Tag archives: alexa

Daylife is steadily winning fans with a new way to explore news

Posted by Shaun Abrahamson on Tuesday, 8 July 2008

Being excited about charts, is not for everyone. But this deserves a mention. Maybe Upe will share the secret of their success, but they have achieved enviable, steady climb in usage for what was meant to be a technology showcase! As Upe points out, they didn’t do any marketing! One thing is certain, Upe somehow saw this many years ago and has been relentlessly making this into reality, along with a very talented team.

News consumption is a strange thing, as newspapers are finding out. Its one of the most popular online habits. As with all habits, it can change and as more activities move online, they are fundamentally changed through search and community participation. Jeff Jarvis at Buzzmachine provides the blow by blow and a view into the future news architecture.

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WordPress vs Typepad – Game Over

Posted by Shaun Abrahamson on Monday, 16 June 2008

Google trends, WordPress in the red trunks. Typepad in the blue.

Alexa, WordPress is the top line, this time in the blue.

So, why did it take me so long to make the switch? Well, I had realized that I might be missing out. Certainly if I took the time to play with WordPress, more could be done. But I have tried desperately not to tinker of late and free up some time to focus on other things. And I have likely become a little dumber, technically, in the process, I suspect. But wordpress.com seemed like it might be worth a look.

But what pushed me over the edge this weekend, was quite simple. I had a CSS problem. Seemed obvious- was pointing to the wrong place, but it wasnt clear how it was changed or in fact how to fix. Help was helpless. Contacts failed to provide a number. I really am cheap to support- I try to figure stuff out first. In fact, I am often embarrassed to call. But I needed to call, to avoid the embarrassment of a non-functioning site.

When help did come, over e-mail. I was told, politely, that there was no problem. Ok. Contrast this with todays response from folks at WordPress.com (thanks Nick). When I mistakenly mapped my domain twice and paid twice, I sent a note asking for one of the mappings to be removed and credited – Shazzam! Quick response, all fixed.

I’ve never felt happier about a change.

I’ll be adding WordPress.com to my research about why great products and services dont need advertising. I would be interested in understanding from the Six Apart folks what they are doing to respond.

Disclosure: we have absolutely no relationship with either WordPress or Typepad. Just trying to keep the blog up to date and make a few changes here and there. And avoid some embarrassment (we always manage without technical difficulty, to achieve this on our own).

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