Why the Local Economy?

It’s good to be back! Over my break I’ve taken this site in new directions. You will see major changes over the coming weeks and this blog will keep you up to date with them.

Today I’m starting a major new strand – the local economy. On Mondays I explore topics under the heading “Mutuality”. This strand focuses on the third sector. My particular interest is community development although I’ve explored a range of topics you can find here:

I reviewed:

(These links will take you to my new cornerstone pages, where you can see these posts laid out in an accessible format. See this Friday’s post for more detail!)

The Local Economy and the Third Sector

The third sector, understood as everything neither private nor statutory, needlessly drives a wedge between the local economy and community organisations.  Misapplied grant aid separates community-based initiatives from the local economy.  Once the money runs out, community activities die back and the local economy remains unchanged.  Whilst I’m sure there are examples of good practice, I believe this happens too often.

Why?  It’s largely to do with values. Business people work for their own benefit in contrast to the altruistic values of the third sector. Reality is more complex. I have several times argued the two sectors complement each other more than many realise.

Many business people start out with altruistic values; they understanding businesses are the most effective way to commit their time to their goals. Others discover, even though they seek personal profit as a priority, they are best positioned when providing something of real value. A good reputation is of massive value to their business. Similarly many in the voluntary sector eventually understand they need income to keep going; they find the constraints in the sector on trading arbitrary and frustrating.

Further, business people can find the third sector judgemental about their values and hopelessly tied into bureaucratic rules and regulations. Often self-employed people leave employment to set up on their own because they’ve had enough bureaucracy from their employers.

Third sector people can find business people distant and not interested in their cause. They’re busy and don’t have time to commit to good causes.

Is this beneficial to anyone? The third sector, working so closely with statutory funding bodies, achieves relatively little in the most disadvantaged communities. Where they set up commercial enterprises for charitable purposes, they are often poorly conceived.

In my next post I shall look at a few examples.  My purpose is to highlight some of the issues, not to deny that a lot of good work is taking place in voluntary organisations and small businesses.  I’m particularly interested in good examples of collaboration across the private and voluntary sectors.  Leave a note about any you know in the comments box.

Website Maintenance Break

I’m taking a break from this blog during August to carry out some website maintenance.  I shall spend the time I normally spend writing blog posts revising the site.  Take a look during the month and check out the changes I’m making.

It is never a good idea to make too many promises because usually I find my ambition goes far beyond the time available.  What I shall do is blog about the changes and why I made them from September.

Planned Changes

It is about a year since I set up the site and I’m aware there are a number of issues.

  1. The site is getting bigger and this has some implications with my host.  In recent days the site has ceased to back-up properly and the problem is to do with the type of server my host uses.  The fix for this is fairly straightforward but it requires some knock-on changes I need to resolve and so it is a fairly demanding job.
  2. I need to review most of the pages on my site because I have a better understanding of my offer than I had when I last revised them about 6 months ago.  This may mean I need to change the theme for the site and so I will need new graphics, etc.  I shall also be introducing testimonials to the site.
  3. I’m not happy with the categories on the blog and so I will be making some changes to the way I organise posts.  I’m hoping I will come up with a system that will make the sequences more accessible.
  4. The email sequence about community development has not been successful and I need to review it.  I may move it to the blog and try a new sequence.  I have a few ideas but they need a lot more work to develop into something viable.
  5. My use of social media needs to be reviewed, especially Facebook.  I suppose this is a fairly low priority.

Your comments on the site and how I can improve it are always welcome.  Also tell me about themes you would like me to cover in the blog when I start again on Monday 1 September 2014.

Restricted Site Access

I had no idea what a vexed question site access can be. By site access I mean who has access to the site for purposes of maintenance and adding new material. Site access ties in with site ownership and control.

At one extreme is the view only the designer should add pages or change the site design. The site owners may be permitted to make minor changes, eg keeping information on the site up to date. They may have access to a blog if there is one.

Some third sector organisations negotiate sites at low fees from professional companies. They find they have a site they cannot develop further because the old designers control it. Sometimes it lacks basic functionality.  This is not only about financial constraints.  If you don’t know what to look out for, it is difficult to know what to agree with the designer.

Some Examples

I know of a site built on a proprietary content management system (cms). This means the designer’s company effectively controls the site. The contract with the designer ended several years ago. Any changes to the site still have to be done by the designer. For some reason it is not possible to create pages on the site. There is no blog. Whilst the owners can change the existing pages’ content, they cannot redesign the site.  In effect this ties the client to the old designer.  Why?  It’s a bit of a mystery.  The client has few resources, they’re hardly going to be a significant source of income for the old designer.

