Archive for the 'Business' Category
The Building of Property Guide Spain Friday, September 8th, 2006 by Matt
Earlier this year, Marbella real estate consultant, Ben Johnson, of Bright SL, approached MakaluMedia with an innovative idea: to address the lack of high-quality, objective information online, dealing with the various aspects of buying, owning and selling property in Spain. Initially, Ben had considered the idea of simply authoring and publishing a set of articles himself, but then discovered that a unique business idea was lying just beneath the surface.
It occurred to Ben, that most estate agents working in this market would highly value the ability to publish such information on their own websites, especially if the information were available in multiple languages. In addition to providing a valuable, complementary service to their customers, the provision of information in multiple languages would result in an expansion of the potential market.
Considering this, Ben felt that if he could syndicate information to interested agents, he provide a value-added service, while saving them the costs of authoring, translating and publishing. Hence the idea of Property Guide Spain (PGS) was born.
Working with Ben, the following challenges were identified:
There is no standard technology in use by the customer (agency) websites, so the solution should require little to no modification of the customer sites.
The solution should require minimal effort on the part of the customer (agency). This eliminated the option of simply publishing RSS feeds for integration into customer sites.
The solution should somehow promote Bright SL services, in function to the number of syndication customers.
In order to address challenges (1) and (2), we conceived a single publication system, which can generate any number of customer-branded interfaces (instances of the PGS). We engineered and implemented this system using the WordPress CMS, using extensively modified core templates, and custom developed plug-ins.
The resulting system allowed Ben to:
Publish a set of articles, each possibly in more than one language.
Manage (create, modify and remove) syndication customers.
For each new customer created, Ben simply uploads customer-specific branding assets (from within the standard WordPress interface), and immediately the fully customer-branded instance of the PGS becomes available at a customer-specific URL.
For example, view the following two URL (in order):
…and then…
The default instance of the site shows Bright SL property advertisements on each article, while the customer-branded version of the site shows only customer-specific information and branding.
As part of the project, we developed a number of graphical badges which can be integrated into the customer’s own website, linking to their own branded instance of the Property Guide Spain site. This allowed customer-side integration with minimal effort — simply add a graphic image, linking to the customer-specific PGS URL.
Challenge (3) required a lot of thinking, and was solved in a very innovative way. Without going into the technical details, if a visitor arrives to the PGS default URL (non-customer branded) from Google, they are shown the customer-branded site that they specifically visited. Otherwise, the visitor is shown the default PGS layout, which includes property-of-the-month advertisements from Bright SL throughout the site.
In this way, both the customer and Bright SL benefit in a fair and equitable way as the PGS customer base grows.
In the end, this has been a fascinating project, and a huge success for Ben and Bright SL. The project, for MakaluMedia, allowed us the opportunity to showcase what we feel is a unique combination of business consulting and technical solution implementation — by creating for Ben and Bright SL a unique and innovative technical solution, using open-source technology, to solve a brand new business challenge in a highly effective and economical manner.
Life/Business Lessons Learned Saturday, July 1st, 2006 by Matt
It occurred to me today that I’ve been working as a professional for nearly fifteen years. Whoa. It seems like yesterday when I got that first job after university, wondering how it could actually have happened that after five years of studying, I seemed to know nothing applicable to what I was about to do, and looking forward to the day I would be able to write “three years of experience” in my CV.
Anyway, I guess that qualifies me to write a post about general life/business lessons I’ve learned over that time.
Treat people like you want to be treated. The timeless golden rule. Follow this, above all, and you’ll be fine.
Trust is everything. There is nothing more valuable than the currency of trust. It is amazing how nice life can be and what can be achieved, when people truly know that regardless of the circumstances, they can trust you to be fair, honest and truthful.
Remember that trust with someone is like a bank account. At the beginning, it’s empty. Trust isn’t something you can demand or expect; it’s something that’s earned. You go through life making little deposits, and, over time, the benefits increase as the account balance grows. But the most important thing to remember is that a single violation of trust can empty the account (and sometimes irrevocably.)
So be honest. Always. Never lie, not even little ones.
Chase your passion, not money. I’m now convinced that those who focus on doing what they love will find happiness, and, quite often, financial reward, whereas those that chase money often fail, and (more importantly) usually don’t find happiness.
Relationships. As I think back over the opportunities that have come to me personally, and to my company, it is amazing to realize how many were due directly or indirectly to personal relationships.
Be humble. Pride and arrogance act to the detriment of so many things. Never let success or power go to your head, and never allow yourself to feel you’re better than somebody else. We’re all human.
Never act in haste. Be very careful about acting in haste, especially when you’re upset. I can’t tell you the number of times I almost sent off a heated email, only to be so thankful the next day that I didn’t. (And, on the other hand, I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve snapped at somebody, only to really regret it later.)
