In case you make a habit of avoiding really obvious news, the NCAA Basketball Tournament started this past week. Yes, once again, the Madness of March is upon us. I was struck by a tweet I saw early in the week, when the tournament’s “First Four” was beginning:

“While we’re all happy for the teams that are playing tonight, we all know the tournament doesn’t really begin ‘til Thursday.”

It’s true. The start to the tournament is really a second thought to most people. It’s nice enough, but they’re there for the meat of the tourney. The teams that will make deep runs and deliver the quality basketball they’re after. In a similar, closer-to-home way, I could put up a tweet of my own:

“While we’re all happy that websites have pretty homepages, we all know the websites don’t begin till we get to the content we’re after.”

A homepage is an afterthought to many people, and website designers are beginning to come around. Very few people visit your website to see the billboard that tells who and where you are. They’re after content, be it contact information, a product, or specific company info.

With the improvement of modern search engines, the advent of ubiquitous social media, and the growing capabilities of web apps to deliver a wide variety of media and web experiences, the homepage rarely contains anything that a visitor is hoping to find when they arrive at a website.

MoneyWatch’s Jeff Haden recounts some of the reasons people quickly leave a website, and what can be done about them:

Limit your scope. It's tempting to cram lots of information, resources, calls to action, and sign-up boxes onto each page. Too much clutter drives visitors away. Each page should have a clear, primary purpose. While you can include a few secondary purposes, make sure those are relatively discreet and do not distract from the main purpose.

Match the page purpose to the call to action. A product page should feature the product and make it easy to purchase that product. A newsletter page should highlight the benefits of the newsletter and make it easy to sign up to receive it. Visitors are satisfied when they can quickly meet their needs.

Raise your hand if you see a recurring trend here. “Each Page”. “A product page”. “A newsletter page”. Your website’s visitors aren’t there for your homepage. They are there for content, an app, a product or custom information. They aren’t watching to see the start of the tournament full of teams that aren’t delivering the basketball they want. They’re there for the meat.

“But we spent hours planning and designing that homepage! It’s art!”

Nobody is saying to scrap your website’s homepage. It’s still an important element for visitors who truly don’t know what you’re about, and to help search engines index your website more fully. Simply recognize that most of your visitors are there for specific content, not your company’s mission statement. Most of the NCAA tournament audience is keyed up for that Sweet 16 matchup with their favorite school, not that First Four matchup that finalizes the South Bracket. Recognize that you have content to deliver, and the faster you get it to the audience that wants it, the more satisfied they will be. Unbounce.com brings 101 tips for optimizing your landing page experience, helping you transition from a website for everyone to a web experience for each individual. We’ve identified our favorites below:

Send people to a relevant and targeted page
Your homepage is a mish-mash of goal oriented communication — and usually for good reason. With that in mind, resist the urge to send people there as itʼs better targeted at the curious explorer type rather than the person clicking through from a banner or AdWords link. Think one goal, one message, one action. And hence one page — generally a new one — a landing page.

Basic metrics
You should ensure you are recording the fundamental performance metrics for each [page]. These are campaign specific, but can include: conversion rate (broad term), bounce/abandonment rate, form completion rate. Store these results so that you have a basis for showing how your [landing pages are working], and [refine them further to best target your audience.]

In the end, it’s all about delivering what your visitors want, whether it’s a quality web experience or a fantastic basketball tournament. Make sure you deliver your visitors straight to the content they’re after.

Never forget, though, that the basketball tournament ends. Eventually, a champion has been crowned, and everyone has all of the content they’ve been after. For your website, there is no end. No championship. You’ve figured out how to deliver your visitors to the content they’re seeking. Now, how will you keep them coming back?

Kickstarter Giveth

It’s hard to believe that nearly a year has passed since Seed Coworking became Toledo’s first $15K+ Kickstarter success story. Now, two new Kickstarter entrants who are near and dear to our hearts seek to repeat (and surpass) Seed’s celebrated and appreciated fundraiser.

Let’s check ’em out, shall we?

Actual Coffee

We had the pleasure of meeting Actual Coffee founder and brewmaster extraordinaire, Lance Roper, when he was quitting the hamster wheel of a day job in order to pursue his dream of “changing the way people think about coffee”. It didn’t take but a few sips to convince us that Actual Coffee is the way coffee was meant to be crafted, poured and enjoyed... actually. Lance provides an education with every cup—espousing the virtues of source, acidity, fruit, body, etc., along with a healthy heap of coffee history, farmer advocacy and outright passion. Every time he talks, we get thirsty.

Lance is seeking $15,000 to purchase this gorgeous thing. A roaster of that size will allow him to increase the number of cups he fills, and the number of smiles he produces, exponentially.

