Posts Tagged ‘Web Development’
Web development, it goes far beyond your website.
In the world of the web everything is not relative. While names may be similar, there are distinct differences, and its important for businesses to understand these difference when looking to move their companies forward in technology. For example, when one sees “Web Design” they probably think its a firm that makes or creates standard issue websites. A web designer could be a graphic designer or a less likely a web developer. Web developers are programmers. Programmers bring a totally different facet to the web than designers. While web designers bring beauty, vision and ease of layout to all things web, developers make them function and function dynamically.
In the area of “Web Development”, the possibilities are endless and far exceed the category of websites. In web development, you could find software engineers, application developers, system architects, and more. Web Developers can do far more than program your website for you. Many firms might wonder why they need a web development firm for if they already have a website. Web development encompasses all facets of programming that function across the internet. These days firms can link many systems to function across the web to run their businesses more efficiently. Some examples might be:
1. Inventory management
2. Order entry
3. Price catalogs
4. B2B financial transactions
5. B2B e-commerce
6. Mobile applications
7. Native applications
8. Custom tablet programming for kiosk alternatives
9. Restaurants utilizing custom tablet development for menus, ordering or seating options
Institutions like banks, hospitals, doctors office and more utilize web based applications daily to streamline their business and link all their systems to one central location. Even the IRS requires online payments for quarterly business tax payments.
If you can dream of something you wish you could do on your computer, tablet or over the web so your staff on the road or in a satellite office can access it, it can be built. You just have to find a custom web developer to build it. In most cases, taking things digital and removing the paper saves a company time and money. So, what are you dreaming of for the next step for your business?
Do Your Homework for a Website that Rocks!
SYDCON is delighted to welcome our very first guest poster! Erica Allison of Allison Development Group, a public relations and marketing firm that specializes in promoting people, places and projects and using research and analysis to do so successfully. Erica is a great lady, she also authored our very first blog comment! Follow her on Twitter at @ericamallison and check out her blog at Spot-On .
How many times have you worked on a website, spending months or longer working with a web designer, pushing your deadlines to get that puppy up and at ‘em, only to have it go “live” and wish it were, well, dead?
Hopefully, not too many times and not to that extreme! If you’re like me, you’ve worked on a website (yours or someone else’s), thought you had your “stuff” all figured out, but sadly realized over time that you really didn’t. The content isn’t quite what you need to reach your market. The copy is boring or not really an accurate reflection of you or your business. Or, you suffered the curse of trying to be all things to all people and put way too much information on your site.
What you have here is a failure to plan, a rush to execute, and an over-glorified business card that isn’t working nearly as hard as it should.
It’s ok. It happens. We’ve all been guilty of it. The good news is that it is completely avoidable.
Two Steps Worth Taking
1. Create a solid, integrated marketing strategy.
2. Share that strategy with your web designer.
Yep. That’s it. Don’t get too carried away here, there’s more to those two little steps than meets the eye.
Step One: Integration
For starters, that marketing strategy isn’t just for your website. It’s for everything…your QR codes, your contests, your blog, your direct mail pieces, advertising, social media accounts….everything.
The website is just one piece of a bigger puzzle, perhaps a very large piece, but a piece nonetheless that works in conjunction with all the other facets of your marketing strategy. To look at your website in isolation from the other elements of your marketing strategy will only leave it out in the cold. Even worse, it won’t support the rest of your marketing strategy and will become more of an odd afterthought than a key piece of the plan.
By integrating your website into your overall marketing strategy, you’re also looking ahead and forcing yourself to really think about how those pages that best represent your company are going to work for you. When you frame it as a piece of a larger plan, the possibilities are limitless. The best part is that you will end up with a website that is ripe for expansion and growth and not just something for the here and now.
Step Two: Sharing is Caring
To make it all come together and make your website one that really rocks… (drum roll please), you absolutely must share your strategy with your web designer. By keeping it locked up, your web designer would be doing just what you did by creating a website strategy in isolation. They would be designing and creating a website in isolation and not understanding your big picture, your desired outcomes and your overall business marketing plan.
Make the web designer an honorary member of the marketing team, at least for the duration of the design process. You’re still the leader of the team, but if you’re a smart leader and have chosen well, your web designer will be able to make your grand ideas come to life.
I use my marketing strategy as a map and a guide for all members of my marketing team, regardless of if they are in house or out-sourced. Everyone gets a copy of it and everyone hears me go over it in detail, out loud. That way, there are no surprises, no “Oh, didn’t I tell you about that major QR Code with a special landing page?” sort of moment.
