Whalespeak

I’ve given it a little while to sink in, but I have to say I like it.

There seems to have been a lot of negative reaction to this, which might seem a small issue, but it’s always strange when a well-established company changes some part of its branding. It reminds me of the changes Apple made to their logo, from the rainbow apple to the glossy white.

In both cases, there is something I like about the original, something comforting, perhaps nostalgic. But this is a warning signal: I never like to make decisions based on nostalgia. There is something in our minds resistant to change and it fights to keep the familiar, even when the new is better. For this reason, when you make a change to anything, you shouldn’t expect a wholly favourable reaction.

I think in a few years this new look will be firmly entrenched and seem completely natural.

When you look for something on Google, it returns ten results on the first page. For the majority of people, this is all they ever see. They pick one and they move on.

For most search terms, there are millions of results, but most of them are never seen. This is a good thing. We can’t handle too much choice. By limiting what we see, Google has made their search engine much more pleasant for our minds. The abstract notion of trillions of web pages hangs in the back of our minds, but in front of our eyes lie ten simple alternatives, ten short lines of text.

This is good for the searcher, but less useful for the potential searchee. That is why, for so long as this remains the case, SEOs will fret over those top ten spaces.

When you’re creating something new, something from scratch, it’s sometimes hard to know what direction to go in. I’m definitely the kind of guy who gets stuck for half a day choosing a font for three lines of text. Should that be italic or bold? And so on.

But there are things that I find myself saying (not always aloud) to keep myself from being mediocre. The next time you seem to have everything in place but don’t feel satisfied, try one of these:

1. It would be amazing if…
2. What is one step beyond the norm? What is ten steps beyond?
3. What is the opposite of what everybody else is doing?
4. What will make people stop and think?
5. What can I take away? What is barely sufficient?
6. Where can I exaggerate? How big can I make the focus before it becomes ridiculous?
7. What if it was ridiculous?

Here’s a company that makes things extraordinary. From striking package design to having a bold and inspiring philosophy.

The result is a lot of admiring fans whose lives and adventures have become linked with what, on the face of it, is only a cup of tea.

Let your customers go quickly and painlessly.

When someone decides that they no longer want your services, it’s usually too late to do anything about it. What you can do, is act professionally and make the process of switching suppliers uncomplicated and swift.

A bureaucratic, unhelpful attitude does not reverse a bad opinion, it confirms it.

It’s also worth remembering that when customers leave, it can be because of budget, location and just not being a great fit with you or your company. If you make their final experience a negative one, they’re much less likely to recommend you to someone who could be your customer.

Accessibility guidelines for websites are great. They give you an edge over your competition.

Remember that guidelines and rules don’t change and don’t always tell you about how things are used. If someone can’t use your site, is there a way for them to tell you? Have you watched a blind person use your site, or just run it through a screen reader?

Think of each person who visits your site as an individual and speak directly to them.

Maybe we should stop focusing on the basics. Everybody does the basics then they add the good stuff later if they have time. Or if they can convince those in charge. Or if it’s within budget.

Maybe we should focus on the good stuff first, then pick up the basics as we go along.

Recently I heard an SEO say that ethics have no place in marketing. I wanted to argue with that, but I feel that in some ways he is right.

The problem is, before you are a marketer, you’re a human being. And being human is all about ethics.

Seth Godin points out in a post about the Kindle that the costs for paper and inventory disappear for Amazon when supplying books. So why do those books cost the same as their physical versions? Actually for someone who buys second-hand, they’re more expensive.

For economists the short answer is always “because that’s what people are prepared to pay”. But I wonder if Amazon have a smarter idea.

The proprietary format that Amazon uses creates a kind of scarcity. If you want to read a book on the Kindle, you have to get it from Amazon. So you’re stuck with the price they charge. This all changes when someone starts to provide an alternative service which seems like a pot of gold waiting to be plundered. Or so it would be, except customers wouldn’t be able to read your downloads on a Kindle. So anyone who wants to go into competition has to create their own hardware or rely on the existing offerings. Which are kind of underwhelming.

In a way it makes sense to take advantage of this, but what irks me is that if I was a Kindle user, I’d feel kind of cheated every time I downloaded a book. As a long-term strategy you could do better.

Go read Stewart Butterfield’s resignation letter on Valleywag.

OK? Now read the comments.

No real focus on the story, just he’s crazy, he’s on drugs, and above all he’s not funny.

When was the last time anyone agreed on what was funny? “It’s not funny” might be an opening sentence but by itself it’s not an argument for anything other than your own ego.

I’ve no idea what this letter is all about but that doesn’t matter to me. What I love is that this guy seems to be the kind of guy who can’t do anything the way you’re supposed to do it. Maybe that’s why he’s so successful.