My Struggle With Web Developers

By on February 16, 2007 in Blogging with 14 Comments

A few folks have asked why I’m always picking on the web development crowd. Well, I may pierce hard at times, but there’s a few things to mention.

  1. When I began this gig almost two years ago, the first people I approached were web developers. I shared with them the benefits for their customers. I pleaded with them to get up-to-speed. I offered free workshops so I could share knowledge and ideas.
  2. The one thing my business is sorely lacking is a web developer who embraces blogging as a potential tool for building business. I need them – the Iowa Business community needs them – to catch up.
  3. Here in Iowa, we’re at the same place we were almost two years ago. Are we waiting for Missouri to show us how?

I think I’m borrowing from Seth Godin on this story, but I see many (not all) web developers in this position

There used to be trucking companies that delivered ice. Then refrigerators came along. The trucking companies held on as long as they could, but then sold their trucks and went out of business. Why didn’t they just start delivering refrigerators?

I’m not in competition with web developers. They can be the surgeon, I’ll be available to assist (if necessary). However, until they come to grips that things have changed (again) – I’ll continue shooting straight.

Am I an enemy because I tell a truth?

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  • http://essentialkeystrokes.com Char

    I think many web developers are all about the coding. I have run into many over the years (after I rescue the client) who have absolutely no concept of what the purpose of the site they are building is.
    Anyway, I hope I don’t fall into the pile with all those other web developers. I would hope that even before I started blogging, that I was able to help my clients find the power of the web as a customer service tool rather than just some slick code.

  • http://www.spinningsilkmultimedia.com Patrick

    Interesting that you should post this! My company is actually in the process of refocusing our company in the areas of blogging, podcasting and other syndicated content. Now, most customers will not update their site with new content despite the fact we set up their sites with great and fairly user friendly content management systems. For those and future customers we will be offering a maintenance pro service where we will be contacting them on a regular basis and using writers on our staff to professionally write new posts (with the clients approval of course). In addition to that we will be marketing ourselves as specializing in this aspect of web development. Needless to say I am a web developer who embraces blogging and one big thing I am doing is communicating to customers and those in my local networks that “blogging” is more than well, “blogging”. If you get my drift. I’m not in Iowa. I’m in South Carolina. I’m always keeping my eyes open for the “refrigerator shift.”

  • Douglas T

    In my case, it was the developer, me, who wanted a blog, and others who didn’t. I had to fight tooth and nail to introduce blogs on several projects that I’ve worked on. Now that they’re starting to blog, the clients are getting very enthusiast about it. It was painful to introduce the idea though. When they listed what they wanted, WordPress was the perfect solution, but as soon as they realized it was “blogging software” the conversation ground to a halt.

  • http://thebull.macsimumweb.com Robert

    As a developer myself I can confirm that as a whole developers are a pain in the ass. In defense I think, again as a whole, that developers rarely get good requirements and even worse feedback until it all fall apart and then they are blamed. Call it jaded I guess.
    Anyway, a vast majority of developers are bloggers. A look at DZone.com or JavaBlogs.com will tell you that. As a previous commenter is doing, I am also pushing blogs for several of our sites. We aren’t all alike.

  • http://simplifive.com Andy Brudtkuhl

    It is surprising that here in Iowa web development companies are so far behind on latest technologies / methodologies. Most of the companies around here (regardless of their industry) are resistant to innovation and change and think good business is maintaining the status quo.
    It’s ironic to have to ask a company who doesn’t blog to build you a blog. You may as well say – hey, you don’t have a website but can I hire you to build me one?
    Luckily for you, you know the best web developers in town (shameless plug, i know).

  • http://theblogstudio.com Peter Flaschner

    Hi Mike. Hoo boy, this is going to come across as overly self-promotional, so please forgive me in advance.
    I think you just haven’t met the right developer! I’m new to your site – I subscribed just a few days ago – so I haven’t had a chance to read much of the archives. This is my first time encountering your trouble with web developers. Had I been around earlier, I think I may have been able to solve some of your pain.
    I’m the creative and technical director at The Blog Studio, a web design and development studio focussed on the unique needs and opportunities inherent in blogs and social websites.
    I started this business in spring 2005, after experiencing first hand the effect that blogging was having on my design business. My background is in marketing and retail – I owned a chain of high end bike stores doing about $3 million/year previous to getting involved with design. I knew how hard and expensive it was to get new business. When I started blogging about design and the web though, business just started flowing to me like crazy.
    I just knew I had to do something. So I quite literally quit my job and launched theblogstudio.com. Today my company is still powered by our blogging. Yes, we’re developers and designers, but it was blogging that put us where we are today.
    So there are a couple of us out here!

