Web presence matters.

Nick has a terrific post today about You And Your Website. It gets a little wonky (in a good way!), but I love what he says about New Leaf's website:

For a company that was tiny and had no money, this pro-bono design was the get of a lifetime. We still get comments, in a market five years older, about how great our site looks. That site has caught the attention of artists just landing in Chicago, and we get the privelage of working with them first… because we had a web presence that was simple and sleek and showed us off.

This reminds me of one of Terry Teachout's guidelines for theaters inviting his attendance: "Web sites matter--a lot. More often than not, your site will be my introduction to your company. You don't have to cram it full of cutesy-pie bells and whistles, but the smarter the design, the greater the chance that I'll give it a second glance." Absolutely true.

Comments

[Ira M.]

Speaking of New Leaf Theatre, when is Time Out going to run a review of their latest production? I utilize Time Out for their thoughtful reviews more than any other publication, but I've noticed multiple other reviews for "The Long Count" and still nothing yet from Time Out.

[Kris Vire]

Hi Ira,

Both because the run of "The Long Count"--just eight performances and on Fridays and Saturdays only--presented problems against Time Out's production schedule, and because "TLC" is by New Leaf's account a work in progress that continues to evolve throughout the run, we chose not to review it in TOC.

I'm still hoping to catch it myself, anyway; if I can manage it next weekend, I may write a blog post about it either here or at the TOC blog before the show's closing weekend. Thanks for asking.

[Ira M.]

That's too bad. Considering the amount of coverage and attention that New Leaf gets from Time Out and on your own blog, it would have been great to hear Time Out's take on this latest production, particularly because it's an original work. I think you guys are the only ones that haven't run a review.