3by9

End of Year, Time to Rethink

For many of us the end of the year is a time for reflection and the belief that we now have another year in our lives to start over and make things better. Of course you don’t have to wait till the end of the year to make this happen, you can do it whenever you put the effort into it. However, as a whole when do industries start to sit back and rethink how they go about their business? Maybe the U.S. auto industry should have done it a while ago…

Online Advertising

I have always been cautious about letting online advertising be your only source income. Coming from a guy who runs a site that is 100% based on advertising I know that sounds silly, but you had to expect the bottom to fall out some time. With the economy being however it is you get the feeling most of the good advertising deals are being cutback. What else do sites have to fall on?

Now I understand that with many sites it is just easier to plaster up some ads and go about your business, but maybe is the time to rethink your revenue model. I am not saying cut advertising altogether, but instead of making it 100% of your revenue, maybe you can make it 90% over the next couple of months and continue to ease up on it. Just a thought.

Online Design

Design trends seem to go in cycles and I am not sure what cycle we are in, but there is still a lot of improvement that can be done with the major sites. If you want to see someone who always seems to be ahead of the curve then check out Mikey’s personal site and you will see a man…well you get the picture.

What if we took more chances with the design of our sites? Or maybe we took the lesser approach and scaled everything back to the point of pretending we are writing an advertisement for a business card? I have more elaborate thoughts on this as usual that I am reserving for another time and another place, but with the way the world is, there is no better time than to rethink your design strategy.

Online Interactivity

Twitter is great, but it still isn’t as big as everyone had thought it would be by now. FriendFeed was the next stop on the hype train and I am not sure it has ever left the station. I understand that these methods of communication are great for some people they obviously aren’t the solutions the world is waiting for so again maybe we have to sit down and think of another approach.

Sure you can fit in some quick thoughts in your Twitter feed, but maybe you do actually have more than 140 characters that you need to say. Put it on your blog right? That pushes people all over the place. Integrate Twitter with your blog right? You still have people that just might only care about your Twitter.

I didn’t even reach into the online video realm yet. YouTube has been such a great communication tool for people that the geek crowd that focuses on Twitter has missed that boat. I am telling you there is potential for some new player to make a statement with all of this. I am not sure what needs to be done, but with all of the technology we have in our hands I don’t understand how so much of the online space still feels as disjointed as when it was started back in the 90’s.

Maybe that is how it is supposed to be.

Your Brand

I don’t mean your company’s brand. I mean the brand that is you (yeah Maxine I’m working on it girl, don’t worry). Thinking beyond if you are happy with yourself think of the brand that is representing you and figure out if that is how you want it to stay moving forward or do you want it to change. The new year is a great time for reinvention because everyone is distracted and caught up in the late year shuffle.

I have been doing a lot of thinking with regards to my brand and I am still uncertain as to which direction I wish to take it. I should say directions because every time I sit down and believe I have figured out a strategy it leads down many paths.

Guess I just need to rethink some more.