Ocean Web Consulting Blog

Being in the Information Technology industry and having to look for new work every now and then, I have noticed an alarming trend. Company HR Recruiters who post requirements for specific jobs which seem to want a jack of all trades. Although, this is some what expected in the industry however it has gotten completely out of hand.

I have a bit of experience in software development including Delphi, Asp.Net, C#, AJax, HTML, XHTML, CSS, JQuery, Java Script, C, C++, MS SQL, MY SQL, PHP, Crystal Reports. I also have experience in Photoshop, Illustraitor and Flash. This sounds impressive right?  However I am not an expert in all of them. I am a intermediate in most because there is no time to focus on one or two technologies to become an expert. This is true for many job candidates applying for work today.  These candidates, in many cases, fail to meet the expectations of the company and don’t always make it pass the probationary period. Even though a candidate is very knowledgeable in one or more technologies, the other technologies drag them down into the depths of hell.

What this has lead to is more people that know less about each technology and fewer experts.  What this does is put more pressure on individuals as the stress of researching how which portion of a technology works in order to be able to implement a feature. Having to do this for several technologies at the same time for one or more active projects can break even the hardened veterans.  Yes there are development tools that makes making applications today a lot quicker and with less issues but this is not a solution to expertise.

Why is this important? First, in today’s economy with the constant layoffs, the more skilled individuals who have focused on one or more technologies for most of their career, now have to jump into many newer technologies all at once. Thus company’s loose the potential to hire experts because they want more for less which is a growing trend in most of American culture these days. To prove this, look at a job listing site for software developers. 80 – 90% are looking for senior level candidates.

This also leads to fewer applications that are rock solid, many projects either are released with less features than initially planed,  they have more bugs in the software after release or they fail to make milestone and release dates.

Staying stagnant, as a developer, is a bad thing over all. However why not take advantage in someone that is already trained and an experienced expert in one or two technologies rather than hiring one individual that has limited understanding and experience in a myriad of technologies. The cost of training, research and missed deadline dates alone makes up for the savings in less staff.

Lets take a step back and get control of this out of control plane wreck before its too late.

For me, Google gmail is just awesome.  One example of this is the Last account activity feature. It is located at the bottom left corner below the list of emails.  Have you ever wondered if anyone has been reading your email? This has crossed my mind a few times. Last account activity gives you a birds eye view of what basic activity has been happening to your gmail account.

Example:

The image above shows what type of device accessed your gmail account, the ip address, date of access and how long ago this was. As we see in the above image, I use my mobile phone and PC to access my gmail and all of the activity looks normal. In your case, if you don’t use your phone to access your gmail then this would be a red flag or if you have not accessed your email in a while and see recent activity (under Date/Time) this would also be another indicator that someone is reading your email.

Another interesting feature here is setting alert preferences. I allows you to turn this feature off all together. I wish they would make this a feature rich function where one could send SMS notifications if a certain access type was used or a unidentified IP address etc.

Google keeps innovating and making gmail a current and safe email client. I have other email accounts on other sites however I don’t use them as my primary email account. Along with Last account activity feature, PIN code and the HTTPs encryption, gmail, in my opinion, is the safest web based email system around.

As  businesses land their presence on the web, they want their message to get out to as many customers as possible.  Many businesses overlook a tremendous resource which blogging gives to them. If you are unfamiliar as to what a blog is, a blog is a way to educate, relay news and information about your business.  Articles placed in a blog is usually about a topic of interest. Blogs are searchable on Search Engines and this gives your business a second avenue of free advertisement.

Most importantly, to make your blog worth while, is to add articles at least once a week.  Frequent updates lets search engines know there is more activity on the web from your business. Never use a blog to talk about your products and pricing just to sell directly. Most major search engines read your blog and determine if the article is informative or used just for selling. If they find its used for selling directly they may not list it in search results. Adding articles to your blog can be time consuming. Especially if you are busy. Good ideas is to have your manager or knowledgeable staff write articles of  their interests. Another good avenue is to invite other professionals or vendors you deal with on a regular basis to write articles on your blog as a guest author.

If you plan to sell through your blog, do it very transparently.  Also, you should already have a web site that sells and your customers have seen it. They don’t want to go to your blog to see the same information, to buy things or be pitched sales directly.  Teach or inform them and let them know that your company can fulfill what the article is targeting if you are selling. This is transparent selling.

Blogs keep customers/visitors coming back to your web site. This is a cornerstone to business on the web. The more often they visit your site the more likely they will buy from you. So keep them coming by adding new articles often. This keeps their interest high and can become a routine for them. The articles should be written to show how knowledgeable your company is about topics that relate to your business.  If your articles show this then potential customers see this and begin to feel comfortable going to you for their needs.