Framed

We’ve known Jose Mojica, the creative genius behind iFilmFlops, since he joined Seed before Seed was Seed. Jose has a gift for storytelling, filmmaking, directing and producing. His soon-to-be-released spellbinder is Framed, which tells the tale of “a man convinced the only way to uncover what happened to his family is to meet them in the afterlife.” What occurs in this serialized web series is anything but predictable. Heck, check out the trailer and his Kickstarter page.

Jose and iFilmFlops is seeking $20,000 on Kickstarter to finish producing the first 5-series season of Framed. We’re confident that fans of the genre (like us) will drive Framed over the finish line.

Let’s Do This

Both Actual Coffee and Framed have roots in Toledo, and both represent the new, vibrant and inventive entrepreneurial spirit that’s sweeping our region. We’re fans, and we’ve elected to support them through our own gifts and promotional efforts. We invite you to do the same. You’ll not only receive some great swag, you’ll be participating in a positive, regional groundswell of innovation and economic sustainability.

Here are those links again:

Actual Coffee
Framed

Remember, if you make a pledge to any Kickstarter campaign, be sure to Tweet your support, or post your pledge to Facebook. This is a numbers game. The more people who discover these gems in their own back yard, the brighter they’ll shine, the more successful their campaigns will be.

Kickstarter Taketh Away

So, you’ve finally done it. You’ve created the Kickstarter campaign that changes everything. Your concept was perfect. Your reward levels deliciously enticing. Your networking mission to get the word out took on a life of its own, and suddenly you’re sitting on a fat stack of cash ready to set the world on fire. You’re thrilled, and you should be. Your dream project can now get underway. Just don’t forget, you’re now a business owner. And your Uncle Sam wants to know all about your new venture. Yes, that’s right. In the US, UK and most other nations, proceeds from your Kickstarter campaign are considered income, and you will have to pay taxes on them.

Bernadette Tansey at CNBC.com addressed the mistake that many people make when they complete their first successful Kickstarter fundraising campaign:

“Raising money from other people quickly propels a young venture into the traditional world of corporate rules, bookkeeping requirements, tax bills and legal questions, said M.J. Bogatin, an attorney for start ups in the San Francisco Bay area. His clients often see themselves primarily as artists or filmmakers, but Bogatin tells them, “It’s a business. Look, you’ve started a new business enterprise. […]”

The important thing to remember here is that your Kickstarter campaign is not a donation drive, even though most people think of it that way. Those funding your project are in fact investors, and unless you have 501(c)(3) non-profit status, you’ll be expected to pay taxes on the funds that your investors choose to invest with you.

The legal world is still getting itself settled in relation to crowd funding initiatives, exactly how they should be taxed, and more. But for the most part, you can expect to pay taxes on your Kickstarter pledges the same way you would if you were performing, say, contract work. Everything you receive via Kickstarter is considered taxable income, but you may deduct from that any business expenses you have in getting up and running. Whether you need to buy a new computer, renew a software license or subcontract some of the work, those costs can be entirely deducted from the taxable income you received from Kickstarter.

To help, we’d like to share a few steps you can take to reduce and simplify your tax obligations for your Kickstarter campaign:

1. Don’t Raise More Than You Need – This may seem counterintuitive. One would think raising more money would help a business grow. However, the more you raise, the greater your tax liability, especially as you outstrip your expense requirements and start sitting on more capital.
2. Incorporate, and get a federal EIN. You can register as an LLC (limited liability corporation) in most states for just a couple hundred dollars, and this plus an EIN will allow you to keep your personal and Kickstarter-project taxes separate. LLC’s will also pay a more favorable tax rate on Kickstarter funds.
3. Record every expense. Depending on what you’re doing with your Kickstarter funds, a portion or the entirety of your expenses may be deductible from your tax bill. However, you cannot deduct items if you don’t keep clear records.

Finally, consider working with an accountant who has experience with crowd funding, at least at first. Though they will charge you a fee, accounting expenses are generally entirely deductible from your tax obligation, and you can save yourself a big headache, plus have somebody to help if your campaign is as successful as you hope, and you’re suddenly ready to make your dreams come true.

The Panda Update came to the U.S. in February 2011 to reduce the number of spammy web pages ranking in Google. This update was a powerhouse, affecting 12% of all search results across the search engine. This update alone affected millions of sites and shook up the Internet industry overnight. Imagine building a business for over 10 years and having a single update wipe out 40-100% of your traffic. That’s the kind of effect this update had and many don’t know how to come back from it.

The Penguin Update came just 14 months later in April 2012, affecting 3.1% of English-based queries, leaving a tidal wave of more web pages removed from Google search results. With concurring tweaks upon release, tons of sites have been hit by these anti-spamming initiatives commissioned by Google. Traffic on affected sites has plummeted and webmasters around the world are echoing in angst: “I’m losing money! How do I get my sites to rank again?”

