I have gotten the question over and over again from people, organizations and brands: “How do we start a blog the right way” – I’ve decided to put my advice into writing.

Some of you might think this post is unnecessary. Other people have written about this already. I thought so too until I started searching for good posts on how to set up a kick ass blog and learned most things written on the subject either covered the tool or the actual writing but not actually leading you to do it the right way I think there’s room for another post on the subject.

The purpose of this post is sort of a combination of two things that I hope will lead to the following:

1. Make sure agencies cannot charge big money for setting up your blog. Setting up your personal or branded blog is to me a democratic right and should be free and accessible for anyone who has something to share.
2. I think more people should start a blog. It’s good for you. It’s good for the democracy. It’s good for the world.

Here is the essential guide on how to start and configure a blog that will rock the world:

1. Buy a unique domain name for your blog and preferably do it at the same place where you intend to host the blog

Personally I’ve followed WordPress own recommendations and used Bluehost.com to buy my domain name and then installed a WordPress blog with their simple script functionality. It’s a 3 minute process from registering that domain until your blog is actually up and running and accessible from anywhere in the world. It’s a wow feeling!

Of course you can pick any hosting facility but if you’re not into setting up databases and shit – make sure they have some sort of simplified way of setting your blog up.

2. Why a WordPress blog?

The famous WordPress content management system

There’s of course different blog systems but if you want the best I’d say you should go with Matt Mullenweg’s WordPress. I think most professional bloggers today would agree with me and the stats speaks in favor of me. WordPress is the most used blogging platform (and in many cases content management system) in the world and as a result you cannot find any system that gives you more themes and more plugins.

Matt Cutts who’s responsible for Google’s search engine even says there’s no better tool in the world if you wanna make sure your website is being watched the right way by Google’s spiders.

3. Don’t design your blog. Find a theme that you think suits your needs and tweak it.

Theme is another word for design. WordPress separates functionality from form in the most beautiful way. Swapping between different designs is easier than saying hello in Swahili. What’s even better is the fact that there’s tons of great designs out there for free. However if you intend to turn into a mighty blogger you might look already now look into a paid theme. Woothemes and Themeforest has some sweet themes for any kind of business.

Personally however I prefer the Thesis theme by Brian Clark over at Copyblogger and Chris Pearson. The sweet thing with Thesis is that it can be customized into infinity with hooks and customized functionality. Another advantage with Thesis is the fact that it’s more or less perfectly prepared for Google and other search engines. Once you’ve decided on a theme – upload it with a FTP software of your choice and ad your own logo and style to it. Personally I use CSS Edit to tweak the style sheets but any old CSS tool will do.

4. Set up your WordPress blog right

Once you’ve set up your blog you can login to your domainname.com/wp-admin with your login information. Take some time to get acquainted to the left menu. Later when you start to write you will use the Post menu to start blogging. Of course you can set up a couple of pages too but the actual blogging will be done by adding posts.

5. Change the link structure

Setting the right permalink is one step closer to success

You don’t want to use the original set up in WordPress when you’re going live. This will decrease the Google traffic. Instead head into the menu settings called Permalinks found under ‘Settings’ and change the permalink structure from http://www.ronnestam.com/?p=123 to /%postname%/ . There are some different opinions out there which structure is the right one. But I’ve found over time that most people tend to recommend this one.

6. Make sure your blog pings the right blog search engines and portals

Google, Yahoo, Technorati, Swedish Knuff and a lot more sites out there are listing and indexing blogs. WordPress has got this sweet functionality that lets you automatically update these blogging portals once you’ve posted something new. There’s of course different ideas on how to do this. But I’ve decided to share my personal PING information here.

Just ad the ‘code’ below to start updating search engines etc

Copy this information below and enter it into your Update Services option that you’ll find under Settings/Writing

http://rpc.pingomatic.com

http://ping.weblogs.se/

http://blogmatcher.com/u.php

http://coreblog.org/ping/

http://www.blogpeople.net/servlet/weblogUpdates

http://bulkfeeds.net/rpc

http://trackback.bakeinu.jp/bakeping.php

http://ping.myblog.jp

http://ping.bitacoras.com

http://ping.bloggers.jp/rpc/

http://ping.blogmura.jp/rpc/

http://xmlrpc.blogg.de

http://1470.net/api/ping

http://bblog.com/ping.php

http://blog.goo.ne.jp/XMLRPC

http://nyligen.se/ping/

http://blogsearch.google.com/ping/RPC2

http://rpc.twingly.com/

http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping

Copy the ‘code’ above and paste it into the bottom field under the section Writing in settings. This way you’ll make sure your content is visible to the important search engines online.

7. Choose your title wisely

You’re almost done configuring the settings. The last thing you might wanna do is setting up the title of your blog. You’ll find that under General Settings.

Choose this one carefully as you shouldn’t change this one later. Once you’ve earned some page rank and you’re up to speed you don’t wanna make Google angry by messing with this one since it actually sits on ever single post from now on.

8. Download and install the following WordPress plugins

Find and learn how to use an FTP software. That’s important for anyone who wants to keep a website updated. For bloggers it’s essential since WordPress plugins and themes are the corner stones of a good blog. Others have written great stuff how to choose the right FTP for PC or Mac so I’ll leave that part to them.

