How Much Does a Web Site Cost?

By Mark Evans in Advertising/Marketing, Social Media 5 Comments Tags: ,

Cost of a web siteHow much does a Web site cost?

You’d be surprised to hear how many times someone asks that question with the expectation they’ll get a pretty specific answer. It is based on the belief there’s a “retail price” for a Web site and/or every Web site is created equal.

The truth is that asking how much a Web site costs is like asking how much a car costs – it depends on how many doors you want, the size of the engine, whether it needs to have air-conditioning, automatic vs. standard, leather seats vs. pleather, etc. In other words, there is no standard answer.

So when someone asks how much does a Web site cost, the answer is: “What do you want the Web site to do? How many bells and whistles do you need? Do you have any ideas for design or brand guidelines? Is your existing Web structured well? How much content do you have?”

It’s only when you drill down that the cost of a Web site starts to materialize. Sure, there are ranges depending on how many pages are needed, the features and design requirements, etc. but it can be difficult to provide someone with a price off the top of your head.

The reason the cost question is being frequently asked these days is there’s a huge Web site refresh cycle happening. During the economic boom, many companies paid little or no attention to their Web sites because there didn’t seem to be a need to change them when business was rocking.

Today, however, many companies are scrutinizing their Web sites because more difficult economic conditions have made the marketplace more competitive. As a result, any edge a company can achieve is important.

At the same time, social media (aka inbound marketing) has made it more important to have a Web site that performs well and meets expectations. You can do a great job with social media marketing but if your Web site fails to deliver, social media is a waste of time.

For people like myself who provide Web site strategy, content, development and design, there are lots of business opportunities. As a supplier, the key consideration is being upfront with clients about pricing and, as important, asking a lot of the right questions to determine their needs and budget.

mesh was marvelous

By Mark Evans in Advertising/Marketing, Media, Social Media 2 Comments Tags: , ,

Mesh bean bagsmesh is like a good house party. Afterward, you’re exhausted but happy that everything worked so well. After seven months of preparation, the two days of mesh were over before you knew it, and now we’re on to the next thing – meshwest in Calgary on June 8.

So what were the highlights of mesh ’11? Without going into too much detail, here’s a personal list:

1. The venue – the Allstream Centre – was a major move for mesh because it’s much bigger than MaRS, which hosted the first five mesh events. Like any new home, there were a few kinks but, for the most part, it worked really well. It was great to have more meeting rooms and more space to mingle and eat.

2. The sponsors village – However you want to cut it, sponsors need to be part of the mix for a good conference. They provide the support needed to put on a good show. At the same time, sponsors want to be more than just a logo on the Web site and swag. At mesh, the village was part of the landscape so that they had great exposure that seemed natural and non-obtrusive.

3. The keynotes, particularly Gabe Zichermann’s talk with Stuart MacDonald about gameification. There are speakers who have a gift for entertaining, educating and engaging, and Gabe is a perfect example of someone who delivers all three. It was a keynote that delivered endless pearls of wisdom, and I found myself scribbling lots of notes.

A great example was Gabe’s contention that Web sites need to be simple rather than offer a lot of options, which is something that I constantly advocate when doing Web site projects for clients. Gabe also talked about the importance of rewarding users when they do what they you want. This can even message message such as “You’re amazing” after they register.

4. The porn panel – With a great lineup of speakers that included Pink Visual CEO Alison Vivas, who runs an adult entertainment company, it epitomized a mesh panel at its best. The panelists were engaged with each other, they had different perspectives to offer, they were entertaining and educational, and the audience was into it. Here’s the Huffington Post Canada story on the panel.

5. The bean bag chairs from FatBoy, which were a hit of the conference. Imagine walking into a large conference ballroom to discover there are 20 different coloured bean bag chairs to sit in. Now, a few people may have gone too far when they decided to take a nap but they were one of the small touches that made mesh really work. (Note: The photo above is the mesh gang post-mesh.)

