When we think of innovation, we usually focus on new technologies, but innovation within a business model can be just as effective as a means of creating a new market or shifting market demand from traditional sources to the new model.

Eric and I didn’t set out to create a new model for the web design business; We looked at the current model from the perspective of the customer (having been customers ourselves in the past) and noted some dysfunctional practices in the industry. The most glaring problem was that most web design firms assumed that their clients came to them knowing not only what they wanted on their site, but that what they wanted was the right mix for their business and goals.

We found just the opposite to be true. Clients know the importance of an Internet presence and they generally know the types of services they would like to offer online, such as an online shop or contact point. But most clients need expert help to decide how to achieve those goals. What it comes down to is offering a complete plan that includes effective messaging, presentation, and functions that will help their site become visible and engaging.

The other problem that clients face is one of trust. This is huge. With so many options and companies to choose from, how do you decide? And to make matters, worse most of those web design companies approach things the exact same way as if they all attended the same “How to run a web design business” seminar. They ask customers what functions they want, what colors they like, what other web sites they like, and what their budget is. It’s a bit like going to the doctor with an aching foot only to have the doctor ask you what you’d like him to do about it, then he asks how much you have to spend on a cure!

From the web designer’s perspective, of course, those are all fair questions. How can they quote a price without knowing the scope of the project, and how can they tell a client what they can offer without knowing the size of the budget?

That would be fine except for the fact that the client often doesn’t know what is needed to drive their success online. This is particularly true for small businesses and start-ups that may not even have a marketing plan. And that’s where we’ve turned the game around. We begin with the assumption that clients want our expertise in planning an effective site from the ground up. We also believe that clients should have a firm idea of what they’re going to get before committing money to it. Would you buy a car that you’ve only read about as opposed to one you’ve test driven?

This is how it works; Following a free, no-obligation consultation, during which we learn in detail about a client’s business and business needs, we create an online business plan complete with messaging, function details and design comp. In fact, we do a great deal of work ahead of time to win the job and earn the client’s trust. If they don’t like what we present, then maybe it wouldn’t have been a good match for us and we save time and money down the road. But what we have found is that our clients really appreciate the work we put in, and given a great concept they’re generally ready to sign up for the project. The other huge benefit from this approach is that you eliminate the big shock down the road when the client first sees a design and it’s nothing like what they expected.

Only time will tell how successful we’ll be with our new model. But the early signs are promising and we’re booked up solid.

I’ve also created a second, much shorter URL for reaching IGNN–assuming you don’t have it bookmarked (which inconceivable). Now all you have to do is type: www.IGNNite.com. Short, sweet, hot and sassy.

As I continue to work on IGNN, I love hearing from readers, so don’t be shy.

The idea going into the project was to learn just what was involved in getting a web site up-to-speed, and I wanted to test out a variety of web tools and formats. As I muddled about building some early prototypes, I started wondering what sort of site content really made sense. My consulting business was taking up quite a bit of time, so I needed a topic that wouldn’t require much research, and I needed a content management system that would be robust and easy-to-learn. I wanted the content to be about gaming, but there are exactly two billion web sites already reporting every detail relating to the gaming industry, so that seemed a bit crowded. For the CMS, I settled on using WordPress as the backbone of the venture because it had so many plug-ins for adding a huge variety of functions and forms. And the WP administration dashboard is so easy to use I could concentrate on building content, or so I thought. As for the content, I decided to make the site purely fictional with a humorous bent. No other site was really doing this, although a few produce some fun satirical columns and stories, so the idea would be fairly fresh. It would be an Onion for the gaming world, with a bit of Python and The Daily Show thrown in for good measure. I felt that given my busy schedule, I would be able to produce short, funny stories in my spare time. I wish someone had been there to slap some sense into me. Instead, my wonderful wife was encouraging, for which someday I’ll forgive her.

What I didn’t appreciate was that web sites suck time like black holes inhale matter and energy. After spending countless hours mucking about with design issues and plug-ins that didn’t work as advertised (or usually because I was such a thickie that I’d installed them ass-backwards or corrupted the file while trying to tweak the code) I began to sense that I’d entered some sort of deep cavern without a map…and my flashlight was flickering in that sort of menacing way that suggests your fate is likely to be as a pile of bones that some future explorer will stumble upon then laugh at nervously.

But instead of doing the smart thing–chalking it all up to experience and moving on with my life–I decided that what I really needed was just one big effort to get everything in place. Once I had developed the departments, the main pages, a schedule for updates, etc…it would be easy. I could spend a couple of hours each morning writing silly stories, then post them and happily move on to the business of making money. The problem I didn’t expect was that my imagination wouldn’t turn off when it was supposed to. New stories and absurd phrases would pop into my head at inconvenient moments. I found myself typing notes into my iPhone wherever I was. That’s a bad idea when you’re talking to a client, and an even worse one when you’re driving your kids to the playground. How do you explain to a four-year old that Daddy was driving on the wrong side of the road because he had this hilarious thought about Sony being so obsessed by recapturing market share that it was planning on taking it back by force with an army of personal service robots. (Relax, it’s not really happening.) I found myself tweaking everything, adding extra design touches, revamping the theme, rethinking columns, and rushing through the execution then having to rework it to make it clean. But the process was valuable because it taught me about what worked and what didn’t. Some areas just took too much time to update and didn’t deliver enough content punch, so I ruthlessly axed them. Other ideas had to evolve before they found the right form. Slowly, things began to take a sort of shape–lumpy, yes, but cheese is often lumpy so a cheesy site could be excused a few bumps.

