The WinternetWeb Story: 18 Years of Tech, Trust, and Change

In this special episode of Wired Together, we celebrate a milestone that’s hard to wrap our heads around… 18 years of WinternetWeb.

What started with a blinking cursor and a big idea has grown into something much bigger than we ever imagined. In this episode, we take a walk through time. From flip phones and texting by the letter… to Blackberries, the rise of social media, mobile-first design, and now the fast-moving world of AI.

Along the way, we share the real story behind the business. The early experiments. The learning curves. The moments where growth felt exciting… and the ones where it felt overwhelming. Building websites turned into building relationships. And over time, WinternetWeb became more than just what we do. It became who we are.

We also talk about how technology has changed for small businesses. From needing a simple website… to needing a full ecosystem that actually works. 

But through all of it, one thing hasn’t changed.

People still need someone they trust.

That’s really what this episode comes down to. Technology will keep moving. It will keep evolving. It will keep getting faster and smarter. But connection, trust, and having someone in your corner when things get confusing… that still matters just as much today as it did 18 years ago.

This episode is part celebration, part reflection, and part look ahead at what’s coming next.

And if you’ve been part of this journey in any way, we’re grateful you’re here.

As always… stay connected.

🎧 Wired Together is produced by WinternetWeb Technologies, a family-run web design and tech studio based in Bracey, Virginia.
💻 Visit us at winternetweb.com 

Transcript

Melanie 0:05

So, you know, I thought it was gonna be just uh such an epic fail, but you know, I was just thinking YOLO, you know, you only live once, right? So oh, you know what? I'm I've gotta record something. So hello.

Jason 0:20

Oh my gosh.

Melanie 0:23

Welcome, welcome everybody, to a uh happy birthday. Yes, very exciting Winternet Web. Uh, why do I have a flip phone? Because Winternet Web just turned 18.

Jason 0:34

18 years old.

Melanie 0:35

So 18 years ago, this was our life. Um, so we are gonna talk some technology, we're gonna talk about um you know, Winternet Web through the years, and then of course, kind of where we've been, what what did we do?

Jason 0:51

And the flip phone is kind of cool because uh really ever since then you cannot hang up on somebody with any sense of like I know I like the hang up. Yeah, exactly.

Melanie 1:02

No, the sound.

Jason 1:04

You feel like you're doing something, the whole pushing a button, no, but you know, we got some other phones and things that we may bring out, but yeah, in 18 years, oh my gosh.

Melanie 1:14

I mean almost two decades of technological growth and and just imagine what we started with. Um we barely had any screen, there is no internet connection.

Jason 1:26

Well, maybe it's a good thing.

Melanie 1:27

If you had to text, it was like you know, you had to do the click click click button, you know. So to do T would be click once on eight and twice, you know, on four for H and then twice on three for E make B.

Jason 1:47

Yep, that's and before that we had this, of course, which is the same typing, and this is really good for playing snake.

Melanie 1:54

And it's very good for playing snake, and that's about it.

Jason 1:57

But um then shortly after that, um, this certainly took the arena. You remember the Blackberry? This is one of three I had in that era.

Melanie 2:08

Um very early years, um, having a little bit of internet access access. So that was kind of cool.

Jason 2:16

Um you could check the weather.

Melanie 2:18

You could check the weather, kind of see a website, look up a few birds.

Jason 2:21

Yeah, some birds, right? Yeah, I get that. Yeah, I understand that. But yeah.

Melanie 2:27

So 18 years ago, 18 years of Winternet Web service, 18 years of um what have what have we done? What are we doing? Um the place that we are actually in at the moment is our our storefront uh for Winter Netweb, and it was actually also a storefront at the time. Um we had an antique store.

Jason 2:54

Yep, Bracy Mercantile.

Melanie 2:56

Bracey Mercantile. And so 18 years ago, uh Jason had the idea of we need to build a website.

Jason 3:05

Yep.

Melanie 3:06

And you know, um, we were kind of like, oh, okay.

Jason 3:11

It's like sure, go at it.

Melanie 3:12

And um I mean, sounds cool, but I mean So and and he started building, and then all of a sudden, that's when it kind of hit like it. I think I need to keep doing this.

