Web Professional Minute

Greetings WOW members and Web Professionals Everywhere!

Bill Cullifer here with the World Organization of Webmasters (WOW) and the WOW Technology Minute.

Google reported this week that it will heavily invest in supporting electricity from renewable energy sources such as solar and wind that could be used by it and other companies and consumers worldwide.

While, some analyst are suggesting that it?’s not within the scope of the mega ad giant to spend a ton of money on energy, my take is that this private sector commitment will spur others to invest in Google partnerships that will ultimately providing them with a reasonable return on their investment.  I also think that green buyers will reward them with an uptick in business in ad business. 

Speaking of Google, as you may recall, I?’ve been working on an in depth analysis of the technology sector lobbying effort in Washington D.C.  

To that end, I reached out to Adam Kovacevich, Manager, Global Communications and Public Affairs  at Google regarding news reports that Senate subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights is urging the Federal Trade Commission to be wary of Google’s proposed $3.1 billion acquisition of Double-Click and here is what he had to say:  

“We have already worked with the FTC to address each of the questions raised in this letter, and we remain confident that the FTC will conclude that this deal is good for consumers, advertisers and website publishers.  And though the FTC has stated publicly that privacy is not a factor in its review, Google is committed to protecting our users’ privacy and has taken a number of industry-leading steps to do so.” 

Thanks for listening and watching the WOW Technology Minute  

Greetings WOW members and Web Professionals Everywhere!  

Bill Cullifer here with the World Organization of Webmasters (WOW) and the WOW Technology Minute.

A few months back, I received an email from a Web professional by the name of Rick Sloboda, Senior Web Copywriter at Webcopyplus.com  Rick wanted to know my take on an article that he was writing for and about Web professionals.  

Today, I am pleased to share Rick’s article entitled: Passion + talent + specialization = success. It?’s a well written and a thought provoking piece about “unleashing your true passion and talent” and it was written especially for Web professionals. For your information and review, I am enclosing the article below. 

I?’d also like to take this opportunity to shout out to Rick with a BIG thank you for sharing your passion, your talent and for your understanding for what it takes to succeed!  Rick epitomizes the true Web professional in my opinion. We can all benefit from this type of social and business to business networking and of course from his writings. 

Please take an extra minute to review his article because it?’s well worth the read.  If your looking for a Copy Writer to promote your brand, consider reaching out to Rick.

Passion + talent + specialization = success 

By Rick Sloboda

Those who tap into their raw talents and passion get ahead further and faster in the ever-expanding Web world.

It seems obvious, but most web types get drawn toward immediate, short-term opportunities and wander far from their true calling.

Enter specialization

Renew your drive by specializing in an area where you naturally thrive.

When you focus on one particular area or niche, your knowledge and experience increase rapidly. Within a short timeframe, you get in tune with leading technologies and trends, become established in your industry and market, start to earn top dollar and ultimately gain full control of a satisfying career.

Conversely, if you attempt to be all things to all people, you?’ll produce mediocre work and attract comparable clients.

Such was the case with a web-savvy individual who recently completed a series of projects for my business. During the 1990s, he had his hands in programming, design, online marketing and copywriting. “I was attracting the worst customers,” he said. When he wasn?’t haggling over price, he was dealing with unhappy clients demanding freebies. He finally decided to stick with what he knows best: programming. Now he works less, makes more and gets to pick his clients. That?’s not to suggest that general contractors of the Web can’t succeed because many do. 

Bill Cullifer, Executive Director for the World Organization of Webmasters (WOW) agrees. “Given the growing complexity of the Web, it really makes sense to focus on your core strengths,” he stated. “Web professionals would benefit from understanding their limitations and collaborating with other Web pros that complement the Web design and development process. In short, collaboration can improve workflow and the bottom line.”

Not too long ago, another programmer who?’s been developing websites for 10 years asked me: “Should I go to school so I can also provide clients designs?” Rather than broaden his work scope, I suggested he narrow it. A great programmer can?’t necessarily become a great designer and vice-versa.

