Pemaquid Communications

One thing I (still) see all the time on Web sites is Click Here!! As in: “Click here to read more about this amazing story…” or “Click here to register…” or “Click here to purchase…”. Click here … Click here … Click here.

This has got to stop, people.

If you’re developing content for a Web site, there are more effective ways to write your link text.

First, remember that people scan Web pages for links that are labeled with keywords they are looking for. A page loaded with “click heres” doesn’t support this quick-scan activity.

Second, “Click here” doesn’t say anything informative. Use verbs (er, other than ‘click’, please) that call to action. “Buy”, “Register”, “Shop”, “Search”, “Find” all work much better. Category labels also work well (”Shoes”, “Coats”, “Hats”, “Shirts”, etc.) and help readers distinguish between the different choices.

Third, editing out “Click here” will help tighten up the copy – always a good thing.

Finally, if we’re talking about a hyperlink, isn’t it already obvious you can “Click here”?

So, please be kind to your Web site visitors. Don’t tell them to “Click here” (they’ll figure that out). Tell them what they’ll get when they do click.

Four years and one week ago Zack Gaulkin was killed in a car accident on I-95 while on his way home to Kennebunkport. At some point each spring since then I catch myself thinking about Zack, who I worked with at MaineToday.com during the year 2000 in the midst of the ‘dot-com’ bubble and what was then called The New Economy.

Zack was a lot like me, I think – mid-thirties, each with a young family, each deeply involved in online publishing and excited about all the new and crazy things that were happening online in general. Zack, who was MaineToday’s Online Editor, was technically my boss (I was a Content Developer), never made me feel that way. We were more like peers. We would have long conversations about where we thought the ‘Net was headed next and how we could take advantage of them for MaineToday (or for ourselves). In a sense I felt we were kindred spirits, and since his passing I haven’t found many people who are tuned to the same wavelength.

Though I don’t think I could ever say we were close enough personally to be considered good friends, we did have that bond, and I miss that. I miss him.

Zack passed away before blogging became fashionable. Before social networking. Before this buzz everybody is calling ‘Web 2.0′. It’s too bad. He would have loved it. I’m sure he would have absolutely loved having his own blog, and with his quick wit at the keyboard he would have been spectacular.

So, as I rather awkwardly make an attempt to put my own blog together, I thought it would be appropriate to dedicate it to his memory. As I post, I will try to think to myself ‘what would Zack do?’.

It is interesting to imagine him being the next person to submit a comment.

I remember a conversation not long before I left MaineToday. I told him though I had worked as a reporter and now w/t/Portland Press Herald’s online group I didn’t consider myself a ‘journalist’. I was more business-oriented, I said.

“Oh no,” said Zack. “You’re definitely a journalist.” I disagreed…then.

But now, I think he might have been right.

Well, it’s finally gotten to that point – things are crazy busy again (usually they’re just crazy). For about a day I thought the answer was to bring on more help coding the xHTML and CSS. While I still think that’s important, I realize that’s only going to make me busier in my role as Project Manager for an ever-expanding # of current assignments.

So, what to do?

What I really need is a quarterback – someone to survey the opposition, the field position, make the reads and call the right plays. Someone who’s tough on the competition but who treats Clients and team members like they are worth their weight in gold, because they are (sounds trite, doesn’t it?). Someone who can allow me to elevate to the level of Head Coach.

I say quarterback b/c I’ve always hated the typical role given to the project manager at most hi tech companies. Most places I’m aware of seem to use project managers to ‘count beans’: how many hours have been done on a project, relaying new requirements from the Client to the production team, creating reports for the boss. I’ve also seen situations where the project manager is supposed to ensure that a project stays on budget, yet doesn’t have the decision-making authority over creative direction to make that happen. The PM then gets caught in the crossfire between the creative team, management and the Client. Not a good place to be.

Hence quarterback.

So I’ve started the search for a Client Services Director who will spend time understanding Client needs, and working w/t/Pemaquid team to come up w/creative ways to meet those needs.

Is that you? Or someone you know? I’m all ears…

If you spend enough time reading Web pages recently, you may have come across the term “mashup”. You were probably not even reading your favorite news site’s description of the latest rush hour mishap. Instead, it probably accompanied a description of the newest “Web 2.0″ site.

