Whether you’re an established company, just starting out, pivoting to add new products and services a website can have a significant impact on your success.

A presence on social media can be important but isn’t the same as having your own website, and these days, social media streams are becoming polluted with ads and inflammatory opinions about so many topics that it can be more of a distraction than a help in promoting your business.

Having your own website increases your organization’s credibility and can help you stand apart from providers offering similar services.

A website gives you an opportunity to create a great first impression and can lend credibility to your organization. It helps people to feel like you’re a real company.

Beyond adding legitimacy to your company, it gives you the opportunity for branding which is among the most important things you can do according to Forbes.

“Showcasing your brand to your prospective customers is one of the most important things that you can do. By clearly establishing who you are, what you represent and what you stand for, you increase the chances of your customers buying from you.

This is also something that can set you apart from your competitors. Without a website, it can be incredibly challenging to do this because people can’t easily find quality and reliable information on your business.”

There are many ways you can go about putting a website on-line but being sure you have a presence is more important than how you get it there. Having said that, quality does matter. You would do well to avoid the ad driven services that can place distracting (and sometimes inappropriate) ads on your website.

I’m a technologist and have been for more than 30 years. I don’t know much about cars, so when I need work done, I turn to a trusted mechanic who not only has the knowledge but the tools to do the job right. Weather you do it yourself, or rely on a trusted professional, quality matters. It’s the first thing many people see of your company after all!

2025 is going to be an interesting year to watch. It’s becoming increasingly more difficult for me to try and guess what’s coming technologically, so instead, I’ll focus on a couple of things I’d like.

I’d like to think that the rift with Matt Mullenweg and WP Engine could get resolved amicably. With Meta laying off its fact checkers and with the political climate being what it is, things on line are about to be vaulted into the next era of web. (LOL). Personally, I’m an advocate for governance and I wish there were a way it could be moderated fairly, but I’m afraid the extreme opinions are going to dominate, and whoever is screaming the loudest is going to get the attention, which is truly unfortunate. When things happen like the legal battle between Matt Mullenweg and WP Engine, it just seems to undermine the whole foundation and makes an already sketchy, largely unfiltered platform seem that much less stable to me. So I’d like to see that go away, so if the internet is going crazy, the platform that drives an enormous part of it can at least be on solid footing.

Something that would delight me personally is something I was hoping for last fall when Apple did its hardware announcement. I’d like to see an M series powered iPad Mini, even if it’s only an M1 in these days of M4 powered iPad Pros. I think that would make the popularity of that little platform soar. Especially with all of the Apple Intelligence stuff going on.

In a newsletter I subscribe to the author supposed that this would be the year that Apple focuses on it’s home series of products like smart speakers and set top boxes and really expands it’s lineup that way as the commuter innovation seems to have plateaued a little bit and the Apple Car is officially off the table.

Could this be the year that “just tech support” comes into its own? I hear company after company and person after person talking about how their startups missed the mark by not emphasizing tech support earlier than they did. And if you follow business news on LinkedIn, it seems like companies are having a renewed interest in live, personal tech support. I’d get on board with that.

So there you have it, although a week or two late to the dance, these are issues I’d love to see get some industry attention in 2025. For simplicity’s sake, here they are in bullet points:

• Some resolution with the WP situation
• An M series iPad Mini
• Support being legitimized as a career

I’d enjoy hearing what you anticipate or would like to see technologically in 2025.

I recently had a protracted conversation with someone on LinkedIn about mobility, and being to practice my craft from wherever I am. Regular readers will notice a couple of themes emerging in my posting, customer service and mobility among them. It’s very cool to me when they intersect because when it’s done right, it comes off a smooth as silk.

Like any artisan (and I’m going to stretch here and say that customer service is an art form and that not everyone who does it does it well, or even knows how to do for that matter) the craft has it’s tools. Like with any tools, to be able to use them skillfully in situations where you need them, you need to be practices with them.

For me, the remote tools that I use generally include an iPad mini and a Bluetooth keyboard, That isn’t necessarily the right gear for every mobilist, but that covers me in a lot of circumstances. When the time comes to provide that customer service on the fly, it isn’t going to be any good and won’t inspire any confidence if I’m fumbling around with things and trying to establish connections.

You’ve got to be practiced with your tools so you can use them almost without thinking.

As I was trying to describe this for the person I was having the conversation with, I was reminded of a time many years ago when I was a paramedic. We had to know every piece of gear on that ambulance so we were ready for what ever we might roll into. We had to be able to use that gear like it was second nature.

That’s how it’s go to be for the mobilist as well. What ever tools they use they need to know them like the back of their hand so they can install confidence in the customer.

Aside from that, the other thing that occurred to me is that if you take a paramedic out of his ambulance, where he doesn’t have the gear and the medications and the things to do his job, you’ve effectively got a really good first aider. The gear makes a big difference in how effectively the job gets done!

It isn’t any difference with mobilists. If you take away our gear, we’re basically a sympathetic ear, but won’t be much good at helping out if you need us. This is why so many IT guys run around with back packs that look like they could live on a small island for three days with them, by the way. 😊