I’ve met Peter Childs a few times, but it was only today that I decided to really get friendly with his site, DailyDinner.tv.
At first glance, the site seems pretty straightforward….plain, even. There’s no funky graphical header or image rotator. There’s no long section of “follow me here”, or “tweet me there” calls to action. There’s not even a whole lot of text.
The genius in Peter’s idea is not in his ability to leverage social platforms to maximize the engagement of users and the authenticity of the experience and yadda yadda blah blah blah. (Thank goodness!)
Nope. What Peter does is way simpler, and WAY more effective. He solves a problem that each and every one of us have on a daily basis – what to make for dinner tonight.
DailyDinner.tv does one simple thing and does it well. Every day, at around 11am EST, the site posts a new, delicious recipe, that can be made with simple ingredients, simple kitchen tools, and in around 30 minutes. Peter tells me that his recipes are generally “an amalgam of several recipes to add flavour or reduce time, and some classics that everyone does the same.”
On the home page you’ll see the day’s recipe, with ingredients listed and either a high quality photo or a video. The photo and video thumbnail are the only images on the page, and that’s exactly how it should be. I want to see the yummy, not some fancy flashy graphics that mean nothing. I see the photo and I want to make it. It’s that simple.
I can sign up to receive the recipes by email, or I can subscribe to get them in my Reader. I can login and favourite recipes, or view an alphabetical list of previous recipes (which in this case is better than a searchable archive because it’s more practical and taste bud tantalizing to scroll though a delicious list!).
Here’s the point.
Every day I talk to people who are afraid to get started on the Web. They don’t have the time, or the technical/design chops. In fact, you don’t need any of those things. You just need to have an idea that solves a problem, and solves it well. Peter Childs is solving a fundamental problem, and doing it in a practical way – you don’t have to be a gourmet chef to follow his recipes. His recipes have only a few criteria – they have to be delicious, nutritious, quick and easy, and satisfying.
Perhaps we need to take a page from DailyDinner.tv’s book. Forget the fancy gizmos. Forget the latest trends. Build a site that is based on passion (I know Peter is passionate about food!) and the willingness to help peoples’ lives be better, and you’ll have a winner every time.
[photo credit: Peter Childs, DailyDinner.tv]
4 Comments
That is totally right, Peter! I wish more people knew the power of the Web to show them the answers they seek. With a bundle of curiosity, and by making some spare time, we all have the ability to create something new out here. And for the stuff we aren't sure about, there's lots of people who can either teach us or give us a helping hand.
Here's to your vision and imagination! We're all better off for it.
Fantastic!
Passion fuels the content and the content solves a problem. A yummy combination! I will have to check out DailyDinner.tv for certain!
Cheryl
Thank you!
The other thing worth mentioning is that with all the open source software you can implement almost anything you can dream up by gluing together off the shelf components.
I never programed before dailydinner.tv. The Cake PHP framework meant that much of the basics came out of the box (their are similar frameworks for ruby, django etc)
and if you're not up for that there are so may plug ins for WordPress that you can get close.
Also with the wealth of tutorials you can learn to shoot food, assemble videos etc.
Truly the only limitation is you imagination – and willingness to stick through it when the inevitable hiccups showup.
Have Fun!!
Love it! You are (as usual) bang on. We (perhaps not you, ha!) get stuck on being stuck. If we shed the gadgets and excuses and focus on the idea, the rest of it will fall in to place. When you first drive a car, you are over concerned about everything, but when was the last time you thought about down is left and up is right or check over your shoulder before changing lanes or look at the road in front not the at the hood of your car etc?
I love Peter's idea and thanks for sharing it. It is so simple yet most of us make it far too complicated.