in this issue

	Raining... !? It's Downright Pouring!
	What's the WWW done for you lately?

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Raining... !? It's Downright Pouring!

And there's no time for snoring during this September rainstorm...

Though you may find this boring, here's the latest on life as a Colthorp:

• My wife Amy stares down a return to full-time work in a couple weeks, all the while having to start a daily regimen of radiation for 6 1/2 weeks... and tries to juggle home life with 2 young ones and a husband to attempt to care for despite possible side effects from the radiation therapy.
• 3Cstudio continues to churn out some pretty decent projects/results (if I do say so myself) as there seems to be no end to great development prospects and ideas. Currently, SportsSpectrum.com is midway through a redevelopment, and myFlowerland.com is in the beginning stages of a redesign.
• Da Boss and her lil sidekick are doing well, and we all (the entire family) seem to be wading out from under the change-O-season crud... I am presently a hoarse bass while the kids both had various stages of a hack. Thankfully, Amy stayed out of the mix for the most part with a sore throat that didn't progress.

That's the scoop -- many of you have stated interest in an update, so... there you have it!

What's the WWW done for you lately?

Hmmm... well, the web is my livelihood, so I guess I can safely say it "does" a lot for me.

• What would your answer be?
• Is your site driving relevant seekers to your organization's website?
• If not, what's the solution?

Whether your hawking a product, or promoting a service, or just want to get the word out about who you are, a website should be and do more than double as an "online version of our print brochure", IMNTBHO (in-my-never-to-be-humble-opinion)!

Dr. John's Candies "blow'd up" over the Summer, as their Cavity-Fighting Herbal Lollipop gained some invaluable coverage from Good Morning America. 3Cstudio assisted in the scramble to capitalize on the rush to order by getting a solid e-commerce solution in place just ahead of the site going from 19 visitors one day, to 7,200 the next! Did we orchestrate the coverage? No... but we were at least somewhat prepared to handle the influx of interest (though it wasn't pretty for a few days!). Now they are on the verge of Phase II -- site redevelopment revolving around the trademarking of their proprietary herbal extract, newly named GlyActiv™.

So, as in this instance, is your company or organization prepared to be in the right place (or 'state' of being) when something occurs to give you exposure? In other words, are you ready for some unforeseen promotion that could potentially put you on the map in your respective area of influx on the web? Sure, there are a great number of ways to gear your site toward reaching the masses and measures to be taken to increase search engine interest, etc., and 3Cstudio attempts to keep clients' sites optimized for such things.

Yet a fairly major component to moving from Survive Mode to Thrive Mode is having the foresight to be prepared for the unforeseen: a massive influx of visitors, a chance outside promotion, the next web trend, a rush to get involved in a promoted event or product, new methods to interact or gain feedback from visitors, and so on.

Example of an emerging web trend:
I just downloaded a tiny/free application called Fuzzyshot to my iPhone. Fuzzyshot allows me (if so inclined) to photo-blog directly from my iPhone's built-in camera and post it to a website:

www.fuzzyshot.com/3cstudio

Now granted, this test photo is pretty unnecessary, but how might this effect an event in which someone couldn't attend or a quick way to capture activities for future reference via a blog or news blurb on a website? It opens up a lot of real-time possibilities for coverage of current/breaking items! (As an aside, yes -- that test photo is of my alarm clock at 12:25 a.m. in the pitch black! Sometimes you have to "work" the late shift...).

The bottom line is this: If you are on the web, it should provide you with an ROI (return on investment) that is quantifiable. And sometimes the best way to gain that ROI is to have your web presence prepared for greatness in advance, or at least be moving in a direction that is forward-thinking rather than maintaining status quo. Additionally, ROI doesn't have to consist of $ signs, but it sure doesn't hurt!

If my ramblings stir up some thoughts and ideas, drop me a line.