I had an interesting conversation with Jeff, one of our lead developers, yesterday and wanted to share some of it. Jeff approached to ask about tag based navigation as compared to traditional hierarchal navigation. There is a tremendous opportunity for website owners to implement a new style of architechure that allows them to have more freedom to create content while making it easier for users of the site to find what they are looking for.

Traditional Web 1.0 Hierarchal Based Architecture
Most sites utilize a list of links along the left side or along the top of the design. When you click into one of these content sections, you are usually presented with some new links that are sub-content sections (we call them secondary navigation). This structure can be visually represented as an organization chart:

Web 2.0 Tag Based Architecture
Tags are all the rage in the web 2.0 world. It allows editors and readers to add meaningful context to content. For example, if I see a picture of a kid skateboarding, I might tag it “skating” and “teenager”. Someone else might tag it “park”, “skate boarding”, and “wheels”. Our individual tags have meaning to us, but they could also have meanings to others. If a third user was searching for “skate boarding” or “teenager”, the photo would come up due to us tagging it.

These tags can be used to replace traditional top level navigation. If the website is full of content, trying to lead the visitor through a hierarchy, which made sense to the webmaster at the time, may not make sense to the end user. Instead, it is easier to tag all the content with relevant keywords and provide a search box. When content is returned and viewed, the tags are prominently displayed. A visitor can then click on a tag to see all content tagged with that keyword or browse a list of related keywords. This could be visually represented more as a cloud:

This architecture doesn’t make sense for all sites. But if your site has a wealth of content, this could be a very powerful way to organize it.

This video does a fantastic job showing what is so exciting and promising about the current iteration of the web. To me, what is more exciting, is that this is only the second iteration (web 2.0). I can’t wait to see - and participate in - what comes next.

We are currently looking for a Web Applications Programmer. If you or someone you know is potentially a good fit, please click here to learn more about the position and fill out an application.

If you are reading this blog post right now, you could be a good fit.

• Do you enjoy technology?
• Do you have an insatiable thirst for knowledge?
• Is the usual not good enough?
• Can you make style and functionality work seamlessly together?
• Are you a strategic thinker?
• Do you enjoy being challenged?
• Do you digg, del.icio.us, and subscribe to RSS feeds?

Some of the benefits of working for Twelve Horses are:

• Getting paid to think strategically, creatively, and unconventionally.
• Being involved in complex projects for global brands from many different industries.
• Working with a unique set of individuals.
• Using new technology to automate old ways of doing business.

For more reasons to work at Twelve Horses, check out Top Ten Reasons to Work at Twelve Horses.

Don’t know much about Reno?

Time, Forbes, Sperling’s Best Places, Men’s Journal, and Money Magazine have all stated that Reno, Nevada is one of the best places in America to live and do business.

Twelve Horses is just 30 minutes from Mount Rose Ski Resort, 45 minutes from Lake Tahoe, and 10 minutes from the Reno-Tahoe International Airport.

See for yourself. Watch the News 4 segment featuring Twelve Horses.

Since 1995, Twelve Horses has led businesses in designing, developing and deploying winning online marketing strategies through a combination of sophisticated software and exceptional service.

With more than a decade of success and experience, Twelve Horses serves a global base of customers, including Deloitte, J.P. Morgan, International Game Technology, Red Herring, Aspect Communications, Reynolds & Reynolds, and other small and medium-sized enterprises and Fortune 500 companies.

tags: web applications programmer, hiring, twelve horses, reno, nevada, jobs

Despite this blog utilizing TypePad, Robert and I are huge fans of the blogging software Wordpress.  We both use it for our personal blogs and recommend it to our clients.  Being the techy I am, I have wondered how to better utilize it to make for the best web experience, both for the content creator as well as the web site visitor.

Today, I read a blog post by Matt Mullenweg, the creator of the Wordpress software.  He links to a new site for Ford Motors that utilizes the Wordpress software.  The site is awesome.  It’s well designed and easy to navigate.  It makes use of Flash, RSS, tags, and all the built in bells and whistles that come with Wordpress.  Having first had experience with Wordpress, I know it was quick to implement and almost all the development time was probably spent on the design and messaging.

