It is snowing outside today, quite heavily, though not yet sticking to the roads so we’re safe for now.  I don’t think it will stay that way all day, eventually the heft of it all will have to pile up.  In the meantime I’ve already accomplished task number one for the day, send off the latest flipbook and patient portal for one of our interactive medical websites.  This will free up some time to hopefully get back to finishing up the login and registration design flash buildout for one of our other clients.  There will of course be minor things to tweak still on the flipbooks, but the big chunk is done.  The majority of my time may be spent trying to figure out what’s going on with one of our servers.  It seems that things are moving a little too slowly, but the issue isn’t immediately apparent.  I know some tweaks can be made to two sites, one of which I programmed and one of which Reggie is working on and that may help, but only time will tell.

I recently had to buy a new phone. I originally broke my new phone about 3 months after I got it. It was a slider phone and the screen cracked in my pocket somehow. So I switched my SIM card over to my girlfriend’s old phone and was using that. Now it seems that her phone is having issues so I am giving it back to her. So started the search for a new phone. I needed an AT&T phone first of all so that I can still use my SIM card and it will work with the service I am paying for. I also want a flip phone so no screen damage can mysteriously happen again in my pocket. I am still in my last 2-year agreement, so I can’t get all the awesome deals that come with the signing of a new contract. Therefore all new phones are absurdly expensive. The phone I broke, would now run me $300 even though I originally got it for free with a contract. That’s ridiculous. Refurbished phones were cheaper, but not by enough. So I took my search to the Internet.

I finally found a nice phone that worked with AT&T, was a flip phone, was brand new, had a low radiation level, and only cost me $50 on Amazon. Now that’s much better. I got the phone last night in record time. I popped my SIM card in the back and it worked like gangbusters. Frankly, all I use a phone for is text messaging and phone calls. So those were my only functional requirements when I was searching. This has a camera too, but I’ve had them before and rarely care to use them. I don’t need all that next gen iPhone jazz. It’s not worth the money to me. Call me old-fashioned, but I don’t need the Internet constantly and find the other functions unnecessary.

When you get your website made here, all the bells and whistles are up to you. If you want the latest in high tech flash animation, graphic design, and custom programming to make your site really pop, then we can certainly do that. If you want to tone it down a bit and have something a little more conventional for your target audience, then we can do that too. It’s all really up to you and your options will be presented to you through meetings, calls, and emails. Don’t think we will present you with run of the mill options from the start. We see the sky as the limit, so our initial suggestions will probably be cutting edge, innovative ideas that you may not have heard of or seen before. So before you settle into obscurity with convention, listen to our ideas and see if they might tickle your fancy.

If you recall an earlier blog I wrote, the other week I saw a man on the local news predicting the weather from now until spring. He called for two more large snowstorms before the end of winter, one of which was to occur in February. Well, it would appear he was right on the money, at least for this storm. All I can hope is, he’s wrong about the rest. He wasn’t painting a very nice picture for spring. I’ll give you a clue, make sure to have an umbrella handy from March to May.

I guess sometimes, predictions do come true. It’s always better when you have the expertise, equipment, and knowledge backing you up. That’s usually when you can convert a maybe to a definite.

At DDA, we do a lot of converting as well and more than just from a technical perspective. Because of our super excellency in search engine marketing (SEM), we get a lot of requests via the search engines. When I say a lot, I should probably rephrase to say, nearly all. It’s our job to explain what we do, how we can help, and show off our legions of amazing work in all product categories, which let’s be honest here, basically sell themselves.

But perhaps the biggest and most critical conversion, is turning a promise into a reality. Our goal is to build long-term relationships, so it is vitally important to us to be as upfront and transparent with our clients as possible, and never promise something we can’t deliver. Sure, we have the in-house capabilities to do just about anything, from website design and development, custom programming, and comprehensive eLearning platform development to video production and animation to medical marketing and healthcare communications, but if we can’t meet your deadline or the project’s not right, we’ll tell you. And if we do agree to meet your deadline or start on your project, you can be sure we’re going to make good on our promises.

That’s what having integrity is all about. Unfortunately, it would appear that the weather forecaster/predictor also has integrity. Bummer.