For the uninitiated, a mashup is when you take an app from one or more Web sites and “mash” it all up w/content on another, usually to create a uniquely interesting – and hopefully, useful – interactive feature. The most famously popular example of a mashup is probably the Google Map API, which all kinds of people have incorporated into all kinds of sites to provide geographic information in creative ways.

We’re excited to say that at Pemaquid we’re working on our own Google Map mashup for a Client in the tourism industry to provide an interactive mapping feature to show Maine points of interest to the folks from away. Can’t tell you too much more right now – it’s Top Secret – but we’ll be launching it soon. Stay tuned….

The post that had been displayed here has been moved to a more appropriate venue.  You can read it here.

How appropriate is that for someone from Maine?

You’re not going to believe this, but Sunday morning, while still @ t/Holiday Inn, I….

…jogged.

Down the lakeside footpath.

Business cards in my collection:

• Gawker Media
• Happy Cog
• FeedBurner
• NBC News
• Now (PBS)
• Harvard University (Div. of Continuing Education)
• Apple

One panel I attended earlier today was moderated by Tom Markiewicz, CEO of EvolvePoint and an adjunct professor @ Virginia Tech. After the session, I asked him if he remembered the Blacksburg Electronic Village, developed at Tech as one of the very first online communities ever developed in the early ’90’s (and which I had a very, very small role in promoting through University Relations). He said he knew Andy Coelho, who runs the BEV, pretty well, and he also says the high-tech business park on campus has more than 100 companies all doing their thing.

This evening a couple hundred people headed out to to the local lanes for a little bowling and real-life social networking. Apparently one of the panelists organized the event last year and it was a sensation, so SXSW vets were looking forward to it.

Alas! I started out slow and though I ended up w/2 strikes and a couple of spares, it was too little, too late and our pickup team didn’t make it past the first round of the tournament. No prob., the networking was much better.

The folks back home will appreciate this next tidbit: I noticed that one of the guys bowling against us was named “Rob Goodlatte” (on nametag). I asked him if he was “from Roanoke, VA?”. Yes. Was he “Bob Goodlatte’s son?” (Goodlatte the former congressman from Roanoke). Yes.

Turns out junior is a student @ Duke University and he does some pretty good front end Web design. No Clients is Roanoke, yet.

I met Dan Cederholm [SimpleBits] at the Frog Design opening party.

Had a great first day at “South By”, as it’s called. Had to start the day by moving to a different hotel (”No room @ t/Inn”). Hotels are jam-packed. A cabby told me that every year it seems that SXSW, the State Rodeo and the state high school basketball tournament (taking place @ UT) all happen at the same time, resulting in a tidal wave of tourism. Too bad I had to leave the HI, it was right on Town Lake and that greenway; now I’m about ten blocks away at the Doubletree Club.

Met some guys from a Web shop in Phoenix in the lobby and we chatted on the walk into town. Nice group – everyone seems to have a good attitude. It’s great to be able to converse about

“Web-standards-based design, javascript libraries, Cake PHP, CMS templates, blah, blah, blah…”

w/folks who understand and who are also trying to build great sites.Met up w/another gang of New Englanders once @ t/Convention Center: the guys from Union Street Media of Burlington, Vermont.

Bill Simmon of Vermont Community Access Media brought me up to speed on digital video production – equipment, post-production, the whole nine-yards. Thanks, Bill!

We had lunch at the Iron Works BBQ [Google dart] which is highly recommended by cabbies (and others) all over Austin. They are right to do so.
Also met up w/a blogger from Beantown, Christine Liu, among others. We hopped from party to party – big design firms like Avenue A | Razorfish and Frog Design (are they big?) hosted a bunch of ‘em and alcohol flowed freely (literally – it was free).

Tonight I met a great bunch of people from New Hampshire who are attending the Interactive portion of SXSW, some for the second time. The rendezvous was at Threadgill’s [web | Google dart]. We connected after I placed a posting on the SXSW Community Blog a couple weeks ago. I’m glad I was able to connect w/Kelly, Ian, Shimon, Dave, Dave, Marc & Zachary. In a first, I was the only one who didn’t have business cards on hand (yes, I do have them on the trip – they were back at the hotel).
I’m one of only seven people from Maine attending the conference. There are a couple of people I’ve never heard of attending Interactive; maybe I’ll be able to track them down. One person I do know (not personally) who’s here is Bob Ludwig – the producer who runs Gateway Mastering Studios in Portland – it’s a very safe bet that he’s here for the music festival, not Interactive.

