Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

My name`s Derek and I`m located in Toronto, Canada. I`ve always been the guy people ask to do their "web stuff." So now I`ve started my own Web Design company and I`m charging for it!

I began as a successful Illustrator, many years ago, but then got into Sales & Marketing for the past 15 years. My Web Design & Hosting company combines all my expertise to create interactive (I think it`s called Web 2.0) customer focused Websites. Because I provide Design, Marketing & Hosting services, I`m able to apply many different Web technologies in inventive ways to help my clients grow their business on the Web.  

I`d love to hear your thoughts.
Thank you!

P.S.
An Annex is a supplement or an addition - sort of like a Website is to a business. (I also live in an area of town called the Annex).


-------------------------

Derek Little President Annex Web Design & Hosting "Grow Your Business On The Web" http://www.annexwebdesign.com derek@annexwebdesign.com

Looks great to me.

-------------------------

Get Your Name in ".com" at the International Internet Authority

Nice looking site.  The one thing I did notice is that at the bottom of your page, near the copyright, is the "Privacy Policy," but you can`t actually click on the policy to view it.  Other than that, very nice.  Keep up the good work.

-------------------------

Helping new computer users have a safe and fun internet experience. www.newbiesecurity.com

Thanks for keeping me on my toes, Newbie. The Privacy Policy is something I left till last and forgot about.




-------------------------

Derek Little President Annex Web Design & Hosting "Grow Your Business On The Web" http://www.annexwebdesign.com derek@annexwebdesign.com

I`m using FireFox 1.0, and the site loaded just fine. However, I`ve come to expect certain things on a site, and was contradicted when I tried for those. For example:

• When I clicked on "Free Newsletter" nothing happened. I clicked on "Business Web Report" and nothing happened. Yes, I understand that I could have clicked on "Read More..." but that`s not what I expected.
• Same thing when I saw the little arrow-pointer on the two category headings, "Design & Development," and "Hosting Solutions." Given the arrows, I assumed they were links and nothing happened. Again, I had to wait to the "read more...." and didn`t expect that.
• I use a 19" LCD panel, and I`m just plain tired of little, tiny print on Web sites. I`ve got to the point where I mostly just blow off the site, unless I`m really, really interested in what they have to sell or say. Then I increase the font size manually on my browser. Why this is becoming such a standard is beyond me, but I hear a number of other folks, also in growing numbers, with the same gripe. Would it hurt to maybe go up 2pts.?
• I`m also annoyed when a site has something that`s not there, like in "coming soon," or "to be developed." I think it`s better, and more professional to just not have the reference at all, then when the content is all done, put it up at that time.

Basically, I expected that colored and highlighted headings would also be links. It`s good to have the "read more..." for visually impaired folks, but if the colors aren`t also links, then just keep them all the same black and make them bold.

From a marketing perspective, I didn`t see anything to distinguish this site at all from the other Web design service sites. And yet, in your personal note here, you indicate a background in illustratation, graphic design, and so forth. Rather than leave that to the About Us page, which nobody reads much until AFTER they`re interested, could you do something with it on the main page?

This is shooting from the hip, but why not have something like, "Tired of Web designers who see only code? Want something visually pleasing and interesting to look at? Annex brings together the technology of Web design and....[something about how marketing is psychological, visual, and blah-blah-blah]" Y`know? Something that makes you different! :-)

To me, a Web designer can be like many similar enterprises. You can be a technician, focused on the underlying code---like a mechanic, who really keeps a car humming, no matter how old. Or, you can be like a printer, doing a fine job if someone already has the layout and you`re just putting onto paper.

You can be a marketing company, catching the eye, grabbing people`s attention, and promising the customer that you`ll do the same for them and their products. What`s your special "thing?" What stands out about you from all the other Web designers?

Back a few years ago, Web design was so new and so strange, just the words "web designer" were sufficient to stand out. Today, with countless people getting into design, AND so many people being disappointed in the end results, it`s not enough to say you`re a Web designer. You have to also answer the question, "So what?"

I don`t want a newsletter. Nor do I believe anymore that a Web designer will "grow my business on the web." Too many articles and posts have gone under the bridge, and it`s become a hype phrase---meaningless. But I DO want to see 3 examples of very different sites, built with three different target markets in mind. I want to know that the Web designer can understand my hoped-for audience, then totally redesign the site according to those markets.