According to Google, Panda and Penguin were implemented to reduce spam on the Internet. This includes, but is not limited to, page content that is overly-optimized for search, excessive keyword stuffing in anchor text, and an abusive backlinking strategy. We’ll explain these a bit below.

Overly-Optimized Content

This refers to text that is blatantly written to attract users to a page for a certain keyword. The term “keyword stuffing” is the idea that a page is “stuffed” with keywords to make it appear in the search engines as authoritative on that subject. Panda and Penguin are combating this. Stay away from this method of content creation.

Keyword Stuffing in Anchor Text

Now that you know “keyword stuffing” is bad, it’s equally bad to stuff keywords into anchor text. Anchor text is the display text of a link on your page. If these links occur too often with your site attached, Google will view you as spam. Keep things real on your pages and don’t bother with this type of practice. I guarantee it will only hurt you in the long run.

Abusive Backlinking Strategies

A “backlink” is a link you receive from another website that sends the user to your site. This is akin to a referral in the real world. An individual passes off your information to someone that could use your services. Online, having a backlink from one site to another is a common practice. They’ve endorsed your information or services by putting them on their own site. While backlinks are generally good things, unnaturally building backlinks is where a site gets into trouble. The simple way to avoid this: don’t spam your site to other sites. Let others link to you or forge relationships with relative sites. Spamming is so 1998 and people will lose respect for you before they even click your links.

In a nutshell, doing things that seem unnatural and manipulative to Google’s existing algorithm will get your website derailed. But, good, commonsensical SEO practices still reign supreme and as a result, reputable SEO practitioners aren’t feeling the heat of Panda or Penguin. Playing by the rules will keep your site out of harm’s way. So you might be wondering — what are some things you can do to avoid being hit by these updates? We have a few pointers:

1. Publish content that evokes emotion. Yes, I’m preaching the “content is king” mantra. Your website’s content, whether it be a post, a video, an image, or a combination of the three, should reflect something you, as an individual, would not only consume, but also share. After all, if our emotions are touched, we’re more motivated to do something. You know that Sarah McLaughlin commercial for ASPCA to End Animal Cruelty? As uncomfortable as that commercial makes a lot of us feel, it raked in 30 million dollars for the organization. That’s emotional motivation.
2. Follow the rules. Google determines whether your site will rank and receive traffic from their search engine. This statement shouldn’t be taken lightly. Follow the Webmaster Guidelines defined by Google. They’ve given us the playbook for winning the game. We must respect, adapt, and succeed within their guidelines. Their principal concern is to return search results that are relevant to their users’ queries, not to reward those who know the most tricks to make the content appear to be relevant. This is another way of looking at the Panda and Penguin updates. They’re removing the bogus stuff from the web. I’m all for it and you should be too.
3. Panda- and Penguin-proof your backlinks. If the Panda and Penguin updates affected your site, you might consider looking to your backlink profile for answers. Bad links can be traced to sites that partake in all of the negative activities we indicated above; sites with overly-optimized content, keyword stuffing in anchor text, and general red flags of spam. Consider using tools like Open Site Explorer to document and request Webmasters to remove bad links from their sites to yours. Doing so should boost your rankings in Google. Follow this SEOmoz post to help you in your troubleshooting and execution.

The Panda and Penguin updates by Google prove that they are, and always will be, a moving target. The only defense to these ongoing initiatives is to follow tried and true SEO standards and make adjustments where necessary. Note this simple take-away: Good content is and always has been most important. It’s the lifeblood of returning visitors and the starting line for new visitors. Consistently providing authoritative content will out-play any Google update, Panda and Penguin included.

The phrase “Do Not Track” has been making waves in the online advertising community lately. DNT will define how some cookies are accepted or not accepted by web browsers. To be clear, the Do Not Track setting won't actually block cookies, but rather, it will indicate the user’s tracking preference to the sites they visit. Champions of the cause are touting the privacy of internet users. Opponents are crying foul, complaining that the proposed specifications severely hamper their ability to properly segment online audiences for targeted advertising campaigns. According to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), “Advertising revenue is the single largest source of funding on the Web.” As with any change of this magnitude, doomsday prophecies have been flooding blogs and social networks the last few weeks. It’s our goal to define some of these concepts, then separate fact from fiction.

Who Doesn't Love Cookies?

Let’s start with the basics. Cookies: what are they and how are they used? At a very fundamental level, cookies are simply little snippets of data that are stored in your browser. Authentication cookies are essential to certain functions of web browsing. For instance, if you do any online banking, these cookies “remember” that you are logged in as you navigate from page to page on your banking institution’s website. Imagine how cumbersome it would be to transfer funds or even reconcile your account if you were forced to re-enter your user name and password every time a new page loaded. Cookies in and of themselves are not a bad thing. In fact, they provide some conveniences for users that would be readily-apparent if they were stripped from the internet entirely.