I have the cellphone #s of some folks from Boston and Vermont and I’m hoping to meet up w/some tomorrow. Networking w/other online creatives from New England is one of my main objectives for this event.

• yrItinerary – rollover items for description, check box to throw a Google dart on the map
• Adactio Austin – handy list of parties – again, click party to throw dart on the map of this mashup, by panelist Jeremy Keith of Clearleft
• SXSW Baby! – the unofficial blog for the event, to keep folks up to date
• Upcoming.org – search on the tag “sxswi” for unadvertised happenings posted by other attendees

I got to the Convention Center after my late lunch to pick up my conference credentials. What a cattle call! The lines did move pretty well considering the number of people they had to usher through. Other sights of note included the largest pile of Legos I’ve ever seen (there were a number of adult humans playing with them).

Note to Jen: I saw someone who has hair that’s a much brighter purple than yours.

I met Steve Briggs, a former resident of Portland, for lunch today. Steve is someone whom I’ve known of for some time but never met until now.

It’s pretty amazing how we came to meet up. Steve is not attending SXSW, but about a week ago I ended up on his Web site (He owns a Web design business called WowPages) after contacting him on behalf of a mutual Client. I happened to notice he listed an Austin office on his Web site.

Steve used to base WowPages out of Portland and still maintains a presence there, but in late 2005 he and his wife moved to the Lake Travis area just outside of town.

We met at the Driskill, a classy old hotel in the thick of things, for a drink, then walked down Congress Street (that’s right, Austin has a Congress Street just like Portland, and it is the main drag) to a great Mexican place called (La M???). You just can’t get Mexican food like this in Maine!

The Driskill

While strolling around town I went by – and then through – the State Capitol.   Beautiful buildling; they keep it well polished too.  I was passing though at precisely noon, and there was a choir of elementary school children in the Rotunda who sang songs as part of some event.

Also in the Rotunda, a study in contrasts.  On the wall hang portraits of every governor the state has ever had, including Anne Richards, the first female governor, and next to her – Dubya.

This morning I had some time to kill before the SXSW conference check in so I decided to stretch my legs and become a little more familiar w/t/town. Fortunately, there’s a greenway along the Town Lake right outside my hotel, so I followed it for quite a long way, past the Convention Center…..Sixth Street (lots of bars and good music)….Waterloo Park….all the way to the University of Texas.

I don’t know precisely where I ended up but I imagine it was the student union, a beautiful building, across the street from the stadium.

On the way who should I happen to run into? Andy Clarke, who was sitting at a cafe table, with two others, one of whom was a gent with a British accent who said his name was “Patrick” (he probably told me his last name too, but my brain was a sieve today). I got the impression that this guy was some kind of Web Superstar too, but I couldn’t place him.

I have arrived. I have an excellent room at the Holiday Inn that overlooks Town Lake, which is really a river dammed up as it winds through town. Sometimes you get lucky. Today I am here [Google dart].

View from the room:

I think my luck runs out tomorrow b/c I am supposed to check in to the Doubletree (long story), which is a little further out (not much, but not right on the water and perhaps not within walking distance). I checked w/t/front desk here at the HI and they say their rooms are booked solid so I probably won’t be able to extend my stay.

Flights were uneventful – 1st leg to Atlanta seemed a little long b/c the legroom was not.

In Atlanta they had us all queue up to re-register at the gate, and I ended up behind this guy who looked like he was in some British rock band (sideburns, scruffy hair, 3 earrings, fancy scarf, British accent, etc.) Turns out this guy is Andy Clarke, (site) leading a panel discussion along with Jason Santa Maria that I was interested in attending on Monday. He asked me where I was from, and when I told him “Portland, Maine” a glimmer of a look passed over his face that seemed to say “They build Web sites in Portland, Maine??”. Seems like a nice guy; I think I’ll enjoy his presentation.

Yes, I gave him my business card and invited him to look me up if he was ever in Portland.

Well, here goes, a very impromptu attempt to keeping all you folks up to date on how I’m doing this week in Austin @ South By SouthWeb interactive. This is a grand experiment – Stay tuned….