The essential plugins that I think you need to install for your blog however – that I’ll share here. All your other needs can probably be catered for if you search for WP plugin and whatever you want either on Google or in the WordPress plugin library. Hell, you can even turn your blog into an E-commerce with the right setup.

These are the WordPress plugins I think you should make sure to start with:

Aksimet
Activate the Aksimet plugin to take care of SEO spammers, bots and trolls. No need to download this one – it’s inside WordPress and waiting for you!

Disqus or Intensedebate

The Disqus plugin let’s people join the conversation

Install a commenting system that treat your conversation right. This is what Disqus and Intensedebate does. On this blog I’ve had Disqus making sure visitors can interact the way the want. Lately however I’ve grown more fond of Intesedebate and only weeks ago I activated that on my Whisky blog in order to try it out. I think maybe I’ll switch on this blog too soon. One advantage with one of these plugins over how WordPress treats comments is the fact that you gain a small social spread over other networks. The biggest advantage however is that people can choose to login and comment with Facebook connect, OpenID, Twitter accounts and personal Disqus or Intense Debate accounts.

WP Super Cache
You’ll do fine without this plugin until the day you do something really really right. Let’s say for example that you end up on the first page of Digg.com, the online social newspaper, then tens of thousands people will swarm your blog for blood (your post that is) and only seconds later your server will crash. WP Super Cache takes care of this and turns every page in to static html pages that lets people ride rodeo over that blog of yours without falling off. You need WP Super Cache.

The All In One SEO Pack or the HeadSpace 2 SEO plugin
Same here. If you’ve gotten Thesis as your theme then move on to the next bullet. If not this plugin is essential. SEO is an art form many people have yet to master. But using the All In One SEO plugin will at least give you the right tools. [updated] Simon Sundén suggested I should ad the HeadSpace2 plugin as an alternative (in his mind better). So now I’ve done that. Thanks Simon!

Tweetmeme Retweet Button
The Tweetmeme retweet plugin is what places a small Tweet This button along every blog post. Just like the green little thing I’ve got on top of this post (press that one please). Sometimes you’ll write posts that people love. Then Tweeting that post is the fastest and simplest way for them to show their love. Other people that might land on your post will be more eager to read through your post if it has been tweeted many times. It’s like a quality mark. Make sure you’ve got an own Twitter account to go with this one since it will earn you followers over time if it’s your ID that is being retweeted.

WP FollowMe

By using the WP Follow Me plugin you’ll get a nice little bird watching over your blog
Make it easy for people to follow you on Twitter. This plugin places a badge to the right (or left if you want) on your blog that makes following you easy.

SexyBookmarks
In the bottom of every post on my blog you can see a set of buttons that lets you share my blog posts easily over your personally preferred social network.

I’ve decided to go with the plugin Sexy Bookmarks. I like the functionality and the tone of voice. However before I started using this one I had the plugin Share This taking care of business and it did a good job to so I’ll give that one a shout too.

PingPressFM
Allows you to spread your wonderful blog to 10+ social networks via Ping.fm.

Google XML Sitemaps
In order for Google to be able to list your blog the right way you should install this plugin. This plugin will generate a special XML sitemap which will help search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing and Ask.com to better index your blog.

WP DB Backup
Last but not least. If you keep on writing every week or maybe even every day you’ll sooner than later end up with some kick as quality inside your database. WordPress usually don’t break down but we all know of Mr Murphy. That’s why you need to perform a back up every now and then. Don’t rely on your hosting service, even these guys mess up (trust me I’ve been through it a couple of times) that’s why this is best done with WP DB Backup. Then make sure you got Dropbox or something to place your personal backup in the cloud since we all know Mr Murphy will probably put your computer on fire otherwise.

Redirection
Manage all your 301 redirects and monitor 404 errors with this little plug.

WP Cforms
Make sure you don’t write that email of yours as it spells out since that will only award you with tons of spam. Instead write something like: nameATdomainDOTcom. Most people will get that. Also remember to inform people about your social presence on networks like Twitter, Facebook, Facebook Fan Pages (don’t use Groups), Skype, Slideshare, LinkedIn, YouTube, Flickr and more. It’s also a good thing is always to post an extra page where you use the plugin WP Cforms to let people get in touch with you through a classical form. Personally I’ve also written my phone number on that contact page. Talking to people is after all very nice!

9. Time to start writing that blog post of yours?

I wont tell you what, how and why to write something. Other people have given great guidelines on that before me, both on style and SEO parameters. My only advice would be – find your own voice. Writing like other people will never get you anywhere.

However, once you’ve written that post of yours remember a few things:

Tag your content with relevant keywords.
Keywords will serve both Google and your readers with information. On top of this there’s some sweet tag clouds you can use to make people crawl your blog for more.

Ad the post not only to one category but to many.
By creating a set of categories that is relevant to your blog (not more than 15 though) you’ll help your readers to find the right posts later when your blog is filled with wisdom.

Remember to make use of that added SEO functionality
You’ve got a set of tools that came along with Thesis or The All In Once SEO Plugin. Use them! This means writing a specific header for Google. One that will earn you more readers (hopefully). Don’t worry – it won’t show up in your post.

Edit the URL of the blog post.
Make sure it’s relevant, SEO optimized and not to long.

Preview before posting!

Post at a good time of day.
I’ve written a longer post on the Social Viral Spiral that covers this subject.

