Odd Dog Media

Supporting Innovation Through Startups and Small Businesses

Annie — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 23:01:32 +0000

Obama’s State of the Union Shout Out

This gets us excited about the economy and to be living in such an innovative city like Seattle. Obama’s statement reminds us that innovation is worth investing in no matter what kind of economic climate we’re in. Keep on keeping on entrepreneurs, startups, and small businesses.

“After all, innovation is what America has always been about. Most new jobs are created in start-ups and small businesses. So let’s pass an agenda that helps them succeed. Tear down regulations that prevent aspiring entrepreneurs from getting the financing to grow.”

- Obama during the “Supporting Innovation” Part of his State of The Union Address last night

We think this drawing by Dpict from the Social Enterprise Conference sums up the necessity of innovation pretty well.

Meet the Newest Odd Dog

Annie — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 19:59:32 +0000

This is Pantz.

Tell us you favorite “Pantz” commands on Twitter @odddogmedia #pantz. #Pantz Down! #Pantz off!

Pantz the Goldendoodle Odd Dog

Adam is the proud new owner of this little gem with teeth. He is an 8 week old Goldendoodle, and in true Odd Dog Spirit his name is Pantz. We’ve also determined he has an Australian accent, mostly to annoy Chris the Kiwi when we talk to Pantz in our ‘Australian’ accents.

Pantz looking cute

If pants could talk he would say “Oy hey mate. My name is Pantz. I like nappin’ and putting shrimp on the barbie. I also like plastic office chairs and Annie’s leather boots – they’re mighty tasty, mate. I’m also part Dingo. Adam’s me dad. Now take a look at this next photo. It’ll melt ya heart.”

Sleepy Pantz

The New Marketing Ecosystem

Annie — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 18:12:31 +0000

Keeping up with the ecosystem

The web of today is not the same as it was only a few years ago. Unfortunately, many web designers haven’t yet got the message.

It use to be that all you had to do was put up a website and that was enough. But these days, just having a website barely brings you up to par. The increasing adoption of the internet and sophistication of web-users, combined with the simultaneous rise of social media, enhanced capability of search engine technology and, even in the last year alone, the blurring of the lines between search and social have created an extremely complex web ecosystem – an ecosystem that is equal parts opportunity and challenges for organizations wishing to leverage it.

As previously stated, Odd Dog Media is more than just a web design firm. We are a web agency. As such, we don’t just approach web design projects with the attitude of “let’s build you a pretty website”. We hold ourselves and our work to a higher standard. In order to compete in today’s ecosystem, you have to.

In our experience, few web designers take into account the myriad of factors that actually affect how successful your website will be. We do, and this is how:

Architecture

Websites have to be architectured to work for search engines as well as users. It’s not about de facto search engine optimization anymore, but instead it’s about smart site architecture that works with SEO.

Social Media Integration

Social media is essential to a good website these days. It doesn’t have to be about the big players — Facebook and Twitter — but making sure your website is seamlessly integrated to some social venues in order to syndicate content and blogs to those audiences.

Good Content

Content needs to be developed to effectively communicate a message whilst also being highly shareable and optimized for high-volume search traffic.Static, business-card websites just won’t suffice anymore.

That’s just the beginning of it. Building a website in this new marketing ecosystem is a complex process, but it’s one that will continue to change and evolve. A digital media agency called Mullen has done a great job of summing this up with this infographic.

Our Favorite Marketing and Tech Fails of 2011

Annie — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 22:58:48 +0000

Favorite Gadget Fail: Chromebook

Chromebook fail

We don’t feel bad about deeming this as a fail. I mean Google just officially became the top web company of 2011. Clearly they’re doing something right. Google teamed up with Samsung to create a netbook to

“Go straight online to creating, sharing, and enjoying.”

Essentially, they created a netbook that gets on the internet using Chrome as its browser in 8 seconds and has built in wifi and 3G. So, like, you made a laptop smartphone hypbrid? Isn’t that what an iPad is? I’m confused. So was America. Needless to say, Chromebooks didn’t take off.

What we learned about marketing

You can’t repackage the internet. Google highly underestimated the technological saavy of the average person who uses the Chrome browser. Know your audience.

Our Favorite User Error: Apple Employees and Prototypes

Perhaps you heard about the Apple employee who lost the iPhone4 prototype at a bar while celebrating their birthday? But did you hear about the time it happened again? At a bar? If Instagram was really that cool wouldn’t they have had it in their drunken-memory-capturing hands snapping MySpace-style pics all night?

