In this line of work you sometimes get clients who come to you hoping the internet will save their business. It won’t.  Not on it’s own anyway.  Thing is, if there is a problem somewhere, you have to deal with it before taking on another venture, otherwise chances are you’ll simply be out more money and no better off for the expenditure.

One situation that really stands out to me, is where the client has been at it all so long that they simply forgot that they used to love their business. Over the years, they’ve found a pattern.  You know, a “rut”.  Once there it can be a challenge to get out.  A nice deep rut blocks the view of the horizon and kills the imagination. (All the stuff that made you successful in the first place.) In companies like this new ideas fall on deaf ears, the buck is always in mid-pass, and sadly customers are seen as inevitable irritations…  These are what I call “revitalization” projects. The only thing worse than working with a company in this phase, is being their customer.

I try to avoid these sorts of situations as much as possible.  It’s not rebuilding mind you, it’s the fire.  Without the excitement and energy we have nothing to build on.  It really bums me out when I can see the path to a successful campaign, only to realize that the bigger issue is the client’s lack of enthusiasm for their own product or service or even their customers that is sucking the wind out of their sails. In that case all you can do is be honest and tell them exactly that.  After all, they are paying you to help them find solutions.  A bit of  harsh reality may be the most valuable solution you can offer.

I suddenly looked at our company website and thought, “Too Much. Too Much” and as you can see I’ve cleared it all out and brought it down to the bare essentials.  That’s one thing we often do when we build websites, we simply try to say too much.  Sometimes it’s simply a better idea to provide the essential information, and then have folks call.  That’s where relationship building really starts.

Have you ever looked at Delicious?  It’s an online service that allows you to store and share your bookmarks.  Ours is here http://delicious.com/skilletcreek. What information could you share with your customers, readers, friends and fans?

I was posting a response on another website discussing approches to social media, and I thought I’d share this with you….

My experience with social media is that it’s organic and personal. For most of us our lives and personal interests connect deeply with our business anyway. If we explore and follow people, brands and networks that interest us personally we tend to blend in others who are like minded in business and life in general. That’s where the doors start to open up and not usually the ones we were conceiving of when we started. I love the bit about being yourself. I think there is success in just being in social media and as soon as you start overtly “doing” you lose your authenticity. -

Of course you’ve probably already heard me spin on about this on this before…

I’ll be out of the office quite a bit this week as you can imagine.  I hope everyone has a great holiday!

You may have noticed that I am now offering art quality print photography online at our new Skillet Creek Gallery Store.  Just in time to miss Christmas of course, but on schedule with the growth plans for Skillet Creek.  I even have new business cards coming this week!  You know what they say, “A change is as good as a rest” and I’m feeling well rested!

In other news I am now working with a couple new clients to help them to develop a strong social media strategy for their companies.  I am a strong advocate of social media. Still for many companies the amount of work and attention it requires can be daunting. Just creating a twitter account without quantifiable goals and realistic expectations is simply a fast track to disappointment.  It’s a good idea to get a little outside help.

Oh, and yes our website did change from green to brown… fiddle, fiddle…

I always get excited right along with my clients when a new project reaches it’s fruition.  Especially when they see rare instant success.  Such is the case with local author Royce Boyles who along with Dave Robinson have just released their new book, The Lombardi Legacy.   I am proud to be part of this project and so happy to see it take off almost as fast as we could get the website live.   Congratulations Royce & Dave!

The most interesting bit of this project from a developer’s point of view is how simple the approach is.  One product, basic information.  Sometimes there is no need to be fancy, just clean, and classy.  The website simply allows the product to sell itself.

There was a power outage in one of our data centers overnight, which required us to shut down hardware to avoid data loss. Power has been restored, and our Network Operations team is currently in the process of bringing services back online. We currently do not have an ETA for full restoration of service. At this time, a fraction of customers may be experiencing:
- Slow or broken connectivity
- The inability to make changes to their website or upload new files
- The inability to send and receive email
We apologize for this interruption, and will update this alert with more information as it becomes available.

