Monday, November 28, 2016

How To Market A Web Development Company: Dos and Don'ts

It is a really a challenge to market a web development company but if you want to stand out from the competition, you should consider these do's and don'ts.

Do's
1. Do use SEO well in your website. Good target keywords, good content, white-hat SEO techniques are what you need to rank #1 in Google and other search engines.
2. Do make your website user-friendly. Your website is your online business presence so make sure it says a lot about the potential of your business
3. Do list your business in business directories and listings
4. Do take advantage of some free ad listings online. You need not pay something expensive just to advertise
5. Do interact with your potential clients. When they have inquiries, you should try to get back to them as soon as possible and answer all your queries
6. Do finish jobs successfully with clients. Word- of -mouth marketing still exists.
7. Do some personal branding. Have a good logo and a tagline that touches people.
8. Do some direct contact marketing. Direct marketing techniques like handing flyers to target customers are still effective.

Don'ts
1. Don't do email harvesting. Believe me, its so irritating to see unwanted mails in your inbox, and email marketing has a low conversion rate
2. Don't try cold calling. This is also annoying. Wait for the right customers to come to you and don't force them.
3. Don't hand over some calling cards to potential clients that only contains your name and company. You should at least explain to potential customers what your business is all about and why they should need you
4. Don't do some blind marketing. Plan your marketing strategy well and target the right customers. Study their characteristics and where they hang out. Study their interests.

Bear in mind all these things and you will soon land many clients!

Sunday, November 27, 2016

Going Beyond the Business of IT Outsourcing and Consulting

When the internet was discovered, it was easily embraced by people. Web development initially started as a hobby for some. Then it became a business for others. Nowadays, IT outsourcing has become a billion-dollar industry, with a lot of top companies relying on some outsourcing partner/team to do some IT jobs for them. 
And lo and behold, almost everybody wants to start an IT outsourcing company to earn a lot of money. 
But is it a noble purpose?
Sometimes we are just blinded about the money that we can earn from clients. If you are a programmer/developer/IT consultant who only thinks about the money that you will earn from a certain contract, its high time to review your goals.
So how can you as a developer/programmer/IT consultant realize your noble purpose? I will offer some inspiration for you, some thoughts that you should ponder on, if ever you are stressed, burned out or think you are useless in society. 
Does the IT business have a noble purpose?
Yes it has.
When you create websites, think about the people who will read about useful information and how their lives will be touched by your presentation of content and code.
Think about the people whose work will be made easy so that they can have more time for their families and loved ones.
Think about bringing joy to other people when their loved ones buy gifts for them through ecommerce.
Think about the lives you will change when you build some software that can create more jobs for other people.
Think about the lives you may save with your medical apps.
Think about the entertainment you bring to make a lot of people happy and inspire them.
Remember, its not all money. Its the thought that counts. 


Saturday, November 26, 2016

To Be A Doctor Or A Programmer? That is The Question

Nowadays I am recieving a lot of mail from doctors and medical students who are torn between their love for programming and medicine. Some of them are already doctors but they want to pursue their interests. In my opinion, it is best to pursue what you love most. What makes you happy? You should pursue your passion!
But today, I just want to highlight why physicians should learn how to code. I came accross this interesting article written by Pieter L. Kubben, "Why physicians might want to learn computer programming"
So why learn programming as a doctor? First of all, it is fun. Being a programmer makes you creative and you are able to solve puzzling problems. Second, programming will help you boost your career. If you program as a doctor, you only prove your ability to transform your ideas into results. Also, expect that our future will mostly depend on information technology, so as doctors, we have complete control of technology in our hands and not just rely on some technical people to do stuff for us. Though we may be busy with clinical practice, yet we have to talk to technical people and we need to speak their language and understand their concepts.
Fourth, learning programming can transform you into a very interesting person. From web development to app development-- all of these can make you appear interesting to a lot of people. You can sell your apps if you want but just keep in mind that some people may not use your app. You can actually turn this into a business idea if you like. You need not hire some programmer who will only mess things for you. As doctors we are already content masters and we just need to have these content published and get the word out so we need to write code. Content and code are a good combination and its not impossible to learn how to code with all those free online courses!
If you are now on the road to programming, don't stop now. Carry on your passion! Live a life of no regrets. Pursue what you love, so that you don't have to complain later on that "I should have done this, I should have done that." Do what you love and stand up for your character.



Friday, November 25, 2016

The Current State of Information Technology Affairs

Hello my dear readers. I am now writing again on this blog of mine that I have "neglected" due to my recent duties as a techpreneur. Today is an important day for me because its my birthday. I figured out it would be best to write on my blog again on this special day.
From now on, everyday, I will be writing some short posts on this blog about my insights on information technology and the sciences. I will now start talking about the current state of information technology affairs.
Information technology and computer science nowadays are high-demand industries in the world nowadays. It is interesting to note that this was not so in the early 2000s. We didn't predict this demand before.  In the early 2000s, I started out as a content writer and people said it was not a lucrative job. Some programmers from the dot.com bubble told me that they picked up programming for some IT giants like Apple and IBM because there was "no one else to do it" but the nerds. 
Because there was no one else to do the dirty job of information technology, as an IT worker, you were expected to know a lot of things in the early 2000s. Like, if you provide content, you should not only provide words but also graphics. search engine optimization and layout or web design. If you do web design you are also expected to know how to do backend code. But now, this is not the case nowadays.
When you enter IT companies nowadays, it is interesting to note that they have somehow evolved into different departments. There are web designers, developers, writers, SEO sepcialists. The problem with these young people is that they are too specific in their tasks like they only know SEO, they only know writing. What has happened to the full-stack developer of the early 2000s?
I am not saying this in a negative way, its just that I find it amusing. Of course we must all welcome change. Its just that I think that if we focus too much on a single function, the full-stack developer in us might die. Just saying.