10. Spread the love

Pick a series of social networks where you spread that love of yours further. Facebook and Twitter being the obvious ones. But don’t forget about all the rest. Think about what your content is all about and where people might be interested to read it – seed it there!

On top of this you should also remember to change the RSS feed into something like Feedburner for example. It gives you more control over it and you’ll be able to track your engagement.

I know tons of people link like crazy to other blogs in order to get higher rankings on different blogging portals. Personally I hate this. You should of course link to content that is of great importance to your blog. But linking to tons of blog posts only to gain traffic – that’s spam according to me.

11. How do you know your blog is doing good?

People tend to set up blogs and then they’re tracking the stats while wondering why nothing happens. Here’s a few pointers that might help you on the path to blogging heaven.

Comments and trackbacks
Once you’ve pressed publish your post is out there. This means it’s all out there. The entire world can now interact with you. Since you’ve opened up for comments (blogs are all about conversation) you’ll have to be prepared to actually respond to what people are saying about your brand. Trackbacks will also show you other blogs and sites linking to your content. Make sure you follow them to interact and praise fans or defend your standpoint.

Statistics
Ever blog should have a Google analytics account set up. That’s sort of hygiene. It will teach you a lot about your online presences and turn you into a professional blogger.

However for daily and even hourly stat reads I’m using Mint. It’s not free but at a low cost you’re getting a quick overview of where people are coming from and what they’re engaging. Seeing that traffic build up only minutes after a blog post turns you on – I promise. That’s the energy you need to keep on writing.

Is your content engaging?
Personally I’ve set up a Postrank analytics account that gives me a good idea of whats actually happening after I press that publish button. Postrank is a tool that measures the online engagement with your content. No engagement = not a good post (or at least no one else thinks so) Lots of engagement = you did something right.

Track your brand online!
Last but not least – remember to track your brand online in order to engage if people pick up and comment/debate that post of yours. I’ve written that guide on how monitor your brand online before.

Now it’s all up to you – I’m looking forward to reading your posts!

This last year, 2009 has been a blast in many ways. Almost every day I’ve received interesting news from friends, other bloggers and my RSS feeds. Even thought we’ve seen one of the most severe economical downturns this year it seems advertising, communication and technology has been the business to be in.

Brands seem to have learned from the history and brand spend has rather gone up than down for a lot of brands. We’ve also seen Twitter and Facebook continue to grown faster than anything else on the planet and social media and open technologies has prospered due to that fact. The iPhone has continued to grow and Android is picking up it’s pace. Google has released lots of new cool products even though the Wave didn’t really become the clean double over head a lot of us expected.

Most brands have been looking for one-offs and as I look back at the 2009 Cannes Lions winners it strikes me that I can’t really remember one single campaign that stood out and changed the world of advertising. We’re slowly moving away from bought space to earned space, this is most certainly the reason why my brain plays these tricks with me.

I’m not gonna spend more of this post summing up 2009. Other people, papers, bloggers and personalities has done a great job doing this already. Instead let’s move on to 2010.

Click for a larger image

Here are the Brand and communication predictions for 2010 by Johan Ronnestam

REAL

This is more of a change in how we live, consume, work, advertise and communicate. We will of course use all technology available to become more real but we will strive to make things more realistic, true and touchable. As technology, much thanks to notepads, the iPhone and other portable technologies, becomes a part of our everyday life we will in 2010 look for inspiration in the nature and in life.

Brands will think twice about making up false stories about their brands. Product developers cannot trust advertising to sell their products cause transparency will bring you down. When you launch products or services in 2010 you better provide a true and real value – only then will you prosper.

The more we learn to search and compare products online the less room for multiple copies. We will search for the true branch leader and we will find it. Globalization and ease of localization means we’ll choose the best service or product not the locally produced one.

Open Source Win More Ground

Swapping content management systems from proprietary to open source is becoming socially acceptable among IT professionals. And why wouldn’t it. It’s usually better, more cost effective and more up to date.

Creative Commons have extended their program with Science Commons and CC Learn. We’ve already seen sites like Facebook and New York Times being built upon open source code and databases. Still companies seem reluctant to switch to code being written by a community rather than a company. But when the White House switched to Drupal I think we saw the start of a tsunami.

In 2010 Open Source will prosper and hopefully ever after! Sharing is the way forward!

Cloud Computing Will Spread Like Thunder

Most of you probably already got a large part of your digital life in the cloud. Think about it. All those images you’ve put on Facebook or better yet Flickr. That’s the cloud.

Earlier this year we saw the city of Los Angeles switch to Google Apps. There’s probably tons of more examples that I don’t know of but this is definitely one of the first and largest government adoptions of Googles cloud based Microsoft Office competitor.

Evernote, my personal favorite cloud based notebook, reached 2 million users the other day. Another cloud based service that reached 2 million users earlier this year is Dropbox. I’ve been syncing my files with this little sweetie since 2008. Wired, Mashable, MacWorld and PC Mag have all shouted out loud for this wonderful tool. When they launched their iPhone app this summer they completed my home office.

Practically everyone I know working with digital communication uses cloud based tools like Google Apps, Evernote and Dropbox. Once the mainstream users understand that these tools solve every problem a home user and small company has with backup, sync and office we’ll see people moving into the cloud like skydivers free falling from 15000 feet.

Management Consultants Moving Forward Into The Digital Space

If you’re working within digital advertising or communication you might have heard the rumors. Management Consultants like McKinsey and Accenture have put together digital swat teams who’s primary task is to conquer the business from digital agencies like RGA, AKQA, LBI etc.

