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Local Monopoly Problem?


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#21 Jaymz

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Posted 02 January 2006 - 05:37 PM

Let them look considering the domain will be ready when I send them. The .htaccess file must have been inadvertantly removed, I will put it back now

Edited by Jaymz, 02 January 2006 - 05:59 PM.


#22 Jamie Huskisson

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Posted 02 January 2006 - 06:04 PM

Speed, whilst your tips are good - as he said the site isn't done yet, its all temporary.... I highly doubt these guys will be looking at code to judge his character, if anything they'll look at that amazing 2nd draft..

James, I think that 2nd draft is dead on.. concentrate on getting the site finished and i'm sure they'll be contacting you back in no time as your portfolio clearly speaks for itself :D

#23 Jaymz

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Posted 02 January 2006 - 06:06 PM

James, I think that 2nd draft is dead on.. concentrate on getting the site finished and i'm sure they'll be contacting you back in no time as your portfolio clearly speaks for itself :D


Thanks Jay, I tried to shorten things as much as I could, and decided that since they were non-profit that I'd go pro-bono :)

#24 Jamie Huskisson

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Posted 02 January 2006 - 06:08 PM

the best advice I ever read was that working for free is the best kind of experience (especially when paid work is generally rare at first)

#25 codie

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Posted 02 January 2006 - 09:01 PM

well my advice is probally for ur next client or shud of been more near to the start.

if i was tht guy i wud be angry and think ur trying to make a statement or get revenge for not hiring u. the thing is its gunna happen many times in ur life and its just somthing u have to put up with, weather you ment it or not.

another thing is, if u go after one of the clients he has workd for they might need to give them a little bit of a push to get them to accept the offer, u have to remember they just paid for a web site and they may not want to pay for another, give them a cheap deal or for free (which is what ur doing and was a good choice for u) before you approach them u shud probally spend a bit of time drawing up a concept sketch full colour or a basic layout on photoshop or what ever you use, tht way you have somthing based on there old website and they c u mean business and they know u have the time and patiene to do a project.




hope tht was hepful ;)

if u didnt understand anything just say i typed it up a bit quick

#26 Jaymz

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Posted 02 January 2006 - 09:12 PM

well my advice is probally for ur next client or shud of been more near to the start.

if i was tht guy i wud be angry and think ur trying to make a statement or get revenge for not hiring u. the thing is its gunna happen many times in ur life and its just somthing u have to put up with, weather you ment it or not.

another thing is, if u go after one of the clients he has workd for they might need to give them a little bit of a push to get them to accept the offer, u have to remember they just paid for a web site and they may not want to pay for another, give them a cheap deal or for free (which is what ur doing and was a good choice for u) before you approach them u shud probally spend a bit of time drawing up a concept sketch full colour or a basic layout on photoshop or what ever you use, tht way you have somthing based on there old website and they c u mean business and they know u have the time and patiene to do a project.




hope tht was hepful ;)

if u didnt understand anything just say i typed it up a bit quick



I haven't approached anyone yet as my portfolio isn't complete, so you're in time ;) The thing is, most of these people have been suffering with the bad websites for over a year now, as it was last May when I started scoping out local contracts but I got bogged down in other things.

I'm going to start locally with a non-profit organization (see my letter posted previously) which has no ties to him at all, so that I can start to build a reputation here and start collecting references. I have just completed my new business cards which feature my new branding and logo along with my contact info so that I can give them to local clients to give to their friends, etc.

Any redesign clients I approach will be done carefully, and I'll make it clear that I'm not targetting George's work, but it is my only alternative as he holds all of the local businesses at the moment. I intend to move in somewhat and I have to start somewhere. I hope that once I do some non-profit websites that they will start referring people to me, and that business owners will see the difference I've made in those and be more welcoming.

As I always do I will present sketches and mock-ups before asking them to make a decision so that they have an idea of what will be coming and that they are getting their money's worth. I'm not charging them a lot because my costs are very low and I have some free time to do them. Right now my focus is on building up a local portfolio because this is such a small town and most of the business owners know each other, so if their friends are happy with their new website they will at least consider me.

Edited by Jaymz, 02 January 2006 - 09:12 PM.


#27 codie

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Posted 02 January 2006 - 11:30 PM

glad to hear your on track with ur business and hope u can build tht portfolio for your self, ur very lucky all the business are friends because tht is very rare around where i live.

good luck ;)

#28 Av-

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Posted 03 January 2006 - 09:11 AM

Good luck, and im sure after a while if you have a good reputation, George will be begging to work for YOU ;)

#29 Jaymz

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Posted 03 January 2006 - 10:39 AM

Good luck, and im sure after a while if you have a good reputation, George will be begging to work for YOU ;)


I hope so :ph34r:

#30 Pax

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Posted 03 January 2006 - 02:34 PM

James, I'm in college right now taking web and graphic design, and we cover some stuff like this. A few things you might want to try:

1. Offer free/cheap websites in exchange for recognition (like you said you would) BUT keep all source files. They want changes made, they *MUST* come to you.
2. Try re-selling hosting to them. Get a good host that doesnt cost you an arm and a leg, has really high or unlimited bandwidth and lets you host lots of domains. You can undercut what they currently pay and bring $5/month per website, and then you can hope that they will come back to you for more business in webdesign.
3. Steal the dudes clients. Do you think the guys at Netscape, Firefox and Opera are sitting around thinking "Dang...I sure hope Mr.Gates isn't pissed at us for taking some of his clients away"? If you want to try and run a business, do just that, but do it in its enirety. You skip out on stuff and you'll have a much harder time getting by. If you have a better product, offer it to those who need it. So what if your competition doesn't like you anymore, right? He's probably used to it anyways, heck, he probably does it too.

