Starting a Website? Learn From My 4 Mistakes

This post was suggested from a coworker and friend of mine, Suba Naganathan. He has a very well designed website at www.suba.ca that he admittedly doesn't give enough love to. 

Mr. Suba, this post is for you. I hope it's everything you've hoped and dreamed for, and more.

Before I shares my Dos and Don'ts, I want to be very clear that any web property is in a constant state of development. You will NEVER work on a website and then be "done". That being said, here are some good starting tips. I start with the don'ts because these ones are the ones that you really wish you hadn't done after the fact.

DON'T:
1- Register your name through Google Apps. I originally did this because I was trying to ensure I have everything that Google Apps had to offer on my site; email, team collaboration, etc. The problem is that all Google does here is act as a third party and buys the name from ENOM for you. Once this happens, if you want to create a customer HTML or Wordpress hosted website you are out of luck. This was a really big learning for me that there is a difference between buying a domain name and buying hosting services.

Solution- Go directly to ENOM.com or Godaddy.com to purchase your domain name.

2-Download a free trial of an FTP program. An FTP program is what you use to upload your HTML (or other) files to your hosting server. I made the mistake of downloading a trial version of one and then after 30 days I had to scrap it and start over.

Solution- I currently use FileZilla which is open source and most importantly free, and I'm very happy with its ease of use and functionality.

3- Ignore the copy on your website until the last minute. I didn't really think about the words that I actually wanted to put on my site until I had the site designed. Then, when I put in the copy, everything didn't look exactly as I want. Even to this day, I'm not really happy with the content on the site (outside of this awesome blog of course!!).

Solution- When thinking of the website design, write out your copy and work on revising it as the site comes together.

4- Forget about SEO. Search Engine Optimization almost doesn't mean anything to me anymore because it's such a popular buzzword. Essentially its creating your site in a way that makes it easy for search engines to find it. Although I knew about the concept I didn't know anything about it in practice, so I'm well behind the curve on this one. I only realized AFTER my site was up that Google has tons of tools that can help you get the basics built into your site.

Solution- Read up on the basics of SEO so when you are developing your site you can build some of the easier pieces into the design. There are tons of SEO services out there that will charge you an arm and a leg. My opinion is that you need to do the basics and unless you are a big company these services probably aren't worth your cash.

DO:
1- Research on your hosting options. I cannot stress this point enough. I was in a big rush to get y site up and running once it was designed, and I just went with the first company that was recommended by a friend (www.dotCanada.com). I do not have any complaints about this quality or service of this company, however, a few days later I was talking with Bill Pitcher who shared what he paid for his hosting, and the price was FAR superior.

Result- Saving Cash

2- Use Google Apps on your site. I know from experience that you should never actually purchase your domain through Google, I do believe you should set up Google Apps on your site once you have purchased the domain and hosting. This allows you to use all of the familiar tools from Google (gmail, calendar, etc) and also a host of other business focused applications.

What this means is when I go to mail.coreytyhurst.com, it actually brings me into my coreytyhurst.com gmail account. Likewise for calendar, etc. I must say that right now I do not use these features much, but if I were going to be using my site for a small business this is a great way to do that. You can also add as many emails you want for employees or friends if that is something that is required.

I must admit, accomplishing this does require a bit of reading and learning about DNS settings (they were confusing as hell to figure out, but once I got basics down it wasn't too bad to set this up). If you are trying to use Google Apps on your site and you need help, please let me know as a few screenshots of my settings should be able to help you on your way.

Result- Usability and Scalability

3- Hire someone with a sense of design to make your site beautiful. I do not recommend spending lots of money on this, but if you are not good at design like I am, it's well worth a small investment. My site was designed by Kait Souch (www.kaitsouch.com, @misskait) and I was very happy with her work.

Results- Your site is pretty!

4- Add Google Analytics to your site, on every page. Google Analytics is a free way to track the traffic on your site, and it is used by companies large and small around the world. I am not an expert by any means on this tool, but I have used it to verify that my home page is not compelling at all, and definitely does not encourage anyone to visit the blog tab of my site. Still working on this, but I highly recommend adding Analytics to your site, even if you aren't sure what you would use it for yet.

Results- You can measure and react to your visitors.



Overall Tip: DO SOME RESEARCH!

I have to admit, I thought making my own website was going to be a piece of cake. It's not that it's hard, but there are some technical steps along the way if you want the type of functionality I speak of above.

Good luck on your own site and please let me know if I can help in any way!

It's Official: Empire Avenue Knows I Was Adopted [SATIRE]

No, seriously. I think I may have been born in the United States and adopted by a nice Canadian family. It amazing I turned out to look exactly like my "adopted" Father. Look at us! There's no way we aren't related right!?

Ok, Ok, The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.... but maybe the conspiracy is deeper? Maybe the stork society just totally dropped me off on the wrong side of the Detroit River? Heck, maybe the stork even mistook Windsor for Detroit... I need to write a letter to the Stork council or something.