Jason 3:23

Well, part of the complexity of the website for Breach and Mercantile, and you know, I things are so different at that time that um so we had products here that I mean I think we sold a painting to someone at Chicago and we had to ship it there, which is like really weird.

Melanie 3:38

I sold a doll to somebody in Colorado.

Jason 3:43

Right. And I mean eBay was around, but I mean it the web wasn't quite as congested, if you will.

Melanie 3:48

So by any means.

Jason 3:50

Creating a platform, you know, we did have um some people reach out, but I had to figure out how to create a database and have that database work on the web, which was a step up from just starting with HTML and everything. And this is actually the um front cover of the book that I think kind of started it all. But yeah, part of the celebration and part of the stories. Happy birthday Winter Netweb. So websites in 2008, I mean mostly code.

Melanie 4:24

Yeah, in fact, all code, yeah, pretty much just a blinking cursor and a lot of code.

Jason 4:29

You had some software programs back then, like was it Microsoft front page, um, then Dreamweaver, but I started getting into all the code um just for all that, I guess the control of being able to tweak things and not rely on a software program. I could take a text file with me on a flash drive, continue it somewhere else. Um just very rudimentary, but it was where we were. Yep. That uh McDonald's created a Wi-Fi or McDonald's, yeah. And um, because we didn't really have good internet. We started a web design business, we still had dialogue. And then with Altel, which we had at the time, we ended up with a um the MyFi, you know, hotspot thing that would put in the window to get internet, and that worked and until it didn't, and then it would work again. So that was um that's technology, and that hasn't changed.

Melanie 5:32

Um but sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't work.

Jason 5:34

Sometimes it doesn't, yeah. So but I mean I think a big part of this is we you know, yes, we're building websites, but we're we're building something for that people need, and so you end up developing a level of trust. You know, we're we're part of the community, we we love the people we deal with, and they kind of, you know, all right, fine, can you do this? And you know, you start out with this, yeah, I can help you with that. And that was kind of the origins of it. You you learn a lot by trying to figure out okay, how is this website different? How um are the needs of the website different? What do I need to learn to make this happen? Um so yeah, I mean, it just it in the early days I I just can't imagine where we are now, mainly because how much the world has changed since then. You look back then, going from that flip phone to you know the BlackBerry to the iPhone, and just you know, things just kind of you know really evolved.

Melanie 6:33

It they really have. I mean, it's it's started with the early era of Taylor Swift, you know, that kind of thing. I didn't really know much about Taylor Swift until my daughter. Um the we didn't even have children and and but we what we did watch Wally. Um we always did like the cartoony stuff.

Jason 6:56

And that came out the same. That came out the same year. So, yeah, wow.

Melanie 7:01

So, you know, a lot has changed. Um, if you look back to Wally, you know, what we thought the future was gonna be versus what it is, that kind of thing. Um, and so you know, we we've evolved and um so much has just taken place. Yeah. Um where the the internet and um the internet of things, uh obviously we've gone into AI, so an internet that's smarter than we are feels like it.

Jason 7:29

Um connecting everything, whether you want it to or not. Right.

Melanie 7:33

And so it is um uh something we've always tried to stay ahead of and and try to kind of help with, you know, small business is not able to just uh you know hire and and have an entire tech department. So with small business, we we try to kind of be the tech department for them.

Jason 7:53

Yep. Yeah, we got a lot of businesses that might, you know, again, they can't staff somebody, but they still have needs, so you know, we can try to help out wherever we can in that, and um by staying ahead of it, we've gone to many conferences. We have. And that was really your doing. Um, I remember a couple conversations where I'll talk about the landscape of gosh, we got this is happening, I don't know how to do this and do this, and and you're like, maybe you need to go to a conference, maybe you know, and and and I'm like, really? I mean, so we I sent you on a plane all over the place.

Melanie 8:31

Right.

Jason 8:32

Well, we went together to the Event Apart conference, and that was in 2012. We went to the Event Apart conference. Joe Beth was born then, she was in a a stroller, and that is when kind of like one of the first stable servers that I got involved with, and because I remember they were a sponsor, it was Media Temple, and um you've heard that name before. Uh yes, yeah, um, in fact, I just saw a photo earlier of the shirt that I got, then the Joe Beth wearing it as a nightgown.

