Short Essays

September / 8 / 2011

What a Website Wants

What does a website want?

I was in a presentation yesterday and I explained it like this: For the first time user a website wants three things:

1. During the first 15 to 30 seconds that I spend on a website, I need to know that I have arrived at the right place. This is the brand establishment moment—a critical juncture—and the moment when I decide to stay or go. If the brand message—visuals, text, overall look and feel—are right, I recognize that I have, in fact, come to the right place, and I stick around long enough for number 2….  Read more

July / 26 / 2011

Apparent Failure Focuses the Mind

Probably the two most valuable things that have happened to me as a business person were:

1) Being laid off from a corporate job, and having to start a business on my own, forcing the question of how to survive and support a family without a regular salary, benefits, or anything to rely on but myself.

2) My former business partner’s choice to walk off with all our clients, leaving me with the company debt and virtually no business….  Read more

March / 28 / 2011

Radiation, Disaster & Hubris

What impresses me most about nuclear materials is the inhuman scale of their behavior. For example, what does it mean that some radioactive materials, like Plutonium [...]

March / 14 / 2011

Is Snooki the smartest guy in the room?

“Reason should investigate its own parameters before declaring its omniscience.” — Immanuel Kant When I was in junior high school, I remember being both arrogant [...]

February / 28 / 2011

Non-Profit Brand Basics

For any organization, arguably your most important brand asset is your name. Some names are better than others at explaining why you exist and why [...]

February / 23 / 2011

The $5,000 Website

There is no such thing as a branded $5,000 website. There certainly exist many people who will design and build a business or even a [...]

February / 14 / 2011

Brand as Defence Against Attack

Branding is often managed like a propaganda war for the hearts and minds of brand consumers. This aligns with Wikipedia’s basic description of propaganda: “As [...]

January / 31 / 2011

Chinese Mothers

A friend of mine sent me the Wall Street Journal article “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior” a few weeks ago. It was sent to me, [...]

January / 24 / 2011

Addressing Objections: Web Conversion

Objections are always there. Dealing with them is basic to the sales process. For a new offering that does not have the benefit of any [...]

January / 18 / 2011

Architects and Flash

Architects fell in love with Flash. I think it gave them the kind of absolute design control that they generally expect from the world. The [...]

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