Does this make sense? I`m not a coder, so I didn`t look at the code. I didn`t check that it`s validated, or that it`s viewable under all conditions. I`m just someone who`s contemplating what I want in my own Web site, and have looked at many sites here, for critique. It keeps coming down to a sense of "space," rather than crowding, ease of navigation, and differentiation within the market niche. :-)

I agree with Craig’s comments.

I’ll add that you are selling yourself as a web designer. A web designer, I would have to ask what / whom did you have in mind while designing your website? What do you want to achieve from the people landing on your site? There is plenty of open space (that’s good), but that space is all clustered around the edges (not so good). The layout would be OK for somebody creating his first website, but for a designer that wants to sell me on his abilities? You are using (wasting) prime real state with a picture of a guy with a laptop, how is that supposed to tell me you are good at designing websites that will sell? Take a look at http://www.uie.com/articles/eye_tracking/ that info has been around for almost a decade now, yet you are designing a commercial site that doesn’t account for any of it, in order to view your content on the front page one must scroll a page down! The color of the letters almost mirrors that of the background our minds naturally want to dismiss ‘background’ noise, one needs to fight his own mind in order to acquire the information you present. What you say should stand out some things more than others, make your reader spot this or that something that will turn the visit into cash. Study/read-up on colors and color combinations, the response people have to them different combinations varies,  make sure that you use natural responses not culturally biased ones, unless of course you specifically want to target one group of people and insure others are discouraged by your site, for instance in Anglo societies black or purple is considered elegant, however, for (some) Hispanic cultures they are associated with death (black) or sorrow (purple). In short, you should design the site with a purpose in mind and do so using nature to your advantage, I don’t see that in there.

Cheers,

Hi Craig,

You make some valid points. Your ideas about adding links and increasing text size could be important to many people and were pretty easy to change - so I did.

As far as the COMING SOON on the Portfolio page goes,  I agree this is very important.  I have client sites I`m  working on that  I plan to add before I contact the Search Engines. I also plan on adding some micsellaneous "Samples" targeted to different industries.

What really interested me about your comments though, was regarding what`s unique about my business. This is something I`ve been trying to figure out how to communicate. My slogan "Grow Your Business On The Web" has less to do with design (or appearance) and more to do with backend functionality (or Hosting). My first thought was to call my Co. "Annex Internet Solutions" but people tend to group everything under "Web Design," So I went with that. Most people really don`t understand what Hosting is and how a Website actually works. (This is a challenge) . I`ve actually studied both Engineering and Design for 3 years each.

Through Hosting I can can add all kinds of functionality to a Website. For example... E-comm, Password protected pages, Content Management solutions, etc. THIS is how I intend to help people grow their business through the Web. Personally, I think the design is only important in so far as it is easy to navigate, looks organized & professional and has brand impact.
---------------------
I`ve made a few changes - I`d love to hear what you have to say now.
 (Do you think I should use the word "SOLUTIONS" in my name?


-------------------------

Derek Little President Annex Web Design & Hosting "Grow Your Business On The Web" http://www.annexwebdesign.com derek@annexwebdesign.com

Hi Elids,

Thanks for the feedback:

I`m actually trying to promote myself as a Web "Solutions" company. Why didn`t I use the word solutions? Well, I asked a test audience what they though a Web Solutions company was - they had no idea. Everybody instantly knew what Web Design was though, so I combined that with "Hosting" in my name.

Your comments on my design confused a bit though. Here`s why...

1. I`ve had nothing but great comments from everyone else.
2. I looked at the Web link you provided, and every suggestion they make is what I`ve done on my site. Every comment you made contracticts the Website you referred me to.

As far as colour psychology goes - I used green because it represents money and growth. (no mystery there). The reason there are pictures of people with laptops celebrating, is because "success" is the main benefit of "growing your business on the Web." If you were in my target market (and wanted a Website), I thinking that would`ve meant something to you.

Thanks for the link though. I took what you suggested into account and made a few changes.  

