I recently came across a blog post from 2005 that laid out a “typical” web development lifecycle in a very creative way. It’s from a no longer active Japanese site, pingmag, and in the post titled The Website Development Process, the author uses some great photos to illustrate his take on the process. He presents the “programmer,” “designer” and “client” in various vignettes using little toy characters.

Of course, any attempt to generalize a web development process is going to be very idealized, and it probably won’t apply to a real-world project. (Just ask any project manager and they’ll confirm that for you.) However, that’s not really the point of the piece. It really does do a great job highlighting the typical milestones: definition, brainstorming, site maps, wireframes, design, client review, revision, production, presentation, beta testing, revision, and go-live.

I recommend you read the piece. You’ll get a chuckle as you do.

But there’s one thing that the article missed altogether. At the end of the piece, the go live is defined as the end, and though the piece comments about the need for a cure period where post-live issues are resolved, but it misses the biggest milestone of all – post-live maintenance and growth of the site. I often use the mantra that “your website is never done” – to be truly effective as a web presence you need to constantly update and adjust, grow and change  your site as your company does.

From the Dovetail perspective, that milestone is the most important. What happens after the project is “done” and the customer is handed over the keys to the kingdom. Of course, we’ve developed novo to help small and mid-sized businesses do just that – take control of their web and sales and marketing strategy by never forgetting that their site is never done and helping them to keep it fresh.

-- Mike

follow me on Twitter: @mikevilla

I just read an article in the July 20th issue Worcester Business Journal entitled “How To Keep Business Tweets Out Of Court.” The title grabbed my attention right away (after all, I seem to be particularly drawn to the latest musings in print on the social media spectrum). 

As I started to read through the piece, I was hoping to receive some sage words of advice or specific examples of what types of Twitter activity has gotten businesses into hot water. However, as I read through the article a few things became apparent.

First, there was not a single, actual example that the reporter sited to demonstrate the types of problems that can arise. Does this mean the problem doesn’t exist? Not necessarily, but the article didn’t live up to the hype in the headline.

The article alluded to the release of confidential information as the most plausible risk for business. But if that’s the case then this is certainly not a new phenomena. This issue has been around since Eve leaked the secret apple recipe to Adam. More specifically, we’ve already answered these questions with email, instant message, texting and blog trends.

It seems to me that the article, and the editors of WBJ, would have been better served to publish a story outlining the types of policies and education that business owners should be working on.

The world of social media can be a powerful tool for business. From customer service, to web search optimization, to community building there is a lot of potential gain. However like anything, proper education and preparation are key to success (or failure for that matter). If you are going to embrace the blogosphere, then write a Corporate Blogging Policy. If you are going to “experiment” with social media, develop a Social Media Marketing Manifesto like the one I posted here in the blog. Know why you are there, what you hope to benefit from, and create some simple guidelines for acceptable use and content.

True enough, Twitter may or may not be right for your business but either way, don’t let catchy headlines scare you from taking advantage of the power of communication.

-- Mike

follow me on Twitter @mikevilla

In my last post I started discussing who benefits from using a CMS for managing web content. In that post, I talked about the IT Department. In this second part I turn my eyes towards marketing.

Fundamentally, marketing exists for one purpose – to drive sales. Whether through brand definition, community outreach, product launches, advertising, and so on all marketing functions ultimately lead towards increasing leads and supporting sales efforts. In order to do that the marketing team is constantly evaluating new ways to drive towards that goal.

Of all the areas in an organization the marketing department in many ways is the most dynamic. Whether driven by seasonality, customer response, new offerings or whatever, the marketing professional is constantly looking at the same things in new ways.

In order then to be successful at marketing, a company needs to be able to quickly execute strategies before windows of opportunity close. To that end agility is the name of the game. When marketing is then handcuffed by inefficiency or lack of control they are not able to perform at 100%. This can be especially true with the website.