The site itself is nothing special. It is a very simple design and so adding pages is not a major issue. The designer is willing to add, what I would see as basic functionality, to the site for a substantial fee. This was a significant fee for my client’s budget, to gain what they should have had in the first place.

It is hard to escape the view this is a cynical attempt to retain a client and take fees from them in the future.

A WordPress Site

Another example is a WordPress site with a custom theme. A professional design firm designed the theme for the site owners. They retained the administration status and permitted their client access to the site only to work on blog posts. You do this by adjusting the user type.

Ethically this is a better approach. The site has full functionality and the access arrangements can be changed at no cost.

The same designer argued they didn’t want the owners to have the freedom to change the site design. One thing they sometimes do is allow the owner to have administrator status and a lower status. They retain administrator status for rare occasions when they need significant changes and they use the lower status for day-to-day maintenance.

This last point is helpful.  There are legitimate site security issues and restricting access to the most powerful user-types is one way of protecting the site from owners who don’t always know the implications of their actions.

The Ethics

Restricting access to site owners is an out-of-date premise: site design is more important than function. If the design is dependent on people not interfering with it, is it really helpful to an organisation that wants to use its site for campaigning or marketing its products and services? The assumption behind these restrictions is the client will never learn enough to be in control of their own site.

I’ve seen restrictions based upon the skills, abilities or intentions of a single person and not on the needs of the organisation. Just because the current person in charge has no interest in looking after their site, it does not follow the organisation will always be in this place.

After they have spent what to them is a lot of money, it is frustrating if not disastrous to find, often a few years down the road, that the site is almost unusable; sometimes because the designer is unwilling to co-operate with the client who wants the freedom to do more with their site.  After all, the designer may have done a favour for a third sector organisation some years ago and really is not interested in helping them develop their site further.  Staff move on, the nature of relationships change and so it makes sense to future proof sites so the client is free to develop the site as their circumstances develop.

Compromise?

Bringing the owners onto the site with low-level access but possibly higher level access in the future is a compromise, protecting the site but allowing for organisational development. For low-budget organisations, off-the-peg themes are best because these have fewer constraints. If you have the budget for a special design be clear that whatever your current skill level you want the capacity to do more on your site in the future.

Remember the technical skills a designer or developer brings to your site are not necessarily what you need if you want to use your site as a campaigns tool or to sell online. Be sure that when the time comes to move on you have control over your own site.

Conversations Online: Skype Hangouts etc

Finally, in this review of ways to hold conversations online, I turn to media that enable perhaps the closest to real-life conversations, Skype Hangouts etc.

Traditional phone with screen, as envisaged in science fiction, some years ago!

This is the type of phone we imagined before mobiles and Skype. OpenClipart-Vectors / Pixabay

When I was a child, the videophone was more than science fiction. Television and telephones existed and so bringing them together was obviously a fairly straightforward technological advance.  I can remember wondering why no-one had thought of doing it.  Of course, there would be risks, getting out of the bath to answer the phone!

It is interesting the videophone seems to have happened almost as an afterthought. They have never taken off as stand-alone devices. The mobile phone perhaps dominates this market and video is not practical when the phone is on your ear!  You would need a camera and a phone; it’s not going to happen. (You can use ear phones and look at your phone but the other person would need to do the same.  It’s not impossible but it is impractical.)  This left the humble PC to take on the role.

Talk to just about anyone who is ICT sceptical and they’re likely to except Skype. They have discovered the value of worldwide communication at no cost apart from the fee they pay to their ISP.

So, let’s look at the advantages.

  • Video means conversations almost as good as real life can take place online. Whilst it can never replace being in the same room, facial expression and body language can be seen.
  • Calls and hangouts can involve more than one person. This means small conferences can take place. The limits are at a certain size, an audio conference with keynote speakers becomes more practical.
  • The global reach mean callers can be anywhere in the world that can access a connection.
  • All this is effectively free.

How to Use Testimonials

What can you do with material collected through interviews?

Language

The big advantage of testimonials is their language. Even with our best efforts websites can feel artificial or stilted because of the language we use.

Many sites use jargon that distances them from potential users. In general, people seem to respond best to language as close as possible to the language they use.

There are some issues. A recent client wanted a static website. The term “static website” normally means a site lacking dynamic content. Such a site when regularly updated, doesn’t have anything on it that enables visitors to influence its content. My client means a site that requires no work, with content that never changes.