Lately, we’ve rolled out a few sites that use Wordpress as the content management system.  I hope to roll out more in the near future.  Matt, thanks for the software.

After listening to the 43 Folders podcast (episode from 10/29/06), where Merlin Mann interviews David Allen about using the Getting Things Done (GTD) methodology on email, I decided to give it a try.  For those who haven’t experienced GTD, its a system of dealing and organizing inputs like email, memos, phone calls, stickies, etc. 

The idea seemed quite simple. When you read an email, determine if its actionable or not.  If its not, it falls into one of two categories:  A) its junk mail and needs to be deleted or  B) Its an FYI (for your information) and then needs to be filed.  If the email is actionable, you need to determine the next action and either do it right then or add it to your todo list, calendar or what ever tool you use to manage your day.  And then here’s the important part…once you add it to your todo list, make sure you file that email away like you did for the non-actionable emails.  At the end of each day, you should have zero emails in your inbox.  A lofty goal but I think it can be done.

Since I use Outlook, it has a view for displaying your inbox by date.  It shows your emails broken out by day for the current week then skips to last week, two weeks ago, three weeks ago, last month and finally the bottom of the barrel, older.  Since I had significant email in all these categories in my inbox, I knew it was too lofty to try and get these all down to zero. I focused just on the Today category.  Every time I checked and read email, I made the decision as to what was to be done next with the email and filed it accordingly.  Mr. Allen’s main point is that the process of making the decision is where most people get hung up.  Its a learned and practiced skill and you need to constantly hone.

I have been moderately successful.  A few of the days have had one or two un-filed emails.  One of the biggest challenges I found was remember to file emails after I replied to them.  Since the flow was read -> reply -> read next, I wasn’t taking the time to move that email out of my inbox.  Also, I think sub-consciously I was waiting for the reply to my reply before filing.  In this way, the original email would remind me to follow up if I didn’t receive the reply I was expecting.  To over come this, I realized I needed to mark a follow up item in my todo list if I was expecting a reply.  This liberated me to file the original email away.

I have been doing this very simple process for almost two weeks now.  It has made me more dependant on my todo list and less dependant on my inbox.  I’m more organized and I feel overall, I’m getting more things done.

tags: Getting Things Done, GTD, 43 Folders, Merlin Mann, David Allen, Email, Inbox

Next week, I’m presenting to an advertising class at the University of Nevada, Reno on writing for the web.  I’ve been building and marketing websites for almost eight years now so hopefully I’ve learned a thing or two.  Here is a little of what plan to present.  I would love some feedback.

Writing Web Copy In General
The most widely read and widely referenced piece of work regarding writing for the web was published by John Morkes and Jacob Nielsen in 1997.  It’s a very logical paper that makes a lot of sense.  It seems to be as relevant today as it was in 1997.  Their major conclusion was that people don’t read, they scan.  Therefore, make good use of bold tags, bulleted lists, short paragraphs and very concise writing.

Writing Marketing Copy
The worst copy on the web today is found on most company’s websites.  It’s jargon filled and talks volumes without saying anything.  You can fix this by determining the goal of your website and writing to achieve that goal.  Each page of the site can address a different goal and there are no limits to the amount of pages your site can have.

Writing for Search Engines
This is often overlooked when penning copy.  Today’s powerful search engines use spiders to crawl websites gobbling up each word they find.  These words are used to index the sites content.   Quite literally, the count of each interesting word (meaning not words like: and, if, the, etc) is stored in the search engines database and this is factored into your search engine ranking.  Use too many key words and the search engine thinks your purposely stuffing the pages.  Use to few, and the search engine doesn’t know what the page is about.

Another common copy mistake is linking useless words.  Do a Google search for "click here" and see what comes up.  I’ll give you a hint, it’s mostly download pages for plug-ins (Acrobat Reader, Flash, Media Player).  This is because as long as sites have required plug-ins, they have linked to them as, "click here" to download.  I share this because it showcases the importance that search engines put on the words between your link tags.  The more descriptive you can be about where the link goes by linking the key words, the better your results are going to be.