Blogging increases your web presence. Every article is not only searchable via major search engines but can be linked on other web sites or blogs by visitors. This is a tremendous help for any business as it gives their blog more popularity and higher ranked when people search on search engines. If someone encounters an article, this gives your site a potential customer because you made sure to link your company’s web site in the article, preferably at the bottom.

Blogs can tell past visitors when new articles have been added. Its called RSS and most modern browsers or email clients allow you to register to a blog via RSS. Its passive compared to email blasting campaigns and many visitors prefer this to having their email in boxes flooded with company email campaign letters. This can also give less maintenance for you because you don’t have to manage any email lists for your blogs. Blogs are not as direct marketing as email, but  blogs can be used alongside email campaigns or they can be used independently of them. This all depends on the campaign’s topic.

When writing your articles think about what your business sells/services and what key words people may search for when they are looking for a company such as yours. Cater your articles that take advantage of this while keeping them interested throughout. The reason for having keywords in your article is search engines look for these key words and rank your blog accordingly. Repetitive use of major keywords related to your business in between your articles help especially when your articles are linked on other sites and blogs. Note, repetitive usage of keywords within a single article just to have them will cause a red flag in most search engine algorithms that are used to rank your site. Especially if the article is nonsensical.

To summarize,  blogs inform visitors  and don’t sell directly but be transparent. The article itself is relaying some sort of information and this information should relate to your business. Update often and make sure to mention your company’s web site, preferably at the bottom. Use keywords related to your business inside your articles. Your web designer should be able to hook up a custom made blog into your web site. This blog should have the same look and feel as your site as we have done for our us. A blog site with well written articles that become popular and are linked over many web sites bring potential visitors to your web site and that can be money in the bank. Best of all its all free!

Finally, this article is a good example of transparent selling for Ocean Web Consulting. We are giving you valuable information that is of interest you as a business owner and at the same time we mention that we can set up your blog and make it available for your website visitors and search engines.

Ocean Web Consulting has 12 years of experience in web design, IT services, software integration/customization and customer support. We support the greater Los Angeles metropolitan region including Orange County CA, Los Angeles County, San Bernardino County and Riverside Counties. Visit our web site to view our coverage map at www.oceanwebconsulting.com

In our previous blog in this series we covered the first 6 parts that make up a good IT Professional. I will continue with the remaining parts of this list then summarize and offer my conclusions and observations on this topic.

1. Speed – this relates to #6. If your IT professional spends hours at your business, chats with employees and does not seem to be focused on the job at hand this is another way they can gouge you. A true IT professional will evaluate the issue(s), give you an estimate then get the job done promptly.
2. Looks to save your business money – hardware (computers, printers etc.) and infrastructure (network, routers etc.) are expensive. If your company is just starting from scratch or has all of this in place your IT professional needs to find the best prices at the highest quality and they should always give you three quotes one for the high, middle and low then choose the middle one. If your IT professional is constantly suggesting that you purchase new or replacement computers or some technology gizmo which may not be needed (a luxury) this is a red flag and it’s time to find a new IT professional. The usual life span of a Server is 6 years and workstation(s) is 5 -8 years. If your systems are working fine and there are no issues then don’t replace a workstation. However, when it comes to your server, stick to the 6 year rule as this is one of the most important pieces of your infrastructure and affects all users.
3. Educates -  When we fix an issue that a user has while using a particular software or windows setting, we try to educate them so that they can perform these minor changes or know exactly how to perform a specific task (i.e. insert a date time stamp in a word document or sign into their web email account). This helps your customers by making their users smarter and not having to call the IT professional when another user has the same problem. They can get help from someone inside your business that knows how to do this.  This saves money and time for your business.

Conclusion:

Many IT Professionals refrain from educating the users because it lowers their bottom line by removing repetitive calls for repeat issues. They also refrain from giving you multiple estimates because they make more profit as they often have reseller’s licenses and set their own prices. If an estimate does not include internet based vendors for the hardware/software then find a new IT professional. Buying online for technology is usually cheaper for the same hardware/software that can be bought from local retail businesses and at tremendous savings.  If your IT professional charges you $100 for a 5 minute fix/install then it’s time to find a new one; especially if they access your computers remotely to perform this install/configuration. Here at Ocean Web Consulting, we give our customers a line item estimate so that they know how much time a job will take and the estimated cost. This allows our customers to ask us questions beforehand and there are no unexpected charges. We also offer monthly, quarterly and yearly support plans. During these periods the customer can call for unlimited support related to software use and computer usability problems.

