Monthly Archives: May 2014

0 Producing a Screencast Video

I shared my first screencast video last Friday and today I shall write about the technical side of video production.

Video is a lot easier to produce than it used to be and if you plan to offer quality information on your website, it is worth considering using it.  The people who use it say that the best way to improve the quality of videos is to produce them.  So, my advice is strive for a good video but don’t worry if your first efforts fall short.  You will improve.

I’ve just started and today I’ll write about my experience and encourage you to experiment.

There are two main types of video, screencast and live action.  The latter is where you have a camera and film somebody or something.  This is more complex than screencast because you have to think about technical issues such as lighting .  I shall write more about it when I try it.  Screencast is the type I used.  This is where you record what is happening on your computer screen with a voice-over.

If you have a modern lap top or tablet you have almost everything you need.  The only extra bits of equipment I used were:

I knew what I wanted to say, rehearsed a couple of times and then got going.  Camtasia interfaces with PowerPoint and so the first part of the video was straightforward.  Camtasia than offers the option to leave PowerPoint and continue the screencast.  I lined up the five websites on a browser and moved across.  I cut out the transition.

Once the video is complete it needs to be produced.  Camtasia takes care of production.  I’m still ironing out a few issues, particularly the interface with YouTube but overall it was not too difficult.  I can see video production will become easier now that I’ve made a start.  The main constraint is finding time!

I’m happy to answer questions and try new things, so do ask if you want to know anything about video production.

1 Set Up Your Email List

Last Thursday I introduced email list management.  To set up your email list, it’s to use an email list service because they:

They charge for their services but given your list is likely to be your most valuable asset, this is money well spent.

A Point about Terminology

If you are running a complex organisation, you will have more than one list. For example, you may have a prospects’ list that records people who sign up from your website. If one of them makes a purchase, you can programme your site to take them off the prospects’ list and add them to your buyers’ list. Also you may have members and various committees, all with their own lists. For simplicity, when I use the word ‘list’ I mean the total of all the lists you have with your email service within the one account. If I want to distinguish between lists within an account I shall refer to the list by name, eg prospects’ list.

Choosing a Provider

There are several email service providers. The two most common used MailChimp and Aweber. There are high-end providers, such as Infusionsoft that provide a complete business service. These are more expensive.

MailChimp is popular among small voluntary organisations because it provides a free service. Aweber does not provide a free service and may be slightly cheaper once MailChimp starts charging. Some people think they offer a better service. I don’t think there’s much in it.

MailChimp’s Free Service

If you opt for MailChimp’s free service remember it is, apparently, quite difficult to change provider. I know people who’ve done it, so it is not impossible. However, you may want to consider where your organisation is heading when you make this first decision.

The free offer is up to 2000 email addresses. So, if you have multiple lists and some addresses appear on more than one list, then they will count to the 2000 total more than once. You can send up to 12 000 emails a month. So, if you have 2000 on your list, you can send 6 emails per month.

If you exceed these targets, they start to bill you. So, if you’re happy to pay once you exceed the target, there’s nothing to worry about. Most small organisations find they can operate quite happily within these constraints and do so for years.

The big drawback is you can’t send email sequences. If you want to send sequences, then you pay for your membership whatever number of emails you have on your list. You can upgrade at any time, so if you don’t want to send sequences immediately, you can sign up for the free service and upgrade later. However, if you’re going to start with a paid service it may be worth comparing prices with other providers.

Using Your Email Service

Most email services offer the following services. You will need to check out which services you must pay for with any given provider.

If you’re undecided between two providers, try to find out more about the quality of their support services. If they run a good responsive support service the chances are they provide an all-round good service.

Do you have experience of using these services? What advantages have you found?

0 Taxonomy of Conversation: Reflection

Reflection is the third of four types of conversation. How do we experience each type online?

Here is what I wrote three Wednesdays ago:

Reflection is where we listen from inside and hear ourselves reflexively and others with empathy.  It invites the listener to try on the insights of the other person to see if they might work for them.  It invites a more subjective understanding of unfamiliar points of view.

Is this possible online?

Any learning experience that encourages participants to apply their learning must do this. Learning new skills and applying them always involves reflection.

Some online marketers claim marketing and learning are the same.  Their model is reflective conversation. They don’t always achieve it and their results vary because learners vary.

A simple example.  I find as a coach to people designing and writing content for their website, they need to put themselves into their readers’ shoes. When someone visits their site, how do they experience it?

