So, this is how all my new clients will go about ordering a new website this month, in line with Visa’s UK Olympic ticket policy…

1. Indicate the kind of website(s) you would like. There will be a choice of single page, medium size or “like Amazon’s”
2. Choose where you want the site to be hosted. Options will be “on a server in a UK datacentre”  or “on a random person’s home PC somewhere in a former Baltic state”
3. State your first, second and third etc. choice of website subject. Examples are, “Plumber’s website”, “Solicitor’s site” or “Genealogy for Beginners”.
4. Provide your Visa card details (NB. other cards not allowed)
5. Wait until May 2011
6. Have an unknown sum of  money deducted from your account according to the final cost of the website you have been allocated.
7. Wait until the end of June 2011
8. Be told what kind of website you’ve been allocated and how much you ended up paying.
9. Wait until summer 2012
10. Get what you paid for a year ago (but not neccesarily what you originally wanted)

Think it’ll work?

Next, the gubmint should commission this young lady to give the 2012 Olympic logo a swift makeover before the rest of the world start tuning in to our broadcast coverage and falling off their chairs with laughter.

A while back, I read an article on The Register describing how a derogatory spoof ’2012 logo’ was used in error by a South African news outlet to illustrate a story about ticket availability.

You can see why they got mixed up – the right and wrong versions are below

Let me know what you think. I’m after suggestions for the content and I’m hoping you’ll let  me know if you find any incorrect information or if things go all pear-shaped while you’re surfing it.

There are a few bits that don’t work yet, such as the news items from the Town Council and Kick Start Fakenham websites (they’re not launched yet). There are some sparsely-populated sections too, like the Local Link Directory (do you run a non-commercial Fakenham area website? Get your site linked now!). On the whole though, it’s just about there – albeit a work in progress. Automatic links to Facebook and Twitter, the works!

Have a ‘butcher’s hook’ and tell me how you get on

I speak to local people from time to time who tell me they read this blog regularly to keep up with things which are happening in our town. Ideally, that shouldn’t really be the case – there should be a dedicated site where local info is published and my blog should be more personal, less promotional. Hopefully that’s about to change in 2011, with the launch of a new Fakenham website. I’ve been working on it over the Christmas break and it should be set to go live in the not-too-distant future.

It’s designed to be the hub of Fakenham’s websites – a route through to them all and a place where important info is available centrally – something I’ve been banging on about for a while!

As I’m in the process of finalising the new site’s initial content, I thought I’d ask you what you’d like to see on it (although I can’t promise it’ll be included, of course). I’ve already got links to local news stories, cinema listings, latest news from the new Town Council and Kick Start websites, listings from the Fakenham Business Directory and an event calendar – speaking of which…..

I’ve used Google Calendars to display events organized by the Town Council, Kick Start group and market/farmers’ market dates. If you’re involved with a community group or another organization which would like to be included in the dates on the calendar, please get in touch. I’ll tell you how to get an online calendar which you can publish on your own website, include all Fakenham’s events on it if you want and how to get your dates amalgamated with the composite ‘official’ Fakenham calendar of events.

That’s all about the subject for now, but I shall return to it soon. In the meantime, please add your thoughts and ideas as a comment on this post, buttonhole me on Facebook, or drop me an email via ‘steve at wensum dot net’.

I’ve now installed a different plugin which should do the same job, plus a little more. Wordbooker is its name and I’ll have a play with that one now. If you’re reading this on FB, it actually works!!!

I looked at my webstats today and was genuinely surprised at the figures I saw (I haven’t been keeping track of the stats as it isn’t a business site). I didn’t realise it was quite as popular as the numbers suggest…

It started off with 258 visitors in its first month and that has been increasing steadily. During August 2010, it had 772 unique visitors, resulting in an amazing average of 80 visits a day!

The stats throw up some weird and wonderful search phrases being used to find the site. I wonder who it was who used Google to search for “how do i meet men from swanton morley barracks” and surely the person looking for “free wine samples” was getting a bit desperate!

However, despite the blog’s apparent popularity, the story is still the same as I found on the old website… NOBODY WANTS TO CONTRIBUTE! Apart from one post where people got involved and discussed the town at great length, the comments are very few and far between.  Are you shy?

Keith, her other half, is a pretty fine local photographer. One of his prints – a cracking seascape in the sunset –  is also adorning my office. How bad is that?

So you see, it’s not what you know, it’s WHO you know Thanks very much indeed guys.

Oh look. The BBC news website has had a makeover. More white space. More images. Larger text. More sample items in each section. Looks OK.

I use it all the time, so if anything I spot puts me into ‘grumpy old man wearing trousers up to his chin’ mode, I’ll let you know!

 

I promised the owner of a new business in town I’d give his new venture a bit of a plug. This info is gleaned from their website…

Opening this Saturday 12th June at 10am
There will be therapists offering taster sessions for £5, with a wide variety of therapies available on the day. Come and have look round and meet the therapists.

They’re running a competition on North Norfolk Radio too. Prizes include various kinds of massage, hypnotherapy sessions and a Wellness & Nutrition consultation. One of their upcoming workshops is, “How to play Tibetan Singing, Talking & Charma Bowls”. Sounds a bit different!

You can find them opposite Tesco’s entrance, behind the Salvation Army hall.

1 Royal Oak Chambers,
Oak Street, Fakenham,
Norfolk, NR21 9DY.

I’m experimenting with a new service for my clients where I ‘Tweet’ each job I undertake on their websites. Where appropriate I mention their business and add a link to their site. Twitter is a good way to network for business and hopefully it should be of benefit to Wensum.net and my clients too.

Take a look at Wensum.net to get a flavour of my working day (the latest Tweets are displayed in the right hand column). If you have a Twitter account, please feel free to follow – look for the account name ‘Wensumdotnet‘.