Shenoa Lawrence

Room to Think - Coworking in Richland, WA

2011-09-02T09:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday confirmed my feelings that coworking in the Tri-Cities is a fantastic idea. For a little while now, the core group of Room to Think has been the same people, and I haven't seen much interest from new people. I was fairly certain though that tons of untapped freelancers remained out there somewhere. To broaden our group, I decided to start a few new avenues of outreach. I started a meetup group, and got direct with asking specific people to join us. Something worked, because we had a new coworker join us who seemed to be as excited about coworking as I am. +Travis Person just moved back from California and was able to share perspective on a cool space in the south bay. He must have dug our vibe cause he's RSVPed for Tuesday's meetup.

For the time being, the Richland Public Library will suit, but I can't help be excited and dream about moving into our own rockin' space. For now, Room to Think has a pretty heavy web technology bent, but our idea is to include tech and creatives of all types. If you know anyone working out of a coffeeshop or a home, please pass along my invitation to join us!

Changing Perspective

2011-05-24T20:03:00.000-07:00

Every so often, even the most creative folks can fall into a rut. By doing so, we box ourselves into a mental space that limits the way we view our work. How do we deal with this?

Let's Get Physical

When I was a kid, I used to turn myself upside down on the sofa and imagine I could walk on the ceiling. Looking around the room showed me all sorts of things in a different light. Even the dust motes in the sunlight sparkled a little differently. Whether it's flipping around like a kid or standing on a desk Dead Poet's style, shifting your physical person is a really effective way of seeing things anew.

Are You Mental?

Changing your perspective in a physical sense is only one way to bust out. Although completely changing your mental perspective may be unrealistic, it's possible to at least get a glimpse of the limits we impose on ourselves simply by being who we are. Take a good look at the next person you pass on the street or in a store and imagine yourself as that person (yep, with THAT look on your face and in THOSE pants). Carrying someone else's happiness or cares for just a few short moments can bring amazing insight into what the heck is weighing down your own creative inclinations. For instance, what type of person did you imagine when you thought about the pants and face combination above?

Choose Your Own Adventure

Here are a few thoughts for when the humdrums come knocking at your design door.

Chase down the ice-cream truck next time it rolls by.
Ride the bus around a single circuit.
Leave your t-shirt on backwards next time it goes on wrong.
Buy that weird vegetable at the grocery store and figure out what to do with it.
Write a blog post starting with the first-person plural narrative mode, then follow it with first-person view, then flip in a little second-person narrative.

Shaking it up with some little things can shift your perspective just enough to get out of that rut. If not, hopefully you at least got a quick break and had a little fun in the interim.

PS - If you're the type that never comments on a blog, this might be a good time to give it a try.

Better...stronger...faster.

2011-05-04T17:39:00.000-07:00

A while back I got a call about making some minor changes to an existing site. Projects like this help to fill in the blanks between the larger jobs, and I'm fine with helping folks out on stuff I didn't personally create. However, when I dug in to the bones of the site, I found some incredibly strange code. It was messy, chock full of errors, and oh so very very slow. It was apparently built in a proprietary content management system (CMS) owned by Intuit. I suppose it makes sense that a company famed for tax software wouldn't necessarily do a great job at web site building tools.

There are many moments when a web developer needs to put things into layman's terms. We don't always do a great job of it, and sometimes we rely on dumb analogies, “We can rebuild it. We have the technology. We can make it better than it was. Better...stronger...faster.” Thankfully, it doesn't cost six million dollars to take out all the bum parts of a web site and retrofit it, Steve Austin style.

I tamed my itchy fix-it fingers for the moment, did the requested changes, and passed along a note about how much smoother the site would run if I could spend some time recoding it. Along came the approval, and I dug in.

For web geeks, here's an overview of what I did:

separated styles into external stylesheets
updated code to HTML5
color corrected and optimized images for web display
validated pages

Bigger is NOT Better

One of the main reasons the site was so incredibly large had to do with the images. A well-built site includes the process of taking a photo, color correcting it, cropping it, and reducing the size so that just enough quality remains to make it snazzy for web display. Some images used in the CMS-built site were at original print resolution. Yikes! This is one area where bigger is most definitely not better. Bigger is slower, and slow sites can result in frustrated customers.

