As part of the new endeavor I’ve moved my blog over to my company website at ThriveID.com/blog.  I’ll be continuing on the “Designing Great Experiences” theme but will also be sharing my experiences starting the company and developing web and mobile applications.

All the previous content is there and more will be coming so update your RSS feed (to http://www.thriveid.com/?feed=rss2), change your bookmarks, and join me at the new location.

Talk with you soon.

That’s not something you hear too often. And after years of dreading visits to the dentist I’m surprised I’m saying it. It’s not just that he’s a nice guy (which he is). It’s the great experience he delivers consistently, every time I go. Over the last couple of weeks I’ve visited him twice – once for a cleaning and once for a filling – and I took note of what he does that makes him so great. I’ve generalized my observations so they can be applied to the delivery of any service, not just dentistry.

Some principles for delivering a good service experience:

1. Respect me and my time
   I’ve been going to my dentist for over 10 years and I have never once had to wait more than 5 minutes past the start time of my appointment. (Unfortunately being on time is almost unheard of in the medical profession, so this is a big deal.) Once I’m in the chair my most recent x-rays are ready for review and the hygienist is ready to start. (None of this getting me in the room/chair and making me sit another 15-30 minutes.) And I’m always out on time, if not early. Nothing says, “I don’t care about you as a person or customer” as much as wasting my time.
2. Complete focus on me as a person (I’m a person first, customer second)
   Every time he comes in to examine my teeth he shakes my hand, sits down in front of me, looks me in the eye, and asks me how I’m doing and if I have any concerns. He then explains (in non-Dentist language) what they found in my checkup and x-rays and what he recommends should happen next. When we’re finished he asks me if I have any questions, shakes my hand again, tells me it was good to see me and to have a good summer, Christmas, or whatever happens in the next 6 months.
   Focusing on the person you’re talking to communicates they’re important to you and that you care.
3. Thorough, proactive communication
   I’ve already described some of the ways he communicates but it’s especially important and appreciated when he’s doing some sort of “procedure” like putting in a filling.  Before beginning I get a description of  what he’s going to do and why (which is always nice when my mouth is involved).  Then as the work is being done, he’ll explain what he’s doing and what I might feel.  He also tells me what I shouldn’t feel and to let him know if I do.  And the day after I had a filling he (not his receptionist) personally called me to make sure everything was ok and to ask if I had any questions or concerns.  (I was amazed.)
   Strong communication is foundational to any good relationship but it’s especially important when someone is under stress or is in an unfamiliar situation.
4. Care and respect for staff
   I can tell his staff is cared for and respected by the way he speaks to them, speaks about them, and treats them.  Each time he concludes a checkup he thanks the hygienist (by name) before leaving.  It’s not a huge deal but it goes a long way.
   Want to make sure your staff delivers a great service experience?  Make sure they know they’re cared for and respected.
5. Expertise builds confidence
   Great service is all well and good but if the service provider doesn’t know what they’re doing it’s pointless. It’s clear that Dr. Franz stays on top of the latest research, technologies, and techniques and applies them where it makes sense.  Whether it’s using a CNC machine to create perfectly fitting crowns or digital displays to review x-rays I have confidence that he’s delivering the best service possible.
   There are a lot of companies that have superior expertise but crummy delivery.  There are other companies that have the delivery nailed but don’t know what they’re doing.  A truly great service experience requires both superior expertise and delivery.

At the end of the day a business has to make money.  And making more money is a good thing.  Delivering a great service experience will ultimately deliver more money to the bottom line.  Case in point: My dentist is not on the preferred provider list for my dental insurance so I pay more for each visit than I would if I switched dentists.  But I haven’t switched because I know I’ll get amazing service and great care for me and my family.  I hope he somehow outlives me because I have no interest in changing dentists ever again.

I’m a completely loyal and devoted customer.  Isn’t that what every business wants?

 
(BTW, if you live in the area Northwest of Denver and are looking for a great dentist, I happen to know of one: Dr. Wayne Franz, DDS.)

I created two diagrams (gotta have pictures, of course); one showing the different pieces that make up a total cross-channel experience and another showing how the different parts map to the different phases in the customer lifecycle.   My intent is that these diagrams can help give the concept of cross-channel experience some shape and context and serve as a reference for further discussion.

Below are first drafts of each diagram.  They’re in need of feedback and iteration so let me know what you think.

