Ding-dong the Web is dead! Wait, What? No....

So I am sure you have seen one of the slew of articles around lately saying the web is dead and Facebook is the killer. Nah, not happen', don't buy it! Here 's a few reasons why I think this is like the Y2k panic...remember that?!

Last week it was Wired declaring "The Web is Dead" - but also telling us not to rush out the coffin. Today it's Adage "What Happens When Facebook Trumps Your Brand Site", and there are many other articles/blogs too. But, is it really dead, is your site really trumped?

This is how I see it, and heck I may be 100% wrong, but first of all, technically, Facebook IS A WEBSITE! So, therefore it's not going to kill the web, right? Second, are you really going to give all your power to Facebook, or anywhere for that matter? You are not seriously going to give them all the control and forget about the website that your company owns and can do with what you please? No way! Why would you, to boost Facebook? What happens if it is down, goes away or is no longer the place to be, like MySpace?

Many of these article talk about new ads with Facebook tag lines, sending people to brand Facebook pages, and how many fans brands have. Yeah, OK....so to me you know what that means? It means your advertising is working. Whether it be your commercials, social media campaign or radio spot. If potential clients are following the tag line to your Facebook page it means your ad campaign is a success- you grabbed their interest enough to give them simple directions "Go to Facebook page A" and they go! So, congratulate yourself, you accomplished something, you did, your company did...NOT Facebook! If you made your website or mobile app interactive you might just see the same turn-around of "like" that Facebook is showing you.

Is Facebook an important part of your marketing campaign, YES, absolutely! But, don't give them the keys to your kingdom. Don't make your Facebook page more important than your company or brand website. You own your company, you own your brand, you control your website and your domain. We have seen the fade of MySpace and the surge of Twitter, but its your website, you call the shots, you make it your own, just like your business. Facebook has rules you will need to abide by as well as limits to what you can and can't do.

So, my take? By all means embrace Facebook, just like Twitter and LinkedIn and whatever else you are using to get your name and message out there, but don't ever give up your individual control or conform your brand identity to someone else. Learn something from it, be interactive; whether on your website or mobile app or through social media. Businesses surge and survive because of their product, their message, their customer service, let's not forget that!

How equipped are you to handle your clients changing needs?

Let's face it, the current economy is changing the way most business' function. Many are re-assessing their plan of attack, changing how they focus their marketing and advertising campaigns . While also making sure they are positioning themselves for the now as well as setting themselves up for the business world recovery.

Your clients needs are changing, so therefore, so are yours. If you run a Marketing, Design, Ad, PR or even social media agency you know that the way you promote your clients is moving in a new direction. Are you prepared to help them advance not only socially but technologically as well? Can you point them in the right direction of current web standards, or mobile apps? Even if that's not your strong suit or specialty you should still be able to offer guidance, assistance or maybe even a partner to help.

Are you uneasy when it comes to discussions that are not in your typical list of services offered, yet fall under a similar category? For instance are you a marketing firm that doesn't have a deep programming capabilities? Don't be hesitant to get in the ring, programmers, especially web and mobile programmers go hand in hand with marketing firms and the like. Don't feel as though suggesting a partner or business associate to help meet your clients needs is a sign of a weakness in your firm. Think of it as showing your strong suit, showing you understand how important all your clients needs are and that you are there for them and will help them in anyway you can. We believe it takes a strong, confident business to make effective partnerships or offer successful referrals. So next time you find your self out of your realm, or wanting to expand your services, reach out to your social network, or industry related firms to help conquer client needs. Face it, things just work better when we help each other!

The best solution is a individual solution!

Customer satisfaction - we all strive to deliver it 100% of the time. And, as we all live and learn, we find out there are many ways to help meet the goal of "Customer Satisfaction!".

Here at SYDCON we always strive for Customer Satisfaction. We always want to give our customers the best solution for their needs. One way that we believe helps us attain that goal is to find not just the best solution, but an individual solution. We believe each business is unique no matter what you sell, how many competitors you have or how big or small your business is.

When we speak with potential customers, our goal is to offer the best solution, a CUSTOM solution. What works for your competitor may not give you the same results. So, while we want to talk to you about your competitors, see how your site matches up, our goal is to create your own unique presence. Our approach is not one size fits all!

Our belief is that by offering a complete custom programming and design solution, we are offering our clients the best for their specific business needs. By offering custom design we are bringing to life the spirit of the company, helping to continue the branding that usually is pre-existing while keeping the look fresh. But we go further, by offering totally custom development your site works for you and your clients! When we develop a site you get the functionality you need, while not having to work around the ones that you don't.

If you are looking for the best individual web solutions for your business, let's talk and help move your business forward.

Sometimes it does "Take A Village"....

We have all heard the saying "It takes a Village". This saying can be applied to many things, from raising children to improving our climate and our world. But, it can also be applied to business. As we all know, running a business is a complex thing. We all strive to make our clients happy and deliver the best solutions we can. Sometimes in order to deliver the best solution we need to call on our Village or expand our Village.

There are many ways to make your Village work for you and your client. SYDCON's Village is vast, and growing everyday. Our Village consists not only of our staff and clients, but also our partners. In the current economy partnerships help us all help each other. Its hard to staff employees for every task you may have, especially when certain tasks are not a part of each and every job or client.

Our partners get a wonderful benefit from being part of our growing village. They can utilize our expertise when they need us, and we are off helping others when they don't! They are not paying for a full staff of developers all year when maybe 1 in 5 of their clients have development needs. And, staffing 1 developer may not always be the answer, with so many languages and databases out there, working hand in hand with a development firm gives you the advantage of a staff at your fingertips for usually less than the cost of 1 developer.

Our partnerships work both ways too, since SYDCON is a custom development shop, we do on occasion have client needs that exceed our area of expertise, and our first reaction to help meet our clients needs is to reach out to our Village for support.

Having a deep and reliable Village will help us all. If we are to survive this economy we all need to work together, increase our services offered and better yet give our clients the BEST solution to their needs.

Interested in becoming a SYDCON Villager? We are always open to hear new ideas and welcome Villagers to our fold. Let's talk about it!