Underground Web Designs Blog

If you work in an internet related field (programming, designing, administrating, etc) you’ve probably heard of the “micro-blogging” service Twitter. For those who don’t know what it is, Twitter is a social networking site where users share “Tweets” (140 character messages) with each other and the world at large. As is the case with many new internet technologies however, Twitter has it’s shortfalls, and it might not be long before newer micro-blogging services take over.

One such new micro-blogging service is identi.ca. Even though identi.ca doesn’t have as many users or features as Twitter (yet!), it does some things Twitter does not.

1) REALLY easy setup.

Identi.ca supports OpenID*. Since I already have an OpenID set up, I used it to register my new Identi.ca account. All I had to do was enter my OpenID, approve identi.ca, and choose a nickname. That’s IT! No adding mundane details like my name or e-mail address… all that was pulled from my OpenID automatically.

Of course, if you don’t have OpenID you can still register at Identi.ca normally, and the process looks simple and easy.

2) IM and Text Message support.

When I first started using twitter, I could “tweet” using an instant messaging program. Unfortunately, this functionality soon disappeared, with little explanation as to where it had gone or when it was coming back. Likewise, one of the strongest features of Twitter is the ability to receive tweets from people you’re following on your cell phone as text messages. In the USA this works fine, but here in Canada Twitter has had to disable the service due to excessive costs from the cell phone companies.

Identi.ca seems to have neatly avoided both problems. As of right now at least they have an IM service that works and they’re using e-mail to SMS for their text messaging. e-Mail to SMS doesn’t cost them anything - the fees are passed on to the user. I looked into it and for me it would be a $5 a month upgrade, or 15 cents per message received. This is a bit of a pain, but at least the option is there.

3) Interfaces with Twitter.

Identi.ca interfaces well with twitter, so if you’re switching over you don’t need to worry about people missing your Tweets. Just add your twitter username and password to Identi.ca, and anything you post to identi.ca is copied to Twitter. Win / Win!

4) Identi.ca is Open Source.

Rather than being a closed platform like Twitter, Identi.ca is built on open source software and works with an open source license. This, combined with support for FOAF files*, Microformats*, and OAuth* means that other webmasters can set up their own micro-blogging systems, and fully integrate back to Identi.ca. 

In short, Identi.ca takes sharing what you’re doing right now to a whole new level, and its smart business plan and open licensing agreements mean that it will continue to expand long after Twitter has died. If you’re just thinking about getting into the micro-blogging world, take Identi.ca for a spin. As with Facebook / Myspace, sometimes in the internet world “the second mouse gets the cheese”.

*Look for future posts coming soon explaining more about what OpenID, Foaf files, etc are, and how you can use them.

Plug It In!

There are literally thousands of plugins for the popular blogging system Wordpress. If you need a feature Wordpress doesn’t have, chances are that there is a plugin for it. However, there are some plugins that are so useful that I believe every Wordpress based site should have them installed. In no particular order, here they are:

WP Super Cache

This plugin caches the pages of your blog as HTML files (instead of PHP scripts), saving server processing power. This plugin is a must for any site that expects lots of traffic, and can mean the difference between having a successful product launch or promotion and getting and “Site Unavailable” error. Even if you’re not expecting heaps of traffic quite yet this plugin should be installed and activated. After all, you never know when your site might show up on the front page of Digg or be Stumbled. Prevention is always the best cure.

Ultimate Google Analytics

The Ultimate Google Analytics plugin is one of the best plugins for adding Google Analytics Stat Tracking to a Wordpress blog. Not only does it add the required Javascript to every page of your blog without you having to touch any code, but it also lets you track outgoing links, download links, and mailto (email) links. The interface is easy to understand and the plugin requires absolutely no upkeep. Just set it, forget it, and watch your blog stats automagically show up in Google Analytics.

