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Holtz Communications + Technology

Shel Holtz
Communicating at the Intersection of Business and Technology
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Neville’s new home

Neville Hobson, my podcasting co-host, has completed his move from his blog of the last couple years—Nevon—and taken up residence at NevilleHobson.com.

The new blog represents the earliest signs of a trend that I like. The first time I saw it was when Allan Jenkins redesigned Desirable Roasted Coffee. The result was a blog that looks more like a website, an admirable objective given the number of people who don’t regularly read blogs and are confused by all the blog bells and whistles they find when they visit one.

The elements that make a blog a blog are all there, but instead of littering columns to the left and right, many are neatly organized on separate pages accessible through sensible links. Neville has embraced this approach to marry his blog with a more traditional consultant’s website, listing (among other things) the services for which he can be hired. His blogroll is incredibly short, but another link from the homepage takes you to a list of links that would normally appear in an endless blogroll. Nice job, Neville!

I’ve been working—glacially, I must admit—on a redesign of my own. I’ll continue to use Expression Engine, with its powerful content management features. In fact, if you visit the pMachine site, you’ll notice that the featured sites using Expression Engine are all websites, not blogs. I plan to migrate my existing website (which uses an open-source content management system called phpWebsite) to Expression Engine; my blog will be one of the primary homepage links and will continue to be accessible under the same URL you use today, but my blog and my business website will be one. When will this happen? Precisely when I’m able to get around to it. I have an Expression Engine website I’m developing for a nonprofit organization that needs to get done first.

I do hope this is the beginning of a trend toward a new era in blog design that doesn’t require insider status to understand what you’re seeing. Neville and Allan have certainly led the way among us PR bloggers.

12/31/69 | 5 Comments | Neville’s new home

Comments

  • 1.Thanks Shel.

    You're the first to observe a very key point - with this new site, one of the things I did want to do was develop a presence online that sort of blurs that gap between blog and website.

    It is, of course, a blog but it includes features that WordPress introduced with version 1.5 last year, ie, it includes pages that are not blog posts, and are outside the regular post categorization schema, yet are still an integral part of the overall site. Like all other content, those pages are stored within the MySQL database thus ensuring the completeness of one's information.

    One thing I could have done, too, is make the landing page a 'normal' page rather than the blog. But I chose not to do that (for the time being, anyway).

    Re the blogroll, I use the Blogrolling service (as many of our colleagues use Bloglines) for that lengthy list. I'm using the free version; if I bought the paid service, I could categorize that list, even include multiple and separate lists.

    So my new place is up and running. Still much to do as I get back to regular blogging!

    Neville Hobson | February 2006 | Amsterdam

  • 2.I'm taking this approach to my business Web site/blog using WordPress and am thrilled that Neville's taking the lead. In fact, I started shifting my thinking about the blending of my sites while reading about Neville in "Naked Conversations." The authors mentioned that Neville launched his solo business with no Web site, no brochures, just a blog.

    It got me thinking: as communicators why make visitors to our sites sift through all the pages of writing samples (still a valuable part of a site, of course) when we can show them a glimpse of our expertise and voice on a new home page: the blog? That's why version 2.0 of mcclaryco.com will integrate blog and Web site.

    Here's a thought: Could this approach get us back to using the word "Weblog"?

    Mike McClary | February 2006 | Scottsdale, Ariz.

  • 3.Can't wait to see it, Mike; be sure to let me know when it's online. I believe some of the static web is still necessary. If I want to see a list of services, I don't want to find the blog post about it; I'd rather just click the link and get to that information. Some of the web will always be dedicated to reference material. That's why the integration you're undertaking is so spot on.

    Shel Holtz | February 2006 | Memphis, TN

  • 4.I agree about the move towards simplicity on our websites and our blogs -- and the movement towards bringing the two sites together. I've been looking at the WordPress service, but like you, I haven't quite had time to get around to it. Neville's site will serve as a great inspiration of what a well-designed site should aspire to.

    I'm also intrigued by the idea of having shorter blogrolls on the main page, with more detailed lists further down. I've seen site that integrate something like that, Robert Scoble's comes to mind, but Neville's looks like a very good examples as well.

    Dave Traynor | February 2006 | Hamilton, Ontario

  • 5.Isn't it all about making the place people come to as easy as possible for those people to find information and use the features you offer?

    One of the things in my mind as I was planning the development of the new site was that I'm focused more on RSS than on a site. What I mean by that is that I'm convinced more people will read one's content via an RSS subscription than by physically going to a site to read that content.

    Of course, the whole world doesn't know about (and isn't ready for) RSS yet. So you have to take the view that many people will still prefer to go to a site and take a look at it. Site design is still important.

    So such thoughts influenced how I put the site together in terms of its design and presentation. It's nowhere near final yet and some things might change. It's a beta ;)

    Mike, looking forward to seeing your new site.

    Neville Hobson | February 2006 | Amsterdam

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