Growing up in Essex Ontario, I always knew about a saying that says "Ontario stops at London". I never really knew what this meant until I moved away for university.

Example 1: Despite being a huge music buff my whole life, I was not privy to many of the great Canadian bands until I made the move to St. Catharines for school. Can you believe I only knew 2 Tragically Hip songs!? And to top it off, most of my friends from the Toronto area didn't know who Bob Seger was... BOB SEGER.... CMON PEOPLE!!!!

Example 2: Every single one of my university friends lived out their childhood experiences using Toronto as a home base, whereas my home base was Detroit. In 2nd year my friend and I were talking about how awesome the Zoo was as a kid. At the end of it all he commented on how amazing the Toronto Zoo was. I paused for a moment, and then realized I had never been to the Toronto Zoo and I was picturing the Detroit Zoo in my head! The same was true for Hockey Games, Monster Truck Rallies, and even Science Centres*.

*I did visit the Ontario Science Centre as a child, but my most vivid memories are of the one in Detroit.

Example 3: When I first took my internship at P&G (an American-owned company I might add), I consistently got asked if I was from the US. Somewhere between the "accent" that I had and my passion for NASCAR, I guess I was giving myself away! I believe both my accent and passion for NASCAR have waned, but the memories of this time still persist.

Example 4: During my internship I had the opportunity to visit Fayetteville, Arkansas to check out our sales office there. Anyone who knows anything about the consumer goods industry knows we have a little company down there we sell to, so I won't bother mentioning it. :)

Well, while I'm down there eating a $5 steak that is more delicious than any $50 I've ever had in Canada, I am telling someone about how I'm on the Canadian sales team. What's the response you might ask? "Oh, but you aren't originally from Canada are you?"

The way I see it, if the folks in Arkansas mistake me for American, I'm either doing a really bad job at being a Canadian, or I've been misplaced somehow!

My 5th and final example: I've denied it for a long time, but it's official. Without any effort of my own, social media has now classified me as an American. On a little site I've mentioned before (www.empireavenue.com), they just implemented some new leaderboards. The are organized by your default country. Sure enough, I look on there and I wasn't showing up in Canada, but I WAS showing up on the global list. Turns out, even though my location is listed in Toronto, the leader boards have me showing up in the US list!!

So Dad, your little secret about how you smuggled me across the border as a young child is safe with me. I suppose it was a lot easier to do such things back then. Somewhat ironic, because with an economic situation like we've seen lately, I hear it's a pain in the butt to go back the other way.

UPDATE: @dups has shared with me that the location for that feature is actually determined by your IP address so that people can't toy with their location to get a good spot on the leaderboards. I have a sneaking suspicion that my VPN to Cincinnati is likely what put me in the US list. Either way, it has been fun being an American for this short time! 

Online Analytics: You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet

Facebook, Twitter, Posterous, LinkedIn.... These are all common social networking sites that millions of people visit everyday. While of course the key benefits to these networks is networking, engaging in conversation, and spreading your influence in the world, that's not where the real "power" of social media may lie.

In fact, those who operate their own websites and use Google Analytics have known the dirty little secret of the online world for some time... data = power.

I don't mean power in some draconian sense of the world, but data is what enables analysis and understanding of behaviour, which then in turn can help you influence that behaviour and monetize it.

There are many sites that an average consumer can use to access online behavioural data, including Google Analytics, HootSuite, and Facebook Insights. There is also a premium class of analytics tools, generally used by enterprise customers including SocialTalk, Radian6, and Spiral16 to name a few. Not sure what the deal is with the sixes in the names, but I assume it would make a good conspiracy theory.

These enterprise class software packages are very powerful, and are getting moreso by the day. Take a look at this video of how Spiral16 can map out the relationship between two political campaigns.



Of course, it's a cool feature to map out a network in 3D, but what real use does it have? This is where it begins to get exciting. This type of technology could previously only be discussed in theoretical networks or carefully controlled studies in universities, but now real data can be used in real time to analyze real networks. This has implications on how we divy up public resources like healthcare, how we target new products, and even how we share news on a natural disaster in the most efficient way.

Nicholas Christakis, a Harvard sociolist specializing in networks explains it all in the following video. It's a long one, so I'll give you the shorthand too.

The most efficient way to spread something through a network is to pick people at random and then ask them to select a friend. That friend will inherently be closer to the center of the network, and that's where you should focus your message/product for most impact.


Nicholas talks about many of these ideas in terms of the flu, but it can apply to anything that spreads through networks including ideas and product innovations.



Net: If you think social media and the web are important to business in the future, I highly suggest you dabble in the analytics space at least part time. As they say in business, 


You Get What You Measure.

What Is Your Lighthouse Product?

You never actually reach the lighthouse, but you use it as a guiding principle every step of the way in order to dock your boat in the harbour successfully.