Where things start to get dicey is when third-party cookies enter the fray. While there are a multitude of uses for these, the ones that get the most press are those used for behavioral advertising. Have you ever noticed that some sites are eerily accurate with the ads that they display? For example, my wife has recently become addicted to Game of Thrones. Who hasn’t? Between searches for episode spoilers, previews, and comparisons to the novels, her browser has spent an awful lot of time in the Game of Thrones universe. Consequently, when she visits a site completely outside of the realm of Ice and Fire, she is frequently greeted with ads for the books, DVD’s, and related merchandise. Without delving too deeply into the technical nuances, this is an example of third-party cookies. Advertisers and their partners use them to track your behavioral data to display ads that are more relevant to your lifestyle and interests.

Microsoft to the Rescue! Wait… Microsoft?

The debate over the average user’s privacy is once again taking center stage. Web behemoths like Facebook and Google have frequently been accused of unsavory practices that allow them to get a better glimpse of our habits and interests. And the W3C is taking notice. Their latest working draft of the Do Not Track specification indicates that a browser should prompt users on first run to select whether or not to allow behavioral tracking cookies. Some users don’t mind seeing advertising that speaks directly to their interests. Others find it creepy and intrusive. Either way, the choice would be in the user’s hands.

Microsoft caused quite a ruckus when they announced that their upcoming version of Internet Explorer, IE 10, would have Do Not Track turned on by default. Obviously, this caused an uproar in the online advertising community. They would be the first desktop browser to make such a move. In all fairness, the mobile version of Safari found on all Apple iOS devices already has third party cookies “blocked” by default. But the move is also contrary to the specifications that are likely to be accepted by the working group developing the W3C standard. In other words, whether Microsoft is playing the role of privacy advocate or not, they’re taking the choice out of the hands of the user. Sure, you’d still be able to go into the settings and toggle Do Not Track off manually. But IE 10 users won’t have the option to choose on first run.

For good or for bad, Microsoft would be operating outside of the specifications accepted by the W3C. As such, third parties may have the opportunity to ignore IE 10’s DNT signal and collect behavioral data anyhow. In this scenario, the only winners are advertisers as Microsoft’s attempt at safeguarding privacy would have failed and the average user would be none the wiser. This is still very much a developing topic and one that is in no way resolved as of this writing. In fact, on June 19th, Congressmen Edward Markey and Joe Barton sent a letter (PDF) to the W3C urging them to accept Microsoft’s default Do Not Track initiative. These discussions have muddied the waters on exactly how the proposed changes affect us.

What About My Stats?

At SPOKE, we use a host of analytics tools to dissect how visitors are getting to our sites, what they’re doing while they're there, and what we can do to improve their experience. As an unintended consequence of the Do Not Track debate, a lot of inaccurate information is swirling around about how analytics suites would be affected. Most notably, Google Analytics. Nearly all of our clients and strategic partners use Google Analytics in some capacity or another. Of course, there is a lot of concern about how this will impact our ability to gather useful information on our visitors. In short, it won’t. Google analytics uses only first-party cookies. These cookies are not impacted by the Do Not Track revisions being drafted by the W3C. First-party cookies only send information to the servers for your domain. In other words, this data is not shared with any external service or domain. This is vastly different from how third-party cookies work, especially behavioral advertising cookies.

Even with Google’s assurance that our Google Analytics data is safe from any outcome of the Do Not Track debate, there is still some concern from within our community. This is much akin to being told that a gigantic roller coaster is safe, but still feeling a hint of fear as the cars click their way up the first hill. If you have your own doubts, look no further than Apple to calm your nerves, All iOS devices have third party cookies turned off by default. But these devices regularly appear in our Google Analytics dashboards. All cookies are not created equal. So while the Do Not Track battle wages on, do not fear for your stats. They’ll still be there.

Still concerned?

To put your minds at ease, here are a few frequently asked questions. And by “frequently asked,” I mean questions that I’m assuming many people will have.

Is Do Not Track a law? Are there any legal concerns we should be aware of?

No. At the moment, Do Not Track is just a draft of a policy that the World Wide Web Consortium is working through. Even if the W3C decides to have browsers turn Do Not Track on by default, there are still no legal implications. Presently, browsers can ignore DNT settings as it is not officially a policy. It’s an unsavory practice, but it’s not by any means illegal. That said, the U.S. government may decide to take things a step further in the future. The letter sent by Congressmen Markey and Barton to the W3C at least indicates some interest on the part of the government. But at this time, there are no legal concerns related to the policy.

Are there any adjustments we should make right now? What should we do to prepare for this?