Plenty of tools enable online conversation and a big advantage is conversations can take place across great distances at low-cost. Here are some examples:

Of course, all these tools and approaches depend crucially upon content.  A webinar for 1000 people will be less reflective but it still depends upon its content. It is not adequate to simply explain how to do something. It is important to be inspirational, in the sense of inspiring viewers to take action. This does mean you must encourage participants to try something new.  Learning from experience is central to reflective learning.

Participants can share results and the outcome can be shared discovery and not so much debate.

Can you share an example of reflective online learning or conversation?  Is online learning ever as effective as real life learning?  Can online and offline learning be combined to support reflective learning?

4 Your Avatar

Your avatar describes your potential customers.  When you design your site for customers or activists, for the people who are going to buy your products or services, or support your cause, it helps to have a specific image in mind.

How do you design a site, especially its content, to build relationships with potential customers or supporters?

Avatar is a technical name for what most people call an imaginary friend. This is someone whom you imagine; s/he is not a real person although you may base your avatar on one or more real people. The more you know about your avatar, the better. Work out what would motivate them to respond positively to your site and then write for them.

It is important to think of your avatar as a friend. If this person were your friend, how would you write to them? This is not a reason to be over-familiar but it is a reason to avoid jargon and corporate–speak.   If your copy reads like a letter or an email to a friend, the chances are it will appeal to your site visitors.

You can have more than one avatar. You may find you have a number of potential markets, eg if you want people to write to their MP, you may need an older and a younger avatar. Older people might be more likely to write, they may be prepared to send a letter by post and be better able to relate to their MP. Younger people may rather use email or social media, they may be more reluctant or sceptical about writing and more forthright in expressing their views.

You might offer different incentives and resources to these avatars. Of course, you’ll have to work out how to get the right visitors to the right place on your site. So, a landing page for people who access through social media might suit younger people whilst a page accessed via flyers handed out at meetings might be designed for older people. But note this is not an exact science.

You could of course ask whether your visitor would rather use email or send a letter. As always, the rule is make a start and then figure out how to improve what you’re doing.

Do you have an avatar? How did you design him/her? If you have more than one, how do you manage them on your site?

2 Experimental Projects in the Economy

Alternative economic systems include everything else that follows the principles of self-interest or mutuality.  These are usually experimental projects, although some have been around for many years.

Credit Unions

Credit Unions are a mutual bank that makes loans to people who need small amounts of money. Small loans are very expensive and so conventional banks are not interested.

Credit Unions also find small loans expensive and their interest rates show this. However, they are nowhere near as high as rates charged by loan sharks, the amounts owed are low because the principles are small and the way they administer their loans supports the person who takes out the loan.  Consequently, credit union repayment rates are frequently higher than conventional banks.

Micro-credit

[amazon_link asins=’B01JXT2MD6′ template=’ProductAd’ store=’markettogether’ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’186ff57c-0034-11e8-b421-dbf57a1e2b03′]Micro-credit is similar to credit unions and found in disadvantaged parts of the world. Usually, the bank makes a single loan to a small group of business start-ups. The members are jointly and severally responsible for the loan and so it is in their interest that all the participants are successful. Mohammed Yunus is the founder of micro-credit and his auto-biography, “Banker to the Poor: The Story of the Grameen Bank” is a good introduction to the topic.

The Grameen Bank, founded by Mohammed Yunus has made significant inroads into poorer communities.  However, I find it difficult to see how micro-credit might work in the UK.  I’ve heard of a few attempts but nothing that has proved significant.  One major problem is equipment and raw materials are more expensive in the west.

Local Economic Trading Schemes

Local Economic Trading Schemes (LETS) are an alternative currency. In Sheffield, where I live, they trade in Stones, which sadly were not named after the late lamented local Stones brewery! A group of people who know each other, trade in stones. You gain them for offering a product or service and give them away for receiving a product or service. A healthy LETS is where most members often cross zero stones. There is no central bank (apart from a record of transactions) and everyone starts with zero stones. Accumulation of stones in either direction tends to reduce the activity in the LETS.

I’m sceptical about similar alternative online currencies. Once people don’t know the others involved and the currency can be converted into conventional currency, I think it is much easier for trust to be lost.

However, LETS might work online, so long as it is within a small group of people who trust one another. For example, website designers might meet online for mutual support. A LETS might work where they do work for one another. I’ve no idea whether any groups of designers have tried this.

Do let me know of other alternative economic systems you encounter, off or online.

