Client conference call, with a need to discuss multiple images from multiple subdirectories.  Want to EASILY go back and forth between these images, not necessarily sequentially, but based on the conversation. (BTW, I invited them to my PC via GoToMyPC, and I gave them access to my keyboard and mouse.)

NOT SO HOT SOLUTION

What opens by default for me, Windows Photo Gallery, doesn’t have perfect, predictable back and forth action, doesn’t provide for one click hopping to an image that’s not next in it’s concept of “order”, and doesn’t seem to go between multiple directories.  Oh, it also doesn’t always seem to scroll all images in the subdirectory I’m in either.

COOL SOLUTION

Open up Firefox.  This probably works in IE, but I’m a Firefox Fan, so that’s what I’m describing here.  Drag the first image to a tab.  It opens in all its glory, displaying the image name on the tab (an argument for meaningfully naming your images.)  Open another tab (Ctl-T).  Drag the next image to tab.  Open up another tab….you get the pattern here, right?  Want to display an image from another subdirectory?  Go to that subdirectory, drag the image to a tab.

Now, my client and I can both see all the images I have open in Firefox, and we can easily go back and forth between them.  And, because I gave my client access to my keyboard and mouse virtually, they can easily interact with these tabs, too, without having to know or touch my subdirectory structure.

One more Firefox tip you can use for this situation?  You can use Firefox as a way to navigate through your subdirectory structure, too.  Just go to the URL address bar, and type in c:/ and press enter.  Watch what happens!  It shows your C: drive directory structure.  Change drive letters to access other drives.  Navigate up and down the structure.  Open up a new tab, and drag an image you find in this tab to the new tab.  Okay, the TRUTH is that you don’t even have to open a new tab.  Just drag it next to another tab, and it opens a new one on its own.

Now, this solution is completely self-contained.  Enjoy your new Firefox Collaboration Station!

Coming Soon: Another Great Client Call Tool, and Firefox Tab Pollution Solution. Want to know when I’ve written them?  You know how it works…subscribe to this blog.

She describes her blog as “a place to capture and share ideas, experiment with and exchange links and resources about the adoption challenges, strategy, and ROI of nonprofits and social media.”

This blog is jam-packed with great tips, information, and tools!  I’ve bookmarked it and subscribed to it, and I’m looking forward to learning more.

If you’re helping non-profit clients be heard, or you’re a non-profit trying to connect, this is definitely worth reading.

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Laura Fitton- :is there a #hastag for this event?
from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:#twitter4biz
from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:We’re streaming the audio portion of this presentation, however, you may dial in if you prefer to 1-408-792-6300. Sometimes the streaming audio may be choppy; this can be affected by your bandwitdh. Closing unnecessary applications may help. Meeting number: 665-025-750. You can find this information on the “communicate” menu when you select “join teleconference.”

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from CJ Romberger - Will these slides be available later?
from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:We’ll ask Sarah about her slides. The recording will be available to everyone.
from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Mark McDonnell - Any of these “overhead” characters? I mean, does anything in your config force content into the tweet and effectively lower the character count below 140?

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Dean Meyers - Can every one here join a group on twitter about this webcast?
from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Heidi Nabert - :From a Biz perspective = guidelines on posting edicate/amount of posts/day?
from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Wayne Kurtzman- Tweetgrid.com helps you monitor the #twitter4biz comments. Just add #twitter4biz in the search box.

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from glenn letham - Tim only follows 300?? that’s a bit odd

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Steve Howard - You can use various tools to shorten web links, i.e. twurl.com

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Lyell Petersen  - Tweetworks.com provides Twitter groups, but Twitter does not. See search.twitter.com for #twitter4biz

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Mark McDonnel - How does one go about creating a hashtag?

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from jenn gleckman - How does a new business Twitter user ‘catch up’ with its competition in light of the enormous recent growth of Twitter?

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Elizabeth Leewis - I heard twitter disabled the search feature because they are limiting the number of people you can follow, is this true?

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Blake Palmer(creating a hashtag) just type # and a tag you decide on
from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from David Rathbun - Is there an alternative to Tweetgrid for following the Hashtag?
from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from CJ Romberger to Mark McDonnel - You just make one up.  I check search.twitter.com to make sure it’s not used already.  Then, you put it in your messages and tell the rest of the group to put it in theirs, and it creates a virtual group.

