Somewhere out in marketing land someone has been trying to sell people on the idea that installing a CMS, such as WordPress or Drupal, will somehow make all your Webmaster or Web Designer needs go away. If you’ve believed this, I’m sorry to tell you, but unless your site is just text, you’re probably wrong.

While you can hire a Web Developer or Agency to build out a custom theme for your CMS, you’ll still need someone to maintain the site. Even if that person is only plugging in content they’ll need to touch HTML and CSS at some point. If you don’t believe me, try building a complex table with any WYSIWYG editor in Drupal the next time you really want to post that excel data online and you’ll either settle for a simple table or you’ll kick the project over to your web person so they can style it for you, or at the very least add in the proper Class=”blah” tags where needed.

And that’s just for general page information. If you, like most groups, ever want something built out that that requires anything from different links on the side bars to a block or widget of additional information, you’ll probably find that you need someone who actually knows how to work with modules like Views or Panels for Drupal or Widgets and Page Templates if you’re using WordPress.

Unfortunately many business managers out there hear the words Content Management System and they think that their receptionist or office manager will just be able to simply copy and paste the Word documents he sends over into the companies CMS backed website and magically it will look just the way he wants. Sorry, unless it’s text only, that won’t happen. This is why you’ll more than likely need to hire a Content Producer at the very least.

Oh, and we haven’t even gotten to the actual Web Operations part of a site, which is probably the only portion of your website you could most likely outsource to a hosting company.

/rant off

With that said I realized, after some pressuring from one of the voices in my head, that it’s probably best I invest some personal time in developing from scratch my own unique website template. I’ve already decided to continue to use WordPress for my personal sites, even though I work exclusively in Drupal these days. My opinion on these two content management systems is still that same as it was almost a year ago.

Needless to say I still need to go through the content of this site sooner than later to update information, as well as I’ll be migrating the content I wrote for SanJose.org to here over this coming weekend. This definitely has put a cramp in my gaming habits, especially as I have been enjoying Rift very much lately.

The webinar was hosted by DMAI, Destination Marketing Association International, which is an organization where I sit on the Technology Committee. My work on the migration was looked at by DMAI as a potential case study for other DMO’s within the US and ultimately something they felt could be beneficial to look into.

I had initially been disappointed with the turnout; only nineteen attendees were listed, though I have been told that this is actually a substantially higher amount than most of the organization’s webinars. My initial thoughts here are that more needs to be done to promote the webinars if this is the case. That aside, both the Technology Committee and the user feedback was positive. Only one of the nineteen felt it could have been better.

While the webinar was focused around concepts, with my reality part a very short segment, I was glad to hear that DMAI is requesting we do a follow up webinar where we can go more in-depth with hands on, technical insight. Something I think is very important to understand when considering moving to or utilizing any cloud service.

Now the following is simply my own advice and what I deem are worthwhile activities for those looking to go into this type of career.

While it goes without saying that you have your own site, even if it’s simply a blog to display your writing, content production is a little different than your typical creative. For example, if I were simply a graphic designer, artist or photographer I could put up a site with my artwork, photos, etc. and when asked I could send a link to people who were interested in seeing my work. They look at it and if they like the style they hire me – very simplified; but accurate.

With content production you don’t always get to write how you want. You’re hired to produce content for company XYZ that makes ABC item. Ideally this means you have to be diverse in your abilities to write for any given niche at any given time.

So while a personal blog is a good idea, it’s hard to get traction with a blog that covers various topics. My blog is a good example of this as it makes SEO very difficult. It’s worth noting here that if you’re really only interested in writing about one thing, and one thing only, you should probably focus more on being a freelance writer or journalist instead of a content producer.

In either case you’ll still need to build an online portfolio of content, but there are a couple things to consider. One, if I write for other sites and I’m not being paid, how much effort should I put into this? Two, can I get paid while doing this so that I don’t have to starve while I look for work?

If you’ve never written anything online before, or at least not something you can portfolioitize (heh that word is fun) then I’d recommend spending a fair amount of time on non-paid sites like Yelp and EzineArticles. Yelp because you don’t have to be a good writer to get your reviews on there, but users are very active here and you can gauge how good you’re doing from the interaction your reviews receive. I know EzineArticles is hated by many online writers and content producers because they don’t pay their authors, but I still recommend it as a good starting point as they actually have people who review your writing. This helps if you tend to struggle with grammar and spelling.