The Parts

(click diagram for a larger version)

The goal here is to understand the channels with which customers interact. All the slices of the pie combine to create the organization’s overall or total experience. (aka. the organization’s brand.) The “Align & Amplify” in the center is an effort to communicate the ideas that (1) the pieces need to be considered as a whole so they are all aligned and (2)  the relationships and transitions between the various channels can and should add additional value and an even greater experience. (The whole is greater that the sum of the parts.)

Questions:

1. What’s missing?
2. What touch-points come to mind that don’t fit well in any of these categories?
3. What questions come to mind?  What doesn’t make sense?

Mapping Channels Against the Customer Lifecycle

(click diagram for a larger version)

This diagram looks at the relationship between the channels and the customer lifecycle.  A hypothetical scenario illustrates how a customer moves through the stages of the lifecycle and how they might interact with various channels in each stage.

Questions:

1. Where does “Word of Mouth” fit as a channel?  It’s not something organizations have direct control over but it is one powerful way potential customers “interact” with an organization and the brand.  It could be included in web but not all of it fits there.
2. In “Customer Service” I’m including things like processes, policies, tech support, sales support, etc.    Does that category make sense?  Need a different label?
3. What other diagrams/concept maps have you seen that illustrate the concepts of cross-channel experience?

Thoughts?  Feedback?  Suggestions?

1. Designing for social is about designing the “negative space”.

This is an overarching concept from a pre-conference workshop I took called “Social Architecture: From Strategy to Success Metrics” taught by Christina Wodtke and Jennifer Granito Ruffner.  Unlike designing, say, a product marketing page where you control everything, when designing a social environment, you’re really designing a space where people can interact.  You can’t control those interactions or the resulting content, but the environment you design will impact what goes on in the space just as a physical environment impacts the people that live and work in that space.

I think I could have a “Top 100 Takeaways” post to summarize all this workshop covered but this will have to do for now.    See slide 29 for a great summarizing diagram.

http://www.slideshare.net/cwodtke/designing-social-iasummit

Thanks to Christina and Jenn and all those who attended for a great workshop!

Credit: Christina Wodtke and Jennifer Granito Ruffner
More details: Workshop slides

2. A strong kickoff meeting is crucial when starting a new project with a client or internal stakeholders.

Why?

1. First impressions are powerful and lasting
2. Roles can be hidden and unclear
3. Time and money is wasted

Tip: Interview all stakeholders before the kickoff meeting.

Credit: Kevin M Hoffman
More details:  Slides from IA Summit, Web Site: goodkickoffmeetings.com

3.  Simple “back of the napkin” diagrams can be a powerful way to think through ideas and communicate those ideas to others.

• From Keynote by Dan Roam, author of “Back of the Napkin”
• Dan talked about the power of even a simple sketch.  A sketch can communicate an idea like no amount of words ever could.  (A picture is worth more than a thousand words I guess.)
• He also emphasized that you don’t need to be Leonardo DaVinci to create effective and impactful drawings.  Just simple lines, shapes, and text are usually all that’s needed to clearly communicate an idea.
• Dan and a friend sat down to try and visually describe the healthcare bill.  He posted slides showing their diagrams which have had over 215,000 views.  The networks asked him to present his diagrams.  Then the White House called asking for advice.  The power of a sketch indeed.

Credit: Dan Roam
More Details: Healthcare slides, Overview slides, “Back of the Napkin” book

4. Many IAs and designers are migrating toward creating interactive prototypes instead of static wireframes.

As usual, there was good discussion/debate about the merits of prototypes vs wireframes.  Prototyping tools have a ways to go until they easily do all that we’d ideally want them to do but some of them could now be considered viable for real project work.  At this point Axure seems to be the leader and one of the presentations at the conference described one firm’s transition from wireframes to prototypes using Axure. The transition seems to have been a success with no plans to go back.

Given the increasing levels of interactivity we’re creating in web applications, social sites, etc., a good interactive prototype seems to be the only way to communicate how something will work.  Wireframes will probably still have their place in the tool box but prototyping is and will be invaluable.

Credit: Kevin Wick
More details: Axure, UIE article: “Prototyping: Picking the Right Tool”

5. Design of multi-touchpoint interactions

Designing the experience across all of an organization’s touchpoints has been high on my interest list for quite a while.  It was great to see the topic surface at the IA Summit in a pre-conference workshop (wish I’d taken that one too), a presentation by Samantha Starmer, and a general topic of discussion.  As IAs we obviously focus on the web touchpoint but the web is only one way that customers interact with a company.  Advertising, call centers, physical brick and mortar environments, processes, catalogs, packaging, products, and the web all contribute to a person’s perceptions of a brand.  IAs and UX designers have an opportunity to apply our knowledge and methods outside the web to improve the larger over-arching customer experience.  There is opportunity to not only align the touchpoints but also to create something more impactful than just the sum of the parts.  It’s an area I definitely want to dig into more.

