Hello… crackle…come in… is anyone there…. calling Earth…

I am Dave from a plant called Realitus.  We are our own planet very much at the centre of our own universe. You my friends, are just a distant dot in the night sky. You may have burnt out long ago - frankly we don’t care.

On Realitus we are a race of communicators (web, WordPress, Print design and so on). The most sacred thing on our planet, the Holy Grail of communication, is knowing what to say to people at just the right time and in just the right way to be genuinely helpful to them.

To this end, three of our commandments are as follows:

1. If you are the answer, what is my problem?
2. You’re obviously in it to make money. What’s in it for me?
3. You can say one thing well, two things half as well and three things badly. This self-penned mantra has served us well over the years.

In short, you need to show that you understand my situation and problems; demonstrate that you can supply something of value to me; do it concisely and with impact.

We do a lot of business with the people of Earth. They are very egocentric. The first line of their constitution is

“Enough about me. Let’s talk about you. What do you think about me?”.

They are also constantly short of time and culturally they are all selling something and buying nothing. It is interesting that 71% of businesses on Earth fail within a decade of starting up. Our hypothesis is that they are so obsessed with trying sell their own ideas, that they don’t take the time to learn what people want to buy.

So what is the point of all this. Can all these bloody self-appointed coaches, experts and others stop sending me emails that tell me how bloody great they are. Instead could we have emails from people who can understand that we need money, customers, sales and aspirins and we need them right now. Could those people tell us where we find these things and explain how we do it and show why we can afford to pay them and where the return on that investment will be. And for the love of JC, can they do it in less than 5000 words of self-aggrandising bollocks.

Thank you. As the song goes, “Back to Life, back to Realitus”

reading though the Google article on Realitus, it occurs to me what a task we have set ourselves. Having returned from WordCamp UK and deciding to establish a dedicated WordPress proposition, I am now at that strange crossroads. So far we have a name, Realitus. We have a proposition, WordPress Consultancy.

We understand the value of that: WordPress is easier, better, lighter nicer, under continual development, flexible, more secure and so on, than anything else out there. WordPress was about blogging, but now it is about web and optimisation and communication and giving greater control to website owners. The cross fertilisation of this technology is, at core, its making.

The story of the post-it note is a good parallel. Someone at 3M was tryin to make a glue for a completely different purpose. the paper test swatches he made while doing this were used by the secretaries to make notes on documents because they could be removed …yadda yadda yadda the rest is history.

The story of WordPress is the same. It has emerged from a niche area of the web, blogging, but is about to become known for underpinning most websites in the world, in a way where everyone should win.

We realise that the subtlety is going to mean somewhere between nothing and complete confusion to many website owners out there. But we also know that people are beginning to realise that something is changing in the web landscape and many are wondering how to engage in that and what the benefits are going to be.

We are able to design and develop existing themes as well as create our own. We are able to translate the potency and potential of WordPress into English, through a business case and make it happen. We are part of the WordPress community. We are well connected with the best developers in the UK, with the the owners of WordPress and with the free and shared resources available through engaging with the WordPress Community.

But what now? We need a customer.

Stage 1. We need to get some of the right people into a room and talk to them about this.

Stage 2. Work with them to develop their Strategy.

Stage 3. Implement the solution.

I have a pen, a telephone and a piece of paper. Who the hell should I call to make this happen?

I spent a very fruitful time, professionally, at WordCamp UK last weekend. Amongst other things I learnt that my marketing company, Creative Thing was probably one of the first to launch a commercial non blog deployment of WordPress. (ACIDnews). We also learnt that there is currently a demand for these skills and the market area is growing.

In response. We felt we needed a more dedicated WordPress proposition. As such we have split our cbusiness in two. Creative Thing will focus on Marketing, graphic design and print, while the new name, Realitus will focus on web design and WordPress. We feel that while we are able to design and deploy WordPress, our expertise in marketing and our contacts within the WordPress community makes it better for us to operate in the consultancy hole, defining  objectives, scoping requirements, designing solutions and either building or sourcing the appropriate supplier to do so.

This means we need to sort out the two brands websites to better focus and define the message. The Realitus website has been constructed quite quickly over  a few days (the power of WordPress). We are really happy with it as far as it goes (needs more content). The new Creative Thing website is close to being finished . Again no content, but structurally it is looking good.

Take a look and let us know what you  think: ct.trialzone.co.uk

I have been running my marketing and design company, Creative Thing for some years now and we have just decided to split the company in two - retaining Creative Thing for graphic design and traditional media marketing.

The new off-shoot is Realitus. It exists because among our successes was realising very early on that WordPress could be so much more that a blogging tool. We thought if you just forget about blogging completely, and look at the way WordPress does things and what it both can do and potentially could do, you realise that it is not a blog - it is a great deal more.

In 2005/2006 we started to think around this and came up with a concept called Newsengine. We were able to deliver our first important WordPress website in the form of ACIDnews an online newsdesk and communications hub between the members, the organisation, html email communications and promotions. It was created for the Anti Copying In Design organisation (ACID is a membership, lobbying and commercial rights organisation operating in the UK and Eu. ACID has been in Desaign Week’s top 50 most influential organisations in Design for the lest five years).

Some years later we realise that this type of work requires a dedicated vehicle all of its own. And that is Realitus.

Realitus are UK web experts and

WordPress consultants.

Our big idea can be simply put: Good ideas don’t just happen, you have to make them happen. And certainly one of the best ideas for a decade is happening right under everyone’s noses in the shape of WordPress. Businesses large and small from Tamworth to Tasmania have been waking up to the potency and effectiveness of WordPress and bringing the Realitus WordPress Consultants in to make it happen for them.

We stand out because before we did what we do now, we did what you did. We managed and ran businesses, big plc businesses and little struggling businesses. So we know where you’re coming from. We’ve been down the same road.

We have nailed our colours to an open source approach to the web - these days that is almost exclusivelyWordPress. And if you haven’t heard what is going on with WordPress, you should really give us a call.

Let’s make some good ideas happen.

Following the most impressive WordCamp UK conference in Birmingham - a review will follow at some point - I am persuaded to start a blog. To date I have resisted this, being busy and not at all convinced that my ramblings will be of any interest to anyone. However, I am already convinced that WordPress is the new way of doing the web for me and my customers, I am persuaded that this is now absolutely necessary for me to explore the entire potential of the medium - so here is the blog. It is an exercise in learning through spouting off. And I can sound off on most things. (more…)