What we learned about marketing

Only let your employees drink in the office

Our Favorite Branding Fail: Coca Cola’s White Cans

Nope, it’s not even Qwikster this year. Coca Cola released their regular coke holiday cans this year in a newly rebranded white and silver can. Perhaps some of you have experienced a mother/daughter/girlfriend/wife (yes, it is always women) who is addicted to Diet Coke. So you know how that whole scenario goes when they realize they’re drinking regular Coke instead of Diet at your favorite local eatery.

“Whoa. Whoa. This tastes different to me. Hey will you taste this?”

(passes it around to entire table)

“Yeah this is NOT diet. No. Ok get a waiter over here.”

(face is red, losing temper)
Now imagine this scenario after they bought 12 regular cokes on accident.

What we learned about marketing

Don’t mess with success. Just be yourself. It’s what’s on the inside that counts.

Favorite Mobile Fail: Red Bull’s QR Codes in Subways

Red Bull took something that’s supposed to make the internet even more accessible and made it frustrating. They put advertisements with QR codes in the Subways, but didn’t think about the fact that Subways usually don’t have cell service or internet connectivity. Hopefully those who were affected by this frustration were not on Red Bull.

What we learned about marketing

It’s all about the user experience. The less steps to get to a conversion, the better. Most importantly, when your product increases human intensity and acuteness, don’t raise their blood pressure even higher. Ease, people, ease.

Favorite Social Media Fail: American Red Cross

When @RedCross tweeted this gem

“Ryan found two more 4 bottle packs of Dogfish Head’s Midas Touch beer…when we drink we do it right #gettingslizzerd”

activists across the world took a deep breath and sighed “ahhh so relatable.” The American Red Cross’ intern accidentally tweeted this from his work account instead of his personal account. Kudos, however, to the awesome PR effort to clean that mess up by making fun of themselves with a “we took the keys” joke.

What we learned about marketing

Fail big or go home. And also, corporate humility. Everyone likes when big corporations and iconic companies have a sense of humor. The way they handled this potential PR mess was great.

Favorite Web Design Fail: Bear Flag Wine

www.bearflagwine.com

Sweet mother of artistic expression. We all know what it’s like to be drinking Red Bull playing on our Chromebook and getting slizzerd while we get carried away with some web design or blogging. BUT SRSLY. It’s not just the trippy, unkempt design, but the navigation and usability as well. All of the text is embedded into images, so we can assure you this website gets almost no search engine traffic. The user has to scroll horizontally to get to god knows which drawing is clickable. The average wine drinking web user is not going to even think about scrolling horizontally, let alone have the dexterity after they consumed the bottle of wine they’re now trying to research online.

What’s with you techies and your improper mixing of technology and alcohol?

Also, if you stay on the website long enough your mouse will just start freaking out and get a contact high and not be able to stop horizontally scrolling.

What we learned about marketing and web design

Easy does it, cap’n. Web design is an art, sure, but no art can be appreciated when it’s nearly inaccessible. Get your basics – calls to action, highlightable text, no flash, easy navigation, appealing design, and then you can throw in some acid induced bear drawings.

Our Top 8 Spam Comments

Tom — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 23:37:13 +0000

I was browsing the pending comments sections of some of our sites when a few of the clearly spam comments caught my eye. After having a good laugh at them, I decided I wanted to share them with the world. Before we get into it, I would like to give a brief explanation of how these comments come into existence.

Many of the more shady SEO companies use blog comments as a linkbuilding opportunity. They use a robot to surf millions of pages searching for content that matches some (very loose) guidelines that they set. When the bot finds content that fits within these (once again VERY loose) guidelines, it generates a random name and a comment. Then it attaches a link wherever possible. These comment generators are low-budget and probably programmed by a non-English speaker. What do you expect for cheap? Anyway, here are some of the best from sites that we own.

p.s. none of these relate to the blog post they were attached to.

1.

you command get got an shakiness
“I loved up to you will receive carried out proper here. The cartoon [there is no cartoon] is attractive, your authored material stylish. nevertheless, you command get got an shakiness over that you would like be turning in the following. in poor health indisputably come further previously once more as precisely the similar nearly a lot continuously inside case you shield this increase.”

- Blood Sugar Levels Chart

2.

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- Beverlee Gorelick (the website was monsterdick69.info, I almost lost it when I saw that)

3.