Clients all over the world have grown tired listening to traditional digital agencies (yep, they’ve become traditional now) who’s employees aren’t senior enough to consider what good the digital world can do for their business. On top of that I’d say that not even 1% of the worlds traditional advertising agencies knows what they’re talking about when the talk future communication but they still got the Marketing Directors by the balls.

This is where the grey suits sees an opportunity. These guys got the CEO’s and Board Members by the ball and that’s worth more than marketing directors and advertising men & women. Will they do a good job? Some might but lots of them still look at the digital world as a single business area. Internet transforms business not distribute them!

Left somewhere in the middle you’ll have the digital agencies of today. They’re not good enough on communication, they don’t understand business processes and the web is about to shift from front-end to back-end.

Web TV Strikes With Full Force

We’ve only seen the beginning of Internet TV. In 2009 most established networks truly made themselves available online and HULU impressed us all by growing faster than you can say disruption. Personally I was privileged to given the assignment to draw up the strategy and design one of Swedens major TV channels, Kanal 5, web TV presence.

As the year passed we slowly saw iPhone apps being approved that let us consume TV however we want whenever we want. In 2010 however we’ll see the next stage. That’s when the TV manufacturers, just like Samsung already has done, start placing network connections into their screens. Suddenly Internet TV will move into our living room again. In the wake of that we’ll see fantastic mashups and recommendation sites that allows us to actually consume internet TV together. Today it’s to much of an ego product. After all, if we have access to everything from everywhere, who get’s to decide what we should look at tonight?

The downside is obvious. People will spend more time again in the sofa. That leads to stupidity. Stupidity leads to lack of innovation. Lack of innovation leads nowhere.

The happy ones are of course the traditional advertisers since the will start filling those internet TV episodes with advertising. The only problem is they cannot get paid what they want yet so we’ll have to live with tons of more ad breaks.

Twitter Spreads Beyond Early Adopters

This wonderful social networking ‘tool’ is loved by more than 18 million people today. And yet we’re all early adopters. One of the main problem is if course who the hell do you explain such a stupid tool as Twitter to someone? They have to try for themselves. It strikes me that none of my childhood friends that I regularly meet still today have used Twitter. Heck, most of them haven’t even started using Facebook. (did I mention their in the finance business).

But just like Facebook this microblog network will spread beyond early adopters and it’s all about invitations. So far Twitter hasn’t bothered to much about making you invite people. Once the make it simple for us users to invite more people as our followers/friends we’ll see Twitter spread like wildfire. Dare I say 100 million people on Twitter once 2010 is over?

Back End Computing Is The New Front End

Business moving their business online calls for enterprise resource planning software integration. And since those guys from the management side of the internet will start telling brands what to do we can definitely expect more complex websites in terms of how they’re built and integrated into the heart of businesses.

In 2010 we’ll see more companies like SnapLogic solving this by providing middleware. We’ll see less digital agencies earning the trust to build these kind of sites. Building a brand presence in 2010 will be about connecting data not creating cool interfaces.

An Augmented World

Layar, Wikitude, Sekai Camera, Twittaround, Avatars augmented promotion toys, Google Goggles, Mini Print Ads and much more.

Many were the augmented initiatives that started to spread via mobile apps and online campaign sites. So far however we’ve only seen the start of it all. As more people start using these technologies we’ll see widespread uses of augmented technology in 2010. It’s actually so obvious so I thought of not including it. Some of you might say it happened in 2009 but to me we’ve only seen the start of it all.

Apple Launch Their Tablet (iSlate?)

I’ve written about this before. But the amount of rumors circulating the web right now is quite enough to say that something must come soon. Not much more to say than if the rumors turn out to be true then I’ll change my media consumption pattern forever in 2010.

3D Printing Get Noticed By The Masses

During this last year I’ve done more than 50 speaking appearances. I often speak about democratization of technology, content and distribution. One part of that section usually is about 3D printing. You heard it right – 3D printing.

Stuff printed at Shapeways by gifted students The Royal High School of Edinburgh

3D printing is a technology that still is a little bit to expensive to be used at home but the awareness of it will surely spread in 2010. As more people become aware about this we’ll see more innovation. Say 2012. That’s when you’ll download Lego from Pirate Bay.

Mobile Handset Explosion Based On Interests

Android is being spread into more handsets every week. Inside that Open Source platform sits the app store that allows you to basically build whatever apps you like. Cost of technology is falling fast. Platforms like Bugbase and Arduino shows technology is no longer exclusive to large multinational corporations.

In 2010 I think, and hope, that we’ll see the first mobile phone brands that focus on segments. Surf brands, sailing brands, wildlife and so on. The opportunities are fantastic for any strong brand with a tribal-like fan base that would die to get their hands on a mobile hand set that positions themselves alongside their ‘star’.

In 2010 a brand, maybe Nike, will build a phone filled with sweet free apps based on the Android platform.

We’ll Form Social Clusters

Some say Facebook might reach 1 billion users in 2010. What that means for digital branding and communication is hard to say. But one effect of us all moving online is overflow of social information. I love my friends online but when you get swarmed with too much content you start to think about clustering. I’ll keep my snowboarding friends in my snowboarding community. I’ll keep my close friends on Facebook. I’ll keep my social media/communication friends on Twitter. Like that we’ll suddenly see people creating social clusters and brands will have a VERY hard time penetrating those clusters.