3 My First Video

I have at last produced my first video!  It is a part of my series of posts about website reviews and uses the same criteria to look at 5 websites.

The big difference is this video looks at 5 sites from 5 similar organisations.  My idea is that by comparing similar organisations we can begin to get a better idea about website good practice.

The title is “The 5 Worst Intermediate Body Websites” and there will be a second video with the 5 best.  The video explains what an Intermediate Body is but the point is their mistakes are all too common online.  Many organisations need to scrap their sites and start over because they have made poor decisions in the past.

This may seem harsh but the benefits of following basic standards of good practice are immense.

Next week I’ll write about how I planned and produced the video.  I still have some issues to resolve and so I’ll go into the problems I’ve met and how I’m addressing them.

One issue is the size of the video!  I’ve adjusted this so that it fits in the available space.  You may find it best to view it on full screen.

It is worth following on by summarising the main points.  Bad decisions about your content management system (cms) can create problems as you develop your site.  These sites have issues about their content too but there is no point in trying to add good content to sites that are not working.  A quick checklist from the video:

1. Make sure you have standards of functionality comparable to WordPress.  Some of the these cms are lacking basic functionality such as a blog.
2. Don’t publish on someone else’s url or use their logo.  It is your website and you need to control the content so that your site visitors can see at a glance what you’re about.
3. If you have a reasonable cms, make sure your content is good.  And do the basics such as proof-reading!  I spotted another spelling mistake on the Surrey site after I finished recording.  Did you?
4. There is no need to fear cascading style sheets.  Do fear sites structured by tables or framesets.
5. Your visitor does not want to know about the geographical boundaries of your organisation or the vacancies on your committee.
6. There are conventions and it pays to follow them.  Hiding the navigation is not clever or witty.  Put your energy into telling me stuff I didn’t know I wanted to know.

Do tell me what you think!  Also tell me if you have any problems viewing the video.  I’m not planning to use this system forever and hope to migrate to YouTube soon once I’ve sorted some technical issues.

1 Managing Your Email Lists

Social media has value but an email list is a better way to grow support for your website.  What is an email list?

If you run any kind of organisation, the chances are you will have one or more lists. You may have distribution lists in your email account for various committees and meetings. To call a meeting, distribute minutes or circulate information, you simply call up the distribution list and away you go.

They can be very powerful. So, let’s assume you have one organisation that runs several meetings, with distribution lists for each meeting. Some people will appear on more than one list. Sometimes you may find that joining one group means, they need to receive emails from several groups. And of course, when they leave they need to be removed from all the groups. Perhaps you are familiar with the problem; keeping lists up to date can be a real drag.

Where do You Keep Your Lists?

Distribution lists can be stored by your email account manager or you can keep lists in a spreadsheet such as Excel or you can add a database to your website and keep your lists there.

The latter is a popular option. Some database plug-ins on WordPress, for example, have a lot of functionality. However, they have certain disadvantages, when it comes to sending emails:

So, the best option is to use an email list service and I’ll write about them next time.  You can find details of other posts in this series on the page about website design.

What issues have you met using email lists?

0 Taxonomy of Conversation: Debating

Debating is the second of four types of conversation. How do we  experience each type online?

Here is what I wrote two Wednesdays ago:

Debating is where we listen from outside, dispassionately weighing evidence.  It is a marked improvement on downloading.  It requires debaters to think about what they are saying and what the other person is saying.  It is a gateway to types three and four because it requires listening to others and marshaling our arguments to meet theirs.  The problem is that like downloading it admits of nothing new.  This is why so many debates go on for years because neither side can ultimately hear what the other is saying.

I am a part-time theologian and enjoy debating with other theologians.

I find debates about God increasingly frustrating. This started some years ago, when Richard Dawkins and others stirred up the debate with books such as “The God Delusion” and of course the atheist bus campaign.

What tends to happen is the new atheists pick debates with fundamentalist Christians. I’ve found they share a concept of God I do not share. I don’t believe in the God of the fundamentalists and so agree with the atheists about that.

But the god they don’t believe in is the same god I don’t believe in. I find both fundamentalists and atheists tell me I am a liberal and not a proper Christian!

Well, thanks for that it’s as well to know where you stand!

What is Going on Here?

It is a good example of debate, where neither side need back down because they depend on the other for the integrity of their own view. Neither side can see the immense amount of common ground between them. The only thing they disagree about is whether they believe in this false god.