It’s been a bit over two months now since I started The Imaginary Game News Network (Delivering hot scoops of satirical, fake game news since 1889!) and I’m finally getting a handle on this thing. What I’ve learned is that a web site or blog has a life of its own, and living things demand attention. Encouragement from readers has kept me ambitious, and I can now actually finish most of the work each day in about three hours. Two is my goal.

So here’s the lesson; if you’re just starting out building a site or a blog, expect everything to take at least twice as long as you think it should, then plan to spend twice that amount of time to get it right. If you have kids at home, double your estimate again.

In the WordPress community they like to say, “Code is poetry.” Well, it does sort of look like poetry, all those little partial lines composed of an intriguing mix of characters, and I hope to appreciate it more in time–I anticipate it should take about 43 years. In the meantime, you can find me happily scribbling about a fictional game industry that looks just a little bit like real life.

Microsoft’s bold leap into motion-controlled gaming through the image-capturing Project Natal technology suggests a potential future in which we may all dress up to play video games. Project Natal will have the capacity to not only translate a user’s motions into game-controlling actions, but also to capture the user’s image and display it within the game’s graphic environment. The result could be games in which you view yourself moving around within the game world. In such a game, you would become the star, the game’s protagonist, and that will bring with it a whole new set of game playing considerations. Imagine seeing yourself in a future Final Fantasy title charging into battle on a Chocobo’s back or sprinting toward the end zone in Madden; if you’re wearing whatever you currently wear to play games–jeans, PJs, underwear (I don’t judge)– you might look pretty silly in the context of the game. It won’t take long for gamers to catch on that they’ll have to look the part to really get into the game, and that will open up an entirely new era of interactivity.

But looking game-appropriate will be just the first level of this game-changing technology. I can imagine that with some clever programming (consider this a challenge to all the clever programmers out there) that costumes could play a significant role, perhaps giving players stealth status if they’re dressed in dark clothes, or a particular prop might be essential for solving a mystery or unlocking a door. Cos-players of today may groan at the thought of their innocent pastime going mainstream, but the commercial opportunities are enormous. Gamers wouldn’t just be on the hook for consoles and games; everything they wore or used in the game could be designed specifically for use during play, and game designers could ink deals with clothing and toy manufacturers to produce official costumes and kits or perhaps even smart costumes that include some element recognized by Project Natal that gives the player some gaming benefit. Since Project Natal has the ability to recognize a player’s facial features, it could surely recognize other “designed” features worked into a costume or accessory item.

You don't have to be tough to play video games.

Beyond the fun of dressing up and acting cool (or goofy) one can imagine a second outcome of dragging players images directly into games, and that outcome would be in the form of video replays. At E3, director Steven Spielberg appeared on stage to gush about how interactive this technology is. It may be more than even he imagined. Consider a thousand video replays on You Tube of a thousand cosplaying Luke Skywalkers battling a thousand Darth Vaders or hordes of Leon Kennedys chasing down legions of Weskers or realistic Lara Crofts leaping over chasms of doom. As players become the chief actors within the adventure, they’ll want to share their experiences. They’ll also want to add their own dialogue, and they’ll want smart in-game AI that will respond intelligently to what they say. Project Natal has that covered, too, with advanced voice-recognition technologies. The resulting “video plays” made public over direct links with Facebook, You Tube, MySpace and a host of social networks will generate gaming stars, superstars, and laughable moments that will be watched by millions. In fact, it’s pretty easy to imagine some of the video plays becoming more popular than the background tapestry of the games themselves.

This possible future may seem farfetched, and Microsoft has yet to prove that Project Natal will be able to live up to its full potential. Even if the technical hurdles are overcome, it’s likely that most of the games won’t go beyond the most basic movement-recognition control schemes in much the same way that the majority of Wii developers have only scratched the surface of what can be achieved with Nintendo’s growing suite of controllers. It may also seem more like an example of virtual celebrity than virtual reality, but the trends already underway in which social networks are driven by opportunities for public display and sharing suggest that video plays would be both hugely entertaining and popular. And the commercial prospects for official game costumes and kits could be considerable. As I watch my kids dress up every day as pirates, doctors, cats, fairy princesses and other imaginary characters, I think a little play acting for grown-ups could be a very good thing. And maybe I’d better track down an Indiana Jones floppy hat before the price goes through the roof.