Other problems existed with the code, but suffice it to say the new site would be more compatible with current browsers and should stay more visually consistent as new versions are released. Plus, it will be really simple to update!

Supposedly, Steve Austin could run up to 60 mph (100 km/hr). How fast can a streamlined web site run? Let's take a look at the work.

BEFORE

Page	Size Before (KB)	Dialup load time (in seconds)	DSL load time (in seconds)
1	934	133.4	19.5
2	2355	336.4	49.1
3	682	97.4	14.2
4	2330	332.9	48.5
5	2010	287.1	41.9
6	188	26.9	3.9
7	1169	167.0	24.4
8	160	22.9	3.3
TOTAL	9828	1404.0	204.8

Even on DSL, some pages took nearly 50 seconds to completely load. There was nothing complex about the site, and no clear need for the site to take nearly so long to present itself.

AFTER

Page	Size Before (KB)	Dialup load time (in seconds)	DSL load time (in seconds)
1	105	15.0	2.2
2	96	13.7	2.0
3	70	10.0	1.5
4	78	11.1	1.6
5	109	15.6	2.3
6	71	10.1	1.5
7	70	10.0	1.5
8	88	12.6	1.8
TOTAL	687	98.1	14.3

An across the board improvement, even the rare dialup user has a chance at getting some information during a commercial break. In case these weren't enough statistics for you, here's a summary of the most important speed issues on the site:

the site was over 14 times the size it needed to be
before the update, DSL users spent twice as long loading a page than dialup users did afterwards
the site was only 8 pages total, and loading all of them sequentially would take almost 3.5 minutes on DSL

If the average adult's running speed is 10 mph, then the Six Million Dollar man's speed was increased 6 times over. I didn't put bionic eyes on the site, but 14 times faster is a heck of an improvement.

I'm an advocate of custom-built sites, so I usually don't have much good to say about content management systems. This case seemed to justify my bias so perfectly, I had to share it with you.

Poor Little Orphaned Pages

2011-01-05T18:48:00.000-08:00

Today, I got the following response from a client after explaining what an orphaned web page is:

"Orphaned? That's kind of a sad thought.... I picture crowds of disheveled pages huddled together against the cold, sleeping in the gutter and performing pop-ups for food and trying not to get pulled into prostitution by Russian pornsite merchants. Is there an orphanage for web pages? Can they be adopted by Angelina Jolie?"

After getting over my case of the giggles, I spent a little more time thinking about orphaned pages. This is a common occurance on sites that have been around a while. The orphaned page exists in a vacuum: it has a web address, but is not linked from anywhere on the navigation, sitemap, or otherwise visible areas of the site.

Occasionally this happens on purpose so that legacy information is still available to other sites or visitors who have linked or bookmarked those lonely pages. We keep them around for the convenience of those people who still want them (sad and undernourished though they be). Such unfortunate little pages lurk in the dark corners and suffer our lack of attention.

So, should we go Angelina on them? Of course! If we feed them up properly and make them feel useful again, they could be extremely beneficial.

Setting the metaphor aside, this basically means that we sometimes neglect very valuable sources of traffic. Check your traffic reports, and you'll sometimes find lucrative web traffic from unexpected corners. Removing those pages altogether would serve up a not-so-pretty "Page Missing" message, so why not direct the traffic to a better place?

Giving those orphaned pages a little love by funneling your old page content into the new sections will help you leverage that traffic. Updating your orphaned pages by placing links leading to new content pages can help bring the orphaned pages (and visitors) back into the fold.

Getting Started on a Web Site

2010-11-19T14:40:00.000-08:00

Sometimes it's difficult to move from idea to action. Once you've decided to build a web site, what is your next step? There are a wide range of choices available to you. It's best to start by narrowing down where your needs fit into the spectrum of web development options.