In short, not much. Unless your business depends upon third party tracking cookies for behavioral advertising, you’ll be mostly unaffected by the changes that might (or might not) be coming. Even if your organization does utilize behavioral advertising, there’s not much you can do. If Do Not Track being turned on by default becomes the new standard, ad networks will simply have a smaller pool of data with which to work. On the individual level, some users will not be targetable by behavioral advertising as their behaviors have simply not been recorded.

OK, if my organization isn’t affected by these changes, who is? Why should I care?

The companies hardest hit by a default Do Not Track designation would be ad networks. Not having the ability to track user data means that the ads that they deliver can’t be nearly as targeted. While Google also depends upon ad-reliant services like Gmail and Google Docs, they have an advantage over the ad networks: universal opt-in. In short, if you are signed into your Google account during a browsing session, you are authorizing Google to track your behaviors. As the operator of Chrome, the world’s most popular browser, Google has multiple horses in this race. And they’re not alone. Companies like Apple, Yahoo!, and Amazon have also acquired their users’ permission to track online activities through a universal opt-in policy. When signing up and signing into these services, most people just check the little box without reading the terms of use. Obviously, these heavy hitters in the industry are not huge fans of a default Do Not Track setting becoming the standard. Either way, your organization could be impacted if you utilize an ad network to promote your goods or services. As these partners would no longer be able to deliver their ads as efficiently and effectively, your ad spend might get you less bang for your buck. In other words, by driving less qualified traffic to your site, conversion rates could drop significantly.

Ultimately, whether Do Not Track winds up the default setting on browsers or merely an option that users are given to choose on first run, there’s very little that we as marketers can do about it. While we’ve grown accustomed to using very personal data to guide our online ad campaigns, the change would put everyone on a level playing field. As this story is still very much in progress, it’s a little premature to panic about the possible implications of a default Do Not Track standard. Follow us on Twitter for the latest developments.

NOTE: The following was published on AdAge a couple days after we posted our piece. We thought we should share. It’s a great companion piece: “How Can Marketers Thrive in a Do-Not-Track World?”

Something incredible is happening in Toledo. No, it’s not the new casino, or even the Hen’s 9-3 fall to Louisville on Monday *shakes fist*. No, this is something much more profound. And special. And eye-opening.

Toledo is giving.

Of greater profundity is that non-Toledoans are giving... to Toledo. Could it be that the city that was affectionately called “one of those junkyards of American capitalism” by P. J. O’Rourke has not only located its bootstraps, but that the rest of the country—heck, the world—has realized that Toledo is the canary in the American enterprise coalmine? As Toledo goes, so goes the rest of y’all.

What is emerging is nothing short of amazing. Case in point: Seed Coworking Community’s $12,000 Kickstarter.com campaign which allows anyone (not just future Seed members) to pledge any dollar amount to help founding partners Gene Powell, Jamie Wright and Don Miller purchase furnishings for the space. The 21-day campaign, which launched March 27th, is now 89% funded by 67 “backers” as of this writing. Clearly, there are a lot of people who want Seed to be successful (at least 67 of them), but dig into those numbers and you’ll discover some interesting things:

+ 65% of those who pledged have never pledged to a Kickstarter campaign before.

+ Nearly a third of those who pledged are outside NW Ohio. People as far away as Seattle, Philadelphia and Los Angeles have donated to the Seed community.

+ Unlike most Kickstarter campaigns, Seed’s hasn’t “troughed”. In fact, donations are accelerating. In just two days (yesterday and today), some incredibly generous folks boosted the fund by over $4,000.

This campaign is a perfect example of what’s come to be known as the Gift Economy. People are putting their hard-earned cash into projects they can feel good about, not simply to earn a reward or dividend or pay-out, but because they believe the money will be used smartly and have a greater impact on their community than, say, a municipal bond trade. That’s what makes the contributions to Seed all the more appreciated. And humbling.

Humbling? Yes, humbling.

The Seed Coworking Community Kickstarter.com campaign wasn’t created so that some hipster-slackers can enjoy commercial-grade wifi while complaining about the less-than-perfect temperature of their half-caf caramel soy macchiatos. No, the campaign was created so that hard-working people—like you—could make a direct investment in other hard-working people who want to grow their businesses, their lives, their families, and an up-and-coming downtown district. Every dollar donated gives the Seed co-founders one more bit of accountability and further determination to make this project a success. It’s humbling. It’s also quite gratifying.

