Is anyone aware of firms building their web-presence through Blogs? I've found a few, mostly by smaller offices, but they haven't been all that inspirational.
Given how pervasive and almost passe blogs are at this point, I'm surprised that I haven't run across more. Websites are standard marketing material, but usually display a stiff, curated image of the firm... I'd be interested to see if anyone has used the more conversational nature of a Blog to get around this.
we just were asked tp put a blog on our website to track our firsts LEED project. However we don't know if we have the time, and who wants to read the minuta of day in day out life?
not to say we wouldn't do it I just can't see why.
Blogs are to 2009 what home pages were to 1996. Only now, you don't need to know anything about HTML to make one, so anyone can write stupid crap online. Personally, I hate blogs. I am anti-blog, big time. From time to time there is an interesting one or a funny one, but usually it's just a house wife talking about her kids and getting stuck in traffic on the way to Chuck E. Cheese. Oh what a HOOT! I also think that stuff like Twitter, Facebook, etc have desocialized us, although they are called "social networking tool." You don't have to call, write, or see people anymore. You see your friend and everything has been divulged online, so there is no reason to hang out anymore unless you want to play Guitar Hero. I use Facebook, I admit, to keep in touch with some friends in Asian, it's useful due to the 14 hour time difference. Twitter makes me want to kill people. What a stupid piece of net trash. I don't care that you just made coffee. OOOOH, you ate a delicious sandwich!? AWESOME! WOW! Glad 3G networks add so much value to our lives.
dsc_arch- this economy could be ripe for free labor. i'd send emails to the local uni or cc and post it on craigslist. there might even be recently fired web designers willing to work on it for free.
I stumbled on the HOK Life blog one day, and tried to read it sorta regularly, thinking I might learn something about working in a huge firm (I've never worked in one), but I just rarely have the attention span to keep up with it.
I know of firms that blog about their projects, community events, code related issues, pretty much anything arch related and it seems to draw a lot of traffic to the their website. have they gotten any work out of this? maybe a little.
The best firm blog I've seen is Ziger/Snead's Greenline blog. To me a firm blog serves one, two or all of three purposes: provide content that will attract/impress potential clients, provide content that will make the firm seem cool or a good place to work for potential employees, or provide content that positions them as an expert in a specific area and thus serving as a conduit for other media inquiries.
HOK Life seems more oriented to internal discussions among a ridiculously huge staff over multiple offices and/or fitting into the "we're a cool place to work" genre. Greenline is a pretty good mix of the one and three, acting as a potential resource to clients about sustainable design issues while also maybe providing enough meat to get a reporter to bite if they have to write an article on a related topic they know little about.
Don't underestimate the ability of a blog to add credibility to an otherwise meaningless voice. Your average .blogspot.com address isn't going to do this, but a $15 domain name purchase and a day or two's work to create a polished image can go a long way with a conventional reporter. I've been amazed at the inquiries I've received from NYT, various and sundry local business journals, other websites, and a few industry pubs since starting RealLifeLEED, exposure I surely would not have had otherwise.
Also don't underestimate the time they take to maintain. A few short paragraphs and image postings can take a good 1-3 hours per post, not including the initial setup time.
Finally... if you're going to blog, please find a niche that hasn't been covered and stick with it. If all you're going to do is regurgitate other posts and articles do your self a favor and give up now before you waste everyone's time. It's certainly fine to do this from time to time, but I try to generate new content about 50-75% of the time.
Similarly, if there are 30 other blogs covering the same topic it's a pretty safe bet that they're going to have a higher pagerank than you (which determines where you fall on google's search results) and your posts are never going to see the light of day anyway.
Firms with Blogs?
Is anyone aware of firms building their web-presence through Blogs? I've found a few, mostly by smaller offices, but they haven't been all that inspirational.
Given how pervasive and almost passe blogs are at this point, I'm surprised that I haven't run across more. Websites are standard marketing material, but usually display a stiff, curated image of the firm... I'd be interested to see if anyone has used the more conversational nature of a Blog to get around this.
Links? Post 'em if you've got 'em.
JDS, just google JDS blog
i've been going through the (awesome) grasshopper tutorials on http://www.designalyze.com/ -- by a guy from SHoP.
archidose lists a ton
but who is the audience for the blog?
we just were asked tp put a blog on our website to track our firsts LEED project. However we don't know if we have the time, and who wants to read the minuta of day in day out life?
not to say we wouldn't do it I just can't see why.
