Web Design Blog

Kevin Potts recently did a review/critique of wundersite www.99designs.com - which appears to be a simplified spin of other such sites like Elance and what Kevin calls it’s “malignant brethren”. The site, which uses less than ideal techniques to get designers to connect with businesses, requires spec work and encourages horribly low prices. In his article, Kevin removes the usual sales pitch and business jargon and brings out the underlying truth:

Hmm. Yes, by all means, we want to avoid the time and consideration professional designers offer and go right to the lowest common denominator of grade-school dropouts whose portfolio’s crown jewel is a logo for their dad’s wholesale llama manure clearing house. We definitely do not want any in-depth communication. We do not want any understanding of the company, the brand, or the direction and aspirations of the organization.

In a nutshell, this is what you’re asking for if you work with these guys:

• You’re doing the work whether you like it or not. Payment is irrelevant. You only get that if you actually “win” the “contest”.
• Even if you do win, you don’t win much. (They seem to encourage low prices, as stated on their how it works page.)
• You lose your copyright privileges and you apparently can’t even take a public stand if your designs are stolen. Read their copyright page for more on that.
• You’re also asking for a royal slap in the face from folks like me and other real designers.

Freelancers: if you really care about your work and the design industry, do NOT use 99designs or others like it to gain clients. You’re hurting yourself and the rest of us too.

Business owners: if you really want someone who will take the time to get to know your company and present an informed and well-rounded design, might I suggest someone from the Xemion Web Designer Directory?

Here’s Kevin’s article (warning: contains some strong language)

At my last job, we worked right above a hair salon. Growing up, my mother always cut my hair, then my wife when she had time and lately, a local barbershop. But since the salon was a client and it saved an extra trip, I got my hair cut after work. The difference between the salon and the barbershop was unbelievable. At the salon, I was treated by an attractive stylist who remembered my name and how I liked my hair. She talked with me about subjects I was interested in and even remembered our discussions from the my previous appointment! The stylist make recommendations for my hair based on current trends and my hair’s personality (red and very thick). My hair was shampooed, conditioned and I received a very relaxing neck massage. She only used the trimmer for the edges. The salon was impeccably clean and had a very modern decor. It was a little upscale and I liked it. It made me FEEL important, stylish and trendy.

Conversely, the barbershop I was served by an grizzled, old guy who muttered. He didn’t really talk to me and if he did, it would be hard to hear with the TV and the trimmer going. He had no clue I was in five weeks ago (probably because I was helped by someone else, but that even furthers my point) or how I liked my hair. I got no shampoo and the massage was from sort of machine that felt more like a jack-hammer. The decor looked dirty and old. The whole process made me FEEL unimportant.

The barbershop charges a mere $11 for a cut, the salon: $37. That’s a 250% increase for the salon even though the end product, my haircut, was exactly the same. How would you like to increase your rates 250%? The key is providing a customer experience that supports that rate and attracts clients who are willing to pay it (because many won’t). Here are some ideas at improving the customer experience:

• Look upscale. This includes every part of your business, such as invoices, letterheads, envelopes, e-mail signatures and marketing materials. Obviously your location, signage, furniture and decor may play a part. If the client sees it, it has to be perfect and seamlessly match your company’s brand.
• Know the client. Keep detailed records on the client’s likes and dislikes. This includes everything from color preferences to favorite sports teams/tv shows. Some clients prefer phone calls, others e-mails or in-person meetings. Make sure all your staff keeps the notes in the same place. If there’s ever a transition with your team, the client should not have to go through a major get-up-to-speed curve with the new team member. I cannot tell you how many new clients I’ve gotten simply because the previous firm dropped the ball during a transition.
• Be proactive. You are the expert. Come the client with new ideas, even after the initial project is completed. This is also a a great way (maybe the best way) to drum up new sales. Long term, being proactive will increase both customer loyalty and word of mouth.
• Pamper the client. Make the client feel important by doing little things like including SASEs in invoices and hand-written Christmas cards. Give away sports or theater tickets. Even more importantly, make the client feel trendy/cutting-edge and encourage their belief that they made a good decision in hiring your firm. Tell them how great you, as an expert (and your friends/colleagues), think their new website is and what an improvement from the previous site.