On the design front, a Vancouver-based design team I?’ve worked with began researching the food industry?’s web needs, and decided to pursue that niche. It didn?’t take long to land some notable restaurants and become the ‘go to?’ web design firm in that industry. They discovered they have a knack for it, wholeheartedly threw themselves into it and clients now knock on their door.

Unleash your true passion and talent

How do you determine your niche? Consider what you love doing and what you do well. Hopefully the two overlap. Then determine your market; who could you best serve? Finally, fine-tune how you position yourself by listening closely to common customer complaints and problems. If there?’s a pain your competition or the industry isn?’t paying attention to, you?’re sitting on a goldmine.

Some tips on determining your potential expertise and niche:

1)     Write down what, how, when and where you are going to offer your service.

2)     Describe your strengths (how and why you?’re better than the competition).

3)     Acknowledge your weaknesses (and bridge them by collaborating with others).

4)     Develop a profile of your ideal client (age, sex, needs, spending habits, region and so on).

The sharper your focus and the fatter your Rolodex in a particular segment of your industry, the quicker you can gain expertise or even authority status in your field. And that?’s when the best clients come to you; the one?’s who value your work and pay accordingly.

Rick Sloboda is Founder and Senior Web Copywriter of www.webcopyplus.com, which focuses exclusively on web writing services.

WOW?’s gearing up to participate in the Voices that Matter Google Web Tool Kit Conference or (GWT) as it?’s called early next month in San Francisco, CA.  If you?’re a developer and you?’re programming in or exploring Ajax then you should seriously consider attending this event.

AJAX is short for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML and is a web development technique used for creating interactive web applications. The intent is to make web pages feel more responsive by exchanging small amounts of data with the server behind the scenes so that the entire web page does not have to be reloaded each time the user requests a change. This is intended to increase the web page’s interactivity, speed, functionality, and usability.

Nearly all of the GWT team will be speaking and participating in the conference including co-creators of GWT Bruce Johnson and Joel Webber.  These developers have invested a lot of time on Ajax development and this open source environment makes that makes life easier for Ajax development that enhances user experiences.

I?’m impressed with the fact that they?’ll be discussing the business case and usability benefits of Ajax and the pitfalls that you can avoid along the way, in short, according to the developers and conference promoters, GWT is the best investment for Ajax and WOW will be there to interview some of the brightest speakers on the planet.

Check out the website at www.voicesthatmatter.com If you have any questions please send them in.

Additional sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajax_(programming)

It?’s Web News Monday and here?’s what shaping our Web world this week.

Hacker threats are up significantly and according to the U.S. Strategic Command and “Our freedom to use cyberspace is threatened by the actions of criminals, terrorist and nations alike”. Cyber assaults against U.S. Federal agencies are up 152 percent according to news reports in the Sacramento Bee.

In other news, the Associated Press reported that two U.S. based industry trade organizations have combined forces and that means additional focus and funding for IT lobbying in D.C.

According to the report, the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) and the Government Electronics and Information Technology Association GEIA join forces to represent more than 380 companies and combined membership revenues of $8 million have merged.

What does this mean and why is this important to Web professionals?  For starters, it means that IT trade associations feel that it?’s important enough to spend over $120,000 lobbying politicians in the first half of 2007, according to federal disclosure forms.

Granted it?’s a small amount of money compared to the reported $10.7 million spent by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America and the $1.6 million spent by the American Petroleum Institute during the same time frame but all the same worth noting and monitoring.

I say worth monitoring because trade associations like the ITAA and GEIA differ considerably from professional associations like the WOW organization since they typically represent large corporations as a focus. WOW?’s mission as you know is to support the practicing professional and those that teach them.

That?’s not to say that corporations can?’t be members of WOW it?’s a simple case of mission and vision statements and we need to be aware of the distinct differences.

The net effect of this news is that WOW members will need to monitor the goings on in D.C. to determine our commonality and what issues exist if any within public policy arena in the U.S. and elsewhere for that matter that have an affect on our mission. 