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Pam Buda  - Budurl shortens links and allows you to track click-throughs

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from CJ Romberge - To David Rathbun - search.twitter.com lets you follow the hashtag, too.

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Zack Perry - Does that mean there is no “long tail” of users in twitter

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from ELIZABETH GEBHARDT - what was the % of active usres?  my audiio broke up.  thx
from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Christopher Rollyson - bus. case studies, can u share? thx
from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from James BonTemp - Re: hashtag - I think you have to follow @hastag first, then any # becomes a tag

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from andrea tobor - where’s the best “how to” for using Twitter - not getting the @ function

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from CJ Romberger- If you use @someones name in the middle of your tweet, it doesn’t show up on their @reply list, right?

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Jon Leland - :she said that the percent of users stays the stays the same as it grows, but what is that constant percent of active users?
from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from magda rocki - In what ways, can emerging start-ups use twitter?

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Mike Diliberto - spy.appspot.com is a great app to use to follow hastags
from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Jeff Cohen - #twitter4biz just made trending topics

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:We’re streaming the audio portion of this presentation, however, you may dial in if you prefer to 1-408-792-6300. Sometimes the streaming audio may be choppy; this can be affected by your bandwitdh. Closing unnecessary applications may help. Meeting number: 665-025-750. You can find this information on the “communicate” menu when you select “join teleconference.”
from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Ashley Lohman - how might a marketer get buy-in on Twitter from a highly conservative, risk-averse B2B company sceptical of the business value of social networking overall

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Deb Kolaras - Twitter got rid of the “delete” message option…why?

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Sara Winge - Re: Elizabeth Lewis’s question about search–Evan Williams says ” we disabled it because spammers were using it to harvest names in a way that could bring the site down. ”
from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Jenny DeVaughn - To CJ Romberger - Yes,you are correct.  If you use@someone’s name in the middle of your tweet it will not show up in the person’s reply list

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from christopher drinku - I delete messages all the time.

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from andrea tobo - when will Twitter have their “search for individual name” function back up and running

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from CJ Romberger - Deb Kolaras - I think it’s maybe just temporarily broke?

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from andrea tobor - it’s been down for over 3 weeks

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Joni Vincen - has been broken for a while it seems…

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from christopher drinku - twellow.com is what I use for twitter search; but it would be nice to have search.twitter.com working again it’s been temporaily out for at least 2 weeks, prob. 4wks.

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Janiss Garza - The delete is still there… you need to click on the status (message) itself
from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Wayne Kurtzman - How would you suggest an eCommerce company start w/o coming off pushy?
from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from CJ Romberger - She might want to cover unfollow vs. block.  I was blocking people because the UI for unfollowing wasn’t obvious 2 me.  Blocking dings people, which wasn’t what I meant to do.

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Janiss Garza  - Click on the “about [number] minutes ago” link and you’ll see the status with the trash icon.
from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Shel Horowitz - Great example re Whole Foods–I’ll start following them

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Danny Dang - Should a business follow everyone who follows the business?
from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from glenn letham - i think twitter 101 would have been a better title for this don’t you?

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Steve Howard - :search.twitter.com works just fine for hash tags. I think it’s only peiple search they disabled

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:
We’re streaming the audio portion of this presentation, however, you may dial in if you prefer to 1-408-792-6300. Sometimes the streaming audio may be choppy; this can be affected by your bandwitdh. Closing unnecessary applications may help. Meeting number: 665-025-750. You can find this information on the “communicate” menu when you select “join teleconference.”
from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from christopher drinku - to Wayne; try a 12:1 ratio or something similar 12 posts about what your customers need/industry stuff & 1 post about your offerings.

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from CJ Romberger - Does she know if there’s a tool to find out who you’ve blocked?

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Richard Weisberge - anyone interested in developing a social networking  site for WholeFoods, let me know rcw@makenlifegood.com

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from CJ Romberger - Does she know if there’s a way to specify a TWEETER as a favorite, rather than just a TWEET?

