Written by Matthew J. De Reno Thursday, 13 May 2010 14:33

Scratched: A Casual Discussion of Writing, Websites, and Kitchen Sinks

You are reading the blog "Scratched" - a casual discussion of writing, websites, customer experience management, and life in general, or perhaps life in the era of smart phones and I-Pads.  Did I leave out fixing kitchen sinks?

Okay, I don't fix kitchen sinks but you get the point.  I offer to do a lot of things and this blog aims to describe some of those things. 

Indeed there is a business motivation behind this blog and the site on which it hosted, but I hope to workaround that and build into your experience on this website that you and I are, first and foremost, people. As people, we have emotions.  We are sometimes happy, energetic, eager and exuberant while other times we may find ourselves down, tired, sluggish and depressed.  And so too are customers of all small businesses.

Your customers are people with lives, that include children, pets, ambitions, times of joy and times of sadness.  Your customers are more than search engine results; your customers are beings powered by souls.  So too are you and I.  Our lives, are not always perfect. Neither will the posts you read here. One might say they are "scratched." That being said, I endeavor — and hope you endeavor with me — to help polish my scratched thoughts through dialog, of which I humbly hope my blog can humbly serve as a mere starting point for a great conversation.  

I'm Matthew J. De Reno, a writer and web designer living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. To be more specific, I am a creative writer, technical writer, a father, a husband, and always a dreamer. I suppose I wear many hats but who wants to wear the same hat every day?

The purpose of Scratched is a "casual discussion of anything related to small business websites, customer experience, and life in general" in a nice easy to swallow blog format.  An extended purpose is to hopefully teach you something about running your own small business website, to make you think about how websites can touch the lives of your customers in a new way, or make you want to get a small business website so that you can improve your customers experience with your small business. I may also gravitate toward sharing bits and pieces of my creative writing. On some occasion, life in general will be the topic.

This rather wide-ranging statement of purpose could include the management of websites, website design, best practices, what makes them tick, how they should be used and what should be done with a website once it is developed.  I will share opinions on how others are using websites — rightly or wrongly.  On some occasion, I may even wax philosophical about websites, writing, or about life in general.

Web security will be a frequent topic. After all, a website is unique in that it is a publication that is pretty much assaulted and attacked on a  regular basis.  Do people physically attack pamphlets or billboards or fliers? Well, I suppose they can, but a website is continuously targeted by an increasingly more sophisticated and malicious hacker; no sooner than one virus is solved, a new exploit is introduced, ready to render your latest web protection obsolete.

No doubt I will give special attention to Joomla-powered websites because that is the open source technology that we at Scratch Writing hang our hat on (at least one of our hats) and promote to our clients. On occasion, I may simply make you aware of great resources on the web that you should check out.  Sometimes I might stray off the beaten path and share rather odd assortments of wisdom, opinion and observations (this would be the "what have you" part of the Scratch Blog's purpose).

There are no special requirements or background needed to read this blog.  Although, it is highly recommended that "Scratched" be consumed along with a pot of hot coffee (or other a libation of your choice). The point is to relax and take it in as you see fit.  I'll finish this inaugural post by personally inviting your comments on any of the blog postings.  You don't have to agree.  I am not so much as interested in being right, as I am in being a conversation starter.  If you should be so inclined, I would gladly encourage you as my cherished guest to submit a blog entry on a topic of particular interest to you. 

In that spirit, I welcome you to Scratched - a casual discussion of small business websites, customer experience management, creative writing, technical writing, life in general and fixing kitchen sinks.