But what about making some passive income on the side? For that there are a lot, though the sign up is generally easy enough to do. Some places like Examiner will have you submit a piece first, then if they like it they will accept you as a writer, after which nothing is ever checked again accept by users of the site or spot checkers – this can be good and bad obviously. Other sites include: Hubpages.com, About.com, TextBroker.com, Helium.com, eHow.com, and AssociatedContent.com (Yahoo). While you could join all, I’d recommend just focusing on one or two, anymore than that and you’re either planning on making this you’re full-time job or you won’t have enough time after getting a job to maintain all of them.

Once you have your articles up you’ll then be able to take advantage of the backlinks to your site, the RSS feeds you can utilize and you’ll be well on your way to creating a diverse online portfolio of content that you have created.

Today I spent an hour playing with the Bloomfire Alpha. Without going into specifics that might change during testing, the idea is a content distribution outlet for companies, though technically individuals could use it as well.

The idea isn’t new, just a retooling of other services out there. You log in and create a “community”, the concept reminded me of Ning, though the UI is completely different. You can post Q&A’s, upload videos/presentations, include white papers, etc. As an admin you have control over who is allowed to participate in your community similar to any type of forum/group setup via a subscription base.

Something I thought was interesting is that they offer you the ability to charge subscribers of your group. My initial impression was that this could be a potential revenue stream for artists as you can set the rates as low as you want. So a popular artist who has 6,000 subscribers paying $1.00 a month could actually quit his day job. A neat idea, though I don’t know how feasible that really is. Personally I’m a cheap bastard so I wouldn’t bother.

This led me to another page where my interest waned. The problem I have with it, which is something that surprised me as there was no mention about this in their initial pitch to me, was that the cost to use the Bloomfire service has a pretty hefty monthly fee.

Prices are currently free during alpha, but the pricing plans available as of today start at $99 for 10GB storage, 10GB downstream and the ability to have an unlimited amount of members. The next tiers are $299 and $499, where you have up to a maximum of unlimited features, though the downstreams are capped at 50GB and 100GB.

Clearly this platform is targeting larger commercial entities that are looking for another outlet for their content distribution, though from my personal take, I don’t see the cost value. Sure on paper with enough subscribers you could create buzz and produce a direct profit. On the surface this would look like it’s better than having 10,000 freeloading Facebook fans, but realistically, how many of those Facebook fans would be willing to pay $5 a month to subscribe to another content distribution site?

I could probably see a company like Blizzard pulling it off as they could offer special WoW in-game items to subscribers of their Bloomfire group and given their multi-million count subscriber numbers, if only 10% of them opted to pay a $1 a month fee they’d make hand over fist. So who knows, maybe this will be another outlet for MMO micro-transaction games like DDO and LOTRO.

But in either case, it’s something that is going to only interest a niche group of users. I’ve been trying to think of a way this platform would benefit the non-profits I work with, but with those price tags and lack of physical or virtual profits, I think we’ll end up sticking to just relying on our website, Facebook and YouTube.

San Jose plays as hard as it works!

You may be familiar with our California Casual style of dressing, and this relaxed theme carries over into our nightlife as we love to let loose and unwind. When it comes to San Jose nightlife, the Bay Area offers some of the most popular comedy clubs, pubs, ultra-lounges and evening gallery showcases. From fine dining and drinks at the Left Bank to downtown’s iconic dive the Caravan, San Jose has got you covered.

While San Jose is the perfect place for those demanding the best food and wine to take their taste buds on the town, it’s also a great place for hedonists who like to play in the dark. Whether you enjoy the dancing scene of clubs such as WET and Pearl or decide to catch some nubile entertainment at one of the local gentlemen’s clubs you never have to stop with last call thanks to the card tables at Bay101 and Garden City Casino.

If you don’t have the fortune of being a local, why not plan your trips around the first Friday of the month to take part in downtown’s First Friday Art Walks from 8pm to “late” and experience some of the best in local arts and entertainment – for free! Of course for those feeling a bit more active, why not participate in the San Jose Bike Party’s adventures on the third Friday of every month. It just goes to show, no matter when you come to San Jose, it’s a going to be a great time!

Team San Jose supports Pink Poodle “… sort of

“Have you ever been to a strip club that let you hose down a fully nude nubile in a shower tub only inches in front of you?”

Nope? Neither has IA, but that didn’t stop the folks at Team San Jose, the beleaguered nonprofit that runs the city’s convention center and several downtown theaters, from listing a visit to “the lovely ladies of the Pink Poodle gentleman’s club” as a top recommendation on the group’s website, www.sanjose.org.