6. The influencer panel with David Armano and Valeria Maltoni – With so much interest in the role of influencers within social media, the room was packed. As some of the leading thinkers about digital marketing, Armano and Maltoni were well-armed to provide perspective. If I had to moderate the panel over again, I would have pressed them into talking more about the tools – PeerIndex, Klout, mPact, etc. – because everyone gets that influence is an important thing but a lot of people are struggling with how to identify and successfully engage with influencers.

7. The TVO panel with host Steve Paikin, Micah Sifry, Jesse Brown, the NDP’s Charlie Angus and Tony Clement, the new Treasury Minister. It was a wonderful panel, highlighted by Angus proclaiming Twitter had little value – something that didn’t go over while in a room in which Twitter has enthusiastic support, including Clement.

There are lots of other highlights but these are some that jumped out. I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about the other important part of mesh – the people who attended and spoke, and their enthusiasm to network, exchange ideas and engage. It’s something that makes mesh different and wonderful.

Now, it’s on to Calgary for meshwest, and pretty soon, we’ll be getting the programming machine going for meshmarketing in November…and then it’ll be time for mesh ’12 in May 2012!

Links: It was great to see so much coverage of mesh. One of the blog posts that caught my attention was Louise Armstrong’s post on conference etiquette, which captures the essence of mesh. As well, Micah Sifry (aka TechPresident) did a wonderful post about Canada’s Internet landscape.

More: Here are the “official” mesh photos.

Is a Social Media “Rapture” Possible?

By Mark Evans in Social Media 4 Comments Tags: ,

While tele-evangelist Harold Camping’s apocalypse prediction (aka Rapture) failed to materialize (surprise, surprise!), it did get me thinking about the possibility of a social media “rapture” (aka SMR).

It’s an idea that may come across as bizarre or tongue-in-cheek, particularly by someone personally and professionally immersed in social media. But here’s my thinking: Everyone is so focused on being active on social media, having conversations, engaging and being authentic that I often wonder if social media is really that big of a deal.

Putting aside the enthusiasm of the publishers (bloggers, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube), how much excitement is there among consumers? Sure, they “Like” Facebook Pages but a “Like” is low-hanging fruit. And there are lots of people who watch YouTube videos but the most popular videos are fun and goofy.

It’s hard not to think that most of the engagement and conversations happening within social media are being driven by a relatively small group of people who are reading and commenting on each other’s tweets, blog posts, Facebook updates, etc. It’s a virtuous social circle that goes around and around.

But what happens if parts of this small minority start to lose their enthusiasm for social media? Would the bottom fall out of the social media landscape? Would there be a Rapture of sorts as social media gets exposed as something built a fragile foundation with fewer pillars than anyone imagined?

Throughout the whole social media phenomena over the past four or five years, I’ve often felt conflicted. While I’m excited and engaged about social media, I do wonder if we’re being too stoked at it. In other words, my pragmatism eats away at my enthusiasm.

It’s one of the reasons that I never described myself as a social media consultant being I didn’t want to pigeon-hole myself. Instead, social media is part of my marketing and communication strategic services portfolio that has more to do with helping companies tell their stories – be it via social media, a Web site, marketing collateral or corporate videos.

I think social media is wonderful for lots of reasons. And, to be honest, the possibility of social Rapture is, at best, remote. But I think it’s healthy to be cautiously optimistic.

The Canadian Blog Directory Goes Live!

By Mark Evans in Blog Services, Blogs No Comments Tags: , ,

CBD Logo copyEarlier this week at the mesh conference, my partner, Seth Singer, and I finally unveiled The Canadian Blog Directory. It’s a project we’ve been working on for the past few months to help people discover and explore the Canadian blogosphere.

In many respects, it’s a labour of love driven by the fact there really wasn’t a comprehensive and high-quality place to find Canadian blogs. As a result, you had to peck and search around as opposed to having a one-stop destination that met all your needs.

The CBD was launched with about 800 blogs, and since it went live a couple of days ago, we’ve had more than 150 blogs submitted. You can submit your own blog or recommend a blog you like. Either way, it’s free.

Consider the CBD a first step in what we’re looking to do. Our goal was to plant a stake in the ground and establish a foundation upon which we could build. There are lots of things on our to-do list, including new features and a refreshed design.

