Let's talk quickly on timely topics to elevate your web strategy. Fellow developers will be addressed as well, but in small doses, and wherever possible, in common-speak.
This is one of those things that I always enjoyed delegating, but always knew it was up to me to really dial in the messaging for. So time has indeed gone by since the last update, and every one of our clients has an updated story on their website. I am personally very honored to have continuing great clients over the years and am glad that the projects keep rolling in.
Since our best work is really on the back end of a website, where browsing around as a user only shows about 10% of our work, linking over to sites has never really been a great promotional tool for us anyway. With the blog however, we can certainly tell our story.
Please take a look at our portfolio now and get yourself updated while I talk about our new local web portal we are launching… which is really what I want to talk about anyway.
It was back in 1996 I had a vision of how the internet would not only revolutionize the way we do business, but also that it would be used to revitalize local economies that were otherwise hard hit and/or isolated. I was wrong about my idea in terms of timing, as at that time I started a local web service called victorvalley.com (see remnants here) and it simply came before it’s time.. and for the next decade the internet dispersed economies rather than anchored them locally.
Now that we are just getting into an especially funky recession, and our network dependent economy is leaving local business at a disadvantage, I believe the time is right to work on building the local web. People will still of course be using Google to research buying decisions and looking for value, but they will include local searches and should by now expect to be finding the answers locally, not elsewhere.
Enter LocaSource - crazy hot values from wise local experts. We expect to have 200+ of the best local business people, restaurants and retail outlets occupying positions as local anchored go-to resources for everything from home remodeling, to charitable giving, to night spots, realty and accounting. As long as it is local, and our partner can contribute relevant content for their category, then a new relevant blog is born.
We plan on always keeping this resource local, so as not to fall into the trap seen so often with empty, diluted national directories. We want to build something the community can gather around.
In case you haven’t already heard, there is a new recession in town. Just kidding. Well, what you probably haven’t heard is that until recently, CGI has been protected from the storm by a client with a huge language learning project called Echolearn. Unfortunately, for the time being, we have had to suspend that project even though it is 95% complete! Sad.
Well, the good news is that we are back on the market with a new set of wicked skills that can really give you the edge in your web presence this year. I am confident that once we let the cat out of the bag on our various combined business, marketing and programming skills, getting new clients will be no problem despite the shortfall in investments.
Now, some would say that getting new business is just too hard these days, no matter what your skills. To that I say, ‘horse hockey’! Smart businesses are not categorically suspending investment at all, but actually they are spending wisely on new ways to streamline their productivity for starters. This gives us great confidence, because this is our strength. We are experts in web-enabling processes that take up a lot of personnel time. Since the headlines are all about layoffs, companies need our services to close gaps in the operation created by these layoffs. We like to come into an operation, identify areas of inefficiency in workflow processes, and provide a quick solution. We can eliminate 2-3 FTE’s of waste in companies as small as 12 people.
Of course there are companies that spend well into 6 figures on these kinds of upgrades to their operation, but that is not necessary. Since CGI is a smaller operation, with long-term commitments to a short list of clients, we can perform at a much higher level of efficiency than our competitors, which translates into a better ROI for you. I will personally oversee your project and build a custom solution that fits your company values and mission. My team is available around the clock for support, but remains small and dedicated, which gives you direct access and zero bureaucracy.
Now, stay tuned for the next post that highlights our updated skill sets related to the media industry, mobile web, and data feed management. Plus, take a look at our recent SEO triumphs in getting 3-4 positions on the first two pages of a google search for Mobile Talk Radio. look for cellecast.com and fourthspeaker.com links there.
Like most people, the beginning of the year makes me think about my future and my role as a developer in the online world. I am imaging the world of the desktop fading, with everything going mobile. The days of waiting to get home to check your email are at an end - get ready to be connected everywhere. In short, mobile web development will grow, a lot on all levels.
Mobile platforms are moving very fast, with the iphone and android, we will see a lot of mobile development in the near future, and internet on your smartphone will become cheap. There will be more and more mobile template for large scale websites. Front-end developers will have to adapt and make css template for mobile phones. Internet Explorer will lose ground, big time and be replaced with faster adapting services such as Firefox mobile and other newcomers.
For the developer, that means simpler designs that take advantage of the limited memory and screen space. The developer will need to adapt to become a ‘user-experience, usability’ guru as competition for simple yet elegant designs grow exponentially. Libraries that facilitate user-experience such as prototype.js and JQuery will make the jump to mobile web as well. Also, features that take advantage of geo-centric features that such devices afford will also come into the forground. The modern day web designer will fade into a more programistic genre of online design staff. Ease-of-use and simple style will regin suprime and crush the fading afterglow of Web 2.0.
The at home desktop personal computer will have its place in the in the new world of media - at least for now. But the stars that are about to take foreground and really shine are going to be the mobile devices that provide access to information to us virtually anywhere in the world. The future of the internet is the mobile web.
