Allan Woodstrom’s Blog - Sports, Media, Technology and Politics - Minnesota Blog

Let’s say you are 45-year-old business manager and you put a lot of time, money and effort is put into building a new web site.

Three weeks later you hire a gen-y college grad and they suggest you upgrade your web site. How dare they, right? What the hell do they know?

It’s true they might not of thought about what they were saying and how they said it, nor could they explain exactly how you should improve things, but don’t be afraid to trust their instincts.

Gen-y is programmed to say what they think and they are also trained to judge a business by how slick and how easy a web site is to use.

If you don’t believe them, consider the following list of tell tale signs that it is time to upgrade your web site.

Signs that it is Time to Upgrade your Web Site:

1. Your web site looks like to could have been built with geocities in 1998. What do I mean? You have 12 different font types, sizes and color. Images are from clip art. Things are slightly misaligned. Navigation is not universal and you have an image as a background.
2. You are not receiving any organic traffic. This is a no brainer. Let your targeted audience think that they are the one initiating the conversation and good things will happen.
3. People complain that things are tough to find on your website. If this is true, they might not trust you as a business manager. It might turn them off to the point that they don’t want to buy anything from your web site.
4. Your website doesn’t reflect your business objectives. Within four seconds of visiting your site, it should be clear to a first time visitor what you do and why you do it better.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal. Specifically how Kobe Bryant had the opportunity to make his mark on history as quite possibly the best player of all-time, ahead of Michael Jordan. And to do that, of course we would have needed to win the NBA Finals without the help of Shaquille O’Neal.

Fast forward to two weeks later, Kobe and the Lakers were handled by the Boston Celtics and the big three, and Shaq must have heard of or read a couple blogs like mine because Shaq went off on Kobe in a rap. I must admit that it is funny, but at the same time - “Come on dawg.” Shaq must have know he crossed the line with some racial stuff, with some comments about how part of his body tastes. But I guess, if Kobe really did cause his divorse, then…what can I say.

It should be no surprise that I support Barack Obama for president. I am a college educated white 25-year-old male from Minneapolis, Minn. You could say that I am part of the wide demographic that most political pundits say that Barack Obama dominates. And while I have heard them say that - I think it is important for me to explain why I think my generation is so drawn to Obama.

1) The world view of the United States is tainted. From the war in Iraq to Guantanamo Bay to greed - Barack Obama understands that ending attacks on our country means that we must a good neighbor. And the as the economy turns more and more global, this could not be any more important to our future. To understand in greater detail what I am talking about, view this video by Lee Lessig. Exactly 20 minutes into it, Lessig explains in greater detail the need to reach out to foreign nations.

2) Barack Obama has the power to inspire our nation to work harder. In our lifetime we have never seen a politican do this. We have heard that Kennedy and Reagan had this power, but we unfortunatly have never had the opportunity to hear them speak. Alternativly, McCain seems to lack this ability. To view an example of Obama’s ability to inspire and tell us what we need to hear, look no further than his Father’s day speech.

3) We do not care that he is black. We were lucky enough to grow up in a culture and school system that allowed us to judge people not the color of their skin, but by their merits and their actions.  

4) Obama is all about giving opportunity and helping those who want to work for it. We love his plan to offer grants for college age students willing to serve their country.

5) We do not want special interests groups influencing politics. We want to influence politics and we want politicians working to better our future.

6) Obama backs free speech and net neutrality. He is by far the most advanced candidate when it come to understanding the internet and the importance of free speech. The days of the media as a watchdog are pretty much over. Especially after so called “legitimate” news sources like Fox News hire political reporters like Mike Huckabee. Tim Russert must be rolling in his grave.

Count me in among the millions of Americans whose Sunday morning routine was flipping the channel to “Meet the Press” and Tim Russert.

Now dead at the age of 58, we have lost one of the greatest journalists of all time and it is really saddening. I was always impressed by detailed and well researched his questions were. I loved the way Mr. Russert called people out without degrading them.

This is a tragedy for the mass media, a tragedy for our country and a tragedy for his family and everyone who knew him very well. God Bless.

Here are a couple of videos of Tim Russert interviewing John McCain and Barack Obama.