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| QuiskStart Guide For New Web Designers - Page 1 of 3 |
QuickStart for Newbie Web Developers - A Timely Guide for New Web Designers, Page 1 of 3
This Page is tailored to "Newbie" Webmasters and Web Developers, for the Design Graduate, and and anyone else needing good up to date and timely information on a fast track. This Page is designed to provide, new thinking as Search Engine technology matures, top sources for timely relevant facts, and many tips on how to streamline and make your small business profitable and enjoyable. The suggestions below apply equality well to all small business regardless of size and the links and resources are Internet's very best. Enjoy your visit, we hope you find our Web Development Tips informative and useful. The Business of Web Development (Current Web Development Competition is Fierce) Website Design and Development is now one of the most competitive businesses on the planet, especially with the advent of outsourcing offshore. India, Romania, Russia and web developers from many other countries are competing directly for your business, and they can do it cheaper! There have been some code quality issues raised, but it won't be long before they are on board there too and biting back with a vengeance! It 's almost impossible to compete when the "West" bids against the "East" on any major Web Contracting Site. Organize and Streamline! A particular problem for many Web Developers is that when the business is small, 1 or 2 people, you have to be ready to "Wear Several Hats" at a seconds notice. The effect can easily balloon so that you might expect that between marketing yourself, continuing maintenance of personal information, learning new methods and tools, bookkeeping, administration, legal documents, hardware, software, security, contracts, agreements, client meetings, billing, phone support, taxes....you can probably count on at much as 40% down time. Time where you are not getting paid.More about Website Development Pricing. Obviously, as in any other business it is important to streamline. Efficiency is all important in any competitive endeavor. Surely you don't want to waste your time and capital on building infrastructure details instead of a quickly competitive business structure. You do not need to build estimations, proposals, contracts and much more from scratch. They are done and ready for simple modification, saving many hours of detailed business infrastructure building. There are 2 such kits that we know of that have a vast array of such specific tools tailored for the Digital Media Industry. That's right, ProposalKit has tailored itself for the entire digital media market. Yes they are a sponsor, but our biased opinion is that you just can't beat the tools provided in ProposalKit, freeing up your time for the all important; Product or Service Delivery! Our ROI (Return on Investment) using ProposalKit has been in the 1000s%. We landed our largest client using the ProposalKit Web Development Business Tools, and just about every client since. Sure you dream of making a "killing" on the Internet.... LOL - Most of us in this business dream the same dreams, but many have and do support their small businesses this way and work from home or a nearby office space, for themselves. Building Business Momentum; The "Critical Mass" You Need What do your Web Design Customers or Clients want? Absolutely everything that they want in a "brick and mortar" business, including:
Catering to your client's needs directly should land many new leads by word of mouth. Always ask your client to recommend you to their associates. You will find that personal recommendations are your best "targeted traffic". Dealing with Clients Clients Want a Firm Price A client's need to project cost is ever bit as important as projecting income or revenue for a small business. One of your client's needs that you also have is establishing and maintaining "Income Stability" and/or "profitability". When quoting a client it is better to quote a finished price and terms when possible. We do not recommend an hourly based model. Sure you have to quote based on estimated time, modify and use the bidding calculators provided in ProposalKit and transform that into a payment scheme based on 3 milestones; 1) 1/3 Earnest Payment to get started, 2) 1/3 Payment billable and due after a midpoint milestone, and 3) Remaining 1/3 upon completion. ALWAYS CONTRACT YOUR WORK! Your clients want to know what to expect in what time and for what cost over what time? Let your client's know what the charges there are going to be over a given time. Client Communications Make sure that the client fully understands what to expect on the Web Design, Digital Media Development, or Web Maintenance Contract. Every service you provide and how much of each service should be detailed in the development contract. Periodically show Website value to your client It is not only appropriate but important to ring your own "value provided" bell on occasion. Many Site owners do not know how to calculate their own ROI (Return on Investment) for their Site. Many just know that it s a necessary expense. Recently we had a major client drop magazine ads in favor of engaging Mountain Eagle Marketing for expanded Internet Services. More about Website Value and Calculating ROI on our Executive Express Page. Pre-Sell Website Maintenance and Promotion from the Beginning Even to this day, you will find that most inexperienced clients believe that once a Site is designed and launched they are going to draw unlimited targeted traffic and their business is going to boom. It is important to inform your client on how the Search Engines work to the extent that they know that, content depth, uniqueness and freshness are extremely important for good SERPs and targeted traffic. It is also important for your clients to know that IBLs (Inbound Links) especially from well ranked "significant" Sites are very important for higher SE rankings, resulting in more traffic. It's simple, explain the SE algorithms enough to let them know that continued maintenance and Promotion is required to realize a valuable internet presence. Web Maintenance and Promotional Contracts serve your client and your own business well when executed correctly. The Search Engines Primary Search Engines Including Google, Yahoo and MSN will be in a constant state of change for the forseeable future The Top 3 Search Engines (Google, Yahoo and MSN) are locked in a fierce battle for their share of an estimated $9Billion per year in ad revenue. As each refine their algorithms, changes in "Best Practices" for Website Design and Promotion occur. We expect that as they all continue refinement by AI (Artificial Intelligence) and play technical "trump cards" against each other, that it is well worth spending time researching and testing. Many notable Webmaster Forums have separate discussion forums for the various leading engines (reference "Webmaster and SEO Forums on Page 2". Do not use software that "tags" the Search Engines for position. They frown on repeated bandwidth consuption. A great free tool for checking GOOGLE SERPS (Search Engine Result Positions) is www.googlerankings.com . They have permission from GOOGLE and access in a way that doesn't cause expensive bandwidth - may be last cached. You can also check YAHOO SERPS there. One of the best places to keep updated on the Search Engines changes, technology and best practices is at Search Engine Watch. Did you know that there is just about no reason to submit to Search Engines anymore? Did you know that there are exemptions at different "PR" Levels? I can show you High Ranking Sites that are not penalized for 20 pages+ of duplicate content! Surely you know by now the "Link Rich Get Richer" and SE algs are not applied the same at all "Page Rank" levels! Read more about Search Engines and "Built-in SEO" on our Search Engines Page and in our Webmaster Resources.
Make sure and join us on Page 2. Topics Include:
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