Perspectives. Always try to understand the other person’s perspective. Each individual sees the world through their own unique colored glasses, biased by their culture, upbringing, personal circumstances and a multitude of other factors. Keep this in mind before insisting that you’re “right”.
Don’t worry too much about planning. Looking back, I could have never planned, nor guessed, the path in the life down which I was led. And I’m certainly glad I didn’t try.
So there you have it, 15 years of experience in a single blog post. I’ve got more to say about these topics, and will soon, but it’s time to get back to work.
The Building of Fincalena Saturday, June 3rd, 2006 by Matt
Fincalena, a Belgian-owned builder and property agent working locally here on the Spanish Costa del Sol, contacted MakaluMedia for the development of a website which would give them an edge in the highly competitive Spanish property market. We met with the company, discussed their objectives and concluded that the site would attempt to achieve the following end results:
Project a corporate identity combining Fincalena’s northern European roots with the essence of the southern Mediterranean market in which it operates.
Improve the visitor process of finding a desired property.
Introduce features and services which set Fincalena apart in the market.
Allow collaboration with other agent partners in the area.
Optimize for the Google search engine.
Minimize the cost and effort associated with managing and maintaining the site.
Faced with these challenges, we set off to work. We’re quite pleased with the results, as are Fincalena, and this article describes the process.
Phase 1: Corporate Identity
Fincalena worked with our Design Director, Mike Rohde, in the iterative process of identifying and designing a corporate identity. Our collaborative approach, which you can read more about here and here resulted in a set of outputs including color palette definition, typeface specifications, and a logo mark. In addition to the website, Mike produced a number of supporting print products, including property signage, based on the corporate ID.
Phase 2: System Specifications
After conducting a review of the competitor sites in the context our defined objectives, we felt that we could improve in a number of areas, through both enhancement of “typical” services (like searching for property) and through the introduction of some innovative new features.
We decided to reduce the number of search criteria to three: location, type, and price range. We felt that the tendency to overwhelm the visitor with selection criteria is often counterproductive.
We decided to make use of modern interface technologies such as AJAX, to enhance the user experience.
Realizing that many visitors appreciate a printed version of a property profile, we decided to implement on-the-fly generation of downloadable PDF files.
We decided to develop a mechanism to ease the process of publishing frequent and timely real estate news.
We decided to develop a mechanism whereby Fincalena can collaborate in real-time with partner sites.
We decided to leverage the Content Management System (CMS) framework that we’ve been independently working on as a standalone product.
Phase 3: Implementation
For the past year or so, we’ve been making a gradual migration from development in PHP, to development using the Ruby-on-Rails web application framework. Rails is a highly productive environment, both in terms of the well thought-out MVC model (specific to web applications), and in terms of the underlying language, Ruby. It’s this technology on which we based the generalized CMS product we are internally developing, and to be used in the Fincalena project.
As with most projects (especially those involving customers willing to work in an agile process), we began by developing the core system screens, and expanding outward, including iterative reviews, until we had a full set of site screens. This set of screens represents a nearly complete specification of data (content), services (features) and general layout.
From there, we began the parallel processes of visually designing the site, and implementing the back-end software.
On the home page, we wanted to immediately set the tone for the quality that can be expected from Fincalena properties, the lifestyle available to residents of this privileged region, and to provide the shortest path possible to property identification.
In the interior of the site, we focused on simplicity and removed, as far as possible, distractions that would take focus away from the properties. We spent a great amount of time on the organization and presentation of property metadata (such as price, features, etc.) and tried to subtly integrate features such as the downloadable PDF, and the AJAX-based filtering mechanism, which provides live updates of search results without a page refresh. We decided to use a Flash-based solution for the seamless presentation of the property imagery.
On the content management side, we extended our Rails-based CMS framework to the management of properties. This system reflects everything our organization has come to learn over the years about the design of human interface systems, and may be the focus of a future article. (And special thanks to FamFamFam for their icons released under Creative Commons.)
Fincalena have reported to us that after using nearly every property management system on the market, ours is (in their words), “by far the best in terms of ease-of-use and efficiency.”
Advanced Functionality
We proposed to Fincalena a mechanism to allow the automatic re-publication of real-estate news on their site. The result is a sub-system whereby Fincalena can subscribe to the RSS feeds of partner news organizations, and then selectively publish individual articles on their own site, and via a synthesis RSS feed for subscribers. In other words, we implemented an embedded aggregator.
Fincalena also wanted to collaborate with other local partners, for both strategic and technical purposes. To this end, we designed the architecture of the back-end system to allow seamless integration into partner sites, allowing for the coordinated management of properties, while providing the source traceability required by the individual partners.