I heard this very interesting idea in a meeting when the concept of a lighthouse product was shared with me. A lighthouse product is something that will likely cost too much money and time to ever create, but everything you do should be moving you in that direction.

To that note, my friend Bill (owner of www.empirebuilding.net) and I have begun a new Facebook community page called The Social Branding Network. It essentially replaces my experiment of the coreytyhurst.com fan page, and has a focus on discussing issues surrounding personal and professional branding in everything you do, particularly online.

The name is very deliberate:


Social- This is a place for conversation, debate, and asking questions. I've learned from my mistakes that there is no point in having a community page unless you are active in it!


Branding- It's all about branding; personal, professional, location, product. You name it, we want to talk about branding it.


Network- You cannot have a conversation without a network. As such, this is a place for those who may or may not know each other to meet others and explore what different perspectives have to offer.

You'll also note that the logo design is very similar to the Empire Building Network. This is deliberate as well. Bill and I are working together to help promote our social networks, and we wanted that to be clear to everyone involved.

If you are interested, you can visit the page or "Like" it via the big box on the right, or by clicking here. I expect it will often contain articles from your favourite sites like Mashable and Digg, but we also hope that it can have some unique content; be it user created or even pictures and videos that exemplify how important it is to take your brand by the horns and actively manage it.

There is still much work to do on www.coreytyhurst.com as well as on my personal blog to be sure. However a career in brand building can take many paths, and I feel like this step is moving me a little bit closer to my lighthouse product.

The Dilemmas of Political Campaigns

Being a politician isn't all cocktail parties and fancy fundraisers. Sure, that's what the media is often focused on when they are covering the Prime Minister or the President, but like any other profession it takes a lot of hard work and dedication to make it to that top spot. This often requires many hard hours canvassing and speaking with countless constituents to understand the issues in the area the politician is attempting to represent.

I've been working with Chris Tindal (www.christinal.ca) on his campaign to become the next City Councillor for Ward 27 in Toronto. I've been canvassing the ward with Chris and trying to get the word out on what he's all about. It has been a great experience, and I'm going to continue to do it, but I have come across a couple of interesting dilemma's while doing this:

Dilemma 1)
Politicians are constantly criticized for being out of touch with the public, but a lot of people don't want to be bothered when a potential politician wants to hear about their issues.

I completely understand where the people are coming from on this one. After all, we see politicians make decisions that we don't agree with on a daily basis... they obviously aren't listening to us! At the same time, I really don't want every politician who represents me stopping by my doorstep or calling me on the phone at dinner time every night to ask me what I think about certain issues. I (somewhat) have a life afterall!

I was going to write a whole piece here about how social media can help enable this, but let's be honest, I'd bet it's a pretty skewed population that is looking to their politicians online. One only has to look to the Obama campaign vs. the McCain campaign to see where the demographics are on that one.

Although there is no real solution to this, my advice is if you get the chance, take a few minutes out of your busy day to talk to your potential candidates. Whether it's at your door or online, grill them on their issues and make sure they know their stuff! I guarantee you that the person is not walking around your whole neighbourhood talking to everyone for a selfish reason. Although you may not agree with their personal stance on things, they will be happy to listen and share their thoughts with you.

Dilemma 2)
The taxes are always too high, and the services are always too low... and the Government is wasting it all.

Again, I really can't disagree on this one. Who doesn't want lower taxes and more services!? I think the Government(s) of the past and present are the ones who are really driving this lack of faith in the system. I think the majority of people don't mind paying their taxes, but most people express a feeling that taxes are going up while service levels continue to decrease. This inevitably leads to the third variable in this equation, government waste.

I am fairly privileged in that I got to study economics in school. Also known as the study of scarce resources, the basic principles of economics states that there are always winners and losers in any political or economic decision. It's unfortunate that this is the case, but that means that anytime any government makes a decision to fund a certain project or initiative, there WILL be another project or initiative that doesn't get funded... keep that in mind next time you see a politician making a decision. What is s/he giving up in order to make this decision?

Again, there is no solution to this per se, but my advice to people would be to keep a watch on what their politicians are doing. Are their choices good for society as a whole, or are they choosing to focus on a certain group/area for political gain? As a society we've been living beyond our means for some time, and this likely means at some point in the near future our politicians at all levels are going to be making some tough choices in the future. Ask yourself if you'd want someone representing you who's willing to make the tough choices, or if you would prefer someone who happens to fund your individual project/initiative.

Well, now that I'm ending my little piece on the dilemmas of modern democracy, let me leave you with this...



After all, at the end of the day, regardless of a politicians party affiliation or policy decisions, they can always use a little help from their friends. Volunteering for a political campaign is a great way to learn some things about your local neighbourhood and really make a difference. Try it out!

PS: This blog reflects my own personal views only. I do work on the Chris Tindal campaign as a volunteer, but he is his own man and all of his personal views can be found at www.christindal.ca