Akismet

Even the Wordpress.org guys think this is a vital plugin, which is why it’s included with every release of Wordpress! Askimet is without a doubt the best spam checker I’ve ever seen. You will need an account at Wordpress.org to use it, but that is free and easy to get. Once you have your account, log in, visit your account dashboard, and click the “Profile” link to get your API key. Paste that key into Askimet and your blog will never have a Spam comment again. Now if only they had a version that stopped e-mail spam as well…

Google XML Sitemaps

Google XML Sitemaps is another simple but powerful plugin. Once it’s added to your blog and activated, head over to the settings page and click the button to build your Sitemap for the first time. By default the Sitemap is located at http://www.yourblog.com/sitemap.xml, and contains a breakdown of all the pages, posts, etc. on your blog in a format search engines can easily understand. The plugin will also take charge of notifying the major search engines whenever you update your blog, helping to get your latest posts indexed all the faster.

Sociable

The sociable plugin helps spread the word about your blog by placing links to popular social networking sites at the bottom of each post. The plugin has options for almost 100 different sites, and has a slick interface that makes it easy to choose which links show up, and which order they are displayed in. The links displayed are small icons, which will stand out but won’t be overly distracting from the content of your site. The Sociable plugin also gives you lots of options about where the icons should be displayed and where they should not (pages, category listings, etc).

These 5 plugins should be at the very least installed on every Wordpress site. Each one is well maintained, easy to use, and incredibly useful. Maybe you won’t use all of them all of the time, but make them part of your default configuration for any new wordpress blog you set up and you can’t go wrong.

This is my list, I’m sure there are other “Must Have” plugins out there. If you have a plugin that you just can’t live without, post it in the comments, I would love to hear about it and possibly add it to my own Wordpress toolkit.

• Actionstream: Shows updates from activities across the web.
• Adsense Manager: Control and arrange your AdSense & Referral blocks on your Wordpress blog. With Widget and inline post support, configurable colours.
• Contacts List: Output microformatted blogroll links on a static page.
• Diso Profile: Detect and import hCard data on new user, extended data for user profiles, easy hCard generation 
• Feedburner Feedsmith: Originally authored by Steve Smith, this plugin detects all ways to access your original WordPress feeds and redirects them to your FeedBurner feed so you can track every possible subscriber.
• Micro Anywhere: Adds microformat buttons to the wordpress post and pages editor, letting you embed microformated data into your blog.
• Open ID: Allows the use of OpenID for account registration, authentication, and commenting. Also includes an OpenID provider which can turn WordPress author URLs into OpenIDs.
• Pictoformats: Supports @replies, #hashtags.
• wp-XRDS-Simple: Add XRDS information to your blog.
• zLinks: Provides a clickable icon for every post, comment and embedded link that leads to additional semantic Web and related data resources; also provides annotation capabilities.

Time to turn this blog around!

This blog post starts with a confession: I haven’t been doing a very good job with this blog. In fact, I started it for all the wrong reasons. I started this blog because everyone always said that blogs were great ways to drive traffic to a website, and that every online business should have one. Well, it’s true that blogs can be good for business, but it is not true that every online business should have a blog.

You see, a blog is only good if you write about things you’re passionate about — if you really believe in your message. If you start a blog and write about a topic just because you want to reach a certain market; well, you won’t get very far. Your desire to post just won’t be there. Soon your blog will be just one of the hundreds of stale, unread blogs littering the internet today.

Case in point: This blog. I’ve been writing about stuff (or trying to write about stuff) small business owners can do to succeed online, drive traffic to their sites, etc. The problem is that I’m not a marketer, and I’m not a life coach. I’m a web developer. Marketing and coaching are not my interests, but building really cool websites that do amazing things is. 

So, here’s the deal. Starting today, I’m changing the focus of this blog. No more will it be about marketing, SEO, or internet strategies. Instead, I will be writing about breakthrough programming projects, amazing web designs, and neat new plugins. Don’t worry, this isn’t going to be a geek-only, code-in-every-post blog either. There are plenty of those. Instead, I will try to explain what’s going new and exciting in the tech end of the internet world in non-technical terms for everybody else.