Credit: Samantha Starmer, Jess McMullin
More details:  Workshop slides: “Leaving Flatland…”,

6. Understand and use social design patterns.

The importance of knowing and using design patterns was reiterated through several different conversations and presentations.  Patterns are not a specific implementation with specific look and feel, copy, positioning, etc.  Instead they’re a general description of the basic interaction(s) users have come to expect.  And they’re not plug and play.  Depending on the specific situation the pattern may have to be adjusted so it fits the context.

Building on their book, “Designing Social Interfaces”, Christian Crumlish and Erin Malone created a poster with a new concept model that attempts to capture the world of social interface patterns and I think they did a pretty good job.  Also included on the poster were several concept models generated over the years showing the change and refinement in thinking and capabilities.  Pretty cool.

Credit: Christian Crumlish and Erin Malone
More Details: About the poster, the poster (pdf)

7.  There is a gap between people’s offline and online social networks.

Paul Adams from Google presented some of his research comparing online and offline social networks.  he had several interesting findings but a couple that stick out in my mind are:

• In real-life, people tend to have about 4-6 different social networks/circles that, for the most part, do not overlap. However, in online networks, Facebook in particular, all those separate networks get thrown into one big pool.  This can often cause problems for users.  They might want to share something with only one specific group of people but don’t have an easy way to specify who will see it and who won’t.  (See slide 15.)  We need to design to support the fact that we have different types of relationships.
• Malcolm Gladwell’s “The Tipping Point” talked about “Influentials” who have extra levels of influence on a large number of people.  The idea is that if a corporation can get the attention and “love” of an Influential, they’ll influence an inordinate number of others.  Paul’s research is showing that’s not entirely true.  Friends tend to also have a lot of influence.  If an Influential says “buy Nikes” but two of a person’s friends say, “Pumas are the best”, the person is more likely to buy the Pumas.  (See slide 138.)

Credit: Paul Adams
More Details: Slides, Paul’s blog

8. Being a good influencer is crucial for creating successful projects and businesses but being a good influencer is more about listening and empathy than talking and power.

Note: Listening and empathy are core attributes of a good IA/designer.  Approach in influence opportunity as a design project.

Note (2): Jess’s talk was great but what I remember most is that when I asked a question at the end, he called on me by name after we only briefly met the day before.  Talk about listening.

Credit: Jess McMullin
More Details: Slides from IA Summit, a good summary by LukeW

9. The IA Summit is a fantastic event made so by a community of smart, curious, helpful, friendly, passionate people (who also happen to be information architects).

The presentations are great brainfood but the conversations and relationships are what make it special.

Whitney Hess’s Plenary presentation, “Transending Our Tribe”, is a great example of some of the challenging and inspiring presentations and discussions.  Definitely worth a look/listen.

A great group of people.  A worthwhile experience.  I’ll be back.

Credit: Jennifer Bombach and the whole planning team.  Whitney Hess
More Details: IA Summit web site

More resources:

• Twitter stream from IA Summit 2010
• Slides from all the presenters. (Those that are posted at least.) (Thanks to Adelle Frank.)
• IA Summit Podcasts on Boxes and Arrows (I’m hearing that Whitney Hess’s keynote was outstanding but I haven’t had a chance to listen yet.)

When I opened the box I was greeted by bright, friendly colors, a packet of information, and three clearly labeled compartments.

 
The instructions, though a little large when completely unfolded, were clear and easy to follow.

 
I was especially impressed with the way the instructions described the various items in the box and referenced the color-coded chords. (Black for power, green for phone, and yellow for ethernet.)  Someone clearly put some thought into this.  And, incredibly, a phone number for a help line is listed once on the inside of the box and 4 times in the instructions.  They are obviously focused on delivering a great customer experience, not avoiding phone calls.

Once the the hardware was connected, I was automatically connected to the online configuration application.

First I was presented with a friendly welcome screen with brief instructions (in plain language) on how to navigate through the various steps.

 
On the next screen, they did a good job of heading off potential problems and/or confusion by telling me what to do if my firewall software appears.