But, why stop there? After you donate to Seed, why not continue to give to other projects that directly impact Toledo and its wonderful people? Did you know there are six other Toledo-based Kickstarter campaigns in motion right now? Check ’em out:

+ ADJ-ective New Music Spring Concert
+ The Strong Talk 'Puritan' EP
+ The 'Leles - "Let Us Rest! Let Us Move!"
+ Help Create THE R.A.V.E.
+ The Sanderlings - Awesome Opossum
+ Rappa Boi

If you make a pledge to Seed or any Kickstarter campaign (especially the ones above), be sure to Tweet your support, or post your pledge to Facebook. This is a numbers game. The more people who discover these gems in their own back yard, the brighter they’ll shine, the more successful their campaigns will be. This is the Golden Rule in practice. This is gifting at its finest. This is good for Toledo, or any city just like it.

Thanks for reading, and for giving Seed—and Toledo—your consideration.

At long last, Spoke is pleased to announce the creation of Toledo’s first coworking space—Seed. What is coworking? We’re glad you asked. Coworking is a style of work which involves a shared work environment. Most importantly, coworking creates a community that helps designers, developers, independent contractors and creative professionals flourish.

Over the coming weeks, partners Gene Powell, Jamie Wright and Don Miller will be unveiling the physical plans for Seed Cowork™, our membership model and other exciting details. Until then, allow us to share the following:

• Seed Cowork will be located in historic St. Clair Village in Downtown Toledo.
• Our doors will open in the Spring.
• We’ll announce a Kickstarter campaign which will allow like-minded folks to support our project.

We’ve also provided answers to common questions to help you learn more about the project:

Q: What is coworking?
A: Coworking is about a community of like-minded creative professionals who want a different kind of place to work. A place free of cubicles and bureaucracy. A place where you can go and get inspired with fellow members. You can find more information at http://wiki.coworking.info.

Q: Is this just renting office space?
A: Seed is just a place where creative people work. It is not about the space. It is about the community. Yes, you have a membership, but the value comes from the members within the space. Renting office space is just about the space.

Q: How do I join?
A: Sign up for the newsletter here. We will be announcing those plans soon. If you want to get in early, you will also want to keep a look out for the Kickstarter campaign.

Q: Who is behind this?
A: The founding members are three independent business owners from NW Ohio: Gene Powell, Jamie Wright and Don Miller. All supporting members will have a vote and voice for where Seed goes in the future.

Q: When will this open?
A: We are opening in the Spring. An exact date will be announced once we get closer to finishing construction on the space. Join the newsletter to get a jump on that announcement.

Q: How much will a membership cost?
A: We are still working on exact figures, but we assure you that this will be very affordable. There will be multiple plans based on your needs and budget. Stay tuned for the announcement of the membership levels.

Q: Is this only for full-time members?
A: No. There will be different levels of membership to fit how you want to work.

Q: Is there parking available?
A: Yes. We realize that downtown parking can be a deterrent for some, but we have some parking available already and we’re working to make more spaces available.

Q: What is Kickstarter?
A: Kickstarter is a platform that helps you fund projects that inspire you through micro-payments. We are in the process of creating our campaign and we will share this soon.

Now is the perfect time to get involved and help us with our launch. We invite you to visit the Seed website and sign up to receive updates, announcements and exclusive invites. But don’t stop there, please help us spread the word by sharing the website link (and the Seed Cowork Twitter profile) with anyone you think will be interested in Seed Cowork.

Stay in touch. And... thank you.

In some ways, the rise of the information age has led to what some have called a 21st century Gold Rush. Unfortunately, the hype can be unwarranted. The internet can be a great business tool but basic business fundamentals still apply. Though many books, blogs, and tweets have been written on creating online businesses, we’ve put together five simple things to consider before launching an online business:

1) The internet values user experience. If an online business is to be sustainable (without continually spending a fortune on advertising), people are going to have to talk about it and spread the word to their friends. Online businesses need to create a user experience worth talking about for sustainability and growth. Mark Zuckerburg, the creator of Facebook, didn’t set out to “create the next Facebook”. Instead he focused on creating something great that he himself wanted to use.

2) The internet doesn’t magically reward great ideas. In one of his most famous quotes, Thomas Edison said, “Genius: one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.” The big idea must be combined with execution to be successful. What the big idea needs does not so much depend on how young, old, or smart the founder is, but how much perseverance and self-education the founder puts in. There are no tools that make a better substitute than putting in the work.

3) Simple ideas with exceptional execution go a long way. eBay was not the first auction site but was the first to do online auctions right. Amazon was not the first online bookstore but was the first one to do it right. This comes back to putting in the hard work and creating an experience worth talking about.

4) A kick-ass half is better than a half-ass whole.* Business owners can get away with a less than stellar brick and mortar business because of physical location. With millions of websites online, users can pick a competitor with a single click. To effectively stand against the competition, it’s far easier and better to focus on being the best in the world at one thing. This increased focus makes you stand out to the rest of the world and makes it harder for competitors to compare against you.