Leaving aside whether an unchanging website has any real purpose (they do exist and can have a purpose under certain circumstances) the problem is if I use this language on my site, it would be misleading. As it happens unchanging websites do not interest me; so the chances are I would not present this particular idea on my site. But it illustrates the issues you might face using your interviewees’ language.

Positive and Negative copy

Substantial positive copy is of great value and one goal of testimonials. Positive copy is most effective when attributed.

However, negative copy can be of value. Whether you attribute negative copy depends upon context but you can use it to, for example, respond to objections to your service.

Treat negative copy as a request for an enhanced service. So, you will be able to say something like: “several past clients have commented that they’d like a particular service and so in response I’ve started this new thing”.

The value of the interview is whether comments are positive or negative, you are more likely to get a deeper understanding of why the interviewee thinks the way they do. This can be immensely valuable.

Generally it is difficult to get anyone to say anything about your service. A negative comments are valuable; use them, so long as they are constructive. “Your website’s rubbish” is not helpful. But a comment that explains why the website is rubbish may be helpful. The fact that someone took the time to comment suggests they value what you’re trying to do and want to help you improve it. You may have invested hours of work in your site and prone to be defensive but a positive and appreciative response to the comment is better.

How to Incorporate Testimonials into Your Website

Testimonials can be used on your website and the question is how they can be best deployed.

Attribution

The first question is whether to attribute testimonials. There are a variety of options depending upon context. Broadly, testimonials can be attributed only with permission. If someone sends you a testimonial on request, then attribute it. If they send you something you haven’t asked for you will need to permission to attribute it.

An attribution is something that can in principle be tracked down. If I say John said something, it is not really an attribution even if John is the name of the person who said it. I suppose someone might work out who John is but it’s not very likely and they wouldn’t have proof.

If someone is willing they may also feature a photo or video their views.

An attributed testimonial carries more weight. They are evidence of the value of your work.

However unattributed testimonials have value. You could say here are some quotes from past clients. This is not as effective as attributed quotes. You could use them with negative comments. For example I might say: “One of my clients said …” and then a negative comment. I would then respond to the comment.

The client might not want to be attributed for a negative comment (it would be more convincing if they are) but that it is negative carries some weight. It shows you respond positively to negative comments.

It is not necessary to say something on your page is feedback. You may find that comments can be incorporated seamlessly into your copy. They may enable you to write in language your customers use and appreciate. If, for example, you receive comments from a client, it might be inappropriate to quote them on your own website but they can still influence the copy on your site.

Where to put them!

Do not place testimonials on a page by themselves. No-one will read them. You could put them in a sidebar but it is better to integrate them into your copy. So, if you are explaining about your coaching offer, quote from a customer.

How have you used testimonials creatively to enhance the copy on your site?

Partnership Online

This is the final post in my sequence about partnership. Partnership Online opens up opportunities that may not be so easy to realise in real life.

Today, four principles of partnership online :

  • Traditionally businesses have been very cautious about sharing information but perhaps openness can be an advantage. Cautious because if your competitors get hold of your information, they may gain an advantage. Perhaps there is a case for secrecy with some things, such as a secret recipe. However businesses making their research data available, find there can be advantages. For example, a prize for the best interpretation of data might draw the expertise of many people into working unpaid for the business. Small organisations with little valuable data can benefit from sharing their problems. Blogs that tell the story of an artist or an entrepreneur might build a group of followers who support their work.
  • Online systems such as Linus, WordPress or Wikis are all examples of where groups of people work together without formal hierarchy. Online work opens up possible collaborations between all sorts of people. This happens informally. Whilst someone might start a project and become the principal beneficiary, many others might help bring the project to fruition. In return the principle beneficiary may help others out with their projects. Such approaches build trusted relationships and sharing new opportunities.
  • Many organisations find sharing online is the best policy for their business. Sharing a project with several others may mean you earn less from that project but find you get more offers of work via your partners. You may find your unique niche, something you enjoy doing and can to do for your partners. Everyone therefore works more effectively, earning through doing what they most enjoy.  A small group who enjoys their work are more likely to find innovative approaches.
  • Collaboration can happen anywhere in the world; markets can be worldwide. This is not always an advantage. For many businesses, a local or national market makes sense. However, there are always opportunities for collaboration. Even if your market is local, you may benefit from being in touch with others doing similar work in other places.

