Cameron Olthuis

If you’ve ever thought of launching an online company but thought there was just to much competition or someone else beat you to your idea don’t let that stop you. There’s always room for one more if you can do it better than those that have come before before you.

Take BubbleShare for example. They’re a brand new photo sharing application that’s really going to make some noise in an already overcrowded industry.

Why? Because they’re better than anything out there!

They don’t necessarily have the most features (most of which are useless anyways) but they’re easier to use and the user interface is second to none. It’s clean and very simple to navigate, and sometimes simple is all it takes, what’s the saying, “less is more”.

You can share your pictures without all the distractions. I’d prefer that they didn’t have the Google ads but hey, they’ve got to earn money somehow and I’m all for that. They don’t even require that you sign up for an account, can’t beat that.

I’ve just recently tried using Flickr, a photo sharing application that’s way overhyped and I’m not happy. Sure it’s the cool new “web 2.0″ company but the user interface is awful, it’s cluttered and it’s not easy to use. All I want in a photo sharing web site is a place that I can share my pictures with friends and family without all the distractions. Don’t get me wrong, Flickr does have it’s good point, but they’re more on a photo searching level then a photo sharing one.

My only complaint now is that I have to take the time to upload all my photos again.

Now they key phrase here is “do it better”. There’s no room for those who can’t outdo the ones that come before them. To be a player you have to do it better which means you either…

1) Build a better a product/brand.
2) Have a better user friendly interface.
3) Implement a more effective marketing strategy.
4) Create more content.

or…

5) Beat your competition on pricing.

Good luck!

UX Magazine launched it’s beta site the other day and I have to say they’ve missed the point. For a magazine that’s about user experience they sure haven’t done a very good job with the home page.

So what’s the problem? The layout!

The design is very well done, unique, and one of the best I’ve seen. The concept is great. But the user experience suffers with the layout.

The layout on the homepage is confusing, it’s hard to tell what’s what. What articles do I want to read? What category do they belong in? Where should I go next to find the information I’m looking for?

My advice. Just click one of the three buttons up top. Design, Tech, or Strategy. The rest of the layout is simple.

Ok, so you’ve spent a lot of effort building a web site and even more effort getting people to come to your site. Now what? Because none of this matters if you can’t actually get these people to use your product.

You only get one chance with a potential user you so you better make it count. If they don’t immediately have interest in your brand and what you’re selling then you’ve lost your chance. It’s like fishing, once the fish nibbles on your bait you have to set the hook before you catch it. If you wait to long the fish will move on.

In a recent post, Most Home Pages Really Do Suck, I mentioned that the first thing your homepage must tell me is; “who you are, what your site does, and how I use it.” This is like the nibble, and the set is actually keeping them around after you’ve told them what you’re about.

So once you get a potential user to “nibble on your bait” how do you set the hook? You need to effectively sell the potential user on your service, because if you don’t your competition will. You always need to be one step ahead of your competition, don’t play catch up.

Here’s 5 6 things that will help you keep visitors coming back again and again.

Read the rest of this entry »

Somehow today I came across Rent A Drunk.

THINK HOW MANY TIMES YOU’VE SEEN A GUY PASSED OUT AT A PARTY - AND HOW MANY PICTURES ARE TAKEN OF THAT GUY PASSED OUT AT THE PARTY - NOW THINK OF YOUR MERCHANDISE ON THAT GUY FOREVER DOING STUPID DRUNKEN THINGS THAT PEOPLE WILL TAKE PICTURES OF AND KEEP POSTING OVER AND OVER ONLINE…

THE R.A.D AGENTS ARE AVAILABLE TO HAND OUT BROCHURES ON THE SHOW FLOOR - ATTEND AVN AND HAND OUT MERCHANDISE TO SURFERS AND TO ATTEND ANY OF THE INDUSTRY EVENTS THAT A LOT OF WEBMASTERS WILL BE ATTENDING WHERE MOST COVERAGE WILL BE ATTAINED

This has got to be one of the most creative yet dumbest ideas of the year. It’s very creative in that no one else would ever come up with something like this, yet it’s dumb because no company wants their brand associated with a bunch of belligerent, obnoxious drunks. Ok so maybe there’s a few companies that this could actually work for, but not many.

Nothing better then having a couple drunks crash your party, and paying them to do so. Hell, I could think of dozen people off the top of my head that would to this for nothing more then the free beer.

This gives new meaning to “do what you love for a living.” Nice try!

You know a brand’s gone bad when they go from selling trucker hats for $150 to selling energy drinks at 7-11.