I will not like anything you have stated
“desired to hop in and say I am diggin what you are sayin’! You have produced some valid things and even though I will not like anything you have stated I believe you produce a excellent argument. Retain up the excellent do the job ‘cus I’ll be check”

- frying pan (yes thats the real name)

4.

a person supply in your guests?
“I simply couldn’t leave your site before suggesting that I really enjoyed the standard information a person supply in your guests? Is gonna be back often in order to check up on new posts”

- keyword1 (looks like someone forgot to fill out a field)

5.

I?m gonna watch out for brussels.
“Hello there, simply turned into aware of your blog thru Google, and found that it is really informative. I?m gonna watch out for brussels. I will appreciate if you continue this in future. A lot of other folks will be benefited from your writing. Cheers!”

- free discount prescription cards

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- Cheap GHD Hair Straightener (this comment extremely a lot pleasant to me)

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genuinely?
“This publish may be pointed out on Twitter by somebody. genuinely?”

- Gucci Outlet

8.

Primary factor
“Primary factor , A large many thanks for you to open my eyes”

- Gucci Outlet

And here are a few from some of our blogging bretheren that were too good to pass up

From zdnet
“Wow ! My god allah this is fantastic blog entry .. fantastic. fantasticly amazing .. amazingly fanastic and brilliantly posted this post. am saying Thanks this faamastic blog Wow!”

“Thanks. Sun-drenched write-up! Put in writing more. It appears as if When i happen to normal customer”

Rainier Yurts Website Launches

Adam Broetje — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 21:36:15 +0000

Over the past few months, we have been working with Rainier Industries to create a fresh, new look that will not only give their Yurts business a new face, but will help to improve their web marketing, social media and search engine optimization.

www.rainier.com/yurts

We are still working with Rainier to create some very cool features that are unique for a Yurt manufacturer website. Check back to see the site as it continues to improve!

Also exciting is that Neiman Marcus chose to feature Rainier’s Eagle Yurt in the Neiman Marcus Christmas catalog this year. The Neiman Marcus “Dream Folly” is inspired by the classic TV show “I Dream of Jeannie” and starts at $75,000! For those of you price conscious buyers out there, don’t fret. Rainier’s Yurts start as low as $2,599, you can find full pricing on their brand new site.

This Odd Dog is learning new tricks

Adam Broetje — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 00:34:50 +0000

I attended a seminar at Think Space (@thinkspace) today with Matt Heinz (@heinzmarketing) of Heinz Marketing speaking about Sales for Startups. Matt had a wealth of information (most of which will be the subject of a future blog post), but the biggest thing I took away is that I don’t make my team share enough of our insight on marketing with you.

[insert a long, meaningless list of excuses about being too busy with clients that nobody cares about]

The reality is that we can all make time for things/people who are important to us and it’s time we made some time for you.

Starting today, us Odd Dog’s will be making a concerted effort to be sharing what we know about the world of marketing as it is today with the rest of the world.

The hope is that by us learning this one new trick, we can help our readers learn 10 new tricks to help their marketing efforts.

The premise is simple: The digital world has transformed how marketing is done today. It changes faster than ever before and we’re here to help show you how to blend business/marketing strategy with the new tech-tools at your disposal, for marketing power you couldn’t have dreamed of 10 years ago.

It’s fun. It’s exciting. It’s different. It’s odd.

If you can handle the change, early adopters will have a leg up on the competition. Think about that analogy in dog-terms and you get the point.

Interested? Follow our lead:
@odddogmedia

Web Developers and You: How to Not Get Screwed

Lee — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 18:14:37 +0000

Does your company need a shiny new website? Feeling a little uneasy because you don’t speak the lingo? Heard countless horror stories about flaky web developers taking off? Or are you just looking for some education on the whole web development process? Whichever criteria satisfies your need, you’re bound to find an answer to something here. We may even end up solving where Jimmy Hoffa is. Most importantly, I’d like to protect you from getting screwed by your web developer.

[sws_blockquote align="" alignment="alignleft" cite="Ernest Hemingway" quotestyles="style04"]The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them. [/sws_blockquote]

Trust is important. It’s the foundation of almost everything in life. Determining who to hire for your next website project shares this foundation. So naturally, the best advantage you have is to hire locally and request an in-person consultation, but I think that goes without saying. Show up at their office, greet them in person, get a general feel for their personality. You’ll be working closely with this person, likely for quite some time.