Melanie 9:01

Um and now Sue.

Jason 9:02

Yeah, right. So, and then not long after that, I think you're pregnant with Sue. I went to the web conference in Penn State, um, wrecked a car on the way there, but that's another story. Just asked me about it. Um I mean, it wasn't really my fault. I didn't hit nobody, it was just hydroplane on the uh Pennsylvania Turnpike, um, which that's what everyone does. But anyway, um, Adobe Max. That was an interesting conference that was out in the Adobe, that was in Vegas, right? And then we went together again in Nashville for a WordPress conference.

Melanie 9:38

And um we haven't really uh COVID hit, yeah. Uh conferences kind of changed its course. Yeah, and it um and so we had a couple of conference cancellations and but you know by that point it was starting to be something you could kind of access a little bit more um without having to to go and interact, right? Even though the conferences are amazing. Um, I'm glad they're all coming back and that everything's kind of stabilizing. And I think the there's a lot of conferences where they go all Zoom still.

Jason 10:17

Right.

Melanie 10:18

And inevitably, people who do conferences, it's a bit lackluster. I mean, you don't get to shake a hand, you don't get to uh see face to face. And so, you know, the every time I see a conference where it's like, oh, it's it's easy, it's all online.

Jason 10:35

It's like no well, y'all can enjoy that. I enjoy the conversation. Yeah, I enjoy the conversation with the random guy in the hallway, and you know, you you can make you can connect a lot better. Um, and you know, it you know, there are conferences that are still a part of that, but I think the influencers are on the web, and you know, the leadership of the knowledge has taken a digital behind-a-screen platform, and I mean they're good and bad with that. But so yeah, I mean, we had to navigate and learn a lot of different things over the years, just kind of uh going down memory lane here.

Melanie 11:10

Yeah, I mean there was uh a couple of you know strenuous parts um, you know, early early um creation of of the business where you know you start having children and and their babies and toddlers and and that becomes difficult. And then of course we get into um kind of stabilizing a little more, but then COVID happens, and so ends up a lot of people get very involved in technology at that time period, and then you kind of have to nav navigate with what do you do? Right. Um, how do you uh still build something?

Jason 11:52

Right.

Melanie 11:52

And so that was actually the time period where we were able to um go a little more international. Um some people were finding us from all over because um they didn't have that choice, they didn't have that uh handshake, right? And so we ended up with uh people from England and and um Jamaica and um boy I wanted to visit her so bad.

Jason 12:14

Yeah, I wanted a business trip.

Melanie 12:16

Um but we we had several people that got in contact with us because it was uh people were getting a little more used to just being on the web and not actually being able to see people.

Jason 12:27

Right. And you know, and so you actually search to find somebody. Yeah, exactly. The technology's growing so quick, and if you're trying to keep ahead of it, then your name is out there, and then other people randomly find you as opposed to you know people locally really, you know, establishing themselves, and but that that that was very odd when it's like, oh my gosh, you're from where? Jamaica, you know?

Melanie 12:50

So but yeah, it um and so a lot of that shifting from uh the early days of um you know you had your your career and then at the same time you were doing um some things for for others, and then all of a sudden, especially during COVID, we all of a sudden shifted into we're doing this.

Jason 13:15

Well, yeah.

Melanie 13:16

I mean we're we're just gonna have to we we've got so many clients we have to do this and and jump in with both feet.

Jason 13:22

Right.

Melanie 13:22

And so um we kind of became like Winter Net Web is what we do to Winternet Web is who we are. Right. And this is you know, this is the thing that we um we establish ourselves to be.

Jason 13:36

Right. Well we you talked about it earlier, we had kids and you know, the the struggle of like you got a career, you got this and all that, but we named it the Winternet Web Baby, and at the same time we talked about it. It was the Winternet Web Baby. There are times where the business is crying because there's growth um you're having to deal with over developmental processes, exactly just like a child. Yeah, just like a child. It's like, hey, I'm over here and you need to pay attention to me, and you know, why are we so excited?

Melanie 14:00

It's 18 now, it can almost do its own thing. No, not really. No, yeah, it can, you know, you still have to guide an 18-year-old into adulthood, right?