  • Larry Hendrick

    Mike, I especially like the short quote about ice and refrigerators. Sometimes it is right in front of us, yet we can’t see the tree for the forest.
    Recently in a chamber meeting, blogging came up and WOW! You’d have thought someone threw a wet blanket on the group. The President/CEO said, “we don’t want to have anything to do with those, they’re just trouble.” Clearly uneducated about what conversation is all about.

  • http://healthywebdesign.com Dawud Miracle

    Hi Mike. Sorry I’m not in Iowa. I face the same uphill battle but from a different group…so called marketing coaches. Three of my four top referring sources think negatively about blogging. They see it as personal journals about useless stuff. I have a heck of a time convincing referred clients about the benefits of blogging. But the tide is turning. I have enough knowledge now and hard data to show the huge benefits that blogging can bring to business. It’s an uphill battle, for sure. Luckily I’m more interested in helping my clients build their businesses than I am sticking to some marketing coaches program.

  • http://www.converstations.com Mike Sansone

    > Hi Char – You don’t even come close to those developers/designers who aren’t embracing the potential. Your blog and engagement in the blogosphere shows that you’re stepping out and giving the “customer service tool” a go. You are one of the reasons I won’t say “all” in your profession. Stay contagious!
    > Hi Patrick – Good show on starting to look at the social media toolset. Your customers are fortunate (now if they’d just follow your lead, hmm?). Good point on the content management – I know the most frustrating thing for webdev/design is waiting (and waiting some more) for clients to provide the content – seems like you offer a good solution. SC isn’t too far, I might send a refrigerator truck your way now and again!
    >Hi Douglas – When you say the conversation stopped, I hope that’s when implementation started, right?:-) Maybe the challenge isn’t with a profession, but with a mindset. Yep – more I think about that, that rings true.
    >Hi Robert – I agree, there are many great webdev folks embracing blogging, though I don’t know if it’s a majority yet. Hey – maybe a directory of developers who offer blog buildout would be a good idea. Hmm. If someone starts building that – let me know so I don’t commission it out.
    >Hi Andy – Thank you for being in Iowa!
    >Hiya Peter – Your team and work is well known here. You folks do great work (and you’re waiting list proves it!) Say hi to Lucia!
    >Hi Larry – They just need some motivation on their run. In the mid-90′s, we heard the same from companies who looked at GeoCities and said the same about web sites. A Chamber closing their eyes and ears to blogging – not good econdev if you ask me. Stay contagious with you voice!
    >Hi Dawud – Do you get the feeling you and I are going to start working together on projects soon? As I said above, it’s probably the mindset that’s common – not the profession. I find a few marketing/PR folks hanging on to the old ways too. Of course, it’s hard to build a blog or web presence that fulfills a company’s needs without a webdev/design. Take the marketing pro out of that, we can still have a site (there’s a log on a different fire, hmm?)

  • Marcia Hoeck

    Mike, I’m new to business blogging, but it is astounding the people who don’t know a thing about it, and don’t want to. Hadn’t heard the ice/refrigerator story before, the one I always tell is about the buggy whip company — you can be the best buggy whip company in the world, and be going nowhere.
    We need to constantly change our tools, and learn about new ones. I’m in the business of communicating, aren’t you? Nice blog, by the way.