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Zack Perry  - I agree. @Shel. seems like a great example of a big company getting and keeping the convo rolling
from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Wm. Marc Salsberr - Seth Godin at a recent conference basically said that Social Networks were worthless to businesses unless a person you meet on that Social Network can authorize a $100k contract for you. <http://tinyurl.com/57qv35>  Just wondering what your thoughts are regarding how ‘businesses’ and ‘experts’ view Twitter.

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Casey Cotter - (audio just cut out again, happening regularly now.)  Might be helpful to let newbies have context that is better for credibility to mention Twitter account in corporate blog to help establish legitimacy. Am thinking of The Chevron false rep issue earlier this fall that had fooled many.

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from christopher drinkut  - to danny dang = follow everyone until you get to 10,000

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Phil Townrow - Are there downsides to Twitter for businesses. In particular I am concerned about Spamming on Twitter
from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Mark McDonnell - @Glenn L: I’d say Sarah’s demonstrations of how it’s effectively used take it well beyond the “101″ level. (Contrast her suggestions with some of those that have appeared here, for instance! [ducking and running])
from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Christopher Rollyson- :managing diff. accts & how to use persnl & bus accts togethr
from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Zack Perry  - I agree. @Shel. seems like a great example of a big company getting and keeping the convo rolling

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Rama Mamuaya - :is it ethical to re-tweet all the time. i got someone who re-tweet hundreds of time per day. what’s the normal / ethical count for re-tweets ?
from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Damien Robinson to Host - Why should you have a corporate account vs. a personal account.  There’s only so much time in the day.

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Gillian Brouse - I am surprised that so few recruiters (headhunters) use twitter… I am starting to see it, but not widespread

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Rob Rankin - You just mentioned that you should be on everyday and hopefully several times a day. While Ford may be able to do that, how can much smaller brands do that? Resources and prioritizing are of course an issue. Ideas?
from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from luke b3000  - Is it considered bad to shorten wordsfor example “for” to “4″
from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from B Dunwoodie- What’s the best way to group twitter? Say if you are a small org and want to have 3-5 people on a single account…

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from B Dunwoodie - What’s the best way to group twitter? Say if you are a small org and want to have 3-5 people on a single account…

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Josh Finkelstein - For a company with a bad image (not necessarily customer service), would twitter even be a good idea? (assuming most replies would be negative)

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from christopher drinku - & others are still figuring out the analytics of using twitter; but its out there experts that I read are convinced of the utility of it; but marketers should always consider where and who their target audiences are, if they are not using twitter, go to where they are, but twitter (or micoblogging) seems to be here for the duration.

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Mike Diliberto - the most important thing that I tell companies is that they should use an app like spy (spy.appspot.com) to look for their company name out on tweets;  customer service should use the company twitter account to contact these users instead of waiting for them to come to you
from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Gillian Brouse  - Mark Evans, former tech journo and now twitter blogger, suggests that you follow no more than 100 to limit spam — twitter spam becoming more prevalent

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Jocelyn Reyes Midghall - Have u heard of any biz out there that has actually monetized their contacts at Twitter?

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Mike Doeff  - There is no limit on how many can follow you but there is a limit to how many you can follow.  This limit was put in place a few months ago as a way to control spam

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from christopher drinku - Great talk; love to do more; follow me at http://www.twitter/christopdrinkut

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Joshua Brown - Are there any good resources to see how nonprofits can use Twitter that maybe they have not tapped into yet? Or are there different analytical tools that can track Twitter trends toward your organization?
from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Andy Ciordia - Where does Sarah think this is trending towards?
from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from William Zachmann - Question:  Any idea how to sort out a problem with Twitter thinking your cell phone account is already in use for Twitter - when it isn’t?

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Mark McDonnell  - Sarah, is it within your intended scope to briefly explain FriendFeed? (Speaking of personal vs. professional Twitter accounts…)

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Scott Stawarz to Host - Am I right in saying that twitter is almost a global instant message board?
from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Scott Stawarz - Am I right in saying that twitter is almost a global instant message board?
from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Jack Powers  - Your should mention Quitter, which notified you when somebody stops following you. http://useqwitter.com/

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Vinzenz Weber - I wonder if there is use for a twitter device, eg a simple LCD displaying twitter messages comin in on your account? Similar to a picture frame. I just started to work on a demo device! zubzone.com
from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from kathleen wiersch - I think I get so many “junk” follows that can’t possibly be interested in me or my company but just want to have more followers themselves

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Sherra Scott - FireFox has some great twitter plug ins to allow you to see and post while your’re on-line for other things.