You may choose building it yourself or hiring someone else to do it. Both options have their ups and downs, you must consider what is right for you. How much time do you have to learn the ins and outs of web design? If delegating an employee is an option: will the effort take too much of the employee's time and cause a conflict between projects that employee is supposed to accomplish? Hiring an outside company is the most common method of web site development. There are companies available in all price ranges and skills, and you should be able to find someone to fit your budget.

Hiring a Company to Build Your Web Site

As I mentioned earlier, there is an unlimited range of web development options. Non-profit organizations are sometimes able to tap local college resources and find some students in training to develop a site. Small businesses may relate better to other small web development firms and freelancers with the flexibility to modify the project scope as needed. Extensive web development projects are commonly sourced to large advertising firms who can provide a range of additional services such as branding, advertising, and media campaigns. It's important to consider where in the range of businesses you might fit before approaching a web designer.

Your Web Site Needs

One of the initial things a web developer will discuss is about what you want your web site to do and accomplish. This starts the process of brainstorming which features and functions might be appropriate for your needs. A photographer would want to showcase photos, in which case an image gallery would be recommended. A church might want an email newsletter which may require some specialized software. A movie theater might consider some eye-catching elements which could entail some animation development. Start considering what goals and functions which would be most appropriate for your web site. Spend some time looking at other web sites with an eye toward developing your own. Keep a running list of the features you like and dislike.

Gathering Your Materials

Many high-end web development companies include the creation of text content in the development process. However, the price conscious business owner may want to consider contributing as much as possible towards the text used on the web site. Working hand in hand with the developer to achieve content appropriate to the web also allows you to personalize the “voice” of the web site and avoid presenting wording that sounds too formal or contains too heavy a marketing angle. With a little planning, you can present good quality photography and descriptive text content, thereby taking an essential step towards a professional and personalized web site. The final product is frequently reflective of the original content that you provide.

Starting the Process

After spending some time considering what you want on your web site and what type of budget you can allocate to it, it's time to talk with some developers. A bid or proposal must be created custom for every client in order to reflect the specific needs (not too much or too little). This is accomplished by conveying your needs and materials to the web developer who creates the proposal to suit. The more information you can provide, the more accurate the estimate will be. While it's common to choose someone from your area to design your web site, it's not necessary. The web development process can take place entirely via email and phone. The most important part of choosing a web developer is finding someone you can relate to and communicate well with. So, get the ball rolling by gathering some materials, making a few calls and scheduling a consultation. You'll be glad you finally did!

Nominations for the EFF Pioneer Award

2010-08-09T18:56:00.000-07:00

I've just nominated the Creative Commons for the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Pioneer Award. "EFF established the Pioneer Awards to recognize leaders on the electronic frontier who are extending freedom and innovation in the realm of information technology." My submission is as follows:

I believe the Creative Commons deserves the Pioneer Award because they have placed the power of ownership control directly into the hands of content producers. The more we depart from traditional publishing models, the more we are faced with situations in which traditional copyright creates legal problems. By providing a mechanism for variation in types of content protection, Creative Commons has provided a visionary framework for collaborative publishing. This is what Web 2.0 is about.

Interested in nominating an organization or person? Submit your nomination here.

Site Launch: Tierney / Figueiredo Architects

2010-07-26T09:46:00.000-07:00

Congratulations Tierney / Figueiredo Architects on your new web site launch! Thanks for keeping your energy and enthusiasm strong throughout the development process. I really enjoyed working on your site. http://www.tfarch.com

Tierney / Figueiredo Architects is located in Santa Rosa and has produced a number of well-known architectural projects. From the design of the CHOPS DeMeo Teen Center to the restoration of the Sonoma City Hall, TFA has played a central role in community-oriented efforts. A gallery of projects on their web site demonstrates the diversity of work this firm has produced since inception in 1980.

Working with small businesses is an exercise in coordination and scheduling. Very frequently the owner is my primary contact, and running a business alongside being an active contributor in a web site project can be demanding. However, as seen in the above web site, it's incredibly worthwhile to make the commitment. The TFA site is a strong reflection of their business services and is expected to take a central role in their marketing plan.