Implications for Local Organisations

I suspect online collaboration is something third sector organisations have been slow to explore.  Networks of small organisations who share the same market could collaborate online.  They could share marketing on one site or promote each other on their own sites.  Shared sites might cut the costs of site design and ongoing maintenance.  A shared site might offer integrated services provided by a number of small organisations.  There may be complications, eg having contracts with more than one organisation, although this could be mitigated by subcontracting work through a single provider.  Integrated networks might also mentor new businesses, helping them become established.

Some businesses may find they can build networks with other businesses at remote locations.  For example, web design itself does not need partners to be in the same town or even the same country.

There is no need to enter into full partnerships on day one.  A few organisations might help one another out through guidance and support.  They could experiment with one-off collaborations and move to promoting and integrated service as patterns that work for them emerge.

That’s the theory but what’s happening in practice?  If you know of interesting examples, please let me know.

Copyright for Images, Video and Copy

I haven’t written much about copyright, so here are a few guidelines I follow to be on the safe side.

Images

I found this bulletin “Alert – Photo and image copyright compliance” in the Churches Together in England newsletter, CTE News July 2014.  Whilst this article addresses churches the main point applies to all organisations with websites.

I always warn my clients about images. For some reason they seem to cause the most trouble.  I suppose most websites feature many images and far fewer videos or audio recordings and so the likelihood of a mistake is higher than for other media.  Also tracking down the owner and asking permission is a hassle particularly if the owner lives on the other side of the world.

However, the dangers are real.  You have three options.

  1. Use your own images.  If you carry a digital camera or a mobile phone you can record useful images as you encounter them.  You can scan images you draw yourself.  If you’re really ambitious learn to use Photoshop or one of the other similar tools.
  2. If you have permission then attribute the image.  I use the title attribute in the html img tag, which means the attribution appears when the reader hovers over the image.  Captions are equally good and the attribution is always visible.  Best practice is to use these if your website features members’ images, for example.  So, it is best to attribute your own images if they feature on an organisation’s site, even if you put them there.  Make it clear the copyright of images belongs to the site unless otherwise stated.  If you use free images, and there are many sites that supply them, follow the instructions about attribution.  Remember many free image sites charge for images used anywhere other than on websites.  Don’t assume you can use an image in any way you like just because it is free to use online.
  3. Get permission to use an image if it isn’t on a free site.  This may be a hassle but occasionally if there is no alternative it might be worth it.  Some sites might charge to use images, presumably a lot less than the fine.

Videos

Video seems to be less of a problem than images.  When you upload your video to YouTube, YouTube becomes in effect its owner.  Any website can embed a YouTube video without breaching copyright.  Presumably this is because the video is attributed back to the site and anyone who views it registers on the YouTube site.  Take care with other video sources, check their terms and conditions.

Text

This is the least problematic.  Unless you’re planning to copy the entire contents of a paper, blog post or book onto your website you’re in the clear.

You can reproduce short extracts from a text on your own site.  It should be attributed and if it is available a link to the full text is always worth adding.  This has been standard practice in academic writing for many years.  Linking to the full text, where possible, is new and has many advantages.  The reader has something to follow-up if they are interested and you provide a back-link to someone’s site.  In time they or others may do the same for you.

As far as I’m aware ideas are not copyrighted.  So, there is no restriction on expressing an idea in your own words.  What you choose to attribute is a matter of judgement.  For example, I sometimes take the structure of someone’s copy and adapt it to my own ends.  The overall flow of logic may shadow theirs but the content is entirely mine.  Should this be attributed?  It does depend upon how much they have influenced your own copy and you may wish to link your copy to theirs so your readers can see both arguments.  On the other hand if you are taking an entirely new direction there is little point in muddying the waters with an irrelevant link.

Do you agree with the basic rule: “If in doubt, leave it out!”?

Content-Related Site Maintenance

Why is it important to keep your site up-to-date? The answer depends upon your site.  Assuming your site is secure and well-maintained, you need to focus on content.

No-one in their right mind wants a website. A website is a lot of work and it is not worth it if you have no goal in mind other than owning a website.

First, be clear: What is this website for? What are we trying to do? Whatever it is, that is the thing you want, not the website!

Your website is a subtle machine you can bend to do the will of your organisation. If your website is an endless source of frustration and resists your will, then the chances are there’s something wrong with it.  Discuss your site with a web consultant who can help you diagnose and address the problem.

Your site maintenance, beyond the essentials for site security, should always contribute to your organisation’s purpose.