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Carla Borelli - B. Dunwoodie - yammer.com
from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Maranda Gibson - When it comes to getting more personal on a company twitter, how do you determine a good line between being company focused and not turning the company twitter into your personal one.

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Joshua-Michéle Ros- Also - I would point out that it depends on your Audience - Twitter still is an early adopter medium.  If your business is focused on the elderly poor (for example) then Twitter doesn’t yet make sense
from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Patricia Walshe - Is Twitter primarily in North America, or are there international stats.  I realize that the net makes this difficult to tell.

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Pam Buda  - Hi Giilian!
from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Joni Vincent - would you please explain that again (how to find a person just by seraching for their real name)?  thanks!

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Marsha Keeffe - Online community is here to stay - see the Rubicon Consulting study that includes Twitter www.tinyurl.com/57p323

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Deb Kolaras - I would suggest companies that put deals online not just have that as their tweets…too spammy

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Daynah N - Zappos advertised giving shoes to anyone who showed up within the next hour.

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Daynah N  - and he gave 8 pairs of shoes away!

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Mark Magliocco  - best development tools ?

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from rodney rumford - publishing a report, workbook and case strudies and videos next week. http://facereviews.com/twitter-book

from O’Reilly Media to All Participants:from Steve Howard - monetizing Twitter is not the point. Networking with your clients and potential clients is more valuable in the long run IMHO. but I know one music promotor who rustles up great business  through twitter
END OF TEXT FROM CHAT

There’s an article here I hope you’ll read.  The BBC put this on their website in January, 2006.  That may have been a long time ago in the world of the web, but it definitely still applies.

Summary of the article?  Users make decisions about websites in 1/20th of a second; a mere blink of an eye.  And they seem to stick to those decisions.

Researchers in Canada showed volunteers websites for only 50 milliseconds each.  Those users then rated the websites in terms of aesthetic appeal.  Turns out the decisions they made in that 50 milliseconds didn’t change much when they were given a longer amount of time to mull those sites over.

Researchers also believe there’s a halo effect in place here.  If a user likes the way a site looks?  That same user believes the content and offering of the website will be worthwhile as well.  After all, who wants to be proven wrong about his or her decision?The competition is intense right now, and your website is most likely a major piece of your marketing material.  Whether we like it or not, it IS all about the way we look.  What does YOUR site say in 1/20th of a second? And, if a visitor stays longer, is he forced to change his mind about that initial positive impression he had?

1/20th of a second isn’t long enough to read anything.  It’s only long enough to have the briefest of glimpses.  Color, imagery, volume of content.  I daresay I can’t imagine a user absorbing more than that in 1/20th of a second.

Don’t look at your website right now.  Instead, look at your company.  What three things are true about your company that you want everyone to know?  How can those be conveyed visually, with color, images, and volume of content?

In Part II, we’ll talk about colors and user reaction to various colors.

In Part III, we’ll talk about imagery.  What should it convey?  Should it shock, soothe, invite, excite?

In Part IV, we’ll talk about the volume and characteristics of your content.  Why your users are visiting your site should drive your content.

Subscribe to this blog so you don’t miss the next 4 parts!

Will you share a favorite blog or two you read with me?
I’d be extra grateful if you’d take a moment to tell me what makes them different from all the other voices out there?

And last? Do you remember how you found them?

Thanx for stopping by and commenting!

Oh, want to know mine? I probably read about 10 or 12. I’ll call out 5 here.

Steve Harper - Author of The Ripple Effect - http://swotvision.blogspot.com/. His website is http://www.ripplecentral.com. Yes, he’s a client, but I was a fan, and he was a friend first!  He’s an excellent speaker, trainer and consultant, and he’s exceptional at teaching others how to build meaningful business and personal relationships.

