I just want a website to get my name out there.

This phrase is poison.

Let’s add some context here. You’re at a BBQ and you meet someone new and they tell you that they run a small Air Conditioning business and you tell them that you’re a Web Designer. Seconds later, they blurt out, “I just want a website to get my name out there. Can you help?”. You ask them “Why would you like a website?” and they say, “I’ve got to move with the times man!”. This is when the conversation usually gets a little awry (and not just because you came to down some tasty bbq and pound some beers).

The problem here is lack of education of the business owner. He or she has been somewhere and has heard from someone that they need a website to grow their business and that’s great. What’s not great is that the business owner usually stopped listening then. So, they now know that they need a website but what they don’t know is why they need a website and how it can improve their business.

Fast forward sixth months and this business owner has now visited their local  high school and has paid a pittance for a sixteen year old kid to create a website. A website that looks like your Aunty’s Scrapbook was ‘accidentally’ put in the blender with a bottle of Fanta and bowl full of snails.

When No Website is Better Than a Bad Website

• When the business owner has no idea why they need a website,
• When the web designer has no idea why the business owner needs a website.

When a website is built for the wrong reason for a small business by the wrong web designer, it’s better to have no website at all.

This sounds like a pretty obvious statement but it really means that a small business should also consider a listing on a public index. For Australians this is an index like the The Yellow Pages. No matter your country, you should be listed on Google Local.

No matter your business type, you should always contact your local Regional or Council to post on their website.  After all, getting your business name listed on a .gov or .gov.au website can only mean growth to the website’s prominence.

As a business owner, you should always consider what organisations support your industry. Do they have a website? Yes, get listed! For a split second, put yourself in the shoes of your typical customer. In the instance of an Air Conditioning business, ask yourself, “If I wanted my out of warranty air conditioner fixed, how would I know who to call?”. Yellow Pages? Google? or would you go to the website of your manufacturer and look at the “Certified Repairers” link?

It’s better to be represented by a tried and tested formula rather than an ugly looking website that lacked any real purpose.

This is a multiple part review for the Samsung Galaxy S i9000 and extends to be

	Samsung Galaxy S	Apple iPhone 4
Weight:	118g	137g
Screen Resolution:	480×800 pixels	640×960 pixels
Screen Type:	Capacitive Super AMOLED	Capacitive retina IPS
Dimensions:	122.4 x 64.2 x 9.9mm	115.2 x 58.6 x 9.3mm
Operating system (OS):	Google Android 2.1	Apple iOS4
Bluetooth:	3.0 with A2DP	2.1 with A2DP
Quoted talk time:	6.5 hours	7 hours
Expandable memory	Yes	No

* Figures and Description taken from PC World.

The Apple iPhone 4 is a sexy looking device but it’s an Apple.  Apple make great looking devices and they have an awesome marketing campaign that is obviously working. Except me.  In the matter of Apple and the iPhone, I know that it’s good and massively attainable for a lot of people but I find it lacking in a few areas.

I am not wired like an Apple person

I wanted something that looked like an Apple iPhone 4 but acted like an Android. Why must it look like an Apple iPhone? Because Apple are the best at making mobile device hardware, that is unquestionable.  Why an Android phone? Simple, it’s because Android is the best Operating System at the moment for someone like me. I’ve read a lot about this mobile operating system and I like what it stands for. I like that I can quickly and easily tweak it.

Apple tries to convey itself as simple and easy to use. If you talk to an Apple person you will probably hear that their iPhone (or computer) , “…just does what I want it to, it’s so easy…” and that is great, for them.  I see it a little differently.

These people didn’t know what they wanted, so when something is put on their plate as what they want, they are in fact being shown a, previously unknown problem and the solution to this problem. All of a sudden, you’ve gone from footloose and fancy free position to a position of predicament and then solution and that, that, is where a sense of satisfaction embeds itself into the psyche of an Apple person.

This is not a rant against Apple. I really really like their designs. They have a knack of designing hardware that makes you think, “There would be no other way to design this” and really that’s what makes good design. This is a rant against Apple’s way being put on a pedestal as the only way.

I’m not bitter…

NB: It’s amazing that when you sit down to write about Topic A, you end up writing about why Topics B-Z are so important.