Jason 14:10

Right. Oh gosh. But I mean, we've grown into a lot of different services, of course, you know, the the web design, and now that we're we've gone full-time almost three years ago, maybe something like that. And so having a storefront we have found to be very helpful. I'm so glad to have my wife next to me doing the I mean we the podcast is just a bonus with this because we're able to, you know, do things together. And um that's we decided to say out loud, be who we are, right? Yeah, exactly. I mean, and I'm look, um you may say, Okay, I decided, and I forced him to I just pushed a button. But um, so I mean, yes, there are podcasters out there to do this for a living. This is just something you know we do on top of this, you know. It uh this is as unscripted as kind of it can be, but you you get us. And we always say when you know, whether it's a website with different things, you get us. We're kind of a big family, and we're not trying to be anything we're not. But again, with the storefront, we're able to host people in a different way.

Melanie 15:15

We're you know, we sit down and talk to people about their web design needs, provide for people that just kind of have a a right my phone won't do this right question kind of thing. Yeah, but it's it's really helpful. Sure. Um, the community has been able to just kind of walk in and say, Okay, um, you know, this is something I just don't know.

Jason 15:38

Right.

Melanie 15:39

And and so we've been able to to support that, answer that, right?

Jason 15:43

Um and we enjoy that energy.

Melanie 15:45

Kind of you know allow us to shift into the technology and say it's not as scary as you think we got you.

Jason 15:52

Yeah. So it's kind of expanded into more than web design, even though web design is the biggest part of our experience, and you know, just as far as those projects and everything, what we just focus on.

Melanie 16:04

Yeah, oh yeah, it really is creation is really putting forth somebody that um is in a small business that really just needs it doesn't know what they need to highlight yet. Right. And saying, Oh, we have got to highlight this about you.

Jason 16:19

Right.

Melanie 16:20

Um, and they're going, Yes. Yes, we do, actually. That's that's the fun part.

Jason 16:26

And it's hard to market yourself. I know it's very hard for us to market ourselves. This is one part of that, but the we can't deny that technology is really a part of every business and what they touch from the pro, you know, the tools they use, from the way they reach out. I know, right? So, uh, or an app or you know, download this. So it it is it's ubiquitous, it is there, and that's why we had to expand so quickly and try to figure out okay, it's all over the place. We need to figure out where are the snags, where are people having issues, and kind of be that that human to guide you through, okay, I get it. Let's try this, let's do this. So um it we were there's no choice, we had to, but we'd like to to be that person, let us help you, you know. Right. And uh I know some some businesses and all that may have different tools and products, I'm not sure what does what, and we've come in and kind of I guess I called it technology audit. We kind of look at this is what you're using, this is this is what you can cancel today, because this over here is doing that, and you know, try to figure out what's working, how to make it work well, maybe some other tools and tricks to allow you to do your business better. So, and again, it's um just another example of the growth that we were kind of forced into through over the years. Yeah, we had to do it too. Yeah, exactly. We we had to navigate all of that as well. Um, so I guess are we going back kind of through the timeline of 2008 until now?

Melanie 18:00

Right. I mean, this is crazy. So you think about uh I don't know about everybody else, but I you think back to the early 2000s and you feel like that was just yesterday. Yesterday, um, not that long ago. And it's the fact that it was 20 years ago is just kind of like Yeah, it's it hurts, but yeah. It's a little bit, you know, a little hard to take sometimes. But um, you know, it was in those early years, it we were in college still turning in actual physical papers, you know. So we kind of shifted very differently um than a lot of you know the later generations and everything. So, you know, what we understand as technology coming in, again, even just thinking of our college experience where we're you know physically doing our registration and physically putting in papers, and then within that college career we're we're starting to email instead and things like that. So we're maneuvering in this short ver time period.

Jason 19:12

Right. It's kind of like you have the the big process, you understand how everything works, but then technology becomes a tool to make that more efficient. But you had to understand what what you had to do first.

Melanie 19:22

Right.

Jason 19:22

Now the tool seems to be.

Melanie 19:31

And so when we started Winternet Web and and you know, smartphones didn't exist, obviously. We um there's the idea of the Blackberry, I think, but it's not necessarily big.

Jason 19:42

Yeah, the the black Blackberry was coming.

Melanie 19:45

We just kind of had the the text uh that you had to pay for the text.