All About the User

2010-06-29T18:19:00.000-07:00

Geek that I am, I periodically have to revisit one of my favorite movies: Tron. Last night while watching scenes of computer programs scrambling to do their user's bidding, it occurred to me that maybe now really is the perfect time for a sequel.

The original story describes the challenges computer users must face under the oppressive regime of the Master Control Program. Faced with these difficulties, the users rebel and push aside the needlessly restrictive directives so they can work in freedom once more.

An excellent story, and with some parallels to today's common computer use issues. Have you ever felt that a web site missed the boat when it was built? Well, they probably weren't prioritizing the needs of YOU, the user. Cryptic error messages, links that don't lead where you think they will, even just a missing phone number; these are all architecture problems that boil down to a failure in properly anticipating the user's needs.

Google's User Experience team's priority says to "Focus on the user and all else will follow." This goal basically means they have a strong commitment to user interface design. Identify what the user needs, then provide a web site design that facilitates the smoothest solutions.

It seems basic, but not every site makes user interface design a top priority. They let a Master Control Program dictate restrictions that hamper site utility. Web site templates are a common culprit, but it can just as easily be hosting restrictions or other technology issues. The only real solution is to start with the user, and work from that point forward. Make it a priority to ensure that your web site visitors have a user experience that gets them where they need to be with speed and no fuss.

Hello Tri-Cities!

2010-06-02T16:35:00.000-07:00

The question I've heard the most lately is, "You moved where?" So, for those of you who haven't heard, let me forestall the question by telling you about my newest adventure; relocating to Washington state.

We said goodbye to Monterey just two months ago so my husband could accept a work promotion. Goodbye fog, and hello sun!

I now live in Richland, Washington by the beautiful Columbia River in the desert. Yes, that's correct, there is a desert in Washington. You wouldn't know it by walking through town though, this area is highly irrigated for agriculture, residential, and recreation.

I know that I'm probably blowing all your mental pictures of Washington, but the truth is that we get over 300 days of sun, it rarely rains, and we're surrounded by scrubby desert brush. I love it!

Here's a quick map of the area, with some notes about a few things I've found so far:

View Tri-Cities in a larger map

So, I'm continuing my work from this new area, happy to design web sites for people in California, Washington, or wherever. I've found a few other web firms doing nice work around here, but I've seen already that some of the local folks need my services. All this means for my favorite Santa Rosa clients is that we'll need to plan our in-person meetings a little more carefully. Don't fret, I'll be visiting soon!

Client welcome! Gardens of the Wine Country

2010-06-02T15:39:00.000-07:00

I'd like to welcome a new client, Alan Kostelnik of the Santa Rosa landscape maintenance firm, Gardens of the Wine Country. Alan's web site debuted several years back and made a splash with excellent content and beautiful photography of his work. As time passed though, the need for updates became clear. The site had been built under a different set of code standards and search engines were having a hard time finding and categorizing his web site.

After an analysis of strengths and weaknesses, the following steps were taken:

addition of web traffic reporting
code updates for every page of the site
revised presentation of the photo gallery
implementation of social media as a customer outreach effort
addition of new content to address emphasis on services for specific geographic regions

With time set aside for analyzing the site's successes every month, Gardens of the Wine Country will have the best knowledge tools to react to what works and what doesn't. Each month will be a step closer towards understanding which efforts are truly worthwhile outreach programs. Traffic to the site has already increased, more to come as we find out what works for this client base.

Web 2.0 - the State of the Union

2010-01-27T20:46:00.000-08:00

I was very interested in following the State of the Union address this evening, not just to find out what President Obama has in store for America's future. Internet technology is seeping into the corners of our society, and the White House has joined in the trend.

Right now only an hour later, the Twitter Trending feed indicates the buzzwords SOTU, #dearcongress, and Union Address are holding top spots with the tweeting masses. On other sites such as Facebook, YouTube, and MySpace, our nation's highest office has set tongues wagging.