Personal recommendations will be higher valued than ever and sadly we’ll also see protectionism much like the one already happening when the early social networkers seem pissed about the fact that other people find these tools.

In 2010 we’ll build walls around our social networks. The days of sharing outside our true followers/friends might be over. I sure hope not! But I’m not optimistic.

A New Global Car Brand Focused On Alternative Fuel

I know. This one might sound pretty stupid. But think again. It’s perfect timing for someone with money, ideas and a great industrial network to launch a brand focused solely on cars driven by alternative fuels. The traditional car brands have spent the last 70 years on perfecting fossil fuel driven cars. Their engines are state of the art and it would be practically impossible for you to compete with that industry…unless…all that competence suddenly isn’t worth jack shit.

Today if you’ve got the right connections you can shop all the technology you want on the market. That engine can be replaced with a huge battery. Wind tunnels are digital. You find 10 industrial designers worth the money on every car mechanic. And the world is craving for innovation. This could of course be done by Tata or any of the Chinese car manufacturers. But I think there’s tons of advantages to start ‘clean’. Please let us drive something new in 2010!

Swedens First Digital Election

And to put this post to an end. In Sweden we have our election coming up in 2010. Damn – the net will be swarmed with Barack Obama wannabees. And I’m not sure they will benefit from it. One tip to all you political parties – read my first prediction – STAY REAL!

Well. Then there’s really nothing left for me but to wish you all a HAPPY NEW YEAR! See you in 2010!

The Mobile Revolution. Have you heard that one before. Well, just when it’s about to happen thanks to the iPhone and the Android OS I’d like to launch a thought about the next revolution – ‘The Revolution of the Screens’.

A couple of month back I got my Amazon Kindle. I blogged about the Microsoft Courier interface earlier this year. Others and me keep buzzing about what the Apple Tablet will be like, if there will ever be one (of course it will). Google launched their Chrome OS just over a week ago. Last week I read that the new Barnes & Noble Nook has sold out for the Holidays this year. And a couple of days ago I blogged about the New York Times Skimmer interface.

The Nook – Barnes & Nobles answer to Amazon Kindle

People and companies keep talking about how we all will move our behavior and communication onto the mobile when in fact my firm belief is that in 2010 we’ll see the start of ‘The Revolution of the Screens’ more screens coming out and people will definitely not use one device but instead multiple devices.

Here are 10 reasons why we will see a screen revolution in 2010:

1. The Cloud is expanding

Personally I’ve moved my entire computer into the cloud. The worlds best service, Dropbox, has totally reinvented my way to work. I’m accessing my files via 4 different computers and my iPhone. My notes are best read via Evernote. Millions of people have switched to Google Apps. Companies are looking into cloud computing.

There’s simply no reason to not connect ourselves to the net. Storing data on our own discs with the risk of loosing it is not a solution in the long run.

As more people are moving their work to cloud based services we simply do not need one computer or one mobile. Instead we’ll gladly access our favorite content using screens that are optimized for that type of content.

2. The Google Chrome OS is the first OS that cannot be installed

The new Google Chrome OS

This week we saw the first official glimpses of the new Google Chrome OS. It’s a neat little thing more or less erases what the conventional OS are doing. Your computer is working with no interference directly against your hardware. This makes things faster, more stable and secure. The downside is you’ll have to order a computer with the OS installed on delivery and you cannot change afterward.

Googles ambition is to work against the cloud and thereby being able to access your files from anywhere anyhow. In the long run Google Chrome OS will change peoples perception on how, why and where we access certain information.

3. The cost of producing your own technology is dropping fast

Bugbase – Lego for Geeks

If we go back a couple of years you basically had to be a Fortune 500 in order to produce any kind of hardware that potentially could spread among the masses. Screens were pretty shitty. Processors were to expensive and building an OS demanded hard and long work. But as we’ll see screens produced for a single reason, say reading a book, the devices doesn’t have to have a complex OS and the interface only have to serve a single purpose.

Now prices are falling and the technology is being accessible for anyone with geeky fingers. Bugbase and Arduino are the best examples of this right now. Suddenly any company with brains can product mobile technology.

4. User interfaces has started to move from OS centric to User Centric

The Microsoft Courier Interface

If you’re in a meeting chatting away about new business, a screen in front of you might be the one thing that won’t get that signature on the final line. I’d the first one in line when someone launches something that is digital, communicates with the cloud and is perfectly suitable for taking notes – with a pen! This is exactly what the Microsoft Courier interface looks like.

Together with services like Dropbox that syncs between Microsoft, Linux and Apple environments the actuall gadget is no longer the problem. I can sit in that meeting, take my notes on a Notepad then once I’m in the office I’ll bring them up on my stationary computer and finalize the edit of them on my Macbook. The screens and the interface should of course be optimized for each and every purpose!

5. I’d rather read a book on my Amazon Kindle

Only days after establishing a reader behavior on my Kindle I’ve realized I’d never go back to reading books or longer texts on a computer. We all know that the paper industry are pretty darn happy about the fact that people print digital documents. Screens changes all this. Once I get a document today I just mail it to my Kindle. I grab a cup of coffee and there I am, back to reading old style only this time the fonts are composed out of zeros and one’s.

