Like Flickr But Without The Photos

["Like Flickr, but without the photos. Wordie lets you make lists of words -- practical lists, words you love, words you hate, whatever -- and see who else has listed the same words."]

Good to see the internet isn't always used for porn and poker.











[via Coudal Partners] Wordie

Buckets Are Obsolete

Someday you should try looking at the world through rose colored glasses- or any type of classes different from your own. There is a revolution going on in society, and every marketer seems to think they have a plan to capitalize on it. Fact is, most plans are wrong; not in theory, but in scope.

Noelle Weaver’s post helped put into perspective a myriad of ideas I’ve had over the past five years.

Most companies start defining their target customers by putting them into buckets- male, 22, plays video games- you go here, 38 year old farmer in the Midwest- you go here. Too bad for them that people don't spend their time worrying about fitting into your buckets. What marketers need is a hose to fill their targets’ buckets with their information.

The problem is that marketers need to discard demographics and embrace needs. The question shouldn’t be how to reach the Midwestern farmer, but how to reach people who want to buy John Deer hats. Maybe that farmer buys his clothes online along with farm supplies and groceries, since it is easier than driving two hours to the nearest superstore. You just might also reach the college kids in Portland looking for mesh hats too.

Trying to put people in buckets just doesn’t work anymore because even though people follow trends for trendiness sake 3000% more than they will admit, more than ever they are now actively looking to go against trends. Remember the 10 trendsetting kids in your high school? Now everyone in high school is a trendsetter. Now, trying not to be trendy is trendsetting.

Don’t think so? You think Craig’s List wasn’t born out of aggravation of eBay culture online? You think American Apparel wasn’t conceived because someone was sick of the gaudiness of Tommy Jeans and blinging Sean Jean? Now they are staples of the marketplace.

Soccer moms are looking for less crowded gyms so they can fit in a quick workout during their baby’s afternoon nap. Bally’s doesn’t work for them- enter Curves. Maybe they weren’t looking for a place to workout amongst only women, but it was close to home and the removal men from the gym makes it easier to hit the free weights and get home.

People want the information you have to give, but they want it in a different way and from a different place than most marketers seem to want to give it. Why spend dollars to try to catch mice with your buckets? Wouldn’t it be easier to find a group of buckets and spray them with your message?

Websites are in the Eye of the Beholder

Running shoes, SUVs, cell phones, dog collars, vacations, the list of customizable products grows every hour. So why not the way you view websites?

Ever heard of Bookmarklets (or Favlets for you IE folk)? I’ve been hearing more and more about them lately, so I decided I should probably see what the deal was. Here’s what I found…

Want italic text or to view images at 300%?- no problem. If you want to view websites with black backgrounds and white text, you can do that too. You can even get a listing of all links or e-mail addresses on a site.
Bookmarklets are Javascript modifications that override URL code.

The concept was in mind during the invention of Javascript, and has been used since 2001, according to Wikipedia.

Greesemonkey allows Firefox to run live modifications or only for specified sites.

If you are looking on Amazon for a book, you can roll over the book title link and Bookburro will show you the prices of that book on other sites. It will even show you if that book is available at local libraries.

So what does this mean? Well, if you are a web designer it means that people will not always see your pages as you want them to. That custom color you worked so hard to get just right for the background- replaced by pink or white. It also allows users to find contact info quickly or blow up a tiny picture of your product.

All I’m saying is that you should keep these kinds of tools in mind when you are developing/recreating your web presence and find ways to make them beneficial. Why not even offer links to Bookmarklets on your site? (FYI- Bookmarklets don’t seem to work very well on Flash sites.)

God Loves a Good Website

One of the toughest things to do is get people to go to church. Ad Freak points us to Wonder Café, which is bringing a sense of style and open-mindedness usually devoid of the task. Go Canada!

The site has a discussion forum- that actually has level-headed posters-, a church search, and (for those of us looking for immediate gratification) the E-Z Answer Squirrel.

Check out their print ad campaign too (in the lower left corner of the homepage). The execution and copy are both great.