Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Ok, we`re getting off topic again, lovely analysis work.  I agree with Cartess, get me a reason to contact you and make it easy.  So contact form on first page.  Not quote, contact.

I HATE the color scheme on your site.  You have 6 seconds to impress me (average page view time) and this does not do it.  If I am looking for web improvement, this site is not representative of that.  Just does not look impressive.  Sorry.  I know you have a lot of blood sweat and tears into this so far. 

Stop telling me what you can do.  I presume you can do what you say you can.  Tell me what using you does for ME.  Then I will call, or better yet, write you a check.  WIIFM is the driving force behind all sales.  Period.  The sooner you embrace that idea and step into your customer`s shoes the faster you will get the contracts you seek. 

So step back, take a deep breath and write down on a piece of paper what your ideal customer wants and has.  Chiefly a checkbook to pay you with.  Then decide what kind of business you want to pursue and focus your message on them. 

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

Dale
www.ourbestidea.com
www.maskerinsurance.com
www.maskercreations.net

I will have to agree to disagree on this one.

I know that the "internet marketer" format for a page works for a lot of people, but I`m after quality and not quantity. I`m not selling a product in infinite supply - I can only take the amount of projects that we can handle in a given month. If you go to any successful company (Amazon, Dell, Microsoft, Apple, Genentech, insert_company_name_here), do they have a contact form on the front page? No. Who does? Those internet marketing squeeze pages. And that`s not who we are.

I think consumers in certain markets come to expect a certain level of quality. I shouldn`t dumb down my product to get the most hits possible. There are several larger design houses around here, a few of which I have worked for or with ... and not a single one of them uses this format for a reason. It`s about standards of practice as a professional developer. You could put huge blinking graphics on every one of your pages to "grab attention" ... but, just don`t. You just don`t do it. It`s a method of standards and practices that all industries have ... mine just happens to be web development. I`ll let those guys who have ads up saying "COMPLETE WEB PAGES, $300!!!" make squeeze pages for their clients.

Y`know, as I caught up on this thread, thinking about it, I also was pondering why none of the Web design sites are really all that interesting. Here are people skilled in Web design, and their sites are okay...but not grabbers. Why?

I think a lot of it has to do with how much can anyone do with a text-based layout involving some graphics? I mean, how many different ways can you really lay out a magazine?

So I got to thinking about similarities to something else. Here`s a thought on that. What do you do if you`re a pychiatrist trying to open a new practice? There are a boatload of psychiatrists AND psychologists on the market. People consider the whole field a bit arcane, don`t know why they really need a psychiatrist, and would prefer to just "deal with things on their own."

Isn`t that similar to how people view Web development and design? We could even say that a psychologist would equate to maybe Web programmers (developers), with the psychiatrists being more the designers (artwork, copy, and layout). Maybe?

So it may come down to a "sense" and "feeling" of professionalism, understated elegance, MONEY, and "less is more." Referrals are going to be the main line of business. I don`t think a psychiatrist would jump up from the desk at the front door, shake your hand, and say, "Hey...for $300 I guarantee I can fix whatever`s bothering you! In fact, I`ve got a special running....two cases for the price of 1. If you`re schizophrenic, you get half off on each personality."

On the other hand, most psychiatrists will evaluate your situation, and right up front, without any rigamarole, tell you they charge $125/hr...or whatever`s the going rate. If they`re published, internationally known, they don`t take any cases except teaching cases, and the evaluation is more important. They also hand off cases to their associates, acting more as "guidance" in difficult situations.

Couldn`t someone who`s very strong in Web design present themselves in a similar way? I think the model might work. Would that help in terms of how to design a Web designer`s page?

OK now you`ve lost me.

Mm....I like to have models, when trying to analyze why something does or doesn`t work. Usually, those models come from history. The past almost always has situations that closely replicate the current problem. In this case, the problem as I see it is how come Web design professionals have sites that so often (in my opinion) aren`t all that exciting, and what can they do about it.

Historic problems have the advantage of elapsed time. The problem showed up, people messed with it, tried many solutions, and eventually found the best solution.

I`m saying that psychiatrists, when they entered the market back in the 1940s, were faced with the same types of sales problems as Web designers of today. How did they improve their marketing? I believe those methods and solutions will apply to Web designers, with minimal changes for specifics.

How did they?

I wasn`t around in the 40s.

They focused on person-to-person and networking, word of mouth. They went with the understated, low-key elegance approach. They also presented themselves as high-end physicians. Their focus area was in educational venues.

The logic was the nobody understood psychiatry, but people were learning about it. They were studying, and so schools and other places where the word was getting out were places to market one`s practice.

I think it`s going to be hard for Web designers to really show what they do, how they do it, and why they`re different from other people on the Web. As such, I also think that direct marketing, word of mouth, and referrals are a strong way to go.

With all the people out there who seem to want to build their own sites, why not have seminars in the local area--community college or library or church---to teach the basics of Web design. :-) As you teach what`s a <p> tag, some number of people are going to realize they`re not interested. In the lobby, before and after the seminar, you let people know that you do this professionally.

My overall point is that regardless of how pretty or coherant you make a Web site, it`s like a psychiatrist advertising in a magazine. They did a lot better with a very small classified ad in a few places, but primarily personal contact in the places their customers hung out.

Yeah, I`m already way ahead of you there ...

It`s a pretty saturated market. I find very few of my clients online, if any.

I know. It`s why I was looking around for a historic model, seeing what other folks in the same boat tried and succeeded with. Unfortunately, back then it was easier to start a whole damn school..! Or a hospital!

It`s actually a good idea to build an entire marketing or ad agency, where the Web component is just that...an integrated component. Expensive, but a good idea anyway.