Using word clouds as reader and author

I'm a rather verbose person by nature. As a kid, I never worried much about having a 500 word report prepared by the end of the week. I usually had it done by the end of the period.

When I wrote Podcasting For Dummies, I had to learn to curtail much of that. That's a very different writing style. But I've adopted it. And I think it makes my writing more effective. I also give props to Patrick McLean for being an inspiration. Seriously, if you want to know how to write clearly, concisely and effectively, you couldn't ask for a better writing coach than Patrick.

Which brings me to the discussion of the 4322 four thousand, three hundred twenty-two (4,322) word blog post by Jonathan Rosenberg, Senior Vice President of Product Management for Google. The title was The meaning of open, a topic of some import with me. So I read it. All of it. Whew. Now I'm tired. I'm glad I read it. But chances are, you won't take the time. It's simply too long. He's approaching the halfway mark of a novella.

Luckily, the advent of the web -- speaking of open -- has provided a visualization tool that helps. Wordle is a free service that lets you paste in text and create an on-the-fly word cloud. The more a word is used, the larger it appears in the loud. There are other factors involved as well. Here's the word cloud of Mr. Rosenberg's blog post:

[caption id="attachment_51" width="500" caption="Word cloud for really long Google blog post"][/caption]

While it's a poor substitute for actually reading the work, it can provide valuable insight. Insight that helps you decide if you should read the whole thing or not. Conversely, this could be a helpful self-check measure. Create your own word cloud out of something you are writing. Does the cloud match your intent? It should. If it doesn't, you didn't use the right words.

The battle between the biggest and the best

Image by daftgirly via Flickr

It's hard to become the biggest at something. For companies, it often means understanding market opportunities, what the masses want and beating the hell out of the competition in price. It's not a field in which individuals can play without being a part of -- or leading -- an organization.

It's hard to become the best at something. Becoming the best often means relentless dedication to excellence, innovation and detail. Here companies and individuals are on more of an even field.

But becoming the biggest and the best at something? It seems those two things are at odds with one another. And if you take stock of the companies that purport to be one or the other -- or both -- you'll see how rare it is.

The brand of beer that outsells all the rest by orders of magnitude? That doesn't make it the best. I'd argue all the ones in my refrigerators (Yes, I have more than one. I like beer.) could vie for the best, but they are a proverbial drop in the bucket when sales volume is examined.

The author making the rounds on the talk-circuit with a book that's burning up the charts? Neither are the best. But any that hard-core book fans would agree is the best is likely unapproachable by the masses.

Though it's argued often, biggest is a quantitative measurement that leaves little to interpretation. I understand that best is subjective, but it's a demonstrable qualitative characteristic. So while companies often say "we're the biggest and the best", they aren't. They may be one or the other, but it's difficult to be both.

Or is it? Here are a few examples of where I think the biggest is also the best. I'd love to get your opinion on these as well as some other examples.

• MP3 players - The iPod reigns king in sales and in usability.
  
• Ketchup - Not that I use it, but I have it on good authority that Heinz is pretty tasty.
  
• Blizzard Entertainment - I'm no gamer and I understand there is a wide-range of opinion on this, but WoW seems to be one of those waves that didn't quit. And when Diablo 3 hits the stands, it'll do it again.
  
• Search engines -- Google. No further discussion required, though I'm sure some of you are Quixotic enough to try.

There have to be others. Please discuss in the comments.

A Simpler Way?

Sometimes you have a good idea. Then the your goals change. And that first good idea isn't important.

Or is it?

Maybe the kernel of the idea was good. Like... the name?

And here we are. More in a moment.

The missing revolution

Image via CrunchBase

What if you threw a revolution and no one came?

Contenture is shutting down. No, you probably never heard of them and probably won't miss them. And since I didn't even know of the company until I saw notice of their demise, I won't presume to offer cogent reasons why their business model never got off the ground. But here's the key reason they gave on their blog:

[W]e were unable to get any big publishers to use the service, which was going to be the key to our success. Without any large publishers, the economics just don’t work.

I bring this news up here as a cautionary tale in two parts:

Labels are important.
Contenture billed their service as "The Micropayment Revolution". That phrase was part of their logo on their blog. That revolution lasted exactly 192 days from launch-date to shut-down announcement. And as they say above, the revolution wasn't adopted by key entities. Revolution is a pretty serious word. It brings up serious connotations.

Lesson: Be sure the words you use match the reality of your intent.