There are numerous ways an IT professional can save you money and often it comes to working with your business manager and talk about tradeoffs versus the bottom line. For example, does your business really need that extra printer so that someone does no have to walk a few feet a few times a day to grab their documents?  Remember, every piece of equipment that is added to an office not only has the initial price tag but also long term maintenance, utility and replacement costs.

Ocean Web Consulting has 12 years of experience in web design, IT services, software integration/customization and customer support. We support the greater Los Angeles metropolitan region including Orange County CA, Los Angeles County, San Bernardino County. Visit our web site to view our coverage map at www.oceanwebconsulting.com

This is part one of a two part series on what makes a good IT professional. There is a 3 tier system of computer professionals for business. Tier 1 has a single individual who fixes computers for friends and family then decides they can make a living out of it and starts a business. These are also known as the computer guy. Tier 2 can also begin from a single individual but they come from a strong technical background. They have computer science degrees and or have years of on the job experience from midsized to large companies. Tier 3 is established companies that have many employees that specialize in different areas of technology.

This tier system also aligns with pricing. The lower the tier the lower the pricing and in many cases lower the quality of workmanship, attention to detail and experience. So what makes a good computer guy or IT professional? It is a combination of many things. To be honest most people choose their IT professional by word of mouth. But this does not guarantee success.

Look for the following to find a good IT professional:

1. Kind and courteous - your IT person should not cop an attitude or ego when approached about a problem or requested change. They should be easily approachable and explains things in clear understandable manner.
2. Honest – charges customers for actual time worked and not for research and driving time etc. Tier 3 usually follow this but many tier 2 and 1  do not. They should give you a line item estimate for any job including price and time to completion. Then review the estimate with you before starting.
3. Professional - you have spent a lot of money making your business clean and professional. Your IT person should also present themselves in this manner as well. Long gone are the expert that wears rock t-shirts and torn jeans. They should not wear shirts that can clash with your business expectations (i.e. AC DC T-shirt and you run a church). T-shirts with their company name and logo is very acceptable. Professionalism also includes attitude. You do not want someone that uses the ‘F’ word in their sentences or always talks over your head in techie talk. They need to be keenly aware of your level of technical understanding and speak appropriately and listen to you.
4. Patient – in most cases, users specialize in a particular application or two and they do not venture around the computer much. So the resident power user may a user that knows their way around Microsoft Word extremely well or can change the printer cartridge but does not know much about Excel or Gmail etc.   A good IT professional will recognize this and not belittle or laugh at anyone because they are not familiar with easy things like how to lock a workstation.
5. Available – if the only point of contact for your IT professional by phone, then it’s time to find a new one.  Ever try to call your IT professional and you leave several messages until they finally call you back in a few hours or worse days later? This is unacceptable! Today there is text messaging (SMS) and email. Here at Ocean Web Consulting we use all of these. If there is a real emergency then we recommend that customers call us on the phone and send an email. If they have general questions or comments for a non-emergency, we recommend they send us an email. Your IT professional should carry one of the latest smart phones. These phones have push email capability which means when you send them an email they get it automatically. They should return phone calls within fifteen minutes to half hour and reply to emails within 4 hours. We also use instant messaging on our smart phones. This allows for quick conversations/questions via text and it allows the IT professional to multi-task to continue working on a job and at the same time help another customer. This is a win-win where the IT professional can charge for support via instant messaging (this is worked out with customer beforehand) and at the same time he is working on another paying for job for a different customer. Customers win because they get quick replies to their questions.
6. Solid Support – Solid support does not only include expertise but also responsiveness. Today is a great time to be an IT professional when it comes to support. The growth of internet has spawned several applications that allow remote support. If your IT professional has to come to your office every time there is an issue with software or printing then it’s time to find a new IT professional. Office visits are costly to you and this is one of the ways to gouge your business. Your IT professional should have access to either free or paid remote support software. With this they can connect to any computer in your office(s) and fix the problem or walk a user through a set of steps as they watch on their computer screen. They can also access your computers off hours and make updates and fixes and not have to disrupt your users through normal business hours. Remote support can plans can be by time spent or pre-pay for monthly, quarterly or yearly support.

In the next part of this series, we will continue with the list of what a good IT professional should offer and finally conclude this series.

Ocean Web Consulting has 12 years of experience in web design, IT services, software integration/customization and customer support. We support the greater Los Angeles metropolitan region including Orange County CA, Los Angeles County, San Bernardino County. Visit our web site to view our coverage map at www.oceanwebconsulting.com