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Behind The Firm List Blog
Who Has It Bad?
One of my largest sources of traffic has been
coolhomepages.com which is an impressive site run by a guy who I've corresponded
with a few times via email over the past couple years. I guess that he sensed the amount of traffic he was shooting my way
and decided to start his own web design/development directory WebProsNow, which doesn't bother me because it's a much different
set-up than mine, and I am all for "competition."
(Small caveat, I am sorry to see some of my "competition" wither over the years, including DesignShops backed by Miller
Freeman which changed course and retreated a little bit. And eConstructors which seems to have stopped dead in its tracks,
though it did manage to get bought by some firm I've never heard of (and funny how their press release about the sale doesn't
work). The Firm List wouldn't be what it is today without some friendly "competition" around to make me strive even harder.)
But back to coolhomepages.com. Today I was surfing the site, during a momentary lull, and I realized something which made
me smile. I don't mean that I took a wicked delight in what I came to realize, but perhaps just a momentary relief washed
over me that perhaps I don't have it the worst when it comes to the challenge of maintaining what he's built.
Okay, okay, let me explain. In viewing coolhomepages.com, I made a comment to myself that all websites go through changes,
and they come and go (I deal with that all the time on The Firm List), but there's a difference between a list of text links
which The Firm List offers and what coolhomepages.com offers, and that is he collects screenshots from those sittes.
At the root of it, that doesn't make a huge change. If he has the IBM website on there and the link to IBM, they're both
alright, as there's little chance they're going out of business. The same cannot be said for EToys and the like. Okay, we're
both on even ground there.
The difference lies in the fact that in most cases, he classifies those websites by criteria (such as color schemes, design,
technologies, etc.) which change. It's inevitable. But whereas my text links don't say anything about a site's look or feel,
his does. So what happens when a site you have under "Ultra Hip" becomes Retro? If you're lucky, when that site re-designs,
they let you know and you can move everything around, grab a new screenshot, etc. If you're not lucky, well, it's in the
wrong place and the user expects something they don't get.
It's a very sticky situation. I wouldn't want to be there.
Then I realized another tricky situation, and that is he has the sites in a sort of chronological order, based upon when
you submitted it (though you can now pay to "move up" in the list). So what this means is, when I start looking at "Ultra Hip"
sites, I am starting with the oldest sites listed. By the very nature of the web though, these have the greatest chance of
having changed from what they were. So the first contact with the section is with potentially your weakest group of sites,
in terms of reliable classification.
Sticky. It's probably aided by the new pay to move up system, as those who pay will have a greater vested interest in keeping
their presence current on coolhomepages.com
Regardless, I don't feel so overwhelmed with my updating challenge anymore. Sorry man, I really do feel for you. And I know
what you're going through.