We have just recently completed the first such integration, with Fincalena partner Bright SL:
In terms of Google friendliness, we applied a number of techniques, especially in the design of URL structures, to help optimize the site’s representation in the world’s most important search engine.
Concluding Notes
Both Fincalena and MakaluMedia are highly satisfied with the results of this project. Fincalena have a powerful, innovative and future-safe platform on which to build and grow its business. For MakaluMedia, this project represented an opportunity to apply a broad range of cross-discipline skills and experience to a new business area for us.
Just Good Business Thursday, February 24th, 2005 by Mike
While talking with my good friend Michael Ashby during lunch today, we came upon the topic of being a good business person. What was interesting about our chat was, how basic and simple those activities and habits seem to be.
What brought this to mind?
Well, I’ve entered a logo design contest recently, being voted upon by registered members of a community. As it turns out, the leading logo candidate may have been done with the use of a cookie-cutter logo from a logo-off-the-shelf website. I was amazed that someone would copy a logomark, verbatim, and try to pass it off as a unique submission!
This of course bodes well for my own, original submission (currently in 2nd position). But more importantly, it reminded me what some seem willing to do to win contests or projects — and conversely, what being a good, decent business person means.
From the chat Mike and I had, here are some of the things we see as just basic common sense ideas for good business:
Be human. I think this is really at the heart of the Cluetrain Manifesto. People are social creatures and want to connect to others, personally and professionally. Not everything need be about business 24/7. Besides, opening yourself as a human being provides a window into yourself that can encourage clients to relate to you and remain loyal.
Communicate. Do it often. Do it when things are going well and especially when things not going well. I follow the rule “contact the client before they contact youâ€? in daily business life. That means being the first one to share good news or problems — especially problems. I’m the first to admit I fail sometimes, but I try to improve each day. It’s a process that takes effort.
Be honest. Rather than trying to make yourself look good, be honest with those you are dealing with. I’ve found that telling things as they are has a credibility that can’t be matched in any other way. It’s also good for your soul and conscience. :-)
Share. If you see something your client might be interested in, let them know about it and why. If you think background on a decision you’ve made will give insight to the decision, share it. I like to offer detailed notes about every design I offer, because I can share the ‘whys’ with clients. I’ve found my notes not only defend my ideas, but often will resolve questions and issues which would have arisen had I not clarified my thinking. Sharing details also shows you are thinking and reasoning through your client’s problem toward a solution.
Be generous. If you can give a little more than you’ve promised, it generates good vibes right from the start. It’s been described as ‘under-promise and over-deliver’, but I like the term generosity better. Being generous might mean a little less short-term profit, but in the long term, it shows you have the client’s interests at heart as well as your own, and breeds loyalty and appreciation. I love the story at Diva Marketing about Corner Grocery Store Relationships, which describes this as adding something special.
Deliver. If you say you’ll do something, do it. If delivery is impossible, notify the client before the delivery date with an explanation and a new delivery date. I have a tendency to want to please clients, and tend to leave less time than I ought to. So I’ve been trying to set more realistic goals with a little margin allowing life to intervene. I’m still working on this aspect of my professional life — I suspect it will be another area I’ll need to constantly strive to improve.
Be Nice. In this high-tech world of electronic communications, it’s very easy to leave niceness out of our discussions. Why not be that person who adds a level of niceness to your communications? It could be the only sunshine in someone’s lousy day. Be creative too! There’s nothing like a thank you phone call or hand-written thank you to improve someone’s attitude.
Listen to your gut. I’ve been much more aware of what my gut says in situations and have found it to be right more often than not. In fact, when I’ve made a mistake, I’ll look back to key decisions and it often was the opposite or slightly off what my gut said I should do. Part of this approach is putting yourself in your client’s place, to help determine what you’d like to have happen. The hard part is getting in the habit of asking yourself, “what does my gut sayâ€?, then acting on it.
Be thankful. I can tell you that kind words really do make my day. I love receiving comments form people thankful for something I’ve done, because they remind me of the reasons why I do what I do. Therefore, by being the thankful one who shares thanks with a client, colleagues or even a competitor, I’m becoming the encourager. More than scoring points with someone, this is just the way I want to act, whether it gains me business leads or not. Thankfulness breeds thankfulness.
Now, I will claim no authority as a business guru. I’m just a regular guy who’s trying to constantly learn from my experiences, to the benefit of my clients and my business sense. I’m certainly not perfect — I make mistakes all the time. But I think the real key is learning from mistakes, with a focus on improvement.
If you have ideas on what makes good business practice, please take a moment to add your voice in the comments. I’d truly love to learn more good ideas from others on this topic. If I like them, I’ll add them to the list with a link to your site.