Business & Process (Archive)

Page 2 of 5 (45 total articles)
  • April 7, 2008 in Business & Process

    Keeping Your Web Project from Becoming a Frankenstein Monster

    A couple weeks ago, I posted an article entitled The Efficient Web Designer. In that article I suggested that limiting client options is key to managing projects efficiently. I was surprised when I received some flak for that particular point; so I've decided to expand it into an article. It's true that limiting client options makes projects run more smoothly but it also prevents another common web design demon--the Frankenstein monster. In this article I'm going to explain the principle of holistic design and how to help your clients uphold that principle.

  • March 26, 2008 in Business & Process

    The Lone Web Designer: Strategies for Competing Against the Big Agency

    I don't think much introduction is necessary with this topic. We've all been beaten out of a project by a big ad agency at some point. It's a frustrating and demoralizing; especially when you know you could do a better job. As an independent web designer, I've battled this issue for quite a few years now, and I've decided it's time to publish a list of core strategies based on my experience.

  • March 24, 2008 in Business & Process

    The Efficient Web Designer: Simple Adjustments That Will Dramatically Increase Your Productivity

    Web designers can be pretty snooty about efficiency. We all have our little sets of widgets and tools; and we love to look down our noses at the riffraff that hasn't discovered whatever little app we happen to be high on. But through the haze of shortcuts and hacks, I've found that many web designers are actually extremely inefficient. Our tools can help us, but every once in awhile we need someone to pull our noses off the ground so we can see the big picture. With that in mind, I've put together a list of simple adjustments that will dramatically reduce your stress and increase your productivity.

  • March 17, 2008 in Business & Process

    Everyone's a Design Critic: How to Handle a Client Critique

    On Sunday at SXSWi, Jason Santa Maria and Rob Weychert double-teamed an issue that's been an ongoing struggle in my own experience. It's the issue of clients who inexplicably become design experts when it's time for you to present your design. The presentation was well thought out, well presented, and very helpful. I'll start with their practical advise for presenting a design for client critique. Then I'd like to present their list of the top five client requests as a comical ending to an otherwise serious topic. It will make you laugh, it will make your cry. It's truly moving.

  • March 10, 2008 in Business & Process

    Respect! Say It Loud: I Design Websites and I'm Proud of It

    I honestly didn't expect to hear anything worth writing about on the first day of SXSWi 2008. Friday is usually a day for getting registered and settling in. There's the now annual "How to Rawk SXSW" panel, and usually a few lighthearted introductory discussions, but things typically don't gear up until the second day. This year, though, I was immediately swept off into web designer heaven as Jeffrey Zeldman and the Happy Cog team presented one of the first SXSWi panels entitled Respect! Say it loud: I design websites and I'm proud of it.

  • February 25, 2008 in Business & Process

    7 Reasons You Shouldn't Charge by the Hour

    A week ago, I posted an article entitled Pay Me Please: A Freelance Web Designer's Guide to Billing and Pricing. It included a brief explanation of why I avoid charging clients by the hour. I've since realized that this explanation was inadequate. After spending way too much time explaining and clarifying in the comments section, I decided to expand the topic into a separate post. So if you would like a deeper look into the melee of hourly billing, you've come to the right place. Here are seven reasons I avoid hourly billing like the plague.

  • February 18, 2008 in Business & Process

    Pay Me Please: A Freelance Web Designer's Guide to Billing and Pricing

    Going it alone as a web designer will quickly lead to the discovery that your accounting skills are as important as your design skills. If you've ever done any freelancing you know exactly what I mean. When should I bill? How much should I charge? What kind of pricing structure should I use? These are questions I've wrestled with more than once over my eight year tenure as a freelance web designer. But fortunately, out of the heap of triumphs and failures, a refined set of principles has emerged. I'm sure these rules will keep you out of some sticky situations.

  • January 28, 2008 in Business & Process

    How Much is Too Much? A Guide to Client Control Over Website Content

    As web designers, we know the essential ingredients to website success. We spend hours every week blogging, networking, and studying keywords to produce our income. But our clients aren't always--in fact almost never--where we are when it comes engaging the online world. It's our tendency, though, to build sites for them as if they were. So which client needs the blog/product catalog/cms site and which one needs the hands-off site? We need a grid for determining the right grade website to build for each client. Here are some tips that have helped me develop my grid.

  • December 31, 2007 in Business & Process

    Selling Website Design: How to Overcome the 3 Most Ignorant Objections

    Selling web design for the past seven years has given me the opportunity to hear every objection imaginable. Some are practical--"The price is too high". Some are emotional--"We don't want to hurt our other designer's feelings". But they all add up to a big NO. The strategy I've developed through this process, however, is not designed to turn every NO into a YES. When I make it my goal, instead, to turn every ignorant NO into a YES, I win on every level. Some people just don't like my style and letting them go is the best thing I can do. But if I leave a meeting rejected because I was unable to articulate the workings of my industry, there's a problem.

  • November 26, 2007 in Business & Process

    5 Reasons to Use "5 Reasons" in Your Blog Post Title

    By now it's no secret that advertising "five reasons why..."in a blog post title is an effective technique for enticing clickthroughs. Advice pointing to this tactic is rampant in the blogosphere and, I have to admit, I've used the technique myself a time or two (not counting this post). But the technique has transformed from a cool little trick to an all out internet phenomenon.

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