 
The page also has some other helpful elements including a progress indicator, “Tell me more…” link (makes optional, more detailed info available without cluttering the page), a live chat icon (instant help), and a help icon.

After completing a few more steps in the process I was asked to indicate which modem I have.

 
Ideally the system would be able to figure this out without asking me but, if they have to ask, providing photos of the modems is much more meaningful and helpful than just listing a bunch of names.  (Especially since they have names like “ActionTec M1000″ and “2Wire 2700HG”.)

Once the setup process was completed I was presented with a final screen listing important account information.  It was nice to have it all in one place rather than have to dig for it later.

 
Qwest has had a reputation for a terrible customer experience but in the last couple of years they’ve really improved.  Their modem setup experience was excellent and I think illustrates some principles that can be applied almost any experience.

• It’s ok to have fun
  Qwest’s packaging and web UI were colorful and somewhat playful in appearance and language.  Any time you can inject fun into an experience, do so.  (Assuming it fits with the offering and branding).
• User conversational language (if appropriate)
  Standard corporate language is boring and sometimes hard to understand.  Don’t use fancy words.  Just say what you’re trying to communicate.
• Coordinate the elements
  Qwest did a good job of making sure the hardware in the box matched what was described in the instructions and that the modem was actually in the list of modems in the web UI.  They even went so far as to specify the color of the power cord, phone cable, and ethernet cable and then referenced those colors in the instructions.
• Tell people where they are in the process
  A basic common courtesy.
• Warn about (or better yet, help avoid) potential problems and stress points
  Qwest knew that customers’ firewall software could potentially try to block the modem setup process.  They warned users that the problem could be coming and what to do if it happened.  If users know a potential problem could be coming and how to deal with it, it’s much less stressful when it actually appears.
• Offer liberal help options
  Qwest made phone numbers, chat button, and help icon clearly visible throughout the installation process.  Don’t try to hide access to a live person just so you can save money.  Avoid help calls/chats through great design and processes rather than by hiding a phone number or chat button.
• Give me pictures
  If you’re going to ask me to identify something, give me a picture if at all possible – especially when dealing with hi-tech products and their cryptic meaningless names.

By creating an easy and enjoyable setup experience Qwest accomplished three things.

1. They delivered a great experience that reflects well on their brand image.
2. They decreased the load on their call centers.
3. They made their service more appealing by lowering the cost.  (I didn’t have to pay an extra $86 to have a Qwest technician come install it.)

Nice job Qwest.  I hope they and the rest of us can keep building on great experiences like this one.

• The default response to new feature ideas should be “no”.  New feature ideas should go through a lot of scrutiny before being implemented.  Keep it simple.
• Ditch the functional/UI specs.  They chew up a lot of time and don’t ad much value.
• If you start a new company: (a) you don’t have to take out a loan or get VC funding, (b) remember that the work patterns you set early will probably continue permanently,  (c) don’t start out giving away your product for free.
• Don’t try to become the next Facebook or Twitter.  The odds are very small that it will happen.  Shooting to become a $1M is much more feasible.   If you charge a monthly subscription rate of $40 and have 2000 customers, your revenue would be about $1M.  That’s pretty reasonable.  If you address a niche really well, 2000 customers should not be a huge problem.
• Avoid chopping up your day with meetings, email, IMs, etc.  You are much more productive with a few large blocks of time than you are with multiple small chunks.
• There are a lot of large, old companies around.  It seems as though most startups have the goal of prepping the company to be bought by a large old company.  All the fresh thinking and ideas inherent in a startup get squashed by the large old company.  What’s going to happen in several years when we no longer have startups growing into large new companies?  Much of the potential innovation will be lost.
• Treat your customers like people.  Shoot straight and speak/write/act like a human.  (Something near and dear to my heart.)

There are more but these are the ones that have stuck with me.

I appreciate 37Signals’ candor and their willingness to share their ideas and lessons learned.   Questioning long-standing assumptions and the status quo is always good.

Recommended reading/viewing/listening:

• Getting Real
  They’ve posted a free online version or you can buy the PDF or hardcopy.
• Podcast
  Especially episodes 2, 3, and 4
• David Heinemeier Hansson of 37signals at Startup School 2008
  Video of co-founder, David Heinemeier presenting to students and Startup School 2008.
• Top 20 Blog Posts of 2009
  Their most viewed posts.