Blogs are to 2009 what home pages were to 1996. Only now, you don't need to know anything about HTML to make one, so anyone can write stupid crap online. Personally, I hate blogs. I am anti-blog, big time. From time to time there is an interesting one or a funny one, but usually it's just a house wife talking about her kids and getting stuck in traffic on the way to Chuck E. Cheese. Oh what a HOOT! I also think that stuff like Twitter, Facebook, etc have desocialized us, although they are called "social networking tool." You don't have to call, write, or see people anymore. You see your friend and everything has been divulged online, so there is no reason to hang out anymore unless you want to play Guitar Hero. I use Facebook, I admit, to keep in touch with some friends in Asian, it's useful due to the 14 hour time difference. Twitter makes me want to kill people. What a stupid piece of net trash. I don't care that you just made coffee. OOOOH, you ate a delicious sandwich!? AWESOME! WOW! Glad 3G networks add so much value to our lives.
haselhoff- i've read things in blogs that have honestly changed the course of my life.
bldgblog.blogspot.com (and every blog to which it links, like http://drawn.ca and http://infosthetics.com)
http://www.metafilter.com
http://mindhacks.com
the list goes on... ?
dsc_arch- i would read that blog
dsc_arch- this economy could be ripe for free labor. i'd send emails to the local uni or cc and post it on craigslist. there might even be recently fired web designers willing to work on it for free.
I stumbled on the HOK Life blog one day, and tried to read it sorta regularly, thinking I might learn something about working in a huge firm (I've never worked in one), but I just rarely have the attention span to keep up with it.
/cough cough\
what the hell - HOK even has facebook, twitter, flickr
I realize the disparity of scale and resources, but The Next Enterprise, with work that's been nominated for a Mies award, has a website that I digg
oh well, smoke em if you got em
apparently I don't digg
here it is*: http://www.thenextenterprise.at/
and here's the work: http://www.dezeen.com/2007/04/30/mies-van-der-rohe-award-4/
http://www.wohnen-online.at/cms/architektur/index.html?id=1414
*the website is under construction, je sais
I know of firms that blog about their projects, community events, code related issues, pretty much anything arch related and it seems to draw a lot of traffic to the their website. have they gotten any work out of this? maybe a little.
blogs are high traffic for search engines
wordpress/blogspot/etc
the way it seems that everyone has to be on the latest 'communication' system is beyond belief....
Not exactly conversational, but informational nonetheless...
KieranTimberlake ISO
Principles of FAT have their own blogs: Sam Jacobs does Strange Harvest, and Charles Holland does Fantastic Journal. Both are well worth the time.
sorry *principals...
check out the "Sensing Architecture" blog at SensingArchitecture
The best firm blog I've seen is Ziger/Snead's Greenline blog. To me a firm blog serves one, two or all of three purposes: provide content that will attract/impress potential clients, provide content that will make the firm seem cool or a good place to work for potential employees, or provide content that positions them as an expert in a specific area and thus serving as a conduit for other media inquiries.
HOK Life seems more oriented to internal discussions among a ridiculously huge staff over multiple offices and/or fitting into the "we're a cool place to work" genre. Greenline is a pretty good mix of the one and three, acting as a potential resource to clients about sustainable design issues while also maybe providing enough meat to get a reporter to bite if they have to write an article on a related topic they know little about.
Don't underestimate the ability of a blog to add credibility to an otherwise meaningless voice. Your average .blogspot.com address isn't going to do this, but a $15 domain name purchase and a day or two's work to create a polished image can go a long way with a conventional reporter. I've been amazed at the inquiries I've received from NYT, various and sundry local business journals, other websites, and a few industry pubs since starting RealLifeLEED, exposure I surely would not have had otherwise.
Also don't underestimate the time they take to maintain. A few short paragraphs and image postings can take a good 1-3 hours per post, not including the initial setup time.
Finally... if you're going to blog, please find a niche that hasn't been covered and stick with it. If all you're going to do is regurgitate other posts and articles do your self a favor and give up now before you waste everyone's time. It's certainly fine to do this from time to time, but I try to generate new content about 50-75% of the time.
Similarly, if there are 30 other blogs covering the same topic it's a pretty safe bet that they're going to have a higher pagerank than you (which determines where you fall on google's search results) and your posts are never going to see the light of day anyway.
Joel
, a Boston architecture+planning site is a blog.
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