Jason 19:49

Yeah, was it 25 cents?

Melanie 19:51

It's like I only text a few things.

Jason 19:53

I'm not and then I remember a friend was over there texting somebody, but they had a text plan. And of course now it's ubiquitous. And I'm sitting there going like, oh my gosh, it's like 25 cents a pop. I'm like, wow. And but then you know, it's um a lot of technology start off, and actually AI I'm seeing doing the same thing, which is gonna be.

Melanie 20:16

So only college students were really starting with Facebook. With Facebook and after our college. Just for that. So we well they had started it, but after we had left college was when it was starting to get bigger. Right.

Jason 20:29

It wasn't on our campus, it was like selected nodes in the US.

Melanie 20:33

Um, and so then it's kind of, you know, I mean, we didn't get into Facebook until uh we were married in our twenties.

Jason 20:42

Until Farmville came out and we had to download Facebook in order to play it.

Melanie 20:47

Oh.

Jason 20:47

You remember that?

Melanie 20:48

That must have been your um for it. I'd be like, Yep.

Jason 20:52

Someone was like, but you need this to access, was it Zenga or some whatever, whoever makers of it. And I'm like, okay, whatever. So I make a profile and I'm like, this is cute. But yeah.

Melanie 21:01

Uh same friend, very ahead of her time, uh, introduced us both to Facebook, and so we joined. And and you know, social media was just kind of really starting to come through the gate. Right um in your 08 and 2010 kind of time period. And then we kind of go into more 2010, 2015.

Jason 21:24

Right.

Melanie 21:24

Social media is starting to really boom. Oh, yeah. Um, everybody's getting on board, businesses are getting bored. How do I create a Facebook page? Yeah, how do I create a Facebook page? Um, how do I keep um you know customers informed, that kind of thing. Um, so the businesses started really popping into it. Um YouTube, of course, becomes a little bigger.

Jason 21:45

Right.

Melanie 21:46

We had um Um and the very, very early start of cloud storage. Um, I remember that being kind of like, I don't know if I want my stuff up there in the ether.

Jason 21:59

Right. Right. And of course cloud is covering everything now, which is just a fancy cute term for someone else's computer holding your data, which, you know, is you would hope is just as reliable as your own, but you know, it's becoming so stable and we do replication.

Melanie 22:14

But we really worry about that just yet.

Jason 22:17

No, we yeah.

Melanie 22:19

And then we start getting into say 2015 to 2020. So the pre the just pre-COVID era, era of um everything's mobile.

Jason 22:30

Yeah, now it's a big show.

Melanie 22:31

We get back, you know, we we finally jump into these phones are doing a whole lot more than they used to do. We don't need a text plan, we don't need all of these, um, and then everything can actually be found on mobile. And so that was when, you know, I started being a little more involved in Winternet Web, where it was like, we've got to be a part of this. We got a lot of people. Because it's taken over the answer here. And so we absolutely had to make sure that our um and and that's when you went to the conference and got the concept of um responsive design. So responsive is not just mobile friendly, it's everything friendly.

Jason 23:11

It's like the flux capacitor, it's what made time travel possible. Right.

Melanie 23:15

So every device you use, you're able to be responsive to.

Jason 23:19

So that's um and it can adjust. Yep.

Melanie 23:22

That was very necessary at the time to go ahead and and really understand how that works and and what we see. Making sure that everything looks exact uh in all formats, right? Not just one. Right. Um, because you know it's it's a little frustrating, even like um some bigger sites that probably shouldn't are are having struggles with mobile friendly still to this day. And it's like, I feel like you're too big to have this problem. Right.

Jason 23:53

I mean, and and some some sites it was the mobile version versus the regular version, and then bridge that gap with media queries, and I'm gonna get into the jargon, but and it it does collapse data so that it becomes viewable viewable through a smaller device.

Melanie 24:12

Though responsive design is wonderful, you can't just like let it go. You do have to actually fix things that are not responding in the way that you would prefer.

Jason 24:21

Oh yeah, yeah.

Melanie 24:22

Um, and so that's something we um were pretty big on is making sure that you know, knowing code because everything was just amazing cursor. You can actually dig in and find you can change it and make sure that that's not working and tweak it.

Jason 24:38

Yeah.

