Content is King - How to create exceptional blogs, videos and podcasts

I will be giving a talk as part of the “Content is King” day organised by our friends in Media Contact on November 19th. Thankfully people won’t just have to listen to me all day. There are lots of other interesting speakers that I hope will make the day memorable for all those attending.

My talk will be about “Creating Winning Websites” and will focus on sites that make an impact. What they did, how they did it etc. I am sure there will be some room for some shameless plugging of client projects but mostly I will concentrate on the bigger picture…

I am really looking forward to the event - no doubt nerves will play a part as I am sure Jack will ensure that the room is full to bursting point. If anyone has any helpful nuggets of info that they think should make it into my presentation leave a comment below!

Design plagiarism - ceci n’est pas le meme site…

We worked with our content management partners Terminal Four a couple of years ago to design the interface of the National Employment Rights Authority website.

The following website of a business providing employment law advice in Ireland was brought to our attention this morning:

This would seem to me to be quite clearly an act of plagiarism. When I suggested to the site owner that perhaps he had copied the design I was told that the two sites were different and that there was no similarity… and after all you couldn’t copyright page layout and images… I suddenly felt a Magritte moment coming on.

The best bit of all was that the designer/developer in question hadn’t even bothered to change the HTML code. There was code in the page referring to the fact that they were mirroring the NERA website and they left in all of the comments from the Terminal 4 content management system e.g.
<!– End T4 - Page Content Template–>
We are going to take this as a compliment I think but I am not sure that the client will be taking the same view!

Social Media - We have been doing it for years

You can’t open your email/browser/feed reader/blog these days without being confronted by someone trying to flog you social media services, social media courses, social media marketing advice etc. Companies are popping up all over the place charging you money to teach you how to  use Facebook or set up a Twitter account.

Let’s be clear. “Social media” isn’t new and it isn’t a fad. Humans are social creatures - and we’ve been on the planet for a while. We like to stay in touch with our friends/family/colleagues/clients/customers etc.  We simply have a different set of tools to communicate with people these days compared to previous generations. What’s new is the immediacy, the geographical reach and the accessibility.

You can talk with your mate in Australia on Skype whilst chatting with your brother in Dublin on Facebook all the while uploading videos to You Tube of  your latest holidays. You can tell 1000s of people about your latest product launch or your coolest special offer simply by typing a few words into Twitter. It’s all there, all instant and all free.

The Internet is the most revolutionary communication tool since Alexander Graham Bell said “Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you.” Of that there is no question. It doesn’t mean though that we have all suddenly become brilliant communicators. It doesn’t mean that just because the tools are there that anybody is listening.

Twitter, Facebook, Slideshare, You Tube etc. have given us the tools to communicate more effectively but if the message is wrong in the first place none of this matters. In fact, given the noise levels on sites such as Twitter and Facebook and the competion for our attention from other media (TV, Radio, Print), the clear presentation of your idea is the most important thing whether it’s written on parchment or in magic flashlights in the snow.