The other day I was on a call with a potential client and he asked me how long I had been in the business. I told him I had built my first site in 1996, the early days of the internet. I got to thinking how time flies and how much things have change in such a short time.
For Instance:
Remember when you had to build sites to look good in 800 x 600 as that was the most popular resolution? Wow has that changed for the better.
Remember when all your clients wanted flash on their sites? Then along came the iPad and changed the world. Thank you Mr. Jobs.
Remember when your choices of fonts was limited to but a few choices?
Remember when AOL was on top of the world? Now a mere shadow of itself.
Remember when dial-up was your only choice? Now modem sounds are history.
Remember when you could only use very small images due to download times?
Remember when Yahoo was the search engine of choice? Now Google not only owns the search market, it has also become a verb.
Remember when you had to build a separate mobile site? Then along came responsive design.
Change is a constant, especially when dealing with technology. As Winston Churchill said, “To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.”
I couldn’t agree more, and can’t imagine what changes we will see in the next 17 years!
Business owners are swarmed with offers from SEO companies that can make them number 1 in Google. They also hear from companies that can build them the greatest site ever made for short money and really quick. But the truth of matter is: They can’t in either case.
The SEO companies that send out millions of spam emails promising the moon, are 99.9% bogus. They haven’t even reviewed your site, yet promise number one in days. Google uses an algorithm that no one can reverse engineer. Plus, Google is always updating their algorithm to get around the SEO tricks. Have you ever wondered (and you’ve heard me say this before) why emails from these SEO companies come from some nondescript GMail account? Simple, because if it came from their domain you would quickly do a search and find out they are not in the top 100 for SEO. If they can’t help themselves, they can’t help you. Look, we tell people all the time, we can improve your search rankings by old-fashioned work and quality content. Nothing beats quality content, period.
As for the companies who promised to build you the greatest website ever, and get it done really quickly and really cheaply. Well, you get what you pay for. You get a crappy template that they have used hundreds, and in some cases thousands of times. They plug in text, and your site is done. But it’s not original, doesn’t look good, and it’s not quality technology. Chances are you will be looking for new site within a year.
For example: I just had a client that we’ve done a lot of work for contact me. We have maintained a great relationship, but when time came to do over one of their sites, they chose a company promising speed, price and that the owner wouldn’t have to raise a finger. They sent me a link to look at the new site in development. I could not believe my eyes. They were using technology, that not only is outdated, the company that owns it is actually about to retire it and has been dead for years. I won’t mention the technology I’m talking about, I don’t want to embarrass the person, although you would get a good laugh out of it. This development firm has their own niche within a given industry. They do hundreds of these types of sites, very cookie cutter and nothing special from a UI standpoint. Unknowing site owners typically won’t look and see the technology, so it sounds good. Quick, cheap, and little effort. Again, within a year they will be looking for a new solution.
While it is an old expression, the title of this post holds true today. In fact, it is probably truer today then the day it was first uttered. Nothing beats hard work. Companies may make crazy promises, but use your common sense when entering into a new project. And be careful of any email from companies out of the blue, chances are they are spammers, or fly by night outfits.
If you need help with Web Development, or SEO, contact us today, we are glad to help.