But, if there aren’t any competent web developers in your neck of the woods, or if you’re just dead-set on hiring some rockstar in another state or country, you probably won’t get that face-to-face meeting. :: sigh :: It’s OK though. There’s no reason that, in 2011, awesome stuff like Skype video conferences shouldn’t be the norm for establishing trust and conducting business. Right? Right. Ask your potential web developer for a Skype Video chat. Hell, if you hear a “no”, at least you’ll have eliminated that potential candidate immediately.

Cover Yourself

Whatever you do, at least be sure to check their social profiles. You know, Google+, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Dribbble, Stack Exchange, Elance, ODesk. Also, check their websites. View their portfolio and make sure it’s clear exactly what work they did on a given project. Check their recommendations on LinkedIn, too. Hell, just Google them. Never know what else you might find!

Make sure you get a well-scoped contract that details everything you expect out of your project. This part is as much your responsibility as it is the web developer’s. The contract should clearly state the developer’s name, address, email address, and website. It should itemize each piece of your project as to form a clear picture of start to finish. Milestones are nice to see, too. And make sure the total cost and payment terms are clear. There’s nothing worse than coming up on the middle of a project with unmet expectations over simple communication problems that could have been solved with a good contract.

Learn A Thing Or Two

A bit more ambitious approach to not getting screwed is to educate yourself in the web development process. This goes both ways – you could quickly snuff out a wanna-be developer, and they’ll likely feel more comfortable with an educated client. Knowing the lingo will go a long way with your would-be hire. Consider it like learning the native language of the country you’re visiting on holiday – it’s a respect thing. I’ll give you some common terms here and explain them.

Deposit

This is you saying “I’m going to give you some cash for your time because I trust you.” The developer now responds with “Thank you. I trust you well enough to give you my time.” Simple as that. Expect to pay a deposit for any self-respecting developer.

Proofs, Comps & Wireframes

Most development projects require some visuals, like wireframes, schemas, content types, user flows, and other fun stuff. These are generally fleshed out and approved by you before the development work begins. This could even include some graphic designs.

CMS

A CMS, Content Management System, allows you to control some content on your website. That being said, it’s important to be clear on what this really means: you’re able to updates words and images, add blog posts, maybe control your contact forms. Anything above and beyond this is possible, but costs extra both short- and long-term.

Domain, Registrar & DNS

Your website is likely found by typing in somedomain.com into your browser, right? That .com thing is your domain name. You (or someone you may have talked to at some point) registered that domain name. Tied to domain names are directions for where to send you when you ask the interwebs to show your website. That’s called your DNS. Why the hell is it important that you know this stuff? ‘Cause it’s a confusing pile of mess and, unfortunately, we all have to try to understand how these fundamentals work. ”

Host

Your website files need to be hosted somewhere for them to even show up on the internet. Your host serves these files for you. Your developer might be able to recommend a good host, or may even host the website for you.

Server

This is a super-technical, geeky term. Your host puts your files on these servers. They’re just a bunch of computers, similar to the one you have, all tied together.

Putting Together A Plan

Use the aforementioned list as your guideline for finding the right web developer. Make sure you have all your plans, ideas, content, images, business plans, and deposit money together. Take your project as seriously as you would want your web developer to take it. Now that you’re a bit more educated, it’s time to start searching.

You could, of course, just call up Odd Dog (shameless self-promotion) and get started straight away.

Or you can search online. Here are some hot-spots for awesome development talent:

Authentic Jobs – $99
http://www.authenticjobs.com/post/

github – $300
http://jobs.github.com/faq

Stack Overflow – $350
http://careers.stackoverflow.com/employer

Forrst – Free
http://forrst.com/leaderboard
A less traditional approach, many of the developers here are confident enough (read: smart) to post their code socially for critique. This says a lot about the developer, and it generally turns out to be positive.

We’ve come full circle

As you can see, hiring the right web developer is no easy task. It takes some time, patience and education. Establishing trust, meeting in person, and checking credentials go a long way. But with technology, we open ourselves up to new opportunities. With those opportunities come risks of a sneaky developer pulling the wool over your eyes. Hopefully I’ve pointed you in all the right directions and showed you how to not get screwed by your web developer!

Have more questions about hiring a web developer? Give us a call, or comment below.

Social Media Ignorance: How To Not Get Screwed

Tom — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 18:30:07 +0000

Ignorance has long been a tempting thought to man and dog alike. When something bad happens, we wish we could just forget about it and have it go away. That kind of problem solving would certainly have our tails wagging, but unfortunately ignorance is not bliss. Being famous online (even if your only fan is the Google algorithm) takes a lot of attention. The folks on social media are not always kind and if you become active it is highly likely that at some point you will receive a negative review. This post is about how to react and what to do.

