Internet Risk and Reward
Customers use it to find businesses. Businesses use it to find customers. Families use it to communicate with each other. The Internet has replaced TV and radio as the most popular means of electronic mass communications. Almost everyone relies on the Internet using their computers, tablets, phones or any and all of those devices.
How you use the Internet plays a big role in the results you get. If you're in business, you need customers to find you. That means you need an attractive web site that makes customers want to do business with you and you need to drive potential customers to it.
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Web Sites
Your web site must be more than just a sign with your business's name and address on it. It needs to tell your story in a compelling way. It needs to set you apart from your competition. Your web site should give potential customers the confidence they need to choose your business.
That process begins with a well-thought out plan. You need to design the site with the end result in mind. If you want to sell merchandise or services directly to customers, you need to go in that direction from the beginning. If you want potential customers to contact your sales force, planning needs to take a completely different direction. There are many variations and different directions to take. One thing is for sure. If you start out with the wrong destination or no destination in mind, you won't have much chance of getting the results you want.
BCC&V has been building web sites and web identities for our clients in West Los Angeles and the South Bay for almost two decades. We will work with your needs and budget to make sure your customers and potential customers get the right impression.
Search Engine Optimization
This is perhaps the most over-promised and under delivered service in today's marketplace. You will see claims that some SEO "expert" can your web site in the highest rankings. It can happen but think about it. If every company you compete with is paying someone to get them in the top search engine rankings, why would your "expert" be any better than theirs? If he was better, what would prevent them from hiring your "expert"?
Your organic search engine placement will only improve over time. The best move you can make is to ensure your content is relevant to the search criteria your customers are likely to use. Then avoid the mistakes that make it difficult for customers to find you. Periodically improve and enhance your site's content and in time, you'll see your rank improve.
BCC&V can help guide you through the confusing world of SEO and we won't charge you astronomical prices for undefinable services.
Custom Applications
Suppose you need technology that will do things that you can't find in other commercially available software. Or maybe the existing technology does way more than you need it to do or you don't want to pay for lots of extra features. BCC&V has been creating custom applications from our Hermosa Beach location for more than ten years. Tell us what you need technology to do and we'll find the right solution for you.
We specialize in hosted, database-driven applications. They allow you to collect, enter, store and retrieve data from multiple locations and consolodate it in one place. Then, depending on what you need from you data, our web based applications can get to work making things happen.
Cloud Computing
If you're confused by the cloud and where you fit in it, you aren't alone. The cloud is a metaphor for a bunch of computers, located somewhere else. You connect to them through a network. You already understand the basic structure of the cloud. It's the Internet.
The real question is what does the cloud do that's different from the web sites and email you already use? There are two basic components to cloud computing, storage and computing power. The idea behind cloud computing is for those two functions, which have traditionally been performed by your desktop or laptop, to be done by more powerful computers at remote locations. That shift in computing functions allows for smaller, less powerful devices to do many of the things that once required a larger, more robust machine.
Storage in the cloud allows you to keep documents somewhere other than on your desktop. That enables co-workers, partners and other users to share documents and collaborate. You can also use the cloud to backup your files in a remote location. If your computer gets lost, stolen or destroyed, all your important data such as letters, financial documents and photos are safe because copies were created and saved in your cloud backup system.
The shift of computing power from the personal computer to the cloud means functions like graphic design and financial calculations are performed on powerful servers in data centers while your tablet or smart phone does little more than display the results. Most people don't care where the heavy lifting gets done. They just want the results and that's what the cloud enables them to get.
Security
Companies that provide cloud computing services tend to take security seriously. You can expect them to take precautions such as high level encryption. The purpose of these precautions is to keep bad guys from gaining access to your data.
The other issue, the one that may be potentially more invasive, is what you agree to let the company do with your data when you accept their End User Agreement. This is where understanding your risk and reward often becomes murky.
Beach Cities Computers & Video helps our clients find their way to cloud computing and through cloud computing. We keep up-to-date on various options and their costs including the hidden costs of what you may give away for that cheap or free service that sounds so irresistible.