5) Online success can be slow. One of my close friends started an online retail store in 2005 selling high-end consumer goods. It took almost six weeks before the first order rolled in. Today, the business is doing very well with thousands of world-wide customers. For the first few years, he built the business by himself, often working late nights, and relied on outside contractors and firms to help with the search engine marketing and web design. If this slow start is the case with most online businesses, then what about the “overnight” successes we hear about? These accelerated successes usually come in two ways without fail: 1) from people who already have experience building a previous online business 2) from those able to secure venture funding and receiving external experience from an investor.

If there is one thing that trumps all else, it’s starting a business that you’re passionate about, committed to, and willing to do whatever it takes to see it become the best. Evaluate opportunities based on this first. Would you still pursue this business in one year? Three years? Five? Most online entrepreneurs work for the goal of adding value and making the world better, not because they are trying to make money. If you’re trying to start a business solely to make money, it’s probably not enough motivation to create something amazing.

Further Readings:

• *Rework by 37 Signals
• Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose by Tony Hsieh
• A Lapsed Anarchist’s Approach to Building a Great Business by Ari Weinzweig
• Sober Entrepreneurship: Why Modern Entrepreneurs Won’t Succeed Under the Influence by Carol Roth. The comments on this page are insightful. And, in case you missed the link to Carol Roth’s e-Pub, it’s here.

If we blogged for a living, like some do, we’d have gone out of business long ago. Riding what we call “the hamster wheel” of blogging requires a time commitment that a small company as busy as ours simply can’t carve out. We’re willing to sacrifice a couple of months-worth of posts here and there in order to focus on real work, and January and February—as miserable as they've been—make it easier to stay in “head down” mode and allow a few more opportunities to post slip by. We don’t mind, but we wonder what others think when they visit our blog and see that the most recent entry is over two months old. After all, we’re just as guilty of raising an eyebrow at someone else’s freshness date as anyone.

All that said, we’d like to offer up some signs of life with this very overdue post. I mentioned we’ve been busy. We’ve also been spending time with some videos that have us rethinking our business and our client’s businesses:

• “The surprising truth about what motivates us.”
• “How great leaders inspire action.”
• “A Lesson In ‘Monkeynomics.’”

We’re not sure what exactly these videos will inspire us to do, but now, with spring approaching, it seems like the perfect time to emerge from our hole, check our shadow* and make some plans.

*Yes. Yes, we’re fully aware Groundhog Day was a month ago. Like I said, we’ve been busy!

Just in time for the holidays, a winter wonderland has descended on Spoke. Instead of making you wait until Christmas, we thought we’d let you open up your present early and see just how we went about making this wintry snow globe animation.

Read instruction manual before use:

Use HTML and JavaScript (Flash is too bulky and obtrusive) for this project. Canvas and CSS3 are not good alternatives. Why? Because, we want to support as many browsers as possible with the least amount of work.

This animation will be viewable in all JavaScript-enabled browsers. Building in only HTML and JavaScript allows all smart phones, tablet devices, and any other product that works with Internet browsers to view this animation.

Assemble this project with small and simplistic code. Then, when the holidays are over, you can remove the code easily without damaging your site.

Assembling the project

Now the fun begins. Follow this basic outline for when you create your very own winter wonderland. Note that we used tween.js

1. Set up the scene: This is where you build your container box in HTML, setup scripts, and CSS styles for the background.

   
   




2. Build your snowflake: Construct your snowflake object which will be reused. We realize that no two snowflakes are alike, but to keep this simple, we used an ordinary circle. To give the illusion that they are not the same, simply change the size of the circle. Each image is 15 x 15 pixels rendered as a PNG.

   
   

   var snowFlake = function(target){
       /*
           Lets create a snowflake by using a div 
           element with a background image.
       */
       var div = document.createElement("div")
           ,random = Math.random()
           ,even = Math.floor(random*(2));
           
       //default styles
       div.style.position = "absolute";
       div.style.background = "no-repeat center";
       div.style.backgroundImage="url('snow_flake01.png')";
       div.style.width = "15px";
       div.style.height = "15px";
       div.style.top = "-15px";
       
       //default settings
       div.random = random;
       div.x = 0;
       //lets have the snowflake start above the scene
       div.y = -15;
       
       //Main function used to update the
       //snow flakes position
       div.update = function(){
           div.style.left = div.x+"px";
           div.style.top = div.y+"px";
       }
       
       //Used to update the image of the
       //snowflake
       div.setImage = function(image){
           div.style.backgroundImage = "url('"+image+"')";
       }
       
       //Used to reset the posistion of the snowflake
       div.reset = function(){
           //moves the snowflake above the scene
           div.y = -15;
       }
       
       //Inserts the Div into the targeted Element
       target.appendChild(div);
   
       return div
   }
   
   




3. The Population, randomization, and animation script: provides the three secret ingredients to create the illusion of a gentle snowfall. Let’s assign animation rules for each individual snowflake and populate it into our target element. Keep in mind that you must render the snowflakes with an aesthetically pleasing and smooth animation.