I know it’s working when my web designer sounds excited and eager to implement the ideas. I know it’s really working when the web designer quotes parts of the strategy back to me.
But, wait…
Here’s the portion of the program where you might be wondering if I’m giving away trade secrets or my intellectual property. To which I reply, maybe, but it doesn’t mean that the next person who sees it or gets it will know what to do with it or how to properly execute it.
Strategies should always be unique; what works for one business or website won’t work for all of them. Acting as if they are a one size fits all, especially in web design and development will only get you in trouble. Recognizing the differences, on the other hand, will get you rehired!
What’s worked for you in your website design process? Do you have any tips that can enhance the process? What didn’t work for you? I’d love to hear your thoughts!
Who is the best person to develop a website?
I recently read a tweet that stated websites were more “creative” than “technical”, the tweet even went as far as to ask “if websites were a marketing decision why do computer guys feel they can build them”? Think about that for a minute. Is a website solely a creative piece, or solely a marketing decision? Who should be responsible for it?
Since SYDCON is a web development company, you can imagine we took slight offense to the above mentioned tweet. You see, we have a vastly different outlook on the topic. Here at SYDCON, we believe the best websites are created by a collaborative effort, between designers, marketers & developers. Just like when one is building homes, there are architects and there are builders, both equally as important, don’t you think?
A designer can design the most beautiful website, most creative website we have ever seen, but if it is poorly constructed big deal! A marketing department can work with the designers to get the message across, to tell the story, to call to action, but again if the code is bad, guess what…FAIL! If your links don’t function, or you site can not be viewed properly across all platforms or worse still it isn’t a secure site, it wont matter one bit how “creative” your site is. If your beautiful, creative website has a coding problem, it can even affect your search engine rankings. Just like with people, there is a lot more to a website than a pretty face!
If you are in the market to either redesign your site or create a new one, it’s wise to talk to potential firms about all aspects of a site. Your potential firm should understand your message, be able to have a designer bring it to life and also understand what it takes to make it work. Sure, a website is a “marketing decision” but if those marketers do not understand how things work, will your site work? If Ford is launching a new car model, you can bet the marketers are putting great faith in the mechanics who are building the products they are trying to sell. Websites are a team effort, if you belittle or take for granted any component, your website will never succeed.
Here at SYDCON, we work day in and day out with marketing firms, design firms, etc to deliver the best product a client can ask for. We understand that a successful launch comes from a team that works together and values what the other has to offer. So tell me, if it was a new or updated website for your business or your client, should you value the pretty face over whats on the inside, what makes it tick?
It’s November, be thankful and starting thinking about 2011…
It’s November, Happy Thanksgiving! Whether your business is flourishing, or just hanging on in this economy, we have to be thankful for the business we have! With November also comes the end of the year, moving on from 2010 and looking into 2011. What does your business have on the horizon for 2011? Lot’s of new trends are emerging, in social media, as well as in mobile & web development. Below is a our list of some key trends, we have also included a link to a post from @GiniDietrich at Spin Sucks for a list of social media trends. Which of these are you looking to implement?
1) Mobile Apps: Are there aspects of your business clients or staff could access on their mobile devices? Say product inventory or pricing?
2) iPhone/iPad Apps: Everywhere you look you see the phrase “There’s an App for that!”. Does your company have an App? Do you have the next great App idea? Look into bringing it to life!
3) QR Codes: QR Codes can offer your company valuable tracking information on how your advertising dollars are working, and where they are working best. They can help you track how well promotions succeed in certain areas. For example, did your promotion work better in the store or on the web?
4) Microsites: Microsites can be used for QR Code campaigns, new product lines, announcements, press releases, launch parties, you name it.
5) Ecommerce & Mobile Ecommerce: Is your website site up to snuff or is it hard to navigate and scaring away your prospective clients? Is your website mobile ecommerce ready?
6) Custom CMS: Do you frequently update your website content? You should consider implementing a custom content management system (CMS) to give you control over your site content?
Today, technology goes hand in hand with Social Media, so in addition to my list have a look at Gini Dietrich’s post “Eight Social Meida Trends for 2011“. Do you see any new trends you want to embrace and implement for your business in 2011? Start making plans now to incorporate them into your 2011 marketing plan and budget. You never know, it could give you a lot more to be thankful for next Thanksgiving!