I don’t think we should be using “Community” as a link or category label.  Here’s why:

1. Its definition is unclear
   If you asked 100 people for their definition of “community” in the context of a website, I bet you’d get 100 different answers.  So when a user sees a link labeled “Community” they may associate it with tasks and functionality that are very different from the way the corporation intended.  For example, at Sun “Community” is a term used to describe functionality like forums, wikis, blogs, etc., but it’s also used to describe a collection of content aimed at a specific audience such as Developers or Parters. (The “Developer Community”.)  In contrast, terms like “Downloads” or “Documentation” have a much more narrow definition are a closely tied with specific user tasks.
2. It’s a catch-all term
   “Community” is really an umbrella term that describes a category containing a wide variety of tools, content, and functionality.  It can (but not always) include forums, blogs, wikis, groups, user profiles, videos, photos, podcasts, comments, reviews, ratings, polls, etc.  What a user would expect to find in the bucket depends on their definition of “community”.
3. It’s not helpful
   Users come to your site to accomplish a task.  But no one is going to come to your site for the sole purpose of looking at or joining your community (except for people like me).  Tools that fall under the “Community” umbrella can definitely help users accomplish their tasks but the user is left to figure out what the corporation means by “Community” (see #1 above) and then guess as to whether the tool they need will actually be there (see #2 above).  Best-case, using “Community” as a navigation label is inefficient.  Worst-case, it’s misleading.

So what’s the solution?  In the spirit of fully integrating community tools and content into the corporate web presence, the individual tools should be pulled out of the “Community” bucket and labeled and located in ways that best support user tasks.  A couple of examples:

• Wikis are a great platform for managing content that changes frequently as well as enabling multiple people to contribute and collaborate.  So in some cases wiki technology might be used to present a page of information to users that is also easy for the content managers to update.  The users don’t know or care that it’s technically delivered by a wiki platform.  All they know is that the information is always up-to-date.  In other cases the company might want to encourage users to contribute to a technical article or some documentation.  In this case users might see a link that says “Contribute” or “Collaborate” which would catch the attention of those who want to perticipate.
• Forums are a powerful way to (among other things) enable people to find answers to questions.  The term “forum” is becoming more common and the tasks it supports are more or less understood (especially among technical audiences), so using “forum” as link label is probably okay depending on your audience.  But there are other terms that better describe what a user can accomplish in a forum such as “Discussions”, “Find Answers”, or “Get Help”.  Along with appropriate labeling, inks to forums should be displayed in relevant locations.  Integrating links into places where users will likely have questions they want answered such as product or support pages gives users a smooth path to what they need.

Some of this may seem pretty obvious and actually, there are sites that do some of this already.  But I think it’s worth taking the time to think through the community-related terms we’re using on our site and make sure they align well with what users are trying to accomplish.

So what are your thoughts?  Do you disagree?  Are their contexts where using “Community” makes sense?

1. Links to community-related pages/sites (forums, blogs, wikis, etc.)
2. Community-generated content (from forums, blogs, etc.)
3. Social tools (such as RSS subscriptions or Share functionality)

I put together a slide deck with screenshots and notes.  (Viewing full-screen recommended.)

Some Observations

• All the home pages I looked at had at least one link to a community-related page or site.
• Community-related links most commonly displayed on home pages included:  (Numbers indicate number of sites displaying that link out of total.)
  • “Community/Communities” (9/11)
  • “Forums/Discussions” (6/11)
  • “Blogs” (6/11)
  • “RSS” icon/link (6/11)
  • “Wikis” (2/11)
• “Community/Communities” links went to either a routing page (listing links to various community-related sites) or to a community space (an integrated platform including discussions, docs, profiles, groups, etc.).
  • Routing page (6/9)
  • Space/platform (3/9)
  • Notable unique ideas:
  • “Manage Your Profile” link in footer on microsoft.com
  • “Social Media Guidelines” link in footer on intel.com
  • Using “Connect With Others” instead of “Community” in main nav of hp.com
  • Icons to share a specific page via multiple social channels such as Twitter, Facebook, Delicious, etc. in standard footer on ibm.com
  • Display title of a specific blog post on netapp.com
• Level of community visibility:
  • Most visibility: NetApp
  • Least visibility: SAP
• Lots of variation in terminology, placement, and display of community-related links, content, and tools.  No apparent standards, patterns, or best-practices yet.  (Not surprising.)

This is obviously just a snapshot in time of a handfull of sites but I find insights (and more questions) can be generated through an exercise like this.  As the integration of community spaces, content, and tools into corporate sites continues to evolve it will be interesting to see what types of patterns and best-practices emerge – or if any will emerge.