So a woman travels to Boulder, CO., and has a bad experience at a shop there.  She posts about that bad experience on her blog, her Facebook & Twitter.  Now that bad experience is shared with a few hundred people, many of whom would shop in the same places she does.  They also take her opinion seriously.  Hey, they subscribe to her Twitter, friend her at Facebook and read her blog.   Now the nice thing here is that the shop is also making use of social media were able to follow up and turn a less than stellar first impression into the beginning of a good relationship with a simple acknowledgment and apology.   Everyone in the shops social network & the original posters network are able to look in and form an opinion.  Chances are they are happy to give the shop a bit of leeway, since they were quick to reach out.

This is not a unique story these days.  In fact, it’s common place.  That’s why it’s really quite surprising how many businesses ignore social media completely.   I mean, if you could learn more about what people really think of your business, their perception of your service & what they are telling others, wouldn’t you want to know?

The advantage (or maybe not so much..) of a home office is that you can get some work done no matter how you’re feeling. There is no “sniffle & stay home” rule here!

So let’s see, what’s going on this week…

Hosting - First collection of hosting forms have gone out today. Simply review the form and choose the package that bet fits your needs. Chances are the package you currently have is fairly similar to the new ones. However, I know some of you could save some money of the course of the year by choosing a maintenance package instead of paying hourly labor changes for updates.

What I’m Working On - On my desk at the moment is the new site for the Bank of Mauston which I hope will be going live fairly soon. I’m also working on a site for a New Newfoundland photographer. Great images too. I look forward to sharing that one with you. I’ve also been working on some print advertising over the weekend.  Having fun with the historic, parchment & treasure map look.

Learning Tip – I’m going to be posting links here every so often to help you learn a bit more about computers, websites & social media.  This week have a look at a website called; YourLogoMakesMeBarf.com.  It’s harsh for sure but sometimes there is a place for a good dose of reality.  The main point here is, don’t let you’re cousin’s sister design your logo.  Well, unless she’s a graphic artist of course!

Skillet Creek Media says it all. (but you can still use Baraboo Interactive Services.. for awhile as we make the transition!)

As you can see, we’ve changed our name.  The old label of “Baraboo Interactive Services” served us well enough for over a dozen years now and I’m sure it could have served another dozen.  But it has to be said too that the business has changed a lot since back in 1996.  When dove into the “web” business you could still say the word “internet” and be laughed out of a room.  I know, I often did!! Back then asking people to look 5 or 10 years forward was quite a challenge. Thankfully there were enough forward thinking folks in our community to keep me  off the streets!  Today of course we could’nt live without the web.

Still, the more things change the more they remain the same, as the saying goes. Now we’re talking about Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, Google Wave and all sorts of new stuff we have labeled as “Social Media”.   A website by comparison seems well, “bookish”.  Nothing wrong with a good book mind you, it’s just that now we tend to want to easily be able to communicate with the author in a variety of ways.  Skillet Creek Media can help you do that.

In addition, what what we do here has changed. Sure we still offer web design and hosting services but we also offer so many new services as well, not to mention the growth of our own online publications.

I think too, we’ve also found our niche over the years and that was not being expressed by our name.  Skillet Creek Media accomplishes that goal. The “media” bit I’m sure you’ll understand.  Let me tell you a bit about Skillet Creek (The real one.). “Skillet Creek” is a little known little stream runs through our area like a thread, tying together many amazing and beautiful locals.  Skillet Creek runs from Devil’s Lake State Park westward and drops down the beautiful, but privately held “Skillet Falls”, then continues through the hill walls of Pewit’s nest and then out to the Baraboo river which rifles through the city of Baraboo continuing out through the Lower Narrows and on to the Wisconsin River.

Our daily efforts bring nature and business together as we focus on regional tourism and outdoor recreation.  It’s hard for us to talk about marketing in our area without talking about the natural beauty that brings people here all year round.  Add to that my personal love if not occasional obsession with Devil’s Lake,  Sea Kayaking, and all sorts of outdoor recreation and it becomes an obvious fit.  Skillet Creek Media says it all.  Let me know what you think!