Eric Staggs: Writer

Previously, I’ve written about the special skills one needs to employ for website development, and how those skills are changing daily. Now, let’s look at what exactly is changing.

The technology one uses to implement their online presence, brilliant flash-driven database apps, rusty-gear cranking CGI or smooth DHTML layers is really irrelevant when compared to the content being delivered.

Consider some of the most popular, or at least, oft visited websites: Youtube.com and Amazon.com. Youtube.com specializes in delivering video content. That’s all. Sure, there’s built in methods for sharing videos amongst your Facebook and MySpace buddies, but for the most part, Youtube.com just delivers videos. Nothing too complex about the layout, nothing too magical about the interface. Just videos.

Amazon.com on the other hand uses a rather old school display layout, plugged with little media apps here and there. Amazon’s magic, however, still lies in content delivery – its ability to parse through previous customer purchases and selections enabling it to display content that you are interested in.

Of course, the average small business doesn’t have the ad power or the draw that super-shopping sites or the delicate art of the human spectacle might have. But well planned, well thought out content is still the biggest draw available. Not only does well planned content have meaning for the audience, but it helps build long term SEO.

Communication, the Internet and personal telecom devices in particular are changing how we interact with one another, how we share knowledge and market our businesses and products almost daily. Text messages, wireless web-enabled devices such as the iPhone or similar gadgets allow near instant sharing of information with customers, clients and friends anytime, anywhere.

One would think this is a good thing – a great leap forward for marketing and advertising, allowing the small and mid-sized business owner a chance to compete with the corporate leviathans of the world. While it’s true, these new and ever evolving technologies allow us the average Joe to reach out to customers and clients, to expand their business networks and improve brand awareness, it’s also true that these new tools (toys) allow business owners a dozen and a half new venues to alienate and irritate their customers.

So what’s the solution? Knowledge of your technology and how the end user utilizes it is key, and with everything, research (vast amounts) goes a long way towards improving that knowledge. The internet has for the last two decades, and likely for the next two at least should be your first stop when trying to learn about these new methods of telecommunication.

There’s a catch, however. This caveat is subtle, and simple and for small business owners, logical. No website, blog, newsgroup or wiki is going to give you all the answers for free. If every master SEO writer gave away his secrets, he’d have no business. If every master web designer could step you through creating the most magnificent website ever, he’d have no clients.

This goes back to what grandpa always said “You get what you pay for.” This is especially true with technical knowledge. That’s not to say one shouldn’t do their own research, but unless you’re planning a career change from business owner to SEO Specialist or Web Content Specialist or Web (insert flavor here) Guru, you’ll need to hire a professional.