So, to write effectively for the search engines, think what words your visitors might be searching on in order to find your site.  Use these words in your copy and in your links.  Don’t overdue it, but using it once or twice probably won’t be enough.

By the way, there are a ton more factors that go into search engine optimization; this is just one.

Writing For Blogs
Blogs are conversational in tone and manner.  This makes them easier to write, which a good thing, because bloggers have to write a lot.  Popular blogs post multiple times a day.  If each post had to be formal and well vetted, this would be a full-time job (only a lucky few make enough to actually justify this as there full-time job).

The same formatting techniques described by Morkes and Nielson should be used in blogs.  Also, using images to support blog posts is a good strategy.  When possible, embed video from Google Video or YouTube.

Bloggers maintain a life of transparency and honesty.  Don’t try and fool or lie to your readers.  If you do, the best case scenario is they will stop reading your blog.  The worst case, and often the most likely, is that they will expose your blog to the whole blogosphere as a farce.

Writing Emails
I don’t think much is usually said about writing emails.  Unfortunately, reading and writing emails will be the largest single literary activity you’ll get to do on a day to day basis in most professional jobs.  The biggest tip I can give is try and think of all the ways your email can be read.  It’s easy to fire off a two or three sentence email in reply to a request or question.  However, often this brevity comes at the price of mis-interpretation.

These are the top level topics I want to cover.  Please feel free to comment or email me any other ideas or suggestions you may have.

Twelve Horses recently won a “Sports Standard of Excellence” WebAward for the launch of Mountain Sports International’s (MSI) new website. MSI develops and produces action/adventure sports events and programming in North America.

The judges comments were:

• “This site does a nice job of bringing the event capability to life.”
• “This site is very attractive.”
• “Really captures the enthusiasm MSI has for creating a good experience.”

The website is easy to navigate, and clearly communicates their services. Flash is used as a tool to communicate MSI’s strengths effectively, as opposed to using flash simply because it animates images. It is combined with JavaScript and XML for improved functionality and search engine optimization.

It is further optimized with proper alt tags, source coding, and cascading style sheets, which are all dynamically driven. The site also ties into MessageMaker, which automates all of their email marketing communications to their existing and prospective clients.

In addition to MSI, Twelve Horses provides online marketing and messaging for other outdoor oriented companies like Heavenly Lake Tahoe Mount Rose Ski Resort, and Squaw Valley.

About Mountain Sports International

Mountain Sports International is located in Salt Lake City, Utah. As stated on their website, MSI owns and produces the U.S. Freeskiing Series, the U.S. Skiercross Series, and the Freeskiing World Tour. They provide event management services for Burton, Salomon, and Red Bull, and has provided infrastructure and expertise for NBC Gravity Games and ESPN Action Sports Projects, including the Tony Hawk Gigantic Skatepark Tour.

About the WebAwards

The Web Marketing Association was founded in 1997 to help set a high standard for Internet marketing and web development on the World Wide Web. Staffed by volunteers, this organization is made up of Internet marketing, online advertising, PR, and web site design professionals who share an interest in improving the quality of online advertising, internet marketing, and website promotion.

The Web Marketing Association is the producer of the WebAward Competition.  Now in its 10th year, the WebAwards is the premier annual web site award competition that names the best Web sites in 96 industries while setting the standard of excellence for all website development.

About Twelve Horses

Twelve Horses is a full-service relationship marketing and messaging company specializing in designing interactive communication solutions. Since 1995, Twelve Horses has led businesses in designing, developing and deploying winning online marketing strategies through a combination of sophisticated software and exceptional service.

tags: U.S Freeskiing, Burton, Salomon, Red Bull, NBC, ESPN, Heavenly Lake Tahoe, Mount Rose Ski Resort, Squaw Valley, WebAwards, Web Marketing Association, Mountain Sports International, Salt Lake City, Utah, skiing, website+design

There is a fantastic blog controversy raging on the Internet.  A company called PayPerPost has started paying bloggers to bloggertise.

What is PayPerPost
A blogger interested in making a few bucks can create an account with PayPerPost and then filter through the list of opportunities.  Each opportunity lists who the advertiser is, how many words need to be written, the amount to be paid to the blogger upon posting and if the tone should be positive, negative or neutral.  The blogger is not required to disclose that the post is an advertisement, but they are often required to include pre-defined link and sometimes a picture.