6. The media industry slowly get it but when they do they’ll create screens

Glossy magazine screens. Morning paper screens. Cooking book screens. Learning screens. Notebook screens. In 2010 we’ll see them flying out of companies business development departments like birds out of a birds nest. It’s obvious that the media industry needs to grab us by the balls and try to lock us in again – and the screens will be their weapon!

7. The subscription model will spread outside telecoms

If you buy a mobile phone in most parts of the world you pay next to nothing for the phone since it’s the usage of the phone that brings the cash to the cow. This will be the way with screens. It would be so simple for the newspaper industry to create a big format screen suitable for reading newspapers. Then offer it for free with a 24 or 36 month subscription that automatically renews every year after.

The only question is – will we see an Apple Tablet that lets us buy newspapers, glossy mags and more from iTunes before the media industry get it? I hope so!

8. The ‘App Store’ business model works fine in any business

Apple has sold more than 2 billion applications through their app store. 33% of all the book sales on Amazon.com passes through the Amazon Kindle. I wrote a piece a while back about how the car industry can innovate their business using screens and apps.

Another interesting beacon leading us in this direction is the new App Studio from HP. Basically HP has already installed one of these ‘screens’ on their latest printer. Then you, me or any other company can build an app that the HP users can install. And bam, you’ve got a set of killer apps. For example USA Today let’s you print articles and Google Maps guides you in the right direction. Get your but over there and have a look – it really makes you get it.

The HP App store. Apps for your printer

9. Screens create structural bindings

Buy your books in one place – and one place only!

Remember that old 4 P. Product, Place, Positioning and Promotion. Well, once you’ve but a screen in the hands of a consumer you can stop worrying about 3 of these. Your store is in the hands your the consumer. You back up their products, you help them to find new ones, you develop a behavior that makes switching screen harder and harder as every day passes.

If we look at companies like Amazon or HP. Meaning the brands that does not turn to the screens in order to save a business model but instead create a new one. For these brands screens create strong structural bindings. I mean, why would I go anywhere else than Amazon to buy a book as long as I got my Kindle. Once I’ve create a nice set up of applications on my HP printer then I will have a hard time switching brands once I’m looking to upgrade that tree eater of mine.

10. Cause it makes sense

In the end it’s all about usability. It’s obvious we need different screens for different purposes. And as the price of technology falls, cloud computing spreads while connectivity is everywhere there’s simply no reason to have one screen.

It’s not all about creating WOW-effects. You’ve gotta deliver some kind of value too. And this must be one of the better way can you deliver both of those qualities in a physical space.

Imagine what this would do for Swedish tourism if it was installed in any airport in the world showcasing our beautiful country. Imagine what it would do for a fashion brand if installed at the next fashion show letting people explore the behind the scenes, talk to the designers etc etc. Imagine what it would do for any brand if placed at any coming business fair. Get this one geared up with some online community functionality and you’ll have people peeing their pants!

Infosthetics got me turned on this evening when they pointed me to Sensory Minds and their work. Ah, while you’re at it. Make sure you check out some of their other interfaces on vimeo – rockin´

Creatives all over the world do their best to visualize their ideas when pitching clients, preparing for photo shoots or simply putting their ideas on paper. Apart from sketching with Sketchbook Pro I’ve personally been using Flickr and Google Image Search combined with Photoshop for ages. Lately I’ve added Bing and iStockphoto to the list. It’s a time consuming process but it’s usually getting my message across.

Today however I’ve seen the light. A new web based application (down at the moment due to high traffic) that I found on Mashable let’s you draw your ideas and then it composes an image out of that doodle of yours. It’s made by five Chinese Computer Science and Technology students at Tsinghua University and the National University of Singapore and it’s sick!

Whatever kind of ides you’ve got in your head – it’s now easier than ever to get a matching photo. Draw and you will conquer! Here’s a video explaining what this mind-boggling thing does:

We live in the best of times. It’s all happening now!

A great site for finding inspiration is Fubiz. Their tagline ‘Daily Doze of Inspiration’ says it all. This morning when I was preparing for a speech on the ‘DNA of Creativity’ next week at an event arranged by Cap & Design, one of Swedens leading design magazine I stumbled on this wonderful video below from Microsoft.

I think the actual behavior in the video is many years ahead due to the fact that the grown up generation simply won’t learn how to use these interfaces. But it’s a real eye opener what lies ahead and I’m sure my kids won’t have a problem once they’re old enough.

And now to a very sensitive issue – monitoring. As some of you know my profession is leading brands into the future of communication. One of the more important parts of this is teaching them how to keep track of their own brands in the jungle of conversation. What are people saying about my brand, where does the conversation take place and how can we respond to it – simple questions really.

However, quite many brands don’t have a clue on how to do this or even worse – they haven’t even started to think about tracking conversations related to their brands.

When I speak about this we often end up talking about me and how I track my own brand. I try to keep track of every conversation out there that in one way or another has my name or brand in it. As often as I can I also listen to, respond or in other ways take the conversation into account – just as any brand should.

One of my Netvibes dashboards that I use to monitor Ronnestam online

Since sharing is caring – here is how to track keywords online on a daily basis without paying for it. NOTE – this doesn’t give you a 100% guarantee and the more generic your brand is the harder it is to monitor it, then professional help might be your solution. It also applies better to smaller brands rather than large ones. But you will gain some control over what happens online in most open forums and it’s a start!