By giving marketing the power to manage the website’s content, navigation and design they are best able to adapt the web presence to meet the needs of the day. Web content management then is the tool that is best suited to do that. Not only because it lowers the technical threshold necessary to work with the site, but because it also protects the the site’s elements from inadvertent changes. As opposed to website editors that just allow you to edit the code, a CMS system isolates the elements from each other and allows the proper process to be followed while still offering a fast-paced environment to work within.

Furthermore by lessening the technical aspects of updating the website the marketing team can move about freely within the scope of their efforts without having to rely on the IT Department or an outsourced vendor. This independence then translates to a more effective web presence and a bottom-line decrease in costs associated with the site.

So if you are in the marketing team at any company and want to have the freedom that web CMS can provide, be sure to consider novo, it’s ideally suited for your needs.

-- Mike

Follow Michael Villa on Twitter: @mikevilla

Over the next few posts, I’m going to shed some light on how Dovetail and a website built on novo helps different groups within the organization. Today’s focus is on IT.

From an IT perspective websites often play a conflicting role. As the technical drivers of the organization, it is necessary they play an active role in the website at some level. But it is often not their desire to be “responsible” for the website.

From technology review to due-diligence their input is part of the critical path to adoption. However too often the website does not move away from IT once selection is done. From the standpoint of being responsible for a site being up and available IT is certainly key, however they are not always the ideal group to deal with the overall production and upkeep of the site once running.

Technically, IT personnel will often possess the skills necessary to work with HTML, scripting and database technologies, but where they excel in that arena, they are not ideally suited for combining that within the context of a company’s marketing strategy.

We have found that clients who are able to leverage IT from a system selection and upkeep perspective while allowing marketing to utilize their team to maintain the site a stronger, more dynamic web presence is often the result. In this scenario IT is able to provide appropriate control and oversight while transferring the responsibility of upkeep to Marketing.

Would you ask IT to type all of your reports simply because they installed Office in the organization? Of course not. But that is often what happens with the website. To that end, allowing IT to help provide (and support) the web toolset fits in with their charge, and the website objectives all at the same time.

And here at Dovetail, novo provides a solution that is works for both sides of the website brain (IT and Marketing) because we are IT and marketing professionals ourselves. We’ve built novo to solve this problem.

So if you are part of an IT team that has been asked to be responsible for the website, take a look at the content management capabilities of novo, sign up for a personal demo and see how you can provide the company with the power to change the way your company sees IT’s role in the website.

-- Mike

follow Michael Villa on Twitter: @mikevilla

For many marketers today social media represents a brave, new world of online mumbo-jumbo where there are no rules and little perceived direct benefit; moreover some go so far as to believe that it is a fad driven by the young and unsophisticated. It is, however, much more than a trend for the internet generation. Social media as we know it today is just a modern expression of an age-old marketing strategy: to gain confidence in the marketplace, engage that very marketplace to speak openly and directly with you, and your target audience to promote your products, services and values.

With that in mind, I offer Dovetail’s Social Media Marketing Manifesto as a guideline for how we will take advantage of the medium.

The word “manifesto” is defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as follows:

man·i·fes·to noun a written statement declaring publicly the intentions, motives, or views of its issuer.

Given that definition, it is our belief that …

• … that engaging in social media is part of, but in no way, the only way to communicate publicly.
• … that we cannot control the conversation, but will be an active participant in it.
• … that we have a responsibility both as a company and as individuals to be human, and professional in our online conversations.
• … that participating in social media will aid online marketing efforts to drive visitors to the Dovetail website, to generate leads and to assist customers in their use or our products and services.
• … that social media is not to be the center of our online efforts, but a means to drive visitors towards the web site.
• … that we will learn as much as we educate by listening as much as we talk.
• … that social media is fun, but that it is also work and should be taken seriously.
• … that techniques, strategies and tools will evolve over time.
• … that not all efforts will show results
• … that we should expect that results will often be different than those planned.
• … that our motives are genuine and guided by the core values of the company.