This is not entirely an accident. Sure, there would naturally be some discussions and information exchange taking place on any socially oriented web site. But it's not all without rhyme or reason. The White House set up a live streaming video cast on their web site. This video cast pointed site visitors to a live discussion taking place on Facebook. The follow up video cast pointed out Q&A opportunities on both YouTube and Twitter.

This is a social media plan. It's a way to tie together the thread of conversation across many web sites, which allows one to both guide and be informed by the conversations. What's your plan?

The Help Gap

2010-01-18T19:12:00.000-08:00

It's become clear to me that there's a certain failure in the way we respond to natural disasters. With the technology we have and the heroic efforts of aid workers, why does help frequently come too late?

Since my family member's experiences at an orphanage in Port-au-Prince after the earthquake, I've started to wonder how the little pieces of infrastructure left standing could be bolstered by outside aid organizations. News stories abound on shelters and hospitals set up by the Red Cross or Mercy Corps or any number of others, but how can the local efforts be tied into the bigger network of international aid?

It currently doesn't look like that's happening to a great extent. Getting recognized by an aid organization is difficult for those in need and is sometimes only brought to visibility through acknowledgment by a news agency. However, not all stories are run, and not all stories run hold the necessary pertinent facts needed to provide the aid these local agencies need.

So, how can we address the Help Gap? We should be able to better match the helpers to the needy. Do some searching around and see if you can find a way to report help needed on the major aid organization web sites. I doubt you'll find much of interest. Communications were down in Haiti immediately after the earthquake, but state-side organizers could have provided the necessary details to connect the Maison de Lumiere orphanage with the aid it needed.

The Help Gap should and can be narrowed.

Haiti Orphanage: Maison de Lumiere

2010-01-18T14:07:00.000-08:00

I've been closely following an orphanage in Haiti: Maison de Lumiere. My brother is currently on site and doing his best to lend a hand in whatever way possible. The orphanage has turned into an emergency medical clinic, and is in need of medical supplies, food, fuel, and water. Here's a map of the location and a list of the most needed items:

View Haiti Aid Needed in a larger map

MEDICAL SUPPLIES:

Hydrogen Perioxide
Splints (all sizes)
Normal saline – IV bags & D5
Bleach
Foley Catheter & Foley Bags
Sterile drapes
Suture kits
Cydex – Sterilzation liquid
Gloves
Surgical brushes
Sterile water
Surigical gowns and masks
Pleural vac

FOOD AND OTHER SUPPLIES:

50 bags of rice
50 bags of beans
6 cases of cooking oil
25 cases of tomato sauce
Diesel fuel - 200 gallons
500 gallons of clean water

If anyone has suggestions about where to submit this information to aid organizations, please let me know and/or contact the people in the info bubble on the map.

Can you spot me $5?

2010-01-17T12:27:00.000-08:00

I was imagining a scenario in which you and I were out for a cup of coffee to catch up on what's been happening in our lives lately. We're up at the counter and I order a bagel with cream cheese and a double latte. I then realize that I don't have any cash on me, and I left my credit card at home. You say, "Hey, no biggie...I'll catch you this time." I smile gratefully as you pay for my lunch.

I say thanks, and we continue with our coffee date. We talk about all sorts of stuff, important and inconsequential. Jobs, homes, pets, the state of the economy, it's all fair game. Then the topic turns to the earthquake in Haiti. I talk about how my brother and niece were there at an orphanage when the earthquakes hit. They've been working like super humans to help as many people as they can, acting as medical assistants when the orphanage turned into an emergency clinic. Even now, as my niece returns home, our family's thoughts dwell on my brother who remained behind to continue the help.

You mention how you've seen news reports about the extent of damage and how horrific it must be for the people of Haiti. We both shake our heads and sip our coffee in a brief moment of reflection about the vagaries of this crazy planet we live on.

It's a likely scenario, isn't it? This story could easily be an actual event. In fact, let's just pretend it happened....I'm sitting in my home at the computer, drinking a cup of coffee right now. Since I've got my coffee, would you mind putting that $5 towards a Haitian relief effort?