If your site simply describes what your organisation does, then it will need an occasional review. Perhaps once a month, depending on how quickly things change, do a quick read through to be sure everything is working as it should and nothing has gone out of date.

If you hold occasional public meetings and your site promotes them, you need a blog. However, so long as your target audience knows to look on the site, you don’t necessarily need to do well on search engines. An email list that automatically informs people when you post a new event may be all you need.  Local groups don’t need to worry too much about search engine optimisation (seo) but it does depend on your overall aims.

Regular posting is most important when you hope to build a following online. Two reasons.

  1. Regular posts register with search engines and so people will be more likely to find your site.
  2. People who find your site and discover recent activity are more likely to subscribe and take part in your activities.

These are known as traffic and conversions. If they are important to you then you need to put more effort into your site. Basic site maintenance is necessary (because to fail to do it will be a barrier to your message) but it is not sufficient – there is much more to traffic and conversions.

This post is simply underlining the need for basic good housekeeping. There is a lot more to getting your machine working and this will be a major theme when I return after the summer break.

How do you review your site?

If you enjoyed this post, you can sign up to my email list at the top of the right-hand column. You will receive a weekly summary of my posts, an email sequence about community development and occasional emails about community development online.

Conversations Online: Social Media

Many people argue social media is the most effective way of holding conversations online. They certainly have many advantages. If you are looking for new people to sign up to your email list, then social media is a good place to start. The trick is to know when to point your social media to your website.

It is important to remember your friends, likes, followers, etc are the property of the social media application. You have to follow their rules and if they change their site structure or their rules, you can lose your work on that particular application.  This is why you will want your social media contacts to sign up to your email list.

How do you make best use of social media for your organisation?

  • Be selective – there is no need to be a member of everything going. By restricting your involvement to a few platforms, you can learn  how they work in-depth. You can always add another later.
  • Don’t forget specialist social media, such as YouTube, still counts to your total. YouTube offers opportunities that take time to understand and implement. It is not just somewhere to display your videos.
  • Refer contacts back to your site because your site is where you build meaningful relationships. Someone who visits and signs up to your email list may become a follower and eventually a customer or advocate through social media. Indeed, the person who has visited and likes what they see, is likely to spread the word via social media.
  • Don’t sell on social media. Use it to engage with new people and interest them in your work. Later they may publicise your offers on social media but it’s better when it comes from them!
  • Consider advertising on some platforms. Facebook in particular seems to be a successful platform for advertising because you can specify the type of person who will see your advert. However, it is usually better to grow your presence organically, without paid advertising, until you know the market to which your product appeals.

How to Collect Testimonials

Last time I explored sources of testimonials and today I’ll look at the practicalities of one source: the interview.

Why Interviews?

There are many potential sources for testimonials but interviews are particularly helpful for two reasons:

  1. The interviewee can talk fully about their experience in their own words.
  2. It can take about 20 minutes for them to become confident enough to speak their mind in real depth. Most other testimonial sources, eg written statements, tend to harvest superficial thoughts. This is the nature of the media, rather than the intentions of the interviewee.

Who should you interview?

There are two possible answers to this question. Obviously one is people who have been or still are your clients. They will have appreciated some of your contributions and may be unhappy about others. Their experience can be invaluable to you as you design your service.

But there are also people who have not been your clients. Perhaps people you know who have sufficient experience to articulate relevant issues they have met.

How to interview

Here are a few things you need to agree beforehand.

  • Where to meet; either a face-to-face meeting or by telephone.
  • That the interview shall be recorded.
  • It shall take 20 – 30 minutes.
  • You will prepare a transcript and share it with the interviewee.
  • You will agree the material you may use and whether and how it shall be attributed.
  • Ask if you may take a photograph.

If you record the interview you don’t need to concentrate on writing things down. This means you are likely to capture a lot more. Don’t forget to test everything is working before you start.

Prepare your questions beforehand. Don’t have too many and allow people space to expand on their answers.

There are three possible applications for the material you collect.

    1. Use and attribute material, using the interviewee’s name and organisation (the precise nature of the attribution should be agreed) and it can include a photo. Video and audio are also possibilities.
    2. Non-attributed material may be where there are sensitivities. However, it is inevitable you will weave your feedback into your website. I’ll expand upon this next time.
    3. You will never use it in any form either because it is not suitable or the interviewee asks for it not to be used. The latter should be rare because it would only apply to something very specific that could be traced without attribution.
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