Are there patterns you’re beginning to see take shape in certain industries or types of sites?  Are there any examples you believe are effective and think should become a pattern?  Other thoughts?

I thought I’d share some of my observations and thoughts in hopes that someone else might find it helpful and maybe initiate some conversation.  Disclaimer: Based on my experience with Sun’s site it’s possible I missed some community spaces and tools on some of these sites.  If you know of any, please mention.

Findings and Observations

• There is no consistent model for communities on corporate sites.  Every company I looked at was different.
• Most community implementations seem to have grown organically over time and from different departments resulting in multiple disconnected (functionality, navigation, look-n-feel) community spaces and social tools.  (Starting to see some more integrated out-of-the-box community platforms (often on Jive) showing up.)
• Most sites display a “Communities” or “Community” link in the top global nav and/or global footer.
• Some sort of “Share” button or link(s) is consistently displayed across most pages on many sites.
• The most common social tools seem to be forums, blogs, wikis, profiles, and “share”.  Other tools seen less consistently include product ratings and reviews, groups, podcasts, videos.

Social Integration Models

Being a visual thinker I had to try to describe the different models with some sort of diagram.  My initial intent was to distill the integration models of the corporate sites I reviewed into a couple of themes but there were so many variations I think it’s worthwhile to show them all.  Below are illustrations of the social integration models for each of the companies I reviewed.

Clearly, at least among the sites I looked at, no standard or pattern has emerged.  And really, I’m not sure there should or will be.  Is there a perfect pattern for community integration?  Some thoughts and questions below.

Ideal State Thoughts and Questions

Just as there is no recipe for the ideal web site, I don’t think there is or will be one ideal model for integrating community spaces and social tools and content into a corporate web site.  As with so many things, “it depends”.

Defining how community spaces and social tools/content integrate into a corporate site should start with defining objectives and strategies.  To the extent that objectives and strategies differ, I think social integration models will differ.  However, I do think there are some principles that will apply in most cases.  Here’s a first stab at some of those principles.

Principles:

1. Consistency
   Connect community spaces and social tools with the main site and each other through common navigation and look-n-feel.  Throwing the user off onto a community island can be confusing and frustrating.
2. Single Login
   Make sure users can access all areas of your site including community spaces and social tools using a single login.  Also, if I’m logged in in one area I shouldn’t have to log in again to access a different area.
3. One User Profile
   Related to #2, provide a single user profile and one location users can go to manage it.
4. Centralize and Distribute
   Have a master source but distribute social content where appropriate.  Ex. all interaction within forums should take place in a centralized forum environment but forum content can/should be inserted into appropriate locations throughout the corporate site.
5. Multiple Entry Points
   Enable users to access social content from multiple starting points.  A user should be able to go to Forums > Developers > IDEs  or  Developers > Forums > IDEs  or  IDEs > Forums > Developers.
6. Connect with External Community Sites
   Link out to and pull content in from external community spaces such as Twitter, Facebook, Slashdot, YouTube, Flickr, etc.

So what would the diagram look like for something like this?  Here’s a shot at it:

I know I repeat “where beneficial” a lot in the description above but I think it’s important to emphasize it.  If adding content or a tool to a page delivers no benefit to you or the user, don’t put it there.

So again, this is just an effort to start thinking through this topic and hopefully generate some discussion.  My site review focused on a handful of large tech companies.  What do you see going on in other industries?

What principles have I missed or need to be changed?

Where do you think the integration of community spaces and social tools into corporate sites is headed?

Ree started “The Pioneer Woman” blog a few years ago sharing stories and photos of ranch life, cooking, and homeschooling.  Well it turns out she’s an engaging writer, a great photographer, and, I gather, a really good cook.  According to compete.com as of 10/2/2009 she now has almost 450,000 unique visitors and over 2 million visits per month.  Comments per post are usually in the 200-500 range.  She has fans, an audience, tribe, following, or whatever you want to call it.  And she lives miles from the nearest small town.

So she has a lot of people reading and commenting on her blog.  Nice but not necessarily amazing.  Well, I don’t know the backstory but a cookbook publisher somewhere somehow took notice and she has recently released a cookbook.  And appeared on the Bonnie Hunt show (to talk about the cookbook).  And the cookbook is now #1 on the New York Times bestsellers list for hardcover advice books (ahead of Suzanne Somers).  And at the time of this post is #23 on Amazon’s bestselling books list.

Did I mention she lives in the middle of nowhere?