The opportunities that bloggers can choose from include things like video phones, neck ties, vacation locations and many, many more.  The price paid for a posts ranges from $2.50 up to $10.00 and there is no limit to the number of posts a blogger can do.  The only requirement is that the blogger has been blogging for 90 days prior to signing up with PayPerPost.

Blogging about the advertisers product does create buzz in the blogosphere, but the real value seems to be in gaming the search engines.  The search engines look at the words that are actually linked and then the destination of the link to determine some authority.  For example, in PayPerPost’s opportunities exists an opportunity to be paid $10 to blog about the PayPerPost’s crew as seen on The Today Show.  In the opportunity, bloggers are asked to link to the blog post the crew did about the appearance, but the words they needed to link were "Guerilla Marketing."  Now, when you search Google on Guerilla Marketing they show up as the fifth result (I know it’s spelled wrong but that’s how they spelled it).  Another example is the search for Ninja Costume.  The number one result returned is an advertiser on PayPerPost.

What is the Controversy
Because PayPerPost does not require full disclosure, many "A-list" bloggers have come out to call PayPerPost and their bloggers evil, scum and the scourge of the earth. To quote Jay Allen:

Pay per post is one of the most vicious and vile economic schemes to cast its shadow over online publishing. Anyone who perpetuates such a system deserves a public stoning (even if they don’t say "Jehovah"). You either pay online publishers for who and what they are, or you keep your wallet out of the game. The Internet already has enough spam; we don’t need bloggers generating it for commission.

Jason Calacanus, who made millions of dollars by paying bloggers to blog, is adamantly opposed to PayPerPost’s model.  The difference being that Calacanus paid bloggers to blog about niche topics and then sold advertising on these blogs.  The line that separates journalist from advertiser existed in his model.  PayPerPost’s model at best blurs this line - at worst, they erase it completely.

My initial reaction was not as strong as Michael Arrington’s, Jason Calacanus’ or Jay Allen’s.  However, after talking with co-Horse Power author, Robert Payne, he made a point that changed my mind.  He hypothesized that if he read a positive review of a pair of skis on a blog that prompted him to buy, he would be very upset to find out that the review was driven purely off of this bloggertisement.  Especially if he found that the reviewer had never even tried the skis.  This made me reflect on past purchasing decisions I have made because of blog and forum posts.

I think much of the controversy goes away if PayPerPost were to force bloggers to disclose these bloggertisements with each post.  I’m not sure who would keep reading a blog that posted nothing but bloggertisements, but at least it would be transparent and honest.

51.6% of visitors to MySpace.com in August were 35 or older according to comScore Media Metrix.  "Older" people are starting to use and participate in social networking, a phenomenon that has previously been thought to be a "kids" thing.

This is huge news for businesses who have been contemplating a MySpace strategy.  It shows that this "older" generation likes to connect, chat and share information about themselves.  Now it’s businesses turn to embrace and adopt this form of communication - to get into this dialog.  Businesses, now more then ever before, can show they are made up of a collection of people and personalities and not just penny pushers and tight CEOs.

I think the other implication here is that MySpace isn’t going to go away as fast as many people have hoped.

To have a great idea and have a knack to get others excited about it is a huge motivator for me.  I think all of us feel that this can showcase how smart or clever we are and when you share it and they agree, it’s instant validation.  It’s an ego trip.

However, the ability to take this great idea and implement it - make it come to life - is what separates the 22 year old Mark Zuckerberg’s from the rest of us who don’t have $1.5 billion websites.  Without Implementors, we never would have had the Model-T, Disneyland and penicillin.

Right now you’re thinking, yeah duh.  Of course we need implementors to get things done.  The reason I’m spending the time to write this is to say, don’t get the big idea guys confused with the implementors.  Many big idea guys have the motivation to either get their idea implemented or implement it themselves but many many more never take it to that next step.

So the next time you have a big idea, think to yourself, "Self, how am I going to get this implemented?"  Waiting for someone to walk up to you and say, "Hey, do you have any big ideas I can implement?" just isn’t going to happen.