Nov06
06
See a Pool Man
When you decide to blog, if you’re not already a blogger, see a pool man.
What!?
Well I have this saying - “if you want to build a pool, get a pool man”. It’s a saying closely related to Josh Hallett’s “Just because you can doesn’t mean you should”.
I see time and time again non-techies keen on setting up blogs (which is brilliant - that’s what blogs are for) but choosing the wrong platform for their application up front, and then paying for it later. When you look at Blogger (especially the new beta), WordPress, WordPress.com, Vox, TypePad, Movable Type and Drupal (there are others but those are the most popular options right now), each has it’s pros and cons. Some are paid hosted services and others are free open source platforms. Some double as a CMS and others are specialised blogging tools. Some, like Drupal, can drive hugely complicated websites and massive multi-user publishing environments, but aren’t so cool if gran wants to set up a blog for first time use.
Too often when non-techies make a swift choice without consulting a pool man they choose a platform that is not ideal in the long term (simply because they don’t know all the ins and outs of it) and they find they need to switch down the line. This often means switching URLs, which can be and enormously painful process simply in terms of the readership you lose.
I switched from www.tomorrowconnecting.biz to this blog some time back for various reasons, and am still recovering readers. It’s not nice.
My best mate and an unusually smart person to boot, Aiden Choles recently decided to see a pool man because his Blogger blog was not longer making the grade. Aiden’s new site is slick, professional and powerful and a testimony to the fact that it helps to see a pool man.
So here’s the deal, if your blogging platform is not doing what you want it to do or if you’re starting up for the first time, or even if you’re one of the many talented pool men I mentioned earlier and are keen to offer your services to those less pool-oriented than you, pop your question, advice or details in the comments section of this post.
Oh and go visit Aiden’s new site while you’re at it and send him feedback. He writes a great deal better than I do so you’re guaranteed a stimulating read!
You rang?
Thanks for that Mike
I agree with you on Drupal not being “so cool” for first time bloggers or even bloggers shifting because they want the raw power and flexibility of Drupal. Worpress has a very slick interface interface (and so can Drupal if you set up the interface right) - like I tell my clients - Drupal is fast becoming the “linux of the internet” and offers suberb flexibilty - essentially Drupal can become anything you want in terms of a powerful, scalable, interactive site
“This often means switching URLs, which can be and enormously painful process simply in terms of the readership you lose.”
Agreeing even more - it’s vital that you transition well and ensure the old links still redirect (if you’ve played nice with your previous organisation) and even more important that your new site has a flexible set of URL’s that allow many vectors to your content and some legacy support from the older platforms where possible.
“Aiden Choles recently decided to see a pool man because his Blogger blog was not longer making the grade. Aiden’s new site is slick, professional and powerful and a testimony to the fact that it helps to see a pool man.”
It’s been an absolute joyride working with Aiden (and so much fun - I’m even adding (1) one of SA’s blue-chip Information Architects and a (2) tribe of Zealot Designers to my team and a (3) Prolific Blogger and Web Strategist- my design skills are “school of the acolyte” - so I know my strengths and weaknesses and in terms of those fields, am collaborating to supplement my linux and cognitive-dev skillsets).
For Aidens site, I’m working in 3 phases in terms of site transfer:
1 - shift content to the new site (still in training stage re” wysiwig editors to ensure site content validates beautifully with no site warning or errors from the WC3- wysiwyg editor tend to play nice most of the time - and if ya want pristine code then a little training is useful)
2 - Elicit even more forms of content from Aiden and group those into easy-to-reach blocks/site widget and then ensure the theme-ing reflects those (sometimes a fun challenge with 3rd party modules)
3 - Continual refinements from the first 2 iterations in terms of ‘theme-ing that grows with Aiden’ and reflects as much of his personality as he wants to in terms of his business, social and personal goals.
“So here’s the deal, if your blogging platform is not doing what you want it to do or if you’re starting up for the first time, or even if you’re one of the many talented pool men I mentioned earlier and are keen to offer your services to those less pool-oriented than you, pop your question, advice or details in the comments section of this post.”
Yeah, thanks again Mike, wasn’t prepped for a mike-ening:
Lesson 6a for a Pool Man - ensure site can handle a mike-ening
Lesson 6b for a Pool Man - agree with a clients wishes to get his site moved asap and then get the content over quickly with minimal theme and then develop that.
Lesson 7 for a Pool Man - always comply with Lesson 6 unless the client is wildy enthuisiastic about a fast transtion
Lesson 8 for a Pool Man - black algae can make a pool look nasty, consult ‘one of them swimming pool guys’ for that …
Lesson 9 for a Pool Man - build useful co.za domains (or redirect for clients who host a .com domain) for local users , and if site is hosted in the US (like mine are) then build local server systems to handle the load, and local bandwidth limitations for crappy/pricey SA Bandwidth et al other fun challenges
*hurdles off to client meetings and then build local infrastructure for my ZA clientbase*
PS: my official site is hosted at: carlspies.com and I’m launch it this Friday - if it’s me ya wanna contact, then please call me on mail me on carl [at] carlspies [dot] com
Kudos for even mentioning Drupal - it seems to get overlooked more often than not. I wouldn’t recommend Drupal for anyone who’s not at least proficient with HTML and an “I’m not afraid to break it” attitude doesn’t hurt either. Short-term Drupal=more comparative frustration, long-term Drupal=more comparative happiness.
It is such a pleasure being a shaven lab rat in your company
[...] See a Pool Man [...]
I recently found a very interesting website:
http://alreadylinked.com/
There you can purchase ad space for your Blog etc.