IA found a disclaimer on the site: “These pages do not in any way constitute official Team San Jose content. The views and opinions expressed in the pages are strictly those of the page authors.”

But we’d bet most casual readers might not realize that.

Also, IA has to note: even though a jaunt to the Pink Poodle and other “adult’s play” activities are listed on the website under the category, “Things to do in San Jose,” the infamous strip joint actually sits in an unincorporated pocket of Santa Clara County. We’re just sayin’.

I had to laugh at the Mercury News’ Internal Affairs section mentioning this. They seem to forget that SanJose.org, and Team San Jose, exists to promote all of San Jose’s, and to an extent much of the Bay Area’s, activities, nightlife, culture, etc. and this includes the Pink Poodle. While TSJ has always been a little more conservative than sites such as SanJose.com which features the club with photos of the dancers and has a directory of adult places, it doesn’t make sense to try and ignore these legitimate businesses that many visitors and locals enjoy going to.

And as far as the Pink Poodle being in an unincorporated area of Santa Clara County…really? The intersection of Bascom Avenue and San Carlos is smack in the middle of San Jose, so I really don’t see how anyone would dissociate that corner from San Jose at all, regardless of this small block’s zoning.

Maybe the writers of IA should try visiting this venue more often, my wife and I would be more than happy to pay for your first semi-private dance.

That said, as CMS platforms become more popular, more choices for systems begin to pop up. It was only a handful of years ago where we were limited to Drupal or WordPress, but now we have a plethora of new emerging alternatives, though in all honesty these are still by far the most popular and efficient platforms to date.

So who are these emerging platforms and why should I care?

For anyone who has to be a decision maker for choosing a CMS, it’s going to happen that at some point, someone in your office will ask you why you chose brand X over Brand Y.

So what are the alternatives to WordPress and Drupal?

The third most popular CMS is probably Joomla, though that popularity isn’t all positive. Many users seem to have a strong love and hate relationship with the platform, but based on the amount of third party modules, plugins, and themes, there are definitely enough users out there to attempt to rival the big two.

While there are others that various groups will mention such as Silverstripe, Radiant CMS, Concrete5 and Frog; I’ve recently taken a look at two I thought may be worth watching as well, Modx and Business Catalyst (BC).

My first impression of Modx was that I liked it, but I liked it for the wrongs reasons. It has a lot of control over the code handled by each page, as well as assigning individual templates to my pages; however, the interface and controls are built based on the assumptions that someone with a web design background who has a good grasp of HTML and PHP would be facilitating the changes. This in my opinion is not always the person behind the CMS. Similar to Drupal, you’d probably end up having to hire a developer to build the initial layout and functionality and then hand it off to someone to manage the content.

Business catalyst on the other hand is much more intuitive and friendly, while still allowing its users to touch the code if needed. Very similar to WordPress in the feel of it, but the thing that makes me hesitate is the price tag. Yes, “BC” as it’s referred to has a free version, but it comes with some limitations and the whole model of the organization is to make a big push for developers to buy into the partnership and then sell it to their customers. While it may work for some, I don’t think BC would be the most appropriate CMS for every customer, but if I’m financially invested in it, it’d be hard in my mind to NOT want to push it on all my customers.

I’ll continue to take a look at other CMS platforms as they pass through my inbox, and I’d welcome users to comment about their experiences with any of these platforms and tell me what they like best about each, or even what they don’t like. In my mind, I’m still a fan of Drupal and WordPress, though for two different groups and two different reasons, but feel free to tell me why others are better.

One idea I recently had was to partner with a hotel who would be interested in reaching out to local or foreign businesses that could set up mini “shops” within the rooms of the hotel instead of in a meeting facility. Essentially businesses could set up a bar in a hotel room for people walking by or another place could be selling clothes and another novelty items.

This would on one hand create immediate revenue for the hotel given its rooms would be filling quickly, but it would also give them a lasting exposure with the foot traffic and word of mouth that would spread with such an event.

We could do an event like this once a year, once a quarter, or maybe even once a month and keep moving it from hotel to hotel, rotating through all those who would participate.

Unfortunately, I have lots of people who would like this to happen, but we don’t have anyone who can make it happen, and to top it off it’s something that falls outside of the model of the company I work for.

And to reference my previous post I still can’t get a hold of anyone at Foursquare to set up a special badge for people who have checked in at all of our venues or to talk with about working on a promotion no matter how many times either myself or my boss fill out the forms on their website or post on Foursquare’s GetSatisfaction.