For your information and for the sake of framing this into perspective and historical context, the GEIA was founded in 1952 focuses on technical standards work and government technology market analysis.
The ITAA, which began in 1961, is a major public policy player working on broader technology business issues.

The WOW organization, a relatively newcomer was established in 1996 was established provide community, education and certification for aspiring and practicing Web professionals.

Look for additional coverage on this topic in future WOW Technology Minutes. Thanks for listening and watching.

 Today’s News Links:

http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/520067.html

http://www.washingtontechnology.com/online/1_1/31744-1.html

Greetings WOW members and Web Professionals Everywhere!

Bill Cullifer here with the World Organization of Webmasters (WOW) and the WOW Technology Minute

It’s holiday time here in the U.S. and in the spirit of Thanksgiving tradition, I?’d like to reach out and thank some notable organizations and individuals for their support of the WOW organization this year.

Supporting Web professionals is beyond just a job for me it?’s become a labor of love and I?’m honored to be in the company of such great individuals and organizations .

It’s also great to be a part of a growing profession that combines an exciting element of Web design, technology and Web business.

Since WOW’s a membership supported organization, its most appropriate to first thank those thousands of members worldwide who support this organization financially. We truly appreciate the incremental support and we want you to know that we?’re committed to supporting you and the Web profession at large for the long term.

I?’d also like to thank the WOW advisor’s and the WOW Academys for their individual and collective support in contributing thousand of hours to keep the WOW abreast of survey?’s, and trends in Web design and development and their stellar efforts to develop the educational resources that we need to better understand and appreciate this fast moving environment.

In particular, I?’d like to thank the following organizations and individuals for their extraordinary contribution o the WOW for 2007.

The Web hosting organization, Bizland.com (see http://www.bizland.com) for supporting our workshop series in Las Vegas this year. Eric Rayleonard, Kris Silva and Michael Sattler you truly rock and I am forever greatly for your contribution to the WOW and to the Web profession in general.

I?’d like to thank the International World Wide Web Conference ( see http://www2008.org/) for providing us the opportunity to play even the smallest role in your annual events. Dr Les Carr, University of South Hampton, Dr. Carey Williamson, University of Calgary, Dr. Allan Ellis, Southern Cross University and Dr. Bebo White, Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) retired, thank you for the support and for all that you do to shape the Web profession and the World Wide Web.

A special shout out to Dr. David Shrimpton, University of Kent at Canterbury, in the UK and David Leip, ibm.com for making the trek to the WWW events and for your continued support with other events as well.

I?’d also like to thank the SkillsUSA organization from Reston, Virginia for the opportunity to head up the many successful years of running the national Web design contest that attracts thousands of the best and the brightest of students from the U.S. to compete in Kansas City, MO every year.

Last but not least, I?’d like to thank Professor DuBois from Illinois Central College, (www.icc.edu) and Brent Norris from Aloha workshops (www.alohaworkshops.com) for your support of WOW?’s educational initiatives and for supporting this blog. You?’re among the best of this profession and I am grateful for your unparalleled commitment and support.

Thanks for listening and watching the WOW technology Minute.

If you?’ve been following WOW organization for a while then you already know that education for Web professionals is one of our highest priorities.

WOW?’s goal is to work with industry professionals, educators at all levels and governments to establish career pathways and suggested learning outcomes so students and teachers can better understand the skills they need to learn and teach.

If you?’re an aspiring or practicing web professional for that matter the benefit of better understanding the appropriate depth and breathe of the topics and skills that employers are looking for the most is that it will save you considerable time and money.

Think of it this way, if I sent you to the library to learn web design or a web application one of the first questions you?’d ask is, where do I start? With a gazillion books on the market how are you going to know which one is the best for you and how are you going to know which chapters in the book are most benefical?

These issues relate not only students and I consider myself one as well since I learn something new about the web each day but it?’s an issue for educators as well and WOW intends to improve upon that. Most teachers around the globe lack the time and resources to stay current.