Follow these 21 steps to take gain some sort of control of where your brand might be mentioned online

1. First thing. Head over to Google Alerts and enter the keywords you want to monitor. This is the easy one.
2. Then do the same over at Socialmention Alerts. An easy one too. However, these first two ones are a little bit slow so continue reading.
3. Register an account on Netvibes.com and once your done keep that Internet browser window open.
4. Open one more window (press CTRL+N or CMD+N on a Mac)
5. In the new window, go to socialmention.com and perform a search on the keywords (for example the name of your brand) you want to track.
6. Once you have gotten your result. Look for the orange RSS icon in the top right corner.
   Click the RSS Feed icon.
7. Now select the link in your web browser and copy (press CTRL+C or CMD+C on a mac).
8. Switch back to the window where you have your new Netvibes.com page.
9. In the top, press new Tab and name it with the keyword you searched for.
10. In the top left, click the green button ‘Ad Content’ and choose Ad a Feed in the drop down menu.
11. Place your marker in the field that says ‘Enter a feed address or website URL for auto detection’ and paste (CTRL+V or CMD+V on a mac).
12. Press the button Add Feed besides your pasted link.
13. Now press the little green button that says ‘add’ and you search result will be displayed in the bottom field below the Tab that you just named.
14. Switch windows and perform the same search in Socialmention but this time click the tab Microblogs above the search field
15. Redo the entire process and you have added your next search.
16. Once you are done you should have searches in each and every area from the web.
17. Now Switch window back to the one with Social Mention and go to Icerocket.com
18. On Icerocket you will find the RSS results to the left.
19. Now perform the same process except for creating new tabs in Netvibes.
20. Once done, go to Twingly.com and perform the same searches on both Blogs and Microblogs.
21. Last thing to do. Go to the preferences of your internet browser and change your startpage to netvibes.com

Now you will at least know if there’s any shit written about your brand and you have the possibility to act.

And of course I do know that some of you might think this sounds scary but this is the world we live in and you should act in accordance.

United States Postal Service has launched this augmented reality application that allows their customers to find out if a certain shipment fits the box and thereby also finding out what it actually costs.

It’s smart, it’s branding and it’s innovation!

SwissMiss got me hooked up.

If you yet haven’t heard about RFID you better click that word now cause in a couple of years you’ll be walking in boots that will either kick you out of the bar or let you pass the queuing crowd. That and what ever you can think of is what RFID will be used for. Wired got a pretty darn cool top 10 list of best uses for RFID tags.

Me however, I can’t wait until I’ve got that Radio-frequency identification built into my soles so I’m getting some now. Today RRW directed me to the Ztore by Violet. Violet is this cool company that has already brought us the Nabaztag Rabbits. Now they’re launching the Mir:ror. Exactly the kind of thing I need. For what I don’t know now, but I’ll sure find out in a couple of days.

I wrote a couple of days ago about democratization of technology. This is yet another example of that trend. In a couple of yours we’ll have Intel, Sony, Apple etc inside – it will be me/we/us who provide the products.

Get your Mir:ror here

My parents always thought I spend to much time in front of my computer. Personally I’m afraid my kids won’t spend enough time there.

If there’s anything I’m sure of its the fact that kids growing up with a sound relation to computers will create a strong platform for the rest of their life.

This is why I love Scratch. Scratch is a programming language suitable for kids that makes it easy to create your own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art — and share your creations on the web.

So, if you’ve got kids – move them from slaying other people in war games to building applications in Scratch.

Thanks Rory for the Tweet-tip

That’s more or less the name of this ingenious new iPhone app that let’s you identify a font purely by taking a photo of it. I downloaded it and tried it – it’s a killer app! As often before it’s Miss Swissmiss that delivered the news about the Whatthefont app.

Who is heading your brand? Does he or she have an understanding for all, and I mean all, steps in the consumer interaction with your brand.

The new generation of consumers crave 4 things from their favorite brands. These 4 things was something we found in a global focus group study we did for one of the global brands I’ve worked with. Teens and youngsters between 15 and 25 years old were interviewed in leading style cities like New York, London, Rio de Janeiro, Paris, Stockholm, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Singapore, Beijing, Amsterdam, Berlin and even more cities that I cannot remember.

The 4 things were:

• Innovation
• Creative excellence
• Entertainment
• Interaction.

They crave it everywhere in every step of their contact with you brand.
Total integration equals success.

Hyper jump the process back and fourth
Most brands tend to start a brand platform project that ultimately leads to developing your brand first, then collateral’s, brand guidelines and finally they look at the products and services. New brands and super brands – they look at the brand heritage, what’s your story, where do you come from etc, but more important, where are they heading. Based on this knowledge they move over to the products and services and design these. The it’s time to move back to the rest.

You shouldn’t let a brand or brand guidebook lead your product development cause it’s usually stiff books filled with rules what NOT to do. When the first rule you have to learn about communication is WHAT rules can we brake!

Total integration demands total creativity
In order for your brand to achieve this level of integration that your target are asking for, you have to get a partner on board that can act as your creative style police through your entire process. The challenge for all modern brands is to stay in control or at least have someone from A to Z that make sure you do.

Let’s look at Apple.

Steve Jobs and his way of totally controlling Apple is probably the best example there is. What’s stunning with Apple is exactly the way they tend to value ever single step of consumer contacts as the most important part in the company. Nothing, and I mean nothing is left behind. Of course I don’t know their entire chain of customer contacts. But let’s look at one possible chain and how they’ve designed it.

