Small Business Software Blog
How to Know When You Need a Developer Instead of a Designer
When it comes to a digital presence, you want to look good and your first instinct is to find a great Web designer. After all, you're not writing software, so why would you want a developer? As I network with other businesses, I find they tend to fall into two camps: they either believe Web designers are the same as Web developers or they think a Web developer can only write code and can't create a Web site. Well, I'm here to set the record straight.
Development Diary 4: What Do You Mean, "Infrastructure"?
By far the most common oversight by clients (and often by inexperienced developers) is the long-term solution. We start projects so they can be finished, so that means that the project has to “live” somewhere for the foreseeable future, right? Most clients gloss over this need assuming the developer will take care of it. Other times, they wait until the day before the launch to find out the Developer didn’t plan. In the worst cases, the client has no idea where their digital product lives and the developer goes AWOL. It’s important to be a part of this planning from the beginning.
Leverage Your Network for Pitch Practice
As you’ve already seen, I’m building more than just a consulting business and I’ve mentioned a few times that marketing a product is very different from marketing services. Since July, I’ve been working on creating a new digital product and there’s been a lot of lessons along the way. Here’s a few tips about leveraging the network you’ve built for more than just referrals.
3 Tips to Dominating the Local Market as a Small Business
As a small business, it can seem like a monumental task to get noticed on the Web. You're competing against huge, multi-national companies with marketing budgets that dwarf your gross revenue. There are options, though, and it's important to find ways to get noticed locally. Market smarter, not harder.
How Not to Derail Your Marketing Plan
Marketing, whether it's a digital product, professional services, or a non-profit movement, is necessary and it requires attention. A marketing strategy, much like a new digital product, requires ongoing maintenance, planning, and adjustments. Here are a few ways to keep your marketing on track.
Development Diary: Silence Never Says Anything
Up until now in this series, we’ve primarily talked about what goes into building the application. There’s more to building a new online service than creating the functional pieces of the platform. As with everything, you must market it. In the beginning, this doesn't have to be perfect or fancy - it just needs to provide information consistent with the product itself.
Scope Creep: The Silent Killer
When it comes to product development, whether it's digital or not, there's an on-going conversation between the person behind the actual production and the person guiding the process. This is important because it helps to clarify the vision, validate the work as part of the creation process, and ensure everything stays on track. Unfortunately, it's inevitable that somewhere along the line, a request will be made that impacts the original scope. This is called "scope creep" and it needs to be managed carefully.
5 Great Tools That Help You “Do”
When it comes to doing business, there are a ton of tools to help get the job done. And it seems like every week there’s something new trying to wiggle it’s way into my workflow. Some of them make the cut and others get kicked to the curb. Here’s the tools I use most (meaning, daily) to help me do, create, and manage my business and products.
Marketing Digital Products
Next month, we’ll be covering this topic with more specific details, but I thought it important to provide a broader overview. When you create new online services, you are undergoing digital product development. Like traditional product development which results in a tangible item that you can sell, it’s a process and requires time and patience. But the way you market a digital product differs significantly from marketing traditional products.
Development Diary: What the Flow, Man?!
This month, we’re going to talk about how we validate some of what we did in last month’s exercise. In last month’s development diary, we talked about determine what information needed to be stored. You might think we found it all, but this is where changes tend to happen. Now, we’re going to dig into more about the process.
A Consistent Message Will Create Your Market
With the myriad of blogs that I’ve written for the site, I sometimes struggle with consistent topics. By that, I mean I’m a developer, but many blogs blur the line between product development, marketing, Web design, and networking. This can lead to confusion about exactly what we do, which has brought me to this: consistency is key.
Network Like a Gardener
Marketing has taken on a new level of complexity these days. Between social media, SEO, and email, we often forget that it's not always about selling (at least not constantly). Many of us, myself included, market during face-to-face opportunities. It's important to not let those connections fall through the cracks. We never know where that next big project is going to come from.