Sadly, most teachers in the U.S. for example only get compensated for eight hours worth of training a year. Clearly, not enough time to stay current with the ever changing Web environment we live in. With all of that said, what are we doing here at the WOW to address these issues?

For starters, we?’ve been studying the Web profession for 10 years. We?’ve also been working with education, government agencies and industry to publish the educational pathways and student learning outcomes. In short, that?’s typically what professional associations do best.

WOW has also established online training and education resources that can provide you with the most cutting edge resources at the most affordable price. For additional information check out WOW?’s authorized training partners within the K12, Community College and University settings and WOW Academy?’s at the links provide below.

http://www.joinwow.org/education/

http://www.webprofessionals.org/certification/

Thanks for listening, and watching the WOW Technology Minute.

It?’s Web News Monday and here?’s what shaping our Web world this week.A Web camp of sorts has been has established in South Korea for those afflicted with Internet addiction. That?’s right, the New York Times said Sunday the growth of the addiction led to the foundation of the “Jump Up Internet Rescue School” which employs a boot camp mentality to free people from their modern-day affliction.  

Not that I am insensitive to this issue mind you, but I be willing to bet that some entrepreneurial minded ceo is in the process of writing up his or her international business plan to open a few of these camps elsewhere in the world at this very moment. 

Brent, if you?’re listening or watching, I think that the Aloha state would make a great venue for the Internet Addiction Camp Hawaiin Style and I’d like to be there when it opens.

In other news, it?’s monopoly days for billon dollar Internet Companies.Last week, the antitrust division of the European Commission delayed the approval on Google’s acquisition of DoubleClick.  The EU cites that it needs more time to review for a pending decision in April.  A similar review is under way at the U.S. Federal Trade Commission in the U.S. Turns out that, over 30 groups are urging the commission and the FTC to restrict the merger and they include: The Center for Digital Democracy, the International Advertising Assn., the World Federation of Advertisers, Microsoft, Yahoo, and Ask.com.

Online advertising is a multi billon dollar market and as web pros it?’s our clients that pay the price for web advertising that keep these companies in the cash and we need to stay aware of these activites.

Thank you for listening and watching 

Addison-Wesley and Prentice Hall is sponsoring the Voices That Matter: Google Web Toolkit conference December 3-6, 2007 in San Francisco, CA.

You may recall, wow participated in the Voices that matter Conference for Web Designers last month and WOW and we?’re planning to participate in what I am sure will be one hot event for Web professionals.

Google Web Toolkit enables developers to use their favorite Java tools to build AJAX applications without having to tackle the steep learning curve and quirks of JavaScript and CSS. The Voices That Matter: Google Web Toolkit Conference will insure you understand why this is so and how you can leverage the power and functionality of GWT for your applications.

From the people who are publishing the definitive books on Google Web Toolkit, this conference will be a forum of theGoogle Web Toolkit (GWT) creators Bruce Johnson and Joel Webber, who are living and breathing GWT every day. You will learn from them and see for yourself how enthusiastic they are about GWT and the members of its strong and growing developer community

For more information check www.voicesthatmatter.com

Hundreds of tech experts from around the globe are meeting this week at a U.N. Internet Governance Forum in Brazil. The focus of the gathering is to discuss a variety of high level Internet topics including a discussion on discontinuing the U.S. control.  None of the decisions are binding I?’m told.

In other news, The Boston Globe reported today that Northeastern University has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Google, claiming the database architecture that Google uses to feed up search results has been misappropriated.

Computer world reports that — A former security researcher by the name of John Schiefer, 26, of Los Angles admitted to hijacking a quarter of a million PCs, using spyware to steal bank and PayPal account information, and making money by installing adware on the massive botnet.  

Folsom based Intel (home of the WOW organization) announced today it?’s developed a chip that will provide high def video over the Web. This is exciting news folks and its going to be a boon for Web pro’s

The Voices That Matter Conference is conducting a Google ToolKit Conference in San Francisco in December. For more information check out the www.voicesthatmatter.com website. 

Thanks for listening and watching the WOW Technology Minute.