My name is Bill. I’m looking for a new computer and I’ve heard about Apple. This might be my road from a non believer to a brand fanatic.

1. Traditional advertising

TV commercials

Apple vs PC has become an icon in the US when it comes to harass your competitors in open public. Apart from that it’s totally on brand in terms of tone of voice and simplicity.

Print

With the strong products Apple has, there’s usually no need to create a story beyond your own brand values and product. This is the ultimate example why communication and creativity should be a very integrated part of engineering. Most technology companies develop technology first and then comes the packaging and design. Apple integrates the two and on top of that, would never develop anything without having communication experts involved in the process.

With iTunes it’s different. This product is available on both Mac and PC.

You can also use iTunes to shop for new music even if you end up playing it on a another Mp3 player. This requires a different strategy.

2. PR & Events

No one can have missed the fact that the Apple company is quiet as a mouse. A couple times a year, Steve Jobs launches Apples latest products during the Mac World. The keynote he delivers on those days are followed by millions. Every day between is filled with rumors and ideas on what the next Mac World will bring. A great PR strategy that doesn’t only keep interest up but also keeps prices from falling. Due to the illness of Steve Jobs the future of the Macworld seems uncertain though.

3. Photography

Where ever I see an Apple product I’m stunned with the quality and ingenuity of the photography. Look at this image above – the balance and the creativity with a yet simple set up. That mirror effect that points towards the next lying down iTouch is just fabulous.

You seldom see a photo from Apple that doesn’t both show the product and communicate a functionality or a USP.

4. Online banners

Yet another area where Apple innovates.

These banners is not about teasing you to click instead Apple brings the humor from the TVC into banners in a very clever way.

5. Online campaign site

Why would you do a campaign site when you can turn your entire website into an emotional experience. I’d say Apples section where they talk about partners and other people who use their products serves as a great campaign area.

6. Partnerships

What do we love more than a great brand? Answer = Two great brands! Nike+ is the perfect example of this. It drives sales for both Apple and Nike but above all contributes to positioning them both as cool innovators.

Leading car brands all over the worlds has implemented support for the iPod in their latest car models. In this case I’m sure it benefits them more than Apple.

7. Website
The Apple website is definitely one of the best corporate websites in the world. It’s user friendly, well designed, great functionality, no loading times, non CMS templated design and on brand.

I just love how they’ve first and foremost have developed their site based on what consumers want and need.

Many of the pages looks more like a very nice printed magazine than a website.

This proves that someone at Apple understood that websites are not supposed to be built based on the specs of a content management system but instead the specs of your customer needs.

8. On- and offline store

Apple knows how to create a brand drama. Their latest store on Manhattan shows Apple never rests. And if you continue to look at more of their stores they’re continuously updating themselves. I wrote last year about the London experience.

The actual shopping experience is something else. I wrote about that a long time ago so I won’t repeat myself. But it’s like nothing else, I’ll promise you that.

When it comes to the online shopping experience. The Apple.com site is nicely integrated with their online store.

Once in the store, it’s all about usability and effectivness – just as it should be.

9. Packaging

I’ve bought quite many Apple products and every time I open the package it’s an experience. No brand, and I mean NO brand has the consistency Apple has had in innovating how they package their product.

What’s stunning is also the fact that lots of stuff inside that box you’re opening is directly integrated with software interfaces and computer materials. The experience to use a mac starts with carrying home the package.

10. Product

Do I need to say anything?

11. Inside the actual product

If you get your hands on a Mac that needs to be opened for any reason. Take the opportunity and do so. Cause these guys know that reputation starts from everywhere in the consumer chain – including the 0.1% who ever open a computer. Inside it’s incredible well designed and the G5 is even backlit inside!

12. Operative system
Awarded design. Usability is better than everything else on the market. It’s faster and yet more stabile and works both for Mac or PC.

The number of innovative solutions in the way you interact with software and the operative system are amazing.

13. Product & software interface

The total integration between softwares and the interface is great. But what’s even cooler is that some of the latest products like iWork even stretches outside the actual software.

iWork for example has a full screen editing mode where it actually seems like the latest Macbook Pro has been redesign to be integrated with that functionality.

14. Support
Crowd sourcing, find whatever you need, integration into every computer and software. Awarded – yes.

To sum up. The reason behind Apple success is of course innovation first and foremost. Without brains like Steve Jobs on board the company would be jack shit. But without Steve’s way of leading the brand – bringing on people like Lee Clow and more of the best creative brains in the industry, having them helping him controlling every bit of the brand from first contact to final kill – is the key to success.

Mike Loop with Apple says it best:

The core dilemma for talented designers in any field is this: If you strive for greatness in your design, you will meet resistance; if you strive to avoid resistance, you can’t do great design. Different is scary. Great design has to fight with the idea that many see “better” as meaning “more of the same”. The better your work and the higher your standards, the more you’ll have to fight against the urge to stay within the warm, safe confines of mediocrity.

Are you ready? Be prepared, cause you’ll step on a lot of toes. But the reward might be worth it cause you’ll end up with consumer like these.

A final word

Making a vision like this come alive means that a very small group has to control many steps. But on the other hand, being the best in the world has never been about doing as other people say, it’s always been about going your own way, towards your vision no matter what!