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Over on BlogFire, there’s a post titled Advertising is Dead, Long Live Content. The article is great in pointing out the reality that many of us understand. Content is King.

However, is advertising really dead? Sure, I’m a DVR kind of guy and hate watching TV with commercials. Yet, there are times that I’ll watch certain commercials even if I have the option of fast forwarding. Why? Because of the delivery of the content.

Notice that keyword there?  Delivery.

That is why we have best selling authors and Super Bowl commercials.

I’m an avid reader.  With the right delivery, I can blow through a 700 page novel in a week without a problem.  There are some books that, although I like, take me longer to digest.

The fact is, advertising is not dead nor will it ever be.  Methods of advertisement delivery will change, no doubt.  Yet, advertising will always be around.  Whether on TV, in magazines or online.  Businesses will always continue to promote and advertise their brand and product(s).

Although I disagree with some things throughout the article (e.g. YouTube replacing TV) the point is overwhelmingly true.

Our traditional methods of connecting to consumers are failing, and the methods in which we try and target them will only become more and more obsolete. … People online are always searching for relevant content, these companies have found out how to advertise them with value rather than tricks or interuptions.

Our traditional methods of advertising are becoming obsolete.  What can we do?  One way is mentioned just above, by building the content they need without causing an interruption.

That doesn’t necessarily mean no advertising.  Any advertising you do needs to be carefully thought out and planned.  As I said at the beginning, there are some commercials I will watch simply because I like them.  At that point, that advertisement is no longer an interruption but a short break to watch an enjoyable clip.

My final point is this…

Yesterday, I went to the local Wal-Mart to pick up some groceries.  One item on the list was peanut butter.  I’m standing there looking at the various peanut butters and I see Jif.  What comes into my mind?  “Choosy Moms Choose Jif”.  Now, I’m a Dad but that advertisement from my childhood is what caused me to choose Jif yesterday.

Advertising still works.  We only need to move past the point of selling and into the realm of relating.

Tags: advertising, marketing, online marketing, advertising dead

Those who visit here or read the feed frequently noticed recently that I did a revision of the site design.  After getting some feedback I decided on a complete redesign.

I kept some of the elements from the old design (comment link, post footers, font) and took what was a good thing going with the blue/green and created a new look and feel.

My goal was to make the site easier to use and look at.  I tried to space things out a bit and include some of the most pertinent info at the top on the homepage.  That info then shows at the bottom on single item pages.

So what do you think?  I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Tags: redesign, website redesign

Vandelay Website Design is having a blog design competition in the spirit of March Madness.  For those readers outside of the USA, this is a huge NCAA College Basketball Tournament that happens every march that’s dubbed, “March Madness”.

The tournament will work just like the NCAA basketball tournament, head-to-head matchups, single elimination, winner advances to the next round. I’ll seed all of the competitors into a bracket and then I’ll post the matchups with a poll for readers and visitors to vote. The poll will be set for a certain length (probably 24 hours) and the winner moves on.I think this will be a fun way to get everyone’s opinion of which designs they like the best, and of course the competitors can encourage friends and readers to vote if they like. I’ve decided just to include blog designs because having a tournament of any type of website design would be too broad to work very well (blogs can be broad too, but I think it will work better)…

Feel free to keep mentioning those that have already been mentioned by other commenters because that could help me with the seeding. You can certainly nominate your own blog, but I do ask that you identify it as your own in the comment…

Obviously, free themes should not be included. But if moderate customizations have been made to the theme it can be included.

Blog Design Madness | Vandelay Website Design

Tags: blogdesign competition, blog design, design contest, design competition