We’re looking to the community to help us make the CBD better and bigger. Submit or recommend a blog, or send us some thoughts at feedback@thecanadianblogdirectory.com.

The Nuts and Bolts of mesh

By Mark Evans in Social Media No Comments Tags: , ,

Mesh logoWith mesh kicking off tonight with a pre-party the Drake Hotel, it feels like the calm before the storm.

In many ways, mesh feels like a giant party rather than a Web conference. It’s a lot of fun, you get to invite cool people and it’s immensely satisfying to see everyone enjoy themselves. But it’s an awful lot of work that consumes hundreds of hours.

The preparations for mesh start, in earnest, about October (or eight months before the conference) when the six of us (Mike MacDerment, Mathew Ingram, Stuart MacDonald, Rob Hyndman, Sheri Moore and myself) start to brainstorm about potential speakers for the keynotes, panels and workshops.

We get together on Wednesday nights, which usually involves at least 30 minutes of updates, gossip and bad jokes before we get to the serious part of the evening: food, which tends to have a strong carnivore component.

Then, we get into lengthy and often animated discussions about speakers and content. At times, it’s a thing of beauty to see how collectively we can come up with ideas and great speakers.

But it’s not always peaches and cream. We’ve got different interests and agendas that sometimes cause some friction when a great idea is shot down. At the same time, we’ve all got demanding day jobs so there can be times when you don’t have the energy or patience to play nice. But much like brothers and sisters scrap, no one takes it personally because we’ve all got the best of intentions.

In an ideal world, we’ve lined up keynotes by late-January. The process is fascinating because we start with a list of 30 to 40 potential speakers, which is boiled down to 15 or so invitations. After dealing with polite rejections because people don’t want to travel, have conflicts, etc., we eventually arrive at the four keynotes.

At the same time, we’re coming up with ideas for panels. Some panels happen with little effort, some take a lot of time and work to emerge. The advantage of having six people involved in putting mesh together is there are lots of ideas and different perspectives.

That’s the programming side of the house. The event planning is another huge piece of work handled by the super-energetic Sheri Moore and her team at MCC Planners. They’re the ones who secure the venue, deal with the caterers, audio/visual people, accommodations and flights for speakers, social events, and all the small details that collectively add up to a lot of work.

And then you’ve got sponsorships, which is handled by Alicia Kalozdi-MacMillan. Without the support of sponsors, mesh would be difficult to make happen. It may come across as pandering but it’s truth because conference economics only work with sponsors involved – unless you’re willing (and able) to sell expensive tickets.

mesh is a lot of work that happens because a group of people pour a lot of blood, sweat, tear, energy, time and passion into it. To us, mesh is more than just a conference, it’s something we love doing because we think we’re doing something good and right for the community.

It also provides all of us with tremendous personal satisfaction. Personally, the best part is when the lights go out just before the first day of mesh begins when you can feel the excitement in the room – excitement that has been created after months of preparations.

So, let’s bring on mesh ’11!

More: David Crow wrote a really nice blog post, which captures the essence of what we do.

Can You Escape or Avoid Facebook?

By Mark Evans in Social Media 1 Comment Tags: ,

FacebookLast week, I got an e-mail from an old university friend who asked if he could include some photos on a new Facebook Page he was creating.

My immediate reaction was “no” because I think there are parts of your life that don’t need exist on the Web. This is particularly the case for a period of time in which I did lots of crazy and stupid things – nothing that terrible but, nevertheless, a part of my life in which I’m glad that happened without the presence of social media in which everything you do is easily published to the world.

After my friend said he had already posted photos that included me within group photos, I made it clear I didn’t not want photos of me on Facebook that would show me in a less than flattering light. While this may seem extreme to many people, it’s my philosophical approach to Facebook and social media.

Given we’re talking about photos taken in the 1980s, it raises the ethical question about whether they are off-bound when it comes to social media. They were taken before social media was around so there rules of engagement were different because there was no thought they would be published in a public forum.

So it begs the question about whether they should be posted without someone’s permission. I’ll give my friend points for at least asking me before he posted photos of me but it still doesn’t make me feel terribly comfortable.

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