On Words and Business

As someone with an masters degree in library science, I’d expect myself to be better at classifying things. And as the internet first started becoming a big thing, I was very annoyed at the lack of standardization and classification for websites and other content. Intellectually, I understood the challenges, but not in practice.

I still wish that it could be different. For example, every time I see a movie preview, when the movie has a website and they go through all sorts of URL contortions to make the name memorable and meaningful, I think all movies sites should just be name-of-the-movie.mov. Same for tv shows, although I do applaud Tuvalu’s creativity in creating a market for its top-level domain.

Then we come to blogging. Once I started this blog, the whole idea of classifying the content boggled my mind. Now, were there an existing classification system I could employ, I’d've been all over that. Instead, I had to decide the categories and how to allocate them. Suddenly, that intellectual understanding of the challenges of classifying web content became visceral.

I still wish it were different. But since I can’t even figure out the best way for this little blog, I can’t complain too loudly about everyone else.

As new technologies and opportunities change the internet landscape and the ways we connect with people online, I feel like I’m dragging behind. A few months (or years, gasp) after something is released, I’ll probably figure out a way to use it.

These days, there’s nothing bleeding edge about my use of technology. Not like in college when I built my own computer and joined an online bulletin board, long before my friends knew what I was talking about, and just as AOL and Compuserve entered the picture.

So, it was fortuitous that I discovered part 3 of the series: Anatomy of Your Online Presence. Today’s topic is the nose, and how to sniff out new opportunities.

I think I’ll start building something again.

Recently, it was suggested that I add a photo of myself to the top of my website and to my blog page. If people can get a better sense of who I am, the theory went, they’ll be more likely to do business with me. As a service provider and sole practitioner, this is important to me. I want my customers to trust me, and feel they can work with me. This sounds like a good idea to me.

A quick review of websites of other writers and similar businesses reveals many photos (including one very awkward one that I can’t see helping). A small survey of friends reveals a split field.

So I ask you.

If you were in the market for the services of a writer, would a photo help you decide for or against someone? Would it make you more or less likely to believe in the professionalism of the service provider?

Any thoughts are most appreciated, especially from those readers who aren’t my mom. (Let’s face it, she already knows what I look like, and would probably do business with me if she ever needed a writer!)

Chylinski’s third law of website operability.

For every piece of information posted there is an equal and opposite piece of information.

As a trained librarian, I find it frustrating that the internet is still such a morass of information. Search engines try to make it easier, but their focus and methodologies leave a lot to be desired.

I understand the user-generated part of the equation, but there are times I just wish everything was categorized (by its owners, of course, because who else would have time to review every page?). From a list of subjects. Like library books. That system isn’t perfect either, but it’s better than what we’ve got.

There is so much good information out there, on the free side of the internet house, that it’s a shame we can’t find it when we need it.

Chylinski’s first law of website operability.

A website in working order will remain in working order unless acted upon by a web host technician.