Melanie 24:38

It's just responsive and you know, no, it doesn't look good.

Jason 24:43

Right, exactly.

Melanie 24:46

And what kind of happened is um apps get became a little more popular. Um everything was very dominated by apps because again, you know, something small like the phone, you want to be able to uh just click a button and utilize it.

Jason 25:00

Yep, interact there as opposed to finding a laptop. Right, they were wherever you want.

Melanie 25:03

A lot of that is it became a lot of empty apps. So then you have apps over apps over apps over apps, and it they're they're hard to update and they're they're empty. Yeah. Um, and so everybody kind of went in the app section of things, and then all of a sudden it was like maybe websites could still just be built well without needing to be done in this app format that's very stifling.

Jason 25:28

The app became a term.

Melanie 25:29

So so yeah, we've kind of shifted away from um app over app over app, and we've kind of gone into more of website works.

Jason 25:38

Yep.

Melanie 25:39

Um, and so the getting it from the 2020s, what we've kind of gone into more is is your website needs to work for you. So if web if your website works, then you don't have to worry about it. So a lot of um what we do nowadays is of course your e-commerce, your booking sites, um, sites that allow for newsletters to throw themselves out there, forms, um, and your interactivity. So a lot of um interactivity can be exposed on your sites. And so um that gives uh the social media and the website kind of this uh back and forth with each other.

Jason 26:20

Right.

Melanie 26:20

And then um it kind of keeps it from being empty, but actually keeps it being um active and reactive.

Jason 26:27

Sure.

Melanie 26:28

And so that's pretty much where we are at the moment is um allowing your website to really work for you, work with you. Yeah, um, answer the questions that you get a lot of phone calls from, um and and of course doing the work for some of it so that um you know when they call you it is um for something that is outside of the s the scope of the site and but the sky the site itself is still working, you know.

Jason 26:56

Right, sure.

Melanie 26:56

Um so that's that's kind of your today's site.

Jason 27:01

Right, yeah. Because I mean the website still is the center of the whole ecosystem. Yes, you have social media, you have all these other things, but people always when they're about to make a decision, they tend to go to the website. Right. Then look at that, then figure out, okay.

Melanie 27:13

And that social media is amazing. Um but it's it's long in the tooth. It's it's you know, you're you've put something uh back in 2000, you know, twenty two, and you know, nobody sees it anymore. No. You're not gonna like scroll down. No, it um and websites nowadays are fluid, you just keep moving and keep touching it, keep being a part of it, and it allows it to be just as fluid as um your not as fluid as your social media, but um something that's stagnant and fluid at the same time.

Jason 27:45

Yeah, I mean, yeah, website a good website always does have edits and uh additions made to it, so it stays up to date.

Melanie 27:52

But but the the the true core information, easy to find.

Jason 27:56

Yes, exactly. Because if I go to a website, I have questions in mind. Do they do this, do they do this, do they do this, and what have you. So um the a good website will also have, you know, maybe frequently asked questions built out so that you can kind of um have additional information, you know, that way, and from a uh business owner standpoint, it's helpful if that information is there because they don't need to call me for that. And when they do call me, I know this is a customer that is uh is informed, and then I can actually create that human connection even stronger. Um so I mean it's just unfortunately there are a lot of websites out there that don't think about the full scope of this. You know, a lot of people, hey, I can make you a website. Well, a website is more than just information being thrown together. Um you need to think of it at a uh bigger level of how is this connecting with the individual and how what decisions are being made that will help that person find you, and that kind of gets into um how search engines have changed too with AI.

Melanie 29:02

Search engines have changed uh significantly with AI.

Jason 29:05

Right.

Melanie 29:06

Um and so that AI is sniffing out a very different and very more um uh uh broader picture. Right, the user experience is able to figure out is um really everything when it comes to to AI and and so that kind of bringing us into 2023 to 2026. Yeah, right. Um where we are. Um we're we're very much in in the AI world. Um and never in a million years, right? Certainly not in 18.

Jason 29:42

No, uh uh.

Melanie 29:43

Would we think that uh we were gonna be at this place where this uh technology is just moving in the speed that it's doing.

Jason 29:53

About three years ago, it's like someone flipped a switch that I only read about in books, but it didn't progressively get there. It almost instantly got there.