Good luck mate! Hope this helps a bit...

#31 Jaymz

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Posted 03 January 2006 - 02:50 PM

James, I'm in college right now taking web and graphic design, and we cover some stuff like this. A few things you might want to try:

1. Offer free/cheap websites in exchange for recognition (like you said you would) BUT keep all source files. They want changes made, they *MUST* come to you.
2. Try re-selling hosting to them. Get a good host that doesnt cost you an arm and a leg, has really high or unlimited bandwidth and lets you host lots of domains. You can undercut what they currently pay and bring $5/month per website, and then you can hope that they will come back to you for more business in webdesign.
3. Steal the dudes clients. Do you think the guys at Netscape, Firefox and Opera are sitting around thinking "Dang...I sure hope Mr.Gates isn't pissed at us for taking some of his clients away"? If you want to try and run a business, do just that, but do it in its enirety. You skip out on stuff and you'll have a much harder time getting by. If you have a better product, offer it to those who need it. So what if your competition doesn't like you anymore, right? He's probably used to it anyways, heck, he probably does it too.

Good luck mate! Hope this helps a bit...


Sound advice, thank you :ph34r:

#32 dEcade

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Posted 03 January 2006 - 04:22 PM

He probably doesn't really care as long as he gets paid, but if you got paid more than him he would probably be pissed. Then probably hire some bounty hunter to hunt you down and ...................... wreck your computer. In your case, make it a lot better than his so you can get paid way more ;)

I'd feel annoyed and kind of upset that I went to all that work for nothing.

EDIT: Also what I would probably do is see what they paid him and ask a lower price for your template (which is better than his) and make sure you add who it was designed by and there you go. Then if they need a new site they would come to you!

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Edited by dEcade, 03 January 2006 - 04:24 PM.


#33 Jaymz

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Posted 03 January 2006 - 05:40 PM

He probably doesn't really care as long as he gets paid, but if you got paid more than him he would probably be pissed. Then probably hire some bounty hunter to hunt you down and ...................... wreck your computer. In your case, make it a lot better than his so you can get paid way more :P

I'd feel annoyed and kind of upset that I went to all that work for nothing.

EDIT: Also what I would probably do is see what they paid him and ask a lower price for your template (which is better than his) and make sure you add who it was designed by and there you go. Then if they need a new site they would come to you!

dEcade



I don't plan on charging a lot, it's not like I'm living on web design (neither's he so I'm not crippling his income), it's just a little extra spending money for me. For example, the first project will go to topping up my "new chair fund" to replace this cheap piece of junk. I've flattened all the padding because this chair was never designed for extended use plus it creaks and groans for no apparent reason.

I hope that local web design will completely fund my hosting as well as slowly upgrading my computer with a new dvd burner and more RAM, and small expenses like photo finishing, etc if I can get the business in. Like I've said, I'm offering some non-profit sites a free design in exchange for publicity and I'll hope for the best ;)

#34 ludwigw

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Posted 03 January 2006 - 08:26 PM

Jaymz, go take out over that town! It's for the better of all, this George sounds like he doesn't knwo what the hell he'd talking about, let alone doing in design!

#35 Jaymz

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Posted 03 January 2006 - 08:38 PM

Jaymz, go take out over that town! It's for the better of all, this George sounds like he doesn't knwo what the hell he'd talking about, let alone doing in design!


I'll do it slowly so that by the time he notices I'll already have the whole town ;)

#36 dEcade

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Posted 04 January 2006 - 02:11 PM

You know how pissed I would be if someone said I'm not good enough for them. Did he even give you a chance? Well if that happend I would go and see who he designed sites for and show them a new template thats better and then slice it for them. Also its not like you don't have the right to do this, and its going towards a good cause lol :ph34r:

dEcade

#37 Wybe

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Posted 10 January 2006 - 11:56 AM

If somebody went to re-do my client's websites, I'd come up with an even better re-design.

#38 Moody

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Posted 10 January 2006 - 03:59 PM

I have my own computer maintenance business. And that's probably around about the same as website designing etc.

1) Make sure you are always dressed smart when you're meeting with clients. That means, business shirt a tie and black pants. They are paying for your service and they want to make sure they can trust you, and it's hard to get over a first impression, so make it a good one. You can design websites at home in your underwear, but when the clients can see you, make sure you're dressed smart. If you dont have any "business" clothes, go out and buy a cheap pair. Should set you back about $20 but that's worth it. And if you dont know. This website came in handy for me as well http://www.tie-a-tie.net/ :P

2) Your age is a setback, but that's easily overcome by showing them past work you've done or word-of-mouth. I started fixing computers at age 13. Not many people are happy to see a 13 year old come in and bust open their computer and start fiddling around with it, but, if they had been told that I was reliable and got the job done by a close friend, then they won't mind that my voice is dropping and Ive got acne (I had to take a drug to stop the spots. They got to a point where I had to -_- Prescribed by the doctor ofcourse... )

3) Go that extra mile when making websites. Put in an invisible web statistics counter or something. No one can say no to a freebee. Especially if it helps them know what sites their users are coming from etc.

I gotta head off to work now, I'll finish writing up a few points there. I hope this helped and good luck!




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