Seth Godin - He’s got a new book called The Tribes that I just ordered from Amazon. I get his blog every morning on my Blackberry, and it’s the first thing I do in the morning. Check my Blackberry to read his blog…before I even get out of bed. Do me a favor, and don’t tell Seth this. http://sethgodin.typepad.com/

Lifehack - http://www.lifehack.org/- This blog just plain rocks. Every day there’s different writers contributing productivity tips. Some days it’s better than others, but almost every day it is absolutely worth the time I’ve spent reading it.

Liz Lynch - Center for Networking Excellence - http://blog.networkingexcellence.com/ - I wrote a blog about her recently. I’m a big fan of Liz’s. She’s got a new book out, too, called Smart Networking, which you can get here. She knows how to network, and she knows how to help you learn how to network.

Brian Massey - The Conversion Scientist - Brian is a friend, too. Brian’s not a daily blogger, but I’ve really enjoyed some of his recent blogs immensely. http://customerchaos.com/

I’ve been thinking about posting my Top 10 favorite blog posts for the week here.  Any interest?

Can’t wait to hear what YOU’RE reading!

Back then, she sold her networking tips in a booklet form, 3 for $20 I think.  All the same booklet. The idea was, of course, to network with someone by giving them the networking tips booklet.

I’m not the shy type, so I didn’t have that to overcome.  But she had some great tips in her booklet for everyone, not just the shy, don’t-know-what-to-do types.  I don’t sign up for many email lists, but I signed up for hers.  Excellent information, non-obvious, unique ideas.  She did a great job of tying everything together.

I got an email from her today (she sent it to her mailing list.)  She’s got a new book out, and I’m about to order it.  http://www.smartnetworkingbook.com goes straight to Amazon where you can purchase it for the dirt cheap price of around $11.53.

It’s all about networking and creating a following both in-person AND online.  I can’t wait to read what she’s got to say.

Of course she’s on Twitter - liz_lynch.  So am I - cjromb. Or you can learn more about her and networking at http://www.networkingexcellence.com

No, I’m not on her payroll.  I’m just doing what she would do; I’m turning you onto someone I think it worth knowing.

They’ve got some great articles this month - I’ve been enjoying them immensely.

While you’re reading it cover to cover, I’d love it if you’d check out my Gadget Girl column, which starts on page 86.   This month I wrote about the Kindle, which is the bookreader available on Amazon, and GoodReads, which is one of my favorite websites for everything book-related.

They have real, paper copies available all over town, plus they have an online version at:

http://www.austinwomanmagazine.com

Enjoy, and I’d love feedback on the gadget article, or any suggestions for gadgets you’d like to share.

http://budurl.com/top10webapps

• Twitter
• Facebook
• FriendFeed
• Yahoo
• MySpace
• Digg
• MobileMe
• LinkedIn
• Delicious
• Last.fm

Honorable mention went to:

• CNET
• Engadget
• Wall Street Journal online
• TechCrunch
• CenterNetworks
• Mashable
• Bebo
• Revision3
• coComment

(Perhaps the CNET nod was a job-preservation tactic? They did make a nice change this year.)

What do almost all of the top 10 have in common? They’re almost all social networks of some sort.

It’s all about community. Everyone’s involved in community. Are you?

How is “community” changing your life? We’d love to hear what communities you’re involved in. What have you’ve learned, seen, done, changed? Who have you met, found, interacted with, been introduced to?

…because of community.

And are you, like I’ve heard from many people, feeling these two things?

1) Overwhelmed. There’s so many to choose from, you don’t know which one makes sense. They all take time to update, they all take time to be involved in. Some of them are hard to figure out.

2) Wondering just how they fit in business, corporate life. How can they enhance, add to, create, drive business to your business?

Stay tuned, we’re starting an event series that might help you find the answers to these very issues.  (We know what it takes to make a website work, whether it’s yours or one of these!)

Want a small preview? Come and see me (CJ) speak at eWomen Network for lunch on November 12th. I’ll be presenting “Fast, Connected, and Cool…For Free.” Register here.  Four of the top 10 from Josh’s list are part of my presentation.

Can’t make this event, or think your company might be interested in hearing this topic?  Let me know.

In 1997, we bought 5 acres of land just inside Hays County, near Nutty Brown Cafe.  We chose to build as much square footage as we could, over buying nice tile, nice countertops, fancy fixtures, crown moulding, etc.  We reasoned we’d be able to afford updating those things later.