Melanie 30:01

Yeah.

Jason 30:02

It was overnight. I know, not to say that it hasn't evolved because it has. And I mean, um there's in in a lot of ways it is just getting better and better, but it's also gone from that thing your grandma was like, what's this IA thing? No, it's AI, to now grandma's using it. And that has happened overnight too. Um and it's like, whoa, AI told me this. So, but oh my gosh, I mean, from from internet searches, we've gone from keyword stuffing where you know you'd put all the keywords to try to make sure your website is there at the top. So you might have it down 26 times at the bottom of the page in the same color as the background to be hidden. Google got over that. Google then got into um, you know, uh a more of a strategy in search terms and everything. Well, now AI, like you were saying, the they're finding the human user experience. So they're looking at how you're browsing the page, you're looking at you're navigating, you're hitting on things, you're stopping, you're pausing, you're reading. And from that it's determining, hey, wait, this is a useful website. But it doesn't matter what the keywords are.

Melanie 31:05

You're at the place where the search engine knows if your customers like your site.

Jason 31:11

Exactly.

Melanie 31:12

That's an odd place. I mean, we've never been in there before where the search engine knows that the customer is spending time. The search engine knows if the customer is actually getting a worthwhile experience, which is kind of cool. It is kind of cool. Web designers, um that's like, wow, that's fun.

Jason 31:29

Well, because we've always prioritized the user experience and the design of it. And I'm so happy that finally it's like, yes, because I mean I'd be somewhere else and it'll be some other web designer.

Melanie 31:42

Kind of a little validation.

Jason 31:44

Exactly. It's like finally I can do what I'm doing, and I'm actually getting rewarded now for it, right? What? But I mean, you know, some other web designers would be like, well, here's this keyword strategy, and we do this and all this kind of stuff. And they sound like a car salesman, and I'm like, come on. This sounds almost, you know, um you're leveraging, I don't know, I hate to be mean, but you're leveraging something that you don't fully understand and how it works in the background. But you're, you know, you're selling these words to people to get them to go with you. And, you know, then sometimes they end up going with us. But um, but AI, yes, and we can leverage code that works with um, you know, ChatGPT, Claude, you name it, these other um Gemini. And we create this code for the website that speaks directly to AI. It's like handing them a folder of saying, here, you're looking for this. Here's a business, here's their contact information, here's to cert um the social media, you know, Facebook, what have you, that is also part of them. It validates it, it packages it, it hands it to them. Because when you ask AI a question, you expect to get an answer in three seconds. You can't expect AI to be able to search eight websites and go through all the pages and then come up with like this systematic way of ranking them. If you can hand them that folder, then it's really telling them, hey, look, here's what you need to know. And it goes, um, yep, yeah, this business over here checks out. This might be the one that you want to, you know, um reach out to.

Melanie 33:08

You can't sit there going, weird, that's my favorite.

Jason 33:10

It's like, oh, oh, thank you. No.

Melanie 33:12

But I mean Sometimes you have to know how to trick the computer.

Jason 33:14

Yeah, and it's just it, but it's more of it's uh realizing how the tool and technology works, and then if you can make it faster and easier for them, then you know, I mean, think of like in in most careers, if you can do something and make it easier for your boss, and you know, you know, wow, they love you. Right. You know, so it's the same thing. But yeah, um, the workflows changed and everything. It's um by the time you finish watching this, it's going to change again. Um so but yeah, it's it the 18 years, I would not imagine um in this industry, I I I say like you know, 18 years is like a hundred years in some other industries. It kind of feels like the scope of the way it it changes, you know. Not that other industries haven't changed, but if they did change, more than likely it's because of the technology that was involved. Um, but going from a blinking cursor and coding sites to, you know, talk about I mean flip phones and you know, the good old BlackBerry, which gave a screen and even a uh a roly bar or whatever in order to, you know, like a cursor. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um and but that was as things continued to social media coming on board and all that, all of this different stages, see the mobile shift, responsive design, now AI, and what's next?

Melanie 34:34

Um super AI is gonna get in more.

