Successful Web Business-What U should know!!

[lhoudini]

There are many web designers who are honest and will
tell you exactly what you need to do to have a successful web
site.
Yet, there are others who want to create some fancy gadgets on
your site, charge you a fortune, and completely rip you off... while you are watching your money go down the drain.

The truth is you DON'T need a web designer to develop
a site for your small business. If you have some computer
skills and a little bit of time to devote to your web site, you
can make it yourself and spend as little as $6.00 a month on
it!

[mediatech]

You may be preaching to the choir here

[compar]

Originally Posted by mediatech

You may be preaching to the choir here

Or you may be offending a whole bunch of people. Many of the people on this forum are professional website designers. To brand us all as rip off artists is a bit much.

I'd love to see one of these $6.00 site you are talking about. There are some really crappy sites out there on the Internet designed by people who " have some computer skills and a little bit of time to devote to your web site". And their sites look like it.

Sure there are people who will try and sell you stuff you don't need. There are car salesmen who will sell you SUVs. And nobody needs an SUV. But you wouldn't go out in you garage and start to build you own car just because you owned a few wrenches and thought you were a half decent mechanic.

The point is that you need to know what you want and what will work. But if you want a professional site you need to go to a professional site designer. Otherwise you will get what you create -- an amateur web site.

[bytech]

I second compar.

For a while I thought one day web designers will be obsolete. But than I thought of my current job at the time, which was commercial cleaning. Anyone can clean. Why hire an outsider, right?

The same thing goes for web design. If you have a successful business, would you rather be working on a $6.00 website, or doing what you do best making the real money?

All of us could probably learn to do our taxes, especially with today's software. Why go to an accountant?

If you absolutely must, design your own site at first. When things get rolling, hire someone who spends their whole days designing websites. At that point you will probably know what you want, and choosing a web designer that won't rip you off will be much easier.

The design part is "easy"... knowing the pitfalls of specific technologies, standard resolutions, being aware of security issues (like for example file permissions, not chmoding your files to 666), and such is a full time job.

[SN3]

That is very offensive!

[schmeg007]

Haha, I don't know if I'd go so far as to call it offensive, but it is defintely an option that some businesses should consider if they are trying to scrap together enough money to launch their business. If they have the time ( which usually is not true ) then they can learn web design and after a couple months of hard work, they will have a beautiful page that will work just fine for them.

However, most likely they will not have the time. It may be easy to make a web site that has a picture with your business address on it, but to make a web site that is pleasing to the eye, and as Bytech said, pays attention to the details, takes a lot longer.

And I agree with compar, I'd love to see one of these sites that was made with a "little bit of time" . They *might* be able to get something this good http://www.mdstunisie.org/ugly-web-s...web-sites.html , but I would guess it wouldn't even match this quality

[dave conz]

Originally Posted by lhoudini

The truth is you DON'T need a web designer to develop a site for your small business. If you have some computer skills and a little bit of time to devote to your web site, you can make it yourself and spend as little as $6.00 a month on it!

My experience has been the exact opposite. Time and time again I see this budget "strategy" employed by small businesses and turn into an embarrassment for them. I can't tell you the number of people who ring me asking if I can fix the botch-ups they made because they thought they could do it themselves. Making an effective website with nothing more than "some computer skills and a little bit of time" is more than likely going to backfire.

Some time ago I did a thorough examination of almost all the business websites in our town for our Chamber of Commerce. After going through several hundred websites, a pattern became very clear - the sites which were made in-house looked bad and performed worse. The websites which were making an impact were the professionally-designed ones.

[lhoudini]

1. "Build it and they will come" theory is just a myth when it comes to online business. Nobody will come to your website unless they are already familiar with your company or their friend has told them about your site.

2. "Pay a lot of money to your web designer to createa fancy web site with all the bells and whistles and your sales will skyrocket overnight". This is another myth that many web design agencies are using to impress you with their skills and get you to buy their services. The fact is, most small businesses who are making money on the Web have a simple web site with a good sales letter. No need to pay topdollars for technical gadgets.

3. "Get a web site for your business and make $5,000 within a month". Nothing can be further from the truth. In fact, many businesses don't see any profit for 4-6 months! It takes time and a good marketing strategy to start getting sales.

4. "Sell just one product on your web site and make a lot of money on it" is not how successful business owners make profit online. They first attract their visitors with a free or very low-price item, generate a customer list of e-mail addresses and contact them over and over again with special offers and sales letters about a high-end product.

5. "Online marketing does not take any time at all because there are a lot of people out there surfing, who might stumble across your site and order from you". This myth was created especially for you - a busy business person who can't take the time to promote the web site on a weekly basis.
Success takes time.
The good thing about it is that it is so rewarding that you can't afford not to do that!

[mediatech]

Originally Posted by lhoudini

1. "Build it and they will come" theory is just a myth when it comes to online business. Nobody will come to your website unless they are already familiar with your company or their friend has told them about your site.

Not if you use a basic SEO strategy. According to Overture there were 736947 type ins for the keyword "vacation" in December followed by:

481507 vacation package
430440 hawaii vacation

Which will show up first on a Google search?

wellknowntravelagency.com or hawaiivacationpackage.com?

http://inventory.overture.com/d/sear...ry/suggestion/

Originally Posted by lhoudini

2. "Pay a lot of money to your web designer to createa fancy web site with all the bells and whistles and your sales will skyrocket overnight". This is another myth that many web design agencies are using to impress you with their skills and get you to buy their services. The fact is, most small businesses who are making money on the Web have a simple web site with a good sales letter. No need to pay topdollars for technical gadgets.

Define bells and whistles. Are we talking about a basic website with statistical tracking or an extranet type site with user groups and workflow for managing human resources, clients and content? Modern websites are more than static brochures... they are business applications.

Originally Posted by lhoudini

3. "Get a web site for your business and make $5,000 within a month". Nothing can be further from the truth. In fact, many businesses don't see any profit for 4-6 months! It takes time and a good marketing strategy to start getting sales.

Never heard that one... it usually takes a business plan and marketing strategy to earn that kind of income.

How about:

"Get a business plan and marketing strategy and make $5,000 within a month".

Originally Posted by lhoudini

4. "Sell just one product on your web site and make a lot of money on it" is not how successful business owners make profit online. They first attract their visitors with a free or very low-price item, generate a customer list of e-mail addresses and contact them over and over again with