We also blew off building a garage for the same reason.  We could add that later, too.  Sure, the lack of storage and a good place to store things that should be in a garage (for ex: CARS, BIKES) has been a pain.

Over time, we’ve made the inside of the house look beautiful.  West has put in perhaps millions of hours upgrading.  We have gorgeous 24″ travertine tile that he flawlessly cut and laid himself.  He’s a crown molding installer extraordinaire.  The new fence with vines learning to crawl up it, a lawn with an irrigation system, and refinished front doors are all recent projects.

Ah, but we still don’t have that garage.   Why not?  We’ve had plenty of conversations about the garage.  We’ve figured out over the years where it should be (several different ways), what it should be constructed of, what the doors should be made of.  But each time we have the conversation, we decide it would be a shame to build the garage without making it 2.5 cars.  It would be a waste of effort if we didn’t add a nice workshop.  What about that guest house we said we wanted?  It would be less expensive to build if it was on top of the garage, or attached to the garage.  It sure would be nice if it had a studio so I could have privacy and soundproofing and proper wiring for my recording equipment.  Of course, it needs electricity, water, and a bathroom, if it has a guest house.  And we have a beautiful view, so wherever we put it, we need to be able to take advantage of that.  Sure, it means some serious leveling and foundation work for whatever structure we create.  And wouldn’t it be nice if it had a little back deck so someone could enjoy the outdoors without coming over to our place? Then we could rent it to someone as living quarters.  Maybe that person could help us dog-sit when we wanted to leave town.

Each time we’ve had this conversation, this $25,000 garage has turned into a $100,000 garage.  And so it remains unbuilt.

We share this story with clients and collaborative partners.

My strongest areas of expertise are systems analysis, database modeling, and application design and development.  I help clients figure out all the features they should and can have to effectively accomplish their business goals.

More and more, we’re helping clients do work on the web, not just market themselves.  We create intranet and extranet portals to help clients communicate with their clients or their distributed workforce.  We create web applications for online communities, for letting end users do work like submitting expenses or mileage or medical paperwork.  There’s always a myriad of features these types of sites can have, but they take resources to build.

It does make sense when you’re doing analysis for these projects to make sure all relationships between data and all the features are understood so the application/system foundation that is created can expand to meet all these requirements, even if they don’t become part of the first phase of the project.

It’s important, though, after the vision is laid out to be realistic about feature and cost expectations when the project begins.  Of course you and I both want to create that $100K garage.  And sometimes it makes sense, based on your business plan, market, and resources, to do exactly that.

But frequently there are compromises and features that can be put off.  Frequently, it would be better to construct the $25,000 garage, use it, and add onto it.  If you build it right, because the big plan is laid out, the structure will support these additions later.

And sometimes what happens is that once you build the $25,000 garage, you’re glad you didn’t build the $100,000 model you initially dreamed up.   Why?  Because frequently the $75,000 addition that the market and your users ultimately need doesn’t have much in common with that $75,000 worth of features you dreamed up in the beginning.  Additionally, if your idea was right, if your idea is working, the return will be there, and you’ll have that $75,000 available to respond to their requests.

As for our garage, we’re making it just fine with a few sheds we’ve built (for less than $100K), along with re-purposing a few empty spaces around our house that weren’t being fully utilized.

Of course, the analogy to your web project/application is that investing less than is really necessary to get your initial requirements met effectively usually means you don’t get what you really need.  In our case, our bikes and cars are still outside!

Don’t build less than you need, don’t build more than you need.  Build what you need correctly.  And then market the heck out of it and serve your clients well.

Do you have a $100K story?  We’d love to hear it.

Almost a year ago, I started writing a monthly column called Gadget Girl for them. It is hands-down one of my favorite things to do every month!

Here’s a link to the October online version of Austin Woman Magazine. You’ll have to enter your email address and zip code to have access. Then, if you search for Gadget Girl, or turn to page 82-83, you’ll see October’s article.

I’m available to speak to your organization about using web gadgets to increase productivity, collaborability, mobility, and community participation. There’s a partial list of them here: Web Gadgets. If you’re interested in learning more, please .