Watch this space, new posts coming soon!

Dr. Peter Drucker said “What Gets Measured Gets Managed”, and this is nowhere more true than online. If you have any sort of a website and don’t have analytical software installed, you are missing a tremendous opportunity. How can you improve your website if you don’t know when (or even if!) people are visiting? How can you remove the bad and improve the good when you don’t even know what parts of your site people like best?

When it comes to your website, you are not a reliable resource for determining what is and isn’t working! You may like a specific page, post, or image, but that doesn’t mean everyone who sees your site will. In fact, chances are they wont! The only way to know for sure how visitors see your site is to get the information from them directly, and the easiest way to do this is through web analytics software.

I’m not going to get into the debate about which analytics software to use (there are many), I’m just going to recommend one: Google Analytics. I recommend Google Analytics for 2 reasons: Number 1: It’s free. All you need is a Google account, and chances are good you already have that. If you don’t, getting one is free. Number 2: it works. Google Analytics tracks lots of data, likely more than you’ll ever need, and it makes it quite easy to spot the trends. Setting up Google Analytics is easy too, just head over to www.google.com/analytics and follow the instructions to get an account and set up your website.

Google Analytics works by having you place one small snippet of code on each page of your website. This snippet then automatically collects information such as how many people visit your site, where they come from (search engines, other sites, or direct), how long they stay on your site, how many pages they visit, and much more.

After Google Analytics has been installed on your site for a week or so begin to look at the statistics it shows. Two of the most useful metrics are right on the Dashboard (home screen) by default: the “Traffic Sources Overview” and the “Content Overview”.

The Traffic Sources Overview box provides you with a breakdown of how people are finding your site. Are they mostly coming to it directly (through bookmarks or by typing in your URL), or are they coming via Search Engines, or from links on other sites? Now you know! Clicking the “view reports” link at the bottom of the graph. This page will show you even more details. Here you can find which search engines and even which keywords send you the most traffic, which sites are linking to you (and how many people follow the links, and much more.

The other important metric is the “Content Overview” box on the Analytics dashboard. This box shows a list of the pages on your site that are getting the most traffic, as well as by how much. This makes it easy to see if there is one or two pages that generate the most interest on your site. Knowing what you’re doing right is the first step to improving any website!

The important thing to realize about Google Analytics is that it offers a tremendous amount of information… I’ve only talked about two of it’s many reporting features. As great as this variety is, it can also lead to “Paralysis by Analysis” if you’re not careful. Don’t spend so much time looking at the statistics and analyzing every last detail that you fail to improve and add to your site. No matter how much information you have, if you do not act on it then that data is worthless.

Every business wants attention. If nobody ever entered your store, phoned your office or viewed your website you would have a pretty hard time making money. But how do you get this attention? What can you do that will cause people to notice you, to enter your store or visit your website?

One of the best ways to attract attention is to do something outrageous… and it’s often easier than it may seem. If you have a store and your business is located on a busy street, a simple sign out front with a quirky message will get attention. In fact, I was at a restaurant that had done this last night. They booked a last minute concert and put up a sign at 3:00 PM. By 7:00 PM when I arrived the 150 seat concert had sold out! And this wasn’t a blockbuster band either, but a local one.

The same thing can be done online as well. Urban Prankster.com is a site that features people who have gotten attention by doing outrageous things. A picture on a website, or a video on YouTube of something unusual will get attention… this video of a “drug vending machine” by Imbue has had almost 13,000 views on YouTube in less than 2 weeks!

Another classic example is the “Will It Blend” videos. What better way to draw attention to a common kitchen appliance, in this case a blender, than by posting outrageous videos of it blending everything from iPhones to Nike Shoes?

Of course, you don’t want to do anything that discredits you or ruins your brand, but don’t underestimate the power of outrageous actions to bring attention to your business. What outrageous and unexpected event, video, or even picture could you use to draw attention, and potentially customers, to your business?