My brother's name is Robert Taylor, and he's working with Child Hope International in Port-au-Prince. Their fundraising efforts can be supported by visiting the donation link here:
http://www.childhope.org/about/earthquake.html

If you'd prefer to help via a secular relief organization, you might consider The Red Cross or Mercy Corps. These two organizations are cited on the White House Blog: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/01/12/thoughts-and-prayers-haiti

I'm sending this to every single person I have contact information for, but I hope you'll treat it not as a mass email, but as a personal request from me to you. I know you've probably been hit up for help lately for a variety of worthy causes. Whether you can donate $5 or $50, your contribution is valuable. If you've already chosen a charity to support, you have my deepest and sincerest thanks.

Announcing: www.johngolden.com

2009-12-18T17:47:00.000-08:00

I'm proud to announce a new site launch at www.johngolden.com. This client site has been 6 months in development, and all that hard work has finally paid off. John Golden Acupuncture is a newly launched practice in central Sacramento.

Like many other small businesses, Johns wants to use a web presence to kick off his practice marketing. In addition to a web site, John is also experimenting with social media marketing using Twitter, Facebook, Yelp, and more. In the short period of time his campaign has been running, he's already started to grow his business with new patients.

Promotion Follow Up

2009-07-29T19:32:00.001-07:00

To expand on the topic of promotion and social media marketing, I'd like to offer this client list map. I used Google Maps to create a simple client list which shows the distribution of a selected list of my web development clients. Online mapping can be used (please not abused) to show any topic's spatial relationships. Conclusions from this map? I've got a cluster of clients in northern California. Click each logo for more details on their projects and how they are promoting their businesses online.

Client List

View Client List in a larger map

Mini-Newsletter #1: Social Media Marketing

2009-07-29T10:33:00.000-07:00

Topic: Promotion
Featured Item: Social Media Marketing

Social Media Marketing

It's been all the rage lately in the world of online promotion. But what the heck is it? Basically, any site with some social concept is used to specially guide the online presence of a business, and in some cases to drive user and search engine traffic back to the main web site. So, a Yelp review may have a link to your web site, and your LinkedIn profile may mention both your Yelp page and your main web site. A network of links between a variety of sites and your domain is the key.

As with many trendy things, it's still a little early to determine the exact pay off, but I've been seeing some promising results for the experiments I've been running with a few clients. In my opinion, the main reason there has been so much industry buzz is that it's basically free with only a time commitment to maintain the program. The old days of expensive Yahoo! Listings is over. We can now sprinkle links to your domain all over the place without a large overhead budget.

The key part of this promotion method that appeals to me is the fact that it's a positive step for both users and for search engines. All those links are great to help new users find your web site, and it also boosts your domain in the search results pages.

To get a more in-depth overview of social media marketing, check out the following article:
http://searchengineland.com/seo-tips-for-building-your-personal-brand-21380

Microsoft and Yahoo Get Cozy: Beware Google

Some of you might have seen the recent launch of Microsoft's new search engine, Bing. Check out bing.com if you haven't, it has some interesting new features for a search engine. In the ever lasting game of search dominance, Microsoft is gunning for a larger share of the analytics pie. I've seen evidence of this recently while checking the log files of some of my clients. Shortly after launch, Bing was starting to send traffic to some of you.

Now, with a deal that's bound to shake things up in the search arena, Yahoo has agreed to ditch its search engine in place of the Bing. So when you search on Yahoo, you'll actually be searching the Bing database. I'll keep an eye on things in the log files, and see how things go as Microsoft tries to muscle in to Google's territory.

Read more:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8174763.stm

Wrap Up

I'm hoping this newsletter was useful in answering some questions you may have about hot promotion topics. As with any type of marketing, some methods are more useful than others depending on the type of business. Social media marketing is not for everyone, but for certain businesses, it may prove very useful. Let me know if you have any further questions, and I'll be happy to chat with you one on one, or cover your concerns in a future newsletter.