   
   

   var renderSnow = function(opt,target){
       /*
           Our “render snow” function here will
           populate the target element with snowflakes
       */
       
       for(var i = 0;i<= opt.count;i++){
           
           var  flake = new snowFlake(target)
               ,xPos = flake.x = Math.random()*(400)
               ,random = flake.random
               ,fallSpeed = opt.fallSpeed+random*(1000)
               ,driftSpeed = opt.driftSpeed+random*(1000);
               
           //Set the current snowflake's image
           flake.setImage(opt.image);
           
           /*
               We use tween.js to propagate
               the snowflake position values.
           */
           
           floatDown = new TWEEN.Tween(flake)
               .to({y:196},fallSpeed)
               //This runs the flake update command 
               //on every refresh
               .onUpdate(flake.update);
               
           floatLeft = new TWEEN.Tween(flake)
               .to({x:xPos-30},driftSpeed);
               
           floatRight = new TWEEN.Tween(flake)
               .to({x:xPos+30},driftSpeed);
           
           floatDown
               .delay(i*opt.delay)
               .onComplete(flake.reset);
           
           //animation chians
           floatLeft.chain(floatRight);
           floatRight.chain(floatLeft);
           floatDown.chain(floatDown);
           
           floatDown.start();
           //Lets mix it up a bit and 
           //randomize the start animation.
           if(Math.floor(i%2)==0){
               floatLeft.start();
           }else{
               floatRight.start();
           }
       }
   }
   
   




4. Animation loop script: To produce the illusion of animation, loop thirty times every second.

   
   

   //Lets target our containment elements
   var frontLayer = document.getElementById("front_layer");
   var backLayer = document.getElementById("back_layer");
   
   /*
       Here we run our “render snow” methods. This allows
       us to create two separate layers of snowfall in our 
       scene.  Here you can add more snowflake layers to
       give a more "blizzard" effect.  Adjust the speed and
       density of each layer by modifying the values 
       (the larger the number the slower the speed).
   */
   
   renderSnow({
       image:"snow_flake01.png"
       ,driftSpeed:7000
       ,fallSpeed:4000
       ,count:10
       ,delay:300
   },frontLayer);
   
   renderSnow({
       image:"snow_flake03.png"
       ,driftSpeed:7000
       ,fallSpeed:10000
       ,count:20
       ,delay:500
   },backLayer);
   
   /*
           This is where the magic happens. 
           Our frame rate is set at 30fps:
   */
   (function tick(){
       /*
           Every time TWEEN.update(); is run, the values 
           of the snow flakes we assigned tweens 
           (TWEEN.Tween()) to.  It will produce the next
           values in our tween animation, and update the
           CSS positions on our snowFlake objects.
       */
       TWEEN.update();
       setTimeout(tick,1000/30);
   }());
   

Once your project is successfully assembled and thoroughly tested, all that’s left to do is sit back and enjoy it.

We are.

Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year.

Bad Dog, Part I

Gap commercials of the 80’s used to sign off with the baritone-sung jingle, “Fall into the Gap.” Well, Gap Inc. has certainly fallen into something with the not-so-silent release (belly flop) of its new logo. The mark, comprised of Helvetica type and a fading blue square, has become the logo everyone loves to hate. Which begs the question: Is this some sort of joke? Or is this some genius move to stir interest in the flagging brand of a company that can’t find anyone to buy its stock let alone locate a decent graphic designer?

Adding insult to injury is the company’s bait-and-switch to rally a Facebook crowd-sourcing project to… what? Save the company from itself? Keep the Gap name in the spotlight through the all-redeeming holiday shopping season? If the whole thing was a ruse to lift sales, Gap is going to need to sell a record number of flat front khakis. If, however, the brand was realigned without a trace of guile then the retailer giant’s days are truly numbered because there’s a gap at Gap between management and perplexed patrons.

If there’s a silver lining in any of this it’s that the Pepsi logo is no longer the poster child of identity crises. Still, both brands (among many) leave us wringing our hands over the dearth of good corporate brand designers, and the lack of common sense of the people who hire them.

Woof.

Bad Dog, Part II

A Microsoft-Adobe marriage? Holy Matrimony, Batman! What’s the world of monopolist software coming to? If the rumors are true that the Rednecks of Redmond are considering a no-bullets shotgun exchange of vows with the Blushing Bridezillas of San Jose then “Mazel Tov!,” we say.

*breaks glass*

This is a match made in M&A heaven. Both companies lost touch with reality and customers long ago, and neither has had a breakout release since 2003. We wish them all the best as they drive—and fade—into the sunset.

*flings unopened AOL registration CDs at limo*