51 replies to this topic

[bobbyc]

This was AWESOME! Thanks tons, great info, loved it bookmarked it, printed it. lol

[iWonder]

Sweeet man .

I should say, yesterday i thought of being a Profesional Web Designer . he he . I think I`ll look into it now . your article was inspiring

[falkar]

I'm going to become a Pro Webdesigner eheh
Nice adn useful article

[matdwyer]

Thanks for all the comments all, I'll be writing a few more articles in the very near future!

Thanks again!

- Mat

[Tran]

Wow!!! Nicely written! Very nice! After I read that article, I just wanted to open up my Photoshop and start making a site. But I'm still pretty new to Photoshop so i have lots of things to learn.

[TMZHosting LLC]

Thanks alot Matt

[WALNUT]

another thing i will be doing is to offer things other companies locally cannot afford to do, im gonna do this with my webhosting company but its possible with a website designing company which i'll start up after my moc gcses.

-look through yellow pages and find companys local who do not have a website, don't ring them cause it'll annoy the hell outta them, just simply make say 200 leaflets take one to printers n they make loads for u and they look professional! give them out in town n try to hit the companys who do not have a website.

-give each customer a reference code kept on an access database or exel even, and every time they refer someone they get like 10% back or extra stuff such as pop3 accounts and webspace. and the person who received the refer gets like 5% off their total bill.

-use yell.com look at other companies prices, some only do ecommerce! most do not show a price, but a few do and stick to their guide on how it works and undercut them by 1/3

-spy on other companys, start speaking to a few workers if you ever meet them like i have recently and get talking to them about how much their company charges etc for ecommerce.



now when it comes to first meeting with them where they discuss what type of website they want in a "cafe" with "donuts" bring a few examples of your work cause remember not everyone might have seen your website due to be right hand man/lady meeting you or they just want a small 2 page website to give customers some reference to where they're located. ask them a few questions such as colours, have they got a .psd or computer image of their logo, have they seen a website they quite like theirs to be like, what links do they want. try not to just sit there n just look blankly cause they'll think you're charging them for time, and tell of how u want payment say after u introduce yourselves so if you have good deals you can make sure your customers are always listening to you. every piece of work you hand to them must have header on it with contact details and logo just so that they do not need to find your information again and again, print up every deal you have into a booklet so that you can leave them with it so they can think it through incase they miss something.


good luck, and remember at the end of the day you're just paying for paper and ink the rest you've already got

p.s. forgot to mention, if you know the customer is a big donut eater dunt take him to a cafe with donuts cause he could say sorry he dusnt want your work at first meeting and your left with a bill of £100 for donuts... lol

Edited by WALNUT, 05 September 2005 - 04:44 AM.

[Simocast]

Dude that article was very inspiring, Im going to start off right away!

Ive got all those programs you listed and can basically ace em' (except maybe Dreamweaver... :S) But I can only practice eh?

Thanks again, Ill definitly check out your site ^.^

[/quit]

Woah that was an interesting read, it actually grabbed me, most of the things I already knew, but ALOT of the people on this site could afford to know

[goku112]

wow i just read this article and that bit by walnut, and it got my thinking, I'm 16, i got a website, why dont i take it to new heights? so i think im going to pray about it first and stuff but this is definitly in my bookmarks i think God wanted me to read this. Thanks and God Bless you guys!!!

[matdwyer]

Thanks all

I'm honoured to be still getting emails about people who want to start up their own company! I hope you all do great, and enjoy it!

I'm very glad I could help... I've written 2 more articles, just have to have them proof read and such and we'll post them up!

Thanks again,

- Mat

[Maxx-Designs]

Thanks for the article it really helped me!

[kamassy]

Wooow!

Wish I had read something similar when I was starting. I could save a LOT of time. Anyway, most of the things you're writing about require a lot of experience. Many newbies will smash their heads in the wall 100 times before they realise you're right.

Anyway, congratulations on this article. As soon as I finish my new personal website, I will link this one as a MUST to read for all newbies.

You spend a lot of time for one unselfish cause. Congrats.

Predrag

[KikoX]

What can I say other than inspirational?

I had thought about taking up a web design career, this article has given me an insight to what has to be done and pushed me to go for it.

Very good read, well done, appreciate your time and effort.

[dstudios]

awesome article... I'll be saving a copy of this, hope you don't mind, its for future reference...

Thanks a lot for this...

[PsychoticDude85]

Excellent article, mostly common sense really, I find the portfolio/domain/hosting to be the most important combination, without a portfolio, or one that lets you down with ads, or a bad domain it is really hard to get any pay whatsoever, to this end i started making my portfolio, and since I made it my prices have more than doubled and my skills have improved with each job.

Meh, in conclusion great article

[Spyder]

looks like i got all the progs ready^^

[saferwaters]

Yeah, same here..now I just need more skill

Thanks for that, i think tomorrow I'll print it off, and read it in detail...and a lot of these other articles.

Thanks!

[DVL, LLC]

I cant wait. I must know if your next article means...

To give the client exactly what kind of site they want the FIRST time, even if its wack and ugly and ragedy and violates all types of rules of great Web sites...

Is that waht it means?!?! If so...good, b/c thats what I always do...but I never really knew if I should be doing it that way...but I felt...keeping the client happy was the best thing...even though you might not be able to show that site off in your portfolio...

[matdwyer]

I cant wait. I must know if your next article means...

To give the client exactly what kind of site they want the FIRST time, even if its wack and ugly and ragedy and violates all types of rules of great Web sites...

Is that waht it means?!?! If so...good, b/c thats what I always do...but I never really knew if I should be doing it that way...but I felt...keeping the client happy was the best thing...even though you might not be able to show that site off in your portfolio...

Hey!

Man, the next article is being proof read, it will be finished soon.

For now, I can tell you that the site http://www.designsbyamber.com was completed by MadWebCanada, and it was done EXACTLY to the STRICT likings of the client. I am almost ashamed of it, lol I just really don't like it, but I'm not writing the cheque, I'm cashing it.

Think about it, it's all about them.

- Mat