Jason 34:41

And then we get into quantum, but yeah, we'll see. Oh my gosh. There are a lot of things we need to get right before we grow too quick. Um and that's but earlier talk about AI, and uh you were talking about texting and 25 cents and all that for a text. And I, you know, remember you know getting the the discs in the mail for AOL, and it's like six hours free. And it's like, oh wow, everything was timed, you know. Well, AI in a way, with um a lot of these these credits and the usability as it runs to um sends out with different APIs and different things, its use is being consumed for some of the higher level AI products. So you need to pay for more use. And I'm like, we've just went full circle back to the AOL days. If you went to AOL and to go on the internet, this is six hours, but you need to pay for more. So it's like the product is put out there, people get interested. Now things are being honed in because to be profitable and it costs a lot to run these systems, you need to charge people for it. Are we going to get to a point where it becomes so ubiquitous and maybe, I mean, are you gonna have advertisements in the middle of your AI chat session? How are they gonna make up for it to then make it available for all? I don't know. But at that landscape, if you got any ideas out there or any speculation, let us know. But I mean, uh this is the same thing that you know, with every new technology, yeah. The full circle. The full circle. So we're we're now talking about that. So, but yeah. Well, well, that was interesting 18 years. And um it's a very interesting 18 years. Um we have our our cake here and um our pistachio cake that I'm gonna look forward to eating, and wish I could share it with you all. Um, but this is our first special edition video podcast. Video podcast. Um, of course, it's available through you know the our audio channels. If you're seeing a a clip from this or whatever, then we we plan to do others. Um may not go go full video yet, but we do have plans to eventually get there. And of course, with support, that can happen sooner or later. So um happy 18 years. Happy 18 years, yeah, huzzah. And uh thank you, thank you so much. And um, yeah, this is uh this has been an incredible journey, and we could not have done it without uh just wonderful support, you know. Um I mean it if you see uh notice a blip in this a cut in this transmission, it's because someone walked up on it in, you know, and I had to help her with her phone.

Melanie 37:15

We still had to help people.

Jason 37:17

She barely got up the stairs, and I I just had to do it. But absolutely, you know, so but that's why we're that's why we're here. Exactly.

Melanie 37:24

So and you know, why we're here is it it's hard to trust that whole elusiveness. What's happening? Why is this you know changing so fast? Um how do I wrap my head around it?

Jason 37:38

Gosh, it's scary.

Melanie 37:39

And and so we kind of feel like um you still need people to trust.

Jason 37:44

Yeah.

Melanie 37:45

And you still need kind of that local place to go, this is sounds like a bunch of gobbledygoat. Do I trust it?

Jason 37:52

Yeah.

Melanie 37:53

Or, you know, I read this. Is is this a big problem or is this something that is, you know, just kind of silly.

Jason 38:02

Yeah.

Melanie 38:02

And you know, so we we kind of get a lot of that. And and yeah, we we actually don't mind being the people that are we'll we'll research it for you. We'll um, you know, or yeah, uh don't don't even do anything, turn off your computer.

Jason 38:17

Yeah, we're take a picture of it, text it to me.

Melanie 38:19

I mean, just it is uh it's changing fast, and and um people don't change though, and so trust is still there.

Jason 38:28

Connection Yep, exactly. We're always stay connected, yeah. Always stay connected.

Melanie 38:32

Our our connection is still there, and so um, you know, making sure that it's w let's at least in Southside seamlessly go through this.

Jason 38:43

Sure. Yeah, you're right. I mean, technology's changed a lot in 18 years, but what won't change is our commitment to you know you know helping folks. Yeah, in our community, yeah.

Melanie 38:55

We like when we talk to people.

Jason 38:56

Right, exactly. Yeah, so that won't change at all. Won't change at all, nope. So, well, yeah, but just want to thank you all for your support, as always. Hope this was a uh exciting uh treat for you. But what we we enjoy we enjoyed setting it up and we're like we're gonna decorate. So here we are. Again, you're getting us, this is who we are, and uh no apologies, but uh footage. We're raw. This is raw. I mean, yeah, exactly. So, you know, your reviews and sharing of this with others um would help us more than you know. Um, and you know, hopefully the message you get out there for those that need services, um, also important to us is helping those that don't understand technology and we don't want them falling into traps. So, you know, with all that said, I think we're gonna say it here on video, but I'm plugging for now.

Melanie 39:49

But always stay connected.