New STC Online Buyers’ Guide & Consultant Directory

Online Buyers’ Guide & Consultant Directory

The skinny:

Great idea, poor execution.

The fat:

When I heard about this initiative I was totally on board. A complete directory of consultants and vendors? Bring it on! Now that it’s released, I’m a bit disappointed, mainly because…

It’s a PDF.

Why oh why oh why is the STC so hung up on PDFs? Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good medium… for distributing print-ready content online. It is NOT an ideal online (primary delivery) format, which is what the guide was intended to be.

So what’s wrong with PDF? Well…

1. You need Acrobat (full or Reader) to really navigate it well. I initially pulled it up on my iPhone and all I was able to do was scroll pages. The Find and other browse features weren’t available. It was pretty much useless to me as a mobile user.
2. It’s big. It weighs in at over 3MB, which is a lot to load at once when using it online.
3. It’s laid out like a printed document. If it’s supposed to be an online guide, why is it laid out for print? I just don’t get it.
4. Search is literal. If you are relying on search to find you a good consultant in, say, Albany NY, good luck. A search for Albany will bring up every Albany listed (more than just NY) and it will omit anyone from Troy, Schenectady, and oh, I don’t know, maybe Clifton Park.
5. Magazine-style advertizing breaks up continuity of content. I know it’s a revenue generator, but given it’s supposed to be an online guide, the choice of layout and delivery coupled with full page color advertising is just flat out distracting.

I really hope the STC reconsiders the delivery format for this guide and puts it online in the form of a searchable database with a slick front end and with proper online advertising design. As of now, the guide is cumbersome and difficult to easily use, especially for mobile users.

Update

After some back and forth today I think we may be making some progress.

Apparently not all STC members knew this guide was being put together and therefore missed out on being included. The deadline to opt-in will be extended to September 23. Contact Tom Gorski to be included. Listing is free for STC members, enhanced listings come at a small premium, and there are advertising options also available. Expect to receive a formal announcement about the extension soon.

The posted PDF, as it turns out, was never search engine optimized. The new version, to be posted after the extension deadline, will be optimized so search engines can indeed find it, making it accessible to the world at large.

Unfortunately the STC currently cannot produce the directory in any format other than PDF right now (due to available money and resources) , but they do plan on a web interface for it in 2010.

That’s all for now. I’ll keep the updates rolling as I learn more.