I’m Corey Vilhauer.

I’m director of strategy at Blend Interactive, a small shop in the heart of the Midwest, where I specialize in content strategy, information architecture, and understanding user needs.

Recent Posts

The Web Project Guide Podcast: Episode 24: Maintain and Improve (w/ David Hobbs)

October 17, 2023

Corey and Deane discuss the people and rules that help run a website after launch. Then, David Hobbs, author of Website Product Management: Keeping Focused During Change, joins to talk about transferring a site from a project to a product — what that means to keep the site going after launch, where it most often fails, and how to streamline requests and set reasonable expectations for the future of the site.

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The Web Project Guide Podcast: Episode 23: Plan for Post-Launch Operations (w/ Meghan Casey)

September 20, 2023

Corey and Deane talk about the idea of a web operations framework. Then, Meghan Casey, content strategist and author of The Content Strategy Toolkit: Methods, Guidelines, and Templates for Getting Content Right, joins to talk about content governance and ongoing maintenance — how humans are nearly always the problem (but not the humans you might think), the things you can do to plan for post-launch content, and how to deromanticize the bit launch in favor of content maintenance.

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The Web Project Guide Podcast: Episode 22: Test and Launch the Site (w/ Bob Davidson)

August 16, 2023

Corey and Deane talk about the concept of the “Nails List.” Then, Bob Davidson, Director of Development at Blend Interactive, joins to talk about how to get your site ready for launch, what makes a good QA practitioner, the role of quality assurance and testing in the development process, and how to prep the site so it doesn’t fall over when exposed to the real world. We also spend a lot of time talking up Jenna Bonn, Blend’s QA Practice Manager.

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The Web Project Guide Podcast: Episode 21: Migrate and Populate the Content (w/ Carrie Hane)

July 18, 2023

It’s The Web Project Guide Podcast, and we made you a new episode. The metaphor will always be there. A website is a house. Strategic design is the house architecture. Development and implementation are a team of contractors building out the blueprints. And getting the content in? That’s moving day. The metaphor would be tired, […]

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The Web Project Guide Podcast: Episode 20: Implement the Back-End Functionality (w/ David Knipe)

June 20, 2023

Corey and Deane discuss a high-level philosophy of back-end development. Then, David Knipe, Vice President of Product at Optimizely, joins to discuss back-end development — how developers and project stakeholders work together to make decisions, the difference (and balance) between technical perfection and audience needs, and the reasons why AI will help, but not take over, back-end development. Deane also equates developers to lumberjacks.

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The Web Project Guide Podcast: Episode 19: Implement the Design (w/ Ethan Marcotte)

May 16, 2023

Corey and Deane talk about how front-end development has evolved past the early days. Then, Ethan Marcotte, author of Responsive Web Design and Partner at Autogram, joins to discuss front-end development and how the world has impacted how front-end design is treated and approached. We also joke about whether Deane actually “invented” responsive web design. (He didn’t.)

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The Web Project Guide Podcast: Episode 18: Select an Implementation Partner (w/ Tony Byrne)

April 13, 2023

Corey and Deane discuss what clients should look for when selecting an implementation partner. Then, Tony Byrne, co-author of The Right Way to Select Technology and President of Real Story Group, joins to talk through the implementation partner selection process, including common mistakes, the value of domain knowledge, and how most projects should focus on technology first.

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The Web Project Guide Podcast: Episode 17: Plan for Hosting (w/ Elias Lundmark)

March 15, 2023

Corey asks Deane a brutally honest question: as non-developers, why should we care about hosting at all? Then, Elias Lundmark, product manager for cloud hosting at Optimizely, joins us to talk about website hosting in common terms — cloud versus on-premises, the reality (and politics) of “five 9s” and the things you need to understand before choosing a hosting provider or vendor offering.

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The Web Project Guide Podcast: Episode 16: Select a Content Management System (w/ Cathy McKnight)

February 21, 2023

Corey and Deane talk about a Donald Rumsfeld quote, and about the concept of “unknown unknowns.” Then, Cathy McKnight, Chief Problem Solver and lead analyst for The Content Advisory, joins us to talk about selecting a content management system — the process for choosing a system, how a CMS selection analyst can help keep vendors honest, and what to do if you’re selecting on your own.

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The Web Project Guide Podcast: Episode 15: Determine System Requirements (w/ Joe Kepley)

January 17, 2023

Corey and Deane discuss the three parts of selecting a CMS: requirements, tool, and development team. Then, Joe Kepley, chief technical officer at Blend Interactive, joins us to discuss the world of translating design and IA into code within a content management system — including balancing groundbreaking design with realistic engineering — and the need to tie high-level project goals into the real nuts and bolts of code.

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