10e20 Blog

I get angry when I see companies buy pricey media such as print, television, radio or outdoor and they don’t take advantage to tie that media buy to the web in an effective way. What do I mean by this?

Take for example a large billboard on the side of the highway that has a message about a specific offer from a company, and the only web address displayed is the company’s main domain name eg, www.company.com I feel that this is a wasted advertising opportunity to have just your main domain name listed. Much in the same way Danielle pointed out when off-line link-bait is often not leveraged properly on-line, targeted messages, spaces, interactivity and landing pages should be created and matched on-line for off-line media buys.

I believe that every advertising buy should have a targeted message behind it and accordingly specific media creatives and goals to go along with it.

Okay, you might not have had that two billion dollar idea, but that doesn’t mean you can’t partake in its features. APIs (Application Program Interfaces) allow programmers to access publicly available services from widely known services, which can make your “web 1.0″ (sorry about the moniker, folks) site more welcoming to users looking for something new.

The concept and utilization of APIs is simple. Many well-known sites share some portions of their site code so that you can experience similar functionality on your website without having to navigate to the original site. One of the most well-known APIs available is the Google Maps API, which allows you to embed Google Maps on your web page with just a little bit of code. Ever track a package on a website and see a Google Maps page showing your package’s progress as it travels from shipping facility to shipping facility? Didn’t it look cool to see Google Maps on that third-party website? That’s what you can do by unleashing the power of APIs.

Part of my job is to take the vision of a client and translate it into a tangible website. In some cases it is an extension or an arm to their business (e-commerce website for an existing shop, enhancements to an existing website) in others it is the entire business.

When you’ve got your entire business, your future business, one that doesn’t exist yet but will exist as soon as I complete my work, in someone else’s hands - you’re going to be anxious. You’re going to do whatever you can to ensure that what you’ve planned is going to come out as you’ve planned it. I liken it to how one might feel when they’re building a house.

But would you tell your builder that you want rooms built without doors but with windows and fully expect them to listen and execute? Would you argue back and forth with said builder because you’ve watched a lot of TV shows or had a friend who built their own house?