vi·sion·ar·y = Adjective: (esp. of a person) Thinking about or planning the future with imagination or wisdom:
Few people are true visionaries. We would like to think we are, but thinking outside the box is far harder than it sounds. Steve Jobs simply made the products everyone wanted. And if they didn’t know they wanted it, they did after all the buzz that surrounds an Apple release. I admit, I thought early on Apple missed the boat keeping products in house while Windows spread like a wildfire (or a virus is probably closer to reality ) Obviously Steve Jobs knew how to control a brand and grow it into one the most lucrative on the planet.
I started out a PC guy, and remained one until I bought my wife the mac mini when it came out. From there I was hooked. I have since bought, 5 macs, and love the products. With a PC your life is about anti virus software, and crazy executable files designed to ruin the world. With a mac it is about productivity.
And every release of an apple product helps me be more productive. As a web developer I spend all day on my computer, and Macs make that day more enjoyable, productive and profitable.
Then there is the iPad. I admit I wasn’t sold on it until I bought one for my wife. She uses it for almost all her needs. The product has revolutionized the industry and you better be developing websites that look ok on the iPad or you are missing a huge part of your market. Travel to any board room and watch Senior Executives. They pull out the iPad. The iPad also showed how the computer industry just wants to hang back, see what Apple does and create an inferior copy. It hasn’t worked, and the Pads which have come out, aren’t as good and don’t sell. Perhaps with Steve stepping down, other computer makers will actually think for themselves and create something great, to quote a great ad, “think different”.
So, with sadness, I wish Steve Jobs Godspeed. Thank you for Apple and all you have done. Few have really changed the world. You Have.
If you listen to some of the offers out there for cheap websites offered by large providers, they do get your attention. Do it yourself they say. Instant website they say. Low cost they say. Sounds good, right?
WRONG.
Sure you get a cheap website, but guess what? You get what you pay for. You get a template used by 1000s of others. Your brand identity is gone. The whole idea of marketing is to show how your product or service adds value, and to separate you from competitors. Well let me ask you this question. If you are using a template that your competitors can also use, aren’t you saying that there really is no difference between you and your competition? If that is the case, your customers may as well use, Eenie Meany Miney Moe to make their selection of which company to do business with? Seems like common sense, right? You’d be surprised. I met with a potential client, and we really hit it off. We were start on his project the next week. I never heard back, and saw he used the yellow pages to build a site. Wow. Really poor, nothing that tells you how professional he is and how his company had been around a long time. Just a plain, template, and nothing that will get him business. The same boring look and feel as many others. You have to give the Yellow Pages credit though. They know their days are numbered and are jumping in to new media. So they did it the cheapest way possible and will get clients who buy the price, not the job. A brilliant finish carpenter once told me, if they buy a price, not the job, walk away. Seems relevent in web development as well as carpentry!
So what is the difference between RooSites and the cheap instant website companies?
Fair question, and easy to answer.
Listen, I understand keeping costs down and we work with clients to find the best possible solution and try to find away to stay within their budget. Remember your website is your window to the world and provides a first impression. If a potential customer comes to your site and has a poor first impression, you won’t be getting their business.