Remember, shifting to a more upscale market means changing your target market…..at the end of the day, I’m still a cheap sucker and I’m going to the barbershop

When I look around at web designers’ sites these days, I am a bit surprised when I come across one that doesn’t have a blog. Web designers seem to understand that having a blog can be helpful in marketing themselves. Unfortunately, when I look at the content of those blogs, it often becomes apparent that they don’t know exactly why a blog is helpful.

The most common types of problem blogs I’ve run across are the “day in the life” blog and the “I haven’t written anything for three months” blog.

Why are these problematic? Because the only way that a blog can help you market yourself or your business is if it is actually providing something of value to its readers.

There’s nothing wrong with an occasional “day in the life” post, but if that’s the primary content of your blog, it probably isn’t doing you much good. Likewise, there’s nothing wrong with taking a week or two off from blogging, but if you go months without posting anything new, who will notice when you finally do post?

I think that a significant portion of both problems are caused by the fact that the authors don’t know what to write about. So here are three ways to write valuable content for your web design blog, each with its own advantages and disadvantages.

1. Write about web design for non-designers (and non-developers for that matter)

When writing for a general audience, you don’t have to go into technical details, but you may have to explain things that you think of as simple because they aren’t as familiar with the field. The biggest advantage of writing for a general audience, though, is that you have more opportunity to sell your services since they probably don’t have the knowledge to do things themselves.

2. Write for other designers and developers

Writing for others in your field means that you won’t have to explain most basics, but you usually have less opportunity to sell yourself, since your readers are likely your competitors. You do, however, have the chance to sell services which complement those of your readers (for example, back-end development to front-end designers). And when you write on technical subjects you’re more likely to learn from the feedback of others in your field.

3. Write about related subjects

Writing about related subjects is a good way to interest both a general and technical audience. Good articles can also help you to demonstrate that your knowledge extends beyond just web design and that you are a well rounded business person.

What sort of related subjects should you try? Posts about marketing, business practices, and yes, even blogging, can work quite well.

Which to try?

Personally, I think the most effective approach for most web designers is to write a mixture of these types of content. Start with the sort you feel most comfortable with, and gradually start writing the others. A good mix of valuable content is the most important step in getting a good mix of valuable readers.

Do you have any suggestions for writing in each of these areas? If so, let us know in the comments!

What the heck is Information architecture?

Information architecture is the art of organizing information on a website in a way in which it is easily found. That’s the one sentence version, anyhow.

Information architecture (IA) is the art of organizing content into a logical structure. In websites we need to organize all the information logically and put it in together for it to make sense to our users.

Websites are supposed to answer questions that the a user has and help users complete tasks. If a website makes it easy for you to complete your task, then you know the information architects were effective. If a website has clumsy navigation and you have a hard time finding the information then we know whoever did the architecture on the website was not successful.

How do I recognize Information Architecture?

Before asking how I visualize IA, you may want to know why you need to visualize it. The main reason is if you have to explain what IA is to others. IA is not a tangible thing and the field is new and not many people out there understand exactly what it is. That’s why in this article, I am going to give you the whole picture of IA in layman’s terms, so you have a complete understanding are able to communicate that to other people.

You can recognize IA, by noticing the search systems and classifications/categorizations of a website’s architecture. But, it’s just not the navigation links that is IA, it’s the way information architects, categorize the structure of the information on the site.

Here is an example, let’s say we are looking at a clothing store’s online shopping cart. The types of clothing could be broken down like this: t-shirts, other shirts, jeans, casual pants, shorts and accessories. This is information architecture, it’s just not the words or the links, its how it is categorized.

Another example perhaps is the way content (words) are grouped on the homepage. If you look at any website – well most websites - for example the content is usually grouped into paragraphs or chunks of information, this is also information architecture.

IA is much deeper in the links on a website and how they are placed. IA refers to the content and the way in which we find it. It might be that we search for it, we could use a quick links side bar, either way it’s how we find the information.

Why information architects?

By now, we all know that IA exists without architects. If we want to create useable websites with easy to find information in complex environments, then we need architects. Without the proper professional knowledge and skills we would have a web of mess, much like it was with the crazy flashing buttons before we had web designers.