And, it is our intent to …

• … to utilize social media not as a gimmick, but as a means to communicate more openly, and more directly with those interested in Dovetail, it’s products such as novo, the company’s place in the world, and to present our employees as thought leaders in our industry. 
• … to actively participate in relevant conversations where Dovetail can add value.
• … to demonstrate the viability of social media in a overall web marketing strategy.
• … to express opinions and ideas.
• … to site and give credit to others who have points to make that we feel are of interest to us and our audience.
• … to utilize the social media sites and services that best reach our target audience.
• … to include social media concepts in both online and offline endeavors.
• … to communicate both as a company and as individuals.
• … to encourage, publish and reply to comments.
• … to adjust this manifesto as our efforts evolve.

There you have it, this is how we feel about social media as part of our marketing strategy. How about you? What do you think? Agree? Disagree? Let us know, and if you haven’t done so take the time to develop your own manifesto – it’s an exercise well worth the effort.

-- Mike

follow me on Twitter @mikevilla

Headlines for the past two weeks have been focused on the Swine Flu outbreak. Information is coming from several directions and people have questions and concerns. An interesting article on CNN’s website talked about how companies are planning for the possibility of a pandemic.

An interesting mention in the article is how Sprint used their “internal website” to post information for employees.

This is just one more benefit of an intranet within an organization. How many ways do you need to communicate with your staff efficiently and consistently. During any type of event, the intranet can be not only the way to get the message out, but also the de facto location that your employees will turn to in a time of crisis to understand how events may affect them.

Think about it and if you want to know more about how an intranet can help your company, check out my previous post on the benefits of an intranet.

-- Mike

follow me on Twitter @mikevilla

So you’re posting to Twitter, Facebook, etc. and providing regular updates to your status. You’re even using the platforms to generate web traffic by posting links to your site. But if you are relying on the quick link sites (TinyURL, Bit.ly, etc) you may just be minimizing the benefits. Doing so will eliminate the benefit of your updates for organic SEO by masking your site’s link with their short ones.

Yes, it’s convenient and sometimes that pesky 140 character limit to for tweets can get in the way when you have a lot to squeeze in. So whenever possible maximize your efforts by using blind URLs. Turn your long blog post permalinks into shorter friendly links that don’t take as much space when included in a message.

After all, http://www.dovetailinternet.com/BlindURL-Tip is a lot less wieldy than http://www.dovetailinternet.com/Blog/2009/04/25/Social+Media+Quick+Tip+Blind+URLs.aspx too!

-- Mike

follow me on Twitter @mikevilla

It’s been well documented for years that one of the best ways to improve your organic search engine results is to establish inbound links from other websites. Here’s 5 tips on how to do it.

1. Industry Directories
   Pick an industry, any industry, and you’ll find a number of options for posting your site in online directories. Most are free, and besides helping to increase your inbound links, visitors to those sites will be likely to find you when they visit.
2. Complementary Reciprocal Links
   Take inventory of your business partners and other complementary companies. Check out their websites and reach out to them about the possibility of cross linking. You can link to them and they can link to you.
3. Press Releases
   Whenever you issue a press release, be sure to include links to your site. When the press release is picked up by other sites and posted, your links are typically embedded.
4. Blog Commenting
   Spend time on blogs? If so, don’t be shy – comment away. Lend your expertise in discussions that match your company. Then at the end of every comment include a simple, but consistent signature that contains your information with your website address.
5. Social Site Status Updates
   Sites like Facebook, Linked In, and Twitter are all the rage. Use these sites’ status updates to provide useful information about your company and its solutions. Answering a question on Twitter, post a link. Letting people know about a news item, post a link.

Now, of course these are only a few techniques and I could spend an hour on each but no matter how you link to your site, be sure your site is a destination worthy of the visitor’s time. Keeping your site current and relevant is the first part of success, and of course a solid content management system can go a long way to help you do just that.

-- Mike

follow me on Twitter @mikevilla