Imagine working on a thousand-piece puzzle without having a picture on the box to guide you. What happens when you get to the very end, only you can’t seem to find the last piece to finish off the puzzle?
I’m sure there are many out there who can relate to this story. Every once in a while, we all get stuck on something, and can’t figure out what the missing piece is. Sometimes, we don’t even realize we’re missing a piece to begin with. It’s only when someone else stops by and looks at the puzzle, pointing out that it’s not finished yet, or instantly finds where the last piece fits that we can move on to the next puzzle.
Project Burn Out
If you’ve been staring at the same project for weeks, or if it’s one main project that has become a full-time job, it can be easy to miss out on a few minor details. The overall project works fine, but there may be a small piece that isn’t fitting, and you can’t figure out why.
It doesn’t mean you’re incompetent at what you’re doing. You may just need to take a step back to gain perspective. It could also mean that you need some time off. All work and no play…
How Your Online Community Can Become a Support Tool
If you have a site that constantly produces useful content to the online community you’re a part of, there are times that you can benefit from the eyes of your audience. That’s why listening to your audience is so important to maintaining and growing a quality product.
By responding to user comments, emails, and participating as a user yourself, you are gaining tools that can be used down the road.
How You Benefit
It just isn’t possible to have a perfect site; the best well-rounded projects are generally large in size, and it’s the big picture that is most important. With constant growth in the online world, it would be impossible to be a master of everything. Here’s how to build successful communication in your online community:
- Comments and user forums are a great way to learn about new techniques and practices. By participating, you can stay up to date on the pulse of your community.
- Users who are knowledgeable and actively involved in the topics within your content are willing to help each other out, and that means helping you as well. While you are focused on the big picture, users can gain experience by finding and letting you know about a few missing pieces that are sure to exist.
How They Benefit
As an active user in an online community, individuals are able to gain insight from the other members. When knowledge and different ideas are shared, everyone has something to gain.
Rome wasn’t built in a day, or so they say. The best communities are composed of a diverse group of individuals, each with a different level of experience and unique ideas. People seeking to increase their knowledge of a particular subject, or looking for ways to gain experience can actively participate to improve themselves. All experience levels benefit this way, by both learning and teaching.
Best Practices in Action
I would consider myself as someone who has a fair amount of knowledge in web design and development, but I still have a long way to go. I was unclear about a feature on the Web Designer Depot website. I looked at the contact information, and sent the designer team an email to find out more.
Within hours I had a response, which I didn’t expect from a team whose Twitter account has over 90,000 followers. A few follow-up emails were exchanged with the same promptness as the first. This is a great example of putting into action some of the best practices we read about online. Web Designer Depot may have gained very little in the brief exchange, but they did provide an example for others out there from all levels of experience to follow.
Jigsaw Puzzles and Web Design
I’m sure there are many out there who can relate to this story. Every once in a while, we all get stuck on something, and can’t figure out what the missing piece is. Sometimes, we don’t even realize we’re missing a piece to begin with. It’s only when someone else stops by and looks at the puzzle, pointing out that it’s not finished yet, or instantly finds where the last piece fits that we can move on to the next puzzle.
Project Burn Out
If you’ve been staring at the same project for weeks, or if it’s one main project that has become a full-time job, it can be easy to miss out on a few minor details. The overall project works fine, but there may be a small piece that isn’t fitting, and you can’t figure out why.
It doesn’t mean you’re incompetent at what you’re doing. You may just need to take a step back to gain perspective. It could also mean that you need some time off. All work and no play…
How Your Online Community Can Become a Support Tool
If you have a site that constantly produces useful content to the online community you’re a part of, there are times that you can benefit from the eyes of your audience. That’s why listening to your audience is so important to maintaining and growing a quality product.
By responding to user comments, emails, and participating as a user yourself, you are gaining tools that can be used down the road.
How You Benefit
It just isn’t possible to have a perfect site; the best well-rounded projects are generally large in size, and it’s the big picture that is most important. With constant growth in the online world, it would be impossible to be a master of everything. Here’s how to build successful communication in your online community:
How They Benefit
As an active user in an online community, individuals are able to gain insight from the other members. When knowledge and different ideas are shared, everyone has something to gain.
Rome wasn’t built in a day, or so they say. The best communities are composed of a diverse group of individuals, each with a different level of experience and unique ideas. People seeking to increase their knowledge of a particular subject, or looking for ways to gain experience can actively participate to improve themselves. All experience levels benefit this way, by both learning and teaching.
Best Practices in Action
I would consider myself as someone who has a fair amount of knowledge in web design and development, but I still have a long way to go. I was unclear about a feature on the Web Designer Depot website. I looked at the contact information, and sent the designer team an email to find out more.
Within hours I had a response, which I didn’t expect from a team whose Twitter account has over 90,000 followers. A few follow-up emails were exchanged with the same promptness as the first. This is a great example of putting into action some of the best practices we read about online. Web Designer Depot may have gained very little in the brief exchange, but they did provide an example for others out there from all levels of experience to follow.