Finding bad reviews

The first step to dealing with bad reviews is being aware of them. There are a few ways you will want to be doing this. The first is to constantly be checking your listings. If you are a small business you should be listed on sites like yellowpages.com or yelp.com. These sites have review functions that allow customers to let others know what they thought of your services. Consistently paging through all of your listings (have them bookmarked) will alert you to any bad reviews.

However, these negative thoughts show up in more places than just listings. People talk all over the internet and this can be tough to track. There are programs that will crawl the web each day and find keywords (like your business name) so you can see who is saying what about you. Trackur is a good example of a social-media crawling tool that will let you know where people are talking about you and what they are saying. In fact, this post is probably showing up in Trackur’s own feed… hi guys!

Responding

This is the hard part; depending on the review, you will have to decide how to react. In many cases, the negative customer is miserable because they feel dissatisfied with the customer service. Simply letting them know that you are aware of their complaint is a step in the right direction. After acknowledging them and their complaint, invite them to send you a private email or call directly to make their problem better. Make sure you deal with this complaint immediately. This person has already shown they will go online and write. This means if you help them they will tell everyone about it and you can turn that negative review into a strong positive. If you fail to help them, they will write an even worse review about you, so make sure you get it done.

Above all else, do not lose your cool. You are responding for two reasons. The first is because you are concerned with good customer service, the second is that you want everyone to know you are concerned with good customer service. If you get angry, everyone will see it and you will go down as one of the big idiots of web history. Nestle’s screwup is a good example of how not to treat your customers on social sites.

As long as you are on top of what people are saying about you on the web and you respond with class, you will be just fine. Good luck out there!

Being Part of the Pack: Social Media pt. 3

Tom — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 19:07:12 +0000

Now that you have your information gathered and your content plan in place, it is time to start making it rain. There are a few tricks to this part of the equation and a lot of the skills that are gained are acquired through simply following through on your plans. However, there are a few pieces of advice we are able to give aside from “just get out there”.

Your Social Schedule

Having a schedule is one of the most important parts of the social media experience. However, your schedule refers not just to the days you post on, but also the times at which your posts come out. Look back at your information because this is what your planning will be based on. Know when your reader base is going to be online and looking for your posts. Here are a couple pointers.
[sws_blockquote align="left" alignment="alignleft" cite="" quotestyles="style02"] Make sure you are tweeting about your posts across all your social channels![/sws_blockquote]
- The best days to post a blog tends to be towards the end of the work week. However, it is good to post at least Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
- Posts tend to get shared more just after the lunch hour so around here is a good time to post.
- Post hits spike around the Noon hour and again between 6:00 pm and 8:00 pm.
- Consistency is key. Make sure you are keeping your posting days and times somewhat consistent so that your readers know when to expect your blog
- For more tips go to Problogger or readwriteweb and here is a sweet infographic on timing Infographic.
Make sure you are tweeting. Twitter, to a certain extent, follows a “if you build it” type pattern. If you are tweeting valuable and interesting stuff, people will start to follow you.

Retweet. This will get you on other people’s feed as well as show your followers valuable information. It can also be used to spark up conversation, which brings me to:
Start conversations. Being active in talking “@” other users will result in people taking interest in your thread. Just make sure you have intelligent things to say.
Set yourself a Twitter goal. To help make sure you are active, set yourself a tweet goal, generally 2-5 tweets a day is manageable and fairly active. Do not be afraid to go over though.

Get your posts done early

It is important to your credibility to make sure that your grammar is perfect and your spelling flawless. What else does a blogger have if not credibility?
Make sure your post makes sense, follows a logical path, and is easily understandable. If there is one thing we hate, its a post that ends up adding no value or is just gibberish (but we do love the word “gibberish”

Respond, respond, respond

Make sure that you are on top of any conversation that pops up around your posts. People love it when their comments get responses and it is a great way to build a loyal reader base. Do not neglect your readers!

Avoid distraction!

Working on the internet can be unbelievably hard due to distraction. We would post some specific examples of distracting sites, but we would never get this post finished. When writing, keep yourself on task and get done what you set out to do.

Well there it is, the complete Social Media strategy. Feel free to post in the comments if you have any suggestions we might have missed. Good luck out there!