Don't ignore the Convenience Arrow
After reading the links above that describe the business model, it seems to go backwards. Sure, blocking ads would be nice, but it does little to enhance convenience. And it's certainly not worth paying for. At least not to me. And obviously, not a lot of other people either.

Lesson: There exists a difference between annoying and intruding. One I'll pay you to get rid of. The other I'm really good at ignoring.

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Little changes, little rewards

Image by abakedcreation via Flickr

This post inspired by a nice soak in the steam room, my little reward for breaking my 1+ year sabbatical from working out.

None of us have it figured out. No one has achieved perfection. Supreme enlightenment is at best unattainable and at worst a scam.

There always remains a stone unturned. A nook unprodded. A path unexplored. For all of us. Even for those who always seem to be first, there was a time when they didn't know about it either.

We all fall short of our goals. We take missteps and often time make mistakes. Occasionally we screw up royally and get embarrassed by our own ineptitude.

So when you figure something out, celebrate. When you discover something new, have fun with it. And when you crawl back on the wagon horse, ride on.

Go ahead and reward yourself. But keep the scale of your accomplishment in mind. Somethings are worth shouting about. Most that I've mentioned above are not. Yes, they are important. Yes, they can lead to bigger things. Yes, you should feel good about what you've done. But little changes deserve little rewards.

When you're done, go work toward something truly big. You can scream about that.

Do you need a website to do business online?

Image by Bobasonic via Flickr

The future is almost here. No, really. In a few days it will be 2010. That's the future.

As of late, I've been writing a lot about business. Specifically, how the digital world changes what it means to be "in business". A catch phrase I've been using over the last year is this: Doing business online means more than just having a first-class website. And while I believe that is true, I wonder if the statement goes far enough? I wonder if, instead, I believe this:

It is possible to do business online without having your own website.

Heretical? Not really. And not all that ground-breaking. I first heard about eBay from a neighbor almost a decade ago. A significant portion of his income came from trading baseball cards on the site. He didn't have his own website until the last few years. I've ran a digital media consulting practice for the last two years without a site for said practice, though I'll concede that this site helps and that I used prior connections to secure clients.

The web of today provides smart businesses many chances to make connections without having a dedicated website. So yes, it's possible to do business without one. I'm not advocating you abandon your website. But I do challenge you to consider the role your site plays today. Think of where your customers or prospects are and be there. Spend at least as much time building and maintaining your presence out there as you do on your own site.

Maybe more?

Exceeding by reducing choices

Image by evo_terra via Flickr

Given the choice, I think every business would choose to be remarkable. Certainly no one in business wants to provide a bad business experience. But I'm more troubled by those in business satisfied to deliver a staple experience.

Staples are things you have to have, or need on a regular basis. The "general store" of old comes to mind. Competition really didn't come into play, as they tended to be the only game in town. It may not have been pretty to shop in, but they had what you needed. And if they didn't, you probably didn't know you needed it.

Today, businesses in the staple-market compete on one thing and one thing only -- price. Margins are razor-thin. Service and selection are commoditized. Success is measured by volume. Customers are lured in by items offered below cost in the hope that an impulse decision may result in a slightly higher profit item being sold. Some companies have made loads of money this way. Some entire industries operate under this principle. There is a success path here, if that is your true intent.

There exists a direct relationship between choice and staple-ness.

It's hard to offer a multitude of choices and succeed at all of them. It's difficult to try and meet every conceivable need and almost impossible to exceed them all. If you're lucky, you do one or two things really well. The rest? Filler. And those things you don't knock out of the park may be doing harm to your business or your brand.

Consider the restaurant that offers dozens of entrées. Do you go there because the all the food is fantastic? What about any of the food? Chances are, you eat there because it's fast (relatively speaking), decent (relatively speaking), cheap (relatively speaking) and predictable.

Alternately, consider the establishment that is really known for one or two things. Chances are, they offer a more limited -- more exclusive, if you will -- list of items that they kick-ass on. Every. Time. Because of the limited selection, they can also be fast enough and (relatively) affordable. But these places offer a product that is far above decent. Predictable? Only to those who are regulars, and they often drag their friends along just to see the look on their faces when they taste something truly remarkable.

Those same rules apply to almost any small business or entrepreneur. Focus on that which you do better than anyone else. While it's hard -- if not stupid -- to turn away business, understand the possible risk if you fail to not just meet, but exceed your customers' expectations.