The God delusion is on both sides. This is common where debates reinforce both sides. It is very seductive. I’m sure friendships develop, sometimes people change sides but the debate never moves on. Debates reinforce both sides of the argument.

Instead of downloading material that supports my worldview, debating is about listening to your opponents to respond to their points in support of your own worldview. The opposing view therefore reinforces your view. Both sides become entrenched.

Debating online can be exciting and educational. But is it possible to go deeper? Have you been involved in an online conversation that has gone beyond debate?

1 Types of Site Visitor

Who are the right people?  The people with whom it is important to build relationships? Last Tuesday I reviewed the purpose of the copy on your site. Your copy should aim to build relationships with the right people.

So, it is important to know your market, find the people who belong to it and build relationships with them. This is essential whatever your site is about. There is little point in running a site if it does not address the needs of your market.

Three Types of Visitor

People not interested in your site

People arrive through all sorts of accidents and so you need to manage expectations. You don’t want the wrong people to waste their time or yours on the site. Some will leave almost immediately. Others may take longer to work out your site is not for them. Some may start a relationship and then work out your site is after all not for them. Mostly these visitors are not a problem unless you get someone who takes up a lot of time by trying to persuade you to change your purpose to meet their needs. In the extreme these people are known as trolls. A very small number of visitors will be so extreme, so it’s helpful to know they exist!

Visitors who become faithful supporters or customers

The evidence is if someone makes a purchase they are more likely to make a repeat purchase. This does depend upon them being satisfied with their purchase of course. The same applies if they respond in other ways, eg by joining in your campaign.  To turn visitors into customers or supporters you need to build trust through your site. This may not be easy where communication is largely one way, from you to them.

The second customer

These are people who never make a purchase or do whatever it is you want them to do. They sign up to your email list and take part in the free activities on your site. If you want visitors to write to their MP, for example, second customers will sign up to your email list, make return visits, read your material but never write. However, they may publicise your site on social media, tell their friends about it and generally market your work. This can be immensely helpful. Encourage it!

So, the message is ignore type 1, design your site for type 2 and encourage type 3. The good news is you do not need to worry about losing the visitors who are not interested in your site purpose.  You do need to worry about losing your type 2 visitors though!  If you attract type 2, the chances are you will also attract type 3.

Next time I’ll explain how to find type 2, your potential customers or activists.

How do you design your site for type 2 visitors?

5 Self-Interest

What are the values behind the co-operative principles? I call the cooperative ethic is self-interest, which may come as a surprise. Bear with me.

Self-interest is understanding that by helping others, I help myself. The patron saint of this ethic is St Martin of Tours. The story goes that he shared his cloak with a beggar, by slicing it in half. God approves because God loves Martin and the beggar equally.

We must not confuse self-interest with selfishness. The latter is where I act solely out of what I perceive to be my own interests. Many people on the right believe “Greed is Good”. They confuse self-interest with greed. Self-interest understands putting the interests of others first to be most beneficial to me.

Altruism is not morally superior to self-interest for several reasons. It does not seek mutual benefit but assumes moral superiority of the altruist. However, self-interest accepts we all have mixed motives and it is effective because it seeks the benefit of all.

Self-Interest in the Marketplace

Self-interest actually applies to the conventional market, not just mutuals.  A mutual is a formal type of organisation, designed to embody self-interest. However, you don’t need a mutual organisation to act out of self-interest. A small business builds relationships with its customers because all concerned benefit from that relationship. As it grows a mutual business structure may help it to maintain its ethical basis.

The marketplace at its best embodies the principles of self-interest. The exceptions are fraudulent operations and larger businesses that accumulate massive wealth in the hands of very few people.

Accumulated wealth does not benefit everyone because it restricts money flow (trickle down was always a myth). The current UK government’s austerity policy restricts the flow of money and so everyone suffers apart from those who hold onto mountains of wealth. In these circumstances trust breaks down and the market can no longer function.

The internet contributes two contradictory trends. First, capital concentrates into fewer hands. Think of the big players such as Google, Facebook or Amazon. On the other hand it has undermined the old marketing methods, such as advertising. Online marketing gives away information to build trust with potential customers. The earliest people to cotton on to this, sometimes known as gurus, have made massive fortunes. I don’t see how this can continue for everyone. On the other hand, it does suggest it is possible for more people to make a living from online marketing based on self-interest.

Do you agree self-interest is a superior ethic in the marketplace? If not, what would you suggest is the best ethic?