One of the greatest things about the internet is that it allows you, the business owner, to instantly recieve feedback from your marketplace. In fact, sometimes allowing users to contribute to your blog, website, or business directly can lead to some pretty unique situations.

The classic example of this are “LOLCats”, such as this one:

Click for more animals.

For those who don’t know, the website ICanHasCheezburger.com encourages users to write funny captions to pictures of animals, politicians, and other things and then upload them to the site for everyone to enjoy. The result? A constantly updated site with lots of traffic and (I would imagine) lots of impressions on the ads in the sidebar.

I’m not saying that the ad revenue is the only thing that can benefit from powerful user feedback. Indeed, any website that can provide an engaging user experience will not only receive more visits than a dull, static one, it will be remembered much better by those who see it as well.

As a business owner, it’s worth considering how you can reach out and engage your web audience in such a way. Blog comments, polls, and feedback forms are really only the very simplest of feedback devices. How can you make your website and ultimately your business more engaging, exciting, and memorative to your online audience? Maybe it’s with a simple game or puzzle, or maybe by allowing them to “design” a customized version of your product just for them? Maybe you sell a very unique commodity and can represent on your website exactly how many you have left… and show in real time when someone buys one?

The internet gives you options that were truly impossible before. Your audience can now interact with your business in real time and can actually contribute to your website or your product. Don’t pass up that opportunity!

Please Note: This post contains affiliate links. If you happen to like any of Seth Books and buy one after following a link from this site, I’ll make a few dollars toward expanding my own business library. Of course, you’re free to look up the books yourself if you want! 

As I mentioned in my last post about the traditional advertising vs. authentic communication, different marketers use different methods to spread the word about their online businesses. Seth Godin is the poster child for the “authentic communication” approach in marketing. His books, such as The Purple Cow, All Marketers Are Liars, and Meatball Sundae all center around this theme.

Today Seth’s latest book, Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us, hits the market. This time around Seth is talking about how we’re all part of a group, or a tribe. As business owners, we can either create a brand and then try and sell it to people, or we can develop a tribe and then create products for them. Whether your business is selling houses or selling peanuts, if you can help the people that love what you do connect with each other, not only will the power of word of mouth marketing begin to work for you, but you will not need to search for any more customers! By bringing people together you create a community that will provide you feedback about what they want. If you in turn listen and create products specifically for them you can be sure they’ll sell, because you’re meeting a specific need, the need of your tribe.

I won’t say too much more about Tribes, other than that I highly recommend it. Seth Godin explains the concepts much better than I ever could. In the meantime, if you want a taste of what a Tribe can accomplish, check out the Tribes Casebook Seth released today. This 200+ page PDF was created entirely by members of an elite tribe Seth has been cultivating and is available for everyone as a free download. Download it and read some of the stories, both present and past, of tribes and the people who have led them. After you’ve read through some of the stories, think about your business. How can you cultivate a tribe around what you do?

If you read much online business literature, it seems there are two camps about how to do business online. The first focuses on more traditional advertising, while the second focuses on authentic communication. Which one works better? To be honest, at this point I don’t know. I’ve read good arguments for both. Before we get in too deep, how about some definitions first. What exactly do I mean by Traditional Advertising and Authentic Communication?

Well, when I think of Advertising, the first thing that comes to mind are big TV ads or billboards it Times Square. It’s big, it’s in your face, it’s usually expensive, and it’s only purpose is to make you buy something. On the internet this translates to extensive use of Pay-Per-Click campaigns, highly tested and optimized landing pages, and exacting sales copy designed to create an irresistible desire in people to buy a project.

By contrast, “Communication”, in the context of selling something, involves a much more personal connection with your audience; at least to me it does. To me communication is what blogs and social media are all about. It’s about putting your stuff out there and asking people flat out what they think of it. YouTube, Facebook, Squidoo, and Digg are all great examples of this. Communication is all about word of mouth and “viral” marketing.