  • http://errantmind.wordpress.com/ Sean Wilson

    Interesting post on the one hand, but a bit off on the other. Blogs aren’t a cure-all for an eBusiness presence; blogs without a well-deserved position in a company’s overall strategic plan is just one of many possible wastes of time.
    Having said that, blogs are great. So far, I blog just for fun, but that’s about to change. Maybe. I’m working on a network of sites myself, and while I love tweaking code now and then, I have other goals in mind, and they have little to do with money…aside from spending a lot to fund all that I envision.
    To be fair, I am getting some work as a result of my blog, and some interesting offers. And I’m not even trying yet to do anything remotely commercial with it. So, I could easily be an evangelist for blogging, and am to an extent. But I temper the enthusiasm with the reality that blogging apps themselves create.
    Now, blogs are not by any means some magical replacement for web sites. A lot of people think so, but that’s just a simple “blinded by the headlights” fascination with blogs. The current crop of blogging apps aren’t that much different from functionality that many CMS have had for years. I do think any good website can benefit from a good blog, but it should be considered another tool and not a crutch nor replacement for a well-built site in the majority of cases. However, if all you do is blog, or your company wants a minimalist presence online, by all means go with just a blog.
    I’m not saying a dedicated blog can’t be a good web presence, but there are probably just as many reasons for not having a blog as there are for having one. If someone wants to put out good quality content that carries a sense of credibility and make it easy to find by visitors, then a well-designed website is probably a better choice than a blog.
    The overwhelming majority of blogging apps suffer from poor information architecture by their very design. The emphasis of the interface is entirely too time-based which isn’t at all intuitive or easy for visitors looking for information and most blogs are about as comfortable to browse as it is to have bamboo shoved under your fingernails.
    Now, I think that this is probably partly why you’re hoping more developers take an interest in blogs. But consider the blogging function itself. It’s largely just the process of rapid updating and distributing RSS feeds.
    Not every business model will benefit from blogging, nor does every company need to spew rants and news around the clock. A very large number of businesses will actually suffer by implementing blogs if they can not commit to a high volume of regular updates and the intensive marketing effort and time a blog requires to make it pay off for what it costs to hire a blogger, programmers and designers for a custom solution. Even with just some graphic design services to start a generic WordPress blog and hiring a blogger full-time will set most small businesses (and many medium-sized ones) back and provide less benefit than if they had spent that one year of blogger salary and designer costs on existing marketing efforts.
    I love blogging. Plan to launch several more along with some websites in the near future. But I’m not about to let the latest fad steer either my or my clients business models into dangerous waters simply because everyone else is doing it. I have an ethical responsibility to suggest to clients a solution that will work rather than one that is what everyone else is doing. Doesn’t matter if it’s a blog, CMS, or hosted services—everything gets scrutinized the same.
    The big thing that you’re missing, too, is that developers are trying to earn a living. And blogging apps simply aren’t the optimal CMS for large sites—definitely not for networks of sites. Blogs have their uses and their place, but they are far from some holy grail for deploying a presence online. Most CMS can do the same thing as blogs and provide you better options for managing file archives, multimedia and a whole lot of other things.
    What’s going to put more food on a developer’s plate? Learning to tweak WordPress and TextPattern, or learning Typo3 (or whatever their personal CMS of choice is) which they can use to build solutions for a wider range of clients and to secure a job managing a network as opposed to a single blog? Look at it from the point of economics…
    Why would a developer want to have to worry about collecting payments from a few dozen clients who need him once basically or only occasionally, when he can find work with an employer who will pay him consistently and more to manage a network of sites…which he can do easily and conveniently from a single install of a CMS? Really, anyone who would keep a developer on staff after setting up a blog…well, I’d question their business sense unless their model was built upon a network of blogs.
    Might question their business sense in that case as well, though…
    Blogging and blogs have their place. But it isn’t as a replacement for a website except in a few cases/business models.
    Great post, though. I agree with the sentiment and your desire for blog-savvy developers. But for now, I’m happy for the dearth of them. It means that I as one can teach classes and individuals and afford to drink Guinness instead of some watery imposter like Budweiser.

  • http://www.converstations.com Mike Sansone

    > Hi Marcia. The ‘don’t want to’ know is what gets to me. Great story on the buggy whip – I’m gonna borrow it if that’s cool. Goes great with the Horse & Buggy Web developer post.
    >Hi Sean. Thanks for great expansion on this conversation. many valid points. One thing I always consider is the user and their goals. I tell many that they “shouldn’t blog…yet” and I also suggest to some companies (especially the 30% of small business without a web presence) that they should consider putting a web presence up (using blogware).
    Just because we use blogware (ease of use and affordable) doesn’t necessarily mean the site has to have a blog.
    Good stuff!

  • http://www.studio24llc.com Andrew Clark

    Well, once again Mike, you seem to have just the right timbre in your buzz to get the rest of the hive dancing… buzzz buzz buz… shuffle, ball-step…
    It’s next to impossible to convince the people who live and die by the sword (code) that they are going to hurt someone if they keep swinging it around willy-nilly… Why use a sword when a cocktail fork will feed the masses so much more efficiently?
    Keep cooking!
    the Brand Chef

  • Doug Karr

    As a Product Manager working with development teams every day, I am absolutely amazed at how few of them keep up with technology, usability, competition… and they don’t even seem to care. They are more obligated to the programming than they are to the business. If the business dries up, they don’t care… they just go program somewhere else.

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