Imagine mortgages without mortgages specialists or schools without teachers. Information architecture without architects isn’t going to work either.

Something like 75% of businesses bust in the first year of operation. Who knows why? It could be a myriad of things: bad timing, no business plan, improper marketing (or worse–none at all), or maybe what they thought was a good idea really wasn’t. All of these could end a freelancer’s career, too.

But more likely, none of these things will. In my career as a freelancer I’ve watched numerous other freelancers rise and fall, step out and immediately lose their footing, or get off to a bumpy start. I must admit, I’ve made the same mistake a time or two: misconception.

I’m not talking the kind of misconception that happens when a client expects a $2000 website for $200 or that they figure their new e-commerce site will be as successful as Ebay overnight. The misconception that I’m speaking of has been widespread ever since the dot-com bubble burst and every 5th grader and their dog became a “webmaster”.

It lies in our communication: Bob decides to start a beef business. He gets a loan from the bank, a building to house the business in and even takes out an ad in the paper and the phone book. What’s missing? Bobs-beef-business-dot-com, of course!

Opening the phone book again, he flips through it, pausing and grinning at his wonderful 1/8th page ad. He continues flipping until he reaches the W’s. Let’s see… aha! “Web Design”. He picks up the phone and begins to call.

An hour later, he calls the “webmaster” that was fifth on his list, because they can do it for the least amount of money. He doesn’t need to check his website or his portfolio. The bottom line is all that matters.

The misconception happened between the lines. Bob called and said, “I need a website for my new business. How much?” The designer said, “We have starter packages that include 5-10 page web design for $500″. Bob says, “Great! You’re hired. When can you have it ready?”

How many of you have made this mistake? I know I have. A few of the new freelancers may not even catch it. As freelancers, we very often have to wear different hats to survive. If we can’t cut it in sales, accounting, customer service AND design, we won’t eat. We’ve perused the internet for many hours and we know what looks good, what gets a good rank in Google and what keeps people coming back. So why do we continue to convey ourselves as just another name in the phone book? The solution here is we need to position ourselves as industry experts rather than hired help. We’re not just good at making websites, we’re darn good at it. Any Joe Blow can create a website with Dreamweaver and a GoDaddy account. Why should they hire you if they don’t understand the importance of getting a specialist involved?

Sure, we all have faults, but that doesn’t mean we can’t learn from them. Like Jim Wideman likes to say, “I never make the same mistake twice, there’s enough different ones I can make every time!”

Sometimes, it takes awhile for a mistake to become a mistake. When the internet was still in it’s infancy, not a lot of people had an email address. The phone book was still pretty popular, and usually, the easiest way to get more information on a particular company was to call them. As a result, there weren’t a lot of contact forms on websites. A simple mailto: link would suffice. As another supporting factor, not too long after email got popular, so did spam. Junk emails flooded our inboxes to the extent that we quit seeing email as a huge step forward in communication and began to see it as a necessary evil.

Thankfully, that’s changed. New steps taken by Google and others in their email services have put spam in it’s place for the most part and made it fun to have email again.

And still, the mailto: link hangs on. It’s everywhere.
Why? It’s outdated and inefficient. When you click on the “contact us” link of some site that is coded with a mailto: link it will open up that user’s local email. Or at least, it will try to. For those of you like me–who keep their email on the internet–it may not respond at all or may even freeze up your browser.

Now you, the business-owner who owns that domain name–what sort of impression do you think you just made on that potential client/customer?

Many of you might think this is just a rant against substandard code and my personal experience on certain websites, but underneath it all lies the single principle that we all need to remember.

Harvey MacKay had an interesting way of showing ties at the mens suit store he worked at: He picked the three that would look the best with that suit and let the customer pick from the three.

Keep it simple, folks. Make every decision as easy as possible for them and their decision to hire or buy from you will be just as easy.

Are you merely wandering around looking for clients or do you have goals and targets for your company? For your team? The importance of goals has been covered many times as well as methods of goal creation. Here are some specific areas to create both short-term and long-term goals for: (Read more…)