Now, the question of which works better? Like I said at the beginning, I don’t know. When I first got into online business, I was deeply prejudiced against traditional advertising. Coming from a consumer’s point of view, I didn’t (and still don’t) like it’s generally impersonal, in your face nature. As I grew a bit more experienced however, I came to see that for all it’s faults, traditional advertising does produce results, which is good from a business owners standpoint. On the flip side, while much more “consumer friendly”, communication based advertising can be much harder to make work. It requires a lot of time, and a fair bit of skill to write things people will read and engage with. It takes even more skill (and dare I say luck) to produce a successful “viral” campaign.

Personally, I still prefer “communication” based marketing, because as a consumer I prefer feeling like my opinion and feedback is appreciated and acted upon. Because the internet is such a flexible medium and makes communication so easy, I think it would be a shame for it to become filled with blatant “interruption advertising”. Having said that, I’m not 100% sold on either method, and would love to hear what you think and how you market your business.

Do you use “traditional advertising” or “communication marketing” to sell your products or services, and why did you choose the method you did? Please post your experiences in the comments section!

Does your website sell people what they need, or what they want?

Take a look at your website, read the sales page… and think about what you are selling. Not what product or service you’re selling, but what idea you’re selling. Are you making people feel that your service is something they need, or are you making them feel that it’s something they want?

If you’re selling to a customer’s need, consider revising your copy to focus on wants. You see, the simple fact is that most of the stuff you sell, your customer doesn’t really need. You may think they need it, but do they really? In fact, everything but water, simple food, and basic shelter is things we want.

If you’re selling strategy is focused on convincing people that they NEED what you’re selling, you’re setting yourself up to fail. There are too many options, and people are getting too smart. I know I don’t really need the latest pair of brand name running shoes… but since all my friends have iPods, I really WANT an iPod. So I’ll go buy the iPod, even though it costs more.

So how do you do it? How do you sell your products to people’s wants?

• Ask them what they want, then create the product to satisfy those wants. It’s hard to guess every time, and with the internet you don’t have to. Just ask your customers what they want and build it into your product.
• Exceed expectations. Apple is great at this. When Apple released the iPhone, they capitalized on a want people had: a want for stylish cell phones. Then they exceeded expectations by providing a bigger screen, touchscreen capabilities, music, very good internet access, and much more.
• Sell your product emotionally. While it’s good to talk about the facts about your product, facts don’t sell things. Convincingly explain how your product will improve someone’s life, save them time, or bring them success — all things everybody wants already — and your products will sell.

Recently I created two plugins for Tiny MCE, the WYSIWYG editor that MODx uses that allow you to easily add contact information and event information to your posts and webpages, using the hCard and hCalendar microformats. Unfortunately, installing these plugins on MODx is not quite as streight forward as it might be, so here are some step by step instructions:

1. Download the TinyMCE hCard and hCalendar plugins from UndergroundWebDesigns.com. Once the files are downloaded, unzip them. Inside the unzipped folder you will find a folder with the name of the plugin, and a readme file.
2. Download the TinyMCE 3 plugin for MODx and install it following the directions on it’s site. This is fairly easy, you just upload the files and run an install program.
3. Once TinyMCE 3 is installed on your MODx site, open your favorite FTP program, and upload the hCalendar and hCard folders you downloaded and unzipped in step 1 into http://www.yoursite.com/assets/plugins/tinymce309/jscripts/tiny_mce/plugins/
4. Log in to your MODx Admin area, and click on “tools - > configuration”.
5. In the configuration screen, click the “Interface and Features” tab, and scroll down to the bottom where the TinyMCE settings are.
6. Make sure the TinyMCE Theme is set to “Custom”
7. In the “Custom Plugins” box, move to the end of the list of plugins and add “hcard” and “hcalendar” (no quotes), to the list, separated by commas.
8. Add “hcard” and “hcalendar” (no quotes) to one of the “Custom Buttons” boxes, again separated by commas.
9. Save your changes.
10. Open a page to edit. You should see two new buttons in the Document Content edit window… one to insert hCard data, the other to insert hCalendar data.