it, interact with it in the way intended, come back time and again and refer it to their friends without any additional input.
We see this expectation used with launches of websites, viral videos, applications, widgets and campaign microsites. For 99%* of these, ‘build it and they will come’ has not rung true.
There’s much work involved in promoting a digital product/service (as is true for non-digital), and proper care and attention should be placed in letting the target audience know about it (not taking them for granted), making sure that it meets their needs (so they stay/interact when they get there) and having them return (what value are is added?).
This is a theme that runs true with widget development all the time. There is an exponential number of widgets available across all manner of environments: the market is well and truly saturated. So, it is naive, foolish and a waste of time and resources to just expect that an audience will find a widget, add it to their own site and/or blog and not dispose of it as quickly as they found it.
To increase success – just as with a website or other digital product – a widget should add value to the user experience and be relevant. Another myth when it comes to widgets is that they should always contain video, images or music. Not true. There are plenty of really successful widgets out there that contain just text, radio buttons, links etc (look at the Justgiving fundraising widget, for example).
Widgets can be an incredibly effective way to drive traffic and awareness, but only when done right. Don’t take the audience for granted, make it relevant, let people know about it (in an ethical manner – too many widget owners “spam”) and evaluate and change if required.
*74% of all stats are made up.
Rachel Hawkes is an account director at Elemental
Marketing, media & PR expert
Tim Gibbon
Elemental Communications
One of the biggest web myths for me is, “PRs get digital and search marketing, particularly SEO.” I don’t think so.
Twitter has acted a catalyst to bring to my attention how many online PR/social media evangelists, experts, gurus and mavens there are. Suddenly there are social media professionals with more years’ experience than the web itself flogging the new kid on the block (which isn’t so new, I hasten to add) to death with no clear understanding of what they proclaim to do. Individuals shouldn’t really be calling themselves gurus unless it’s bestowed upon them by a (collective) third-party. Surely, there can’t be that many of these professionals out there in such a short amount of time?
Anyone making a new start in the industry, or adapting their skills to learn more and be better, has to be admired, but PRs (and some individuals from other sectors) should ease off the gas a little as there are way too many “leading” and “award-winning” folk as it is. I would be interested to know what the feeling was around digital in the large agencies and consultancies that have suddenly grown a digital arm or now have a specialist section. It’s interesting to me that these companies recruit one or two experienced individuals and suddenly bill themselves as ‘the’ digital agency, without easing into the realm first or do much significantly afterward.
It’s great that more agencies and consultancies wish to learn more, grow and embrace digital as this is what is going to have positive repercussion for brands, clients and the above. We just need to stay clear of the fluff and give those that have made the transition for the masses their props for sharing so much of what they do.
Social media should sit across all facets of a business and hence the aforementioned should have an interest in how it impacts them and what they do. I hope that after we have maxed out the number of people trying to ride the social media wave and the social media evangelists and gurus et al have gone, the individuals that truly ‘get’ the medium will be left. In doing so I hope it is realised that they have great skills to offer that epitomise what social media is about.
Tim is director of Elemental Communications
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