-------------------------

Derek Little President Annex Web Design & Hosting "Grow Your Business On The Web" http://www.annexwebdesign.com derek@annexwebdesign.com

my thoughts loud and proud

• nice first impression
• what`s up with that header image, it`s a bit trippy and the guy looks like he`s hanging in space
• get rid of the grey text it`s too hard to read on crappy monitors (not mine, but someones)
• white on grey is bad. try something different color is ok
• did you buy this template or make it your self. i get the feeling you bought it, why? cause your subnav isn`t consistent and looks like an afterthought
• if you don`t have anything to show in a portfolio don`t turn it on.makes you look brand new, inexperienced or worse a fake.
• about us page didn`t really tell me anything about your company.i got the gist of your services from other pages. this is your page to toot your horn,  so blow hard!
• you have all these items marked as options on your services pages, prices would be nice so i know what i`m getting into
• nice a contact form, but sucks cause there is no email link. people are either form fillers or email link clickers, you my friend are missing  1/2 your audience.

great job so far. keep it up

Thanks for the link on eye-tracking, EliDS! Excellent info, and I bookmarked it. There`s that fella who`s got the music site, and his visual path is a mystery.

Derek,
Thanks for your post regarding why you did what you did. First, I want to say I agree very much with EliDS, and although it may not seem concise and clear to your reading, I`d encourage you to go back and re-read. He has some pretty accurate analysis.

As for the problem of marketing your unique characteristic, that`s a problem. It comes down to definition, and many people today believe a definition is either a consensus opinion, a feeling, or some sort of anecdote. I`d be very cautious of saying that you`ve had mostly great feedback on how your site looks. As a musician, my first foray into "epistemology" had to do with a question: "If everyone you know tells you the band is great, how do you know if the band is any good?"

I`d suggest that even the term Web hosting, these days, is well understood. And so the question still stands, just because you offer a gateway to the Internet, and you offer all the standard things any good hosting service offers, so what? That`s not at all going to help me grow my business. I`m going to help me grow my business, and it won`t be due to password protection, FTP capabilities, and other technology infrastructure, see? It`s that aspect that the infrastructure somehow is critical to growing the business that I`d take issue with.

Instead, focus on your design capabilities. What makes you different from other designers? For example, the designer I use has a many-year background in graphic art, she`s an actual artist, has lots of experiences in printing and pre-press, layout, and so forth. She understands visual impact, and also the low-level details of coding, validation, and search engine marketing.

All that comes into play when I say, "Here`s what I want to write about. How can I make it easy to accomplish, and put up new content whenever I feel like it? Does this menu look okay? I`m not sure...got any ideas?" I really don`t need to know how the server is set up, what OS is running, or other issues. All I need to know is that it`s easy for me to check my email from some other computer than my own.

Web "solutions" is jargon, I agree, and won`t do you anything. There`s a thread on SuN about a 10-word "elevator pitch" or slogan. In it, people examine the functionality of slogans anyone puts up, in terms of what do they actually say. There`ve been some excellent suggestions in that thread, many of which apply when anyone tries to figure out what`s the defining characteristic of their core business.

The words that come to my mind as being quite different, include: technique, skill, process, art, and invention. To me, Web hosting is more a process. The only variable would be up-time and how easily I can directly contact the hosting person. It`s a technician`s job.

But Web design is a skill and an art. It involves creativity, invention, and interaction with a client to figure out what that person really wants to say on their site. Many people have said that what they wish they could find in a good Web designer is someone who can really bring to life their "vision" of the business. Can you do that? If so, then you would actually be helping to grow someone`s business. See?

One other comment to add, regarding that a Web site should be easy to navigate, reasonably pleasing to the eye, but the "real" heart of the site is the hosting. I couldn`t disagree more strongly. That`s like saying that although a book is interesting to read, has a fine cover, and the print is large enough for comfort, the "real" heart of the book is the publishing company. I strongly doubt it.

A Web site lives or dies on content. Yes, functionality is crucial, but it`s a technical problem and layout issue. It can be fixed, probably by someone having almost nothing at all to do with the actual site content. But the content is what people actually are interested in, when searching the web.

My father used to irritate the hell out of me as I was growing up in my first career as a professional musician. He was always harping on me as to what original material I was writing. I`d argue all over the place that although I was doing copy material, it was originally arranged. He`d routinely pull out the analogy of the car mechanic who believes his work is the same as designing and building a car; or the same as the person driving the car.

As depressing as it may sound, especially given the amount of time, work, and energy involved in becoming a skilled hosting service, the fact remains that hosting is essentially a "car mechanic." Yes, when the car isn`t working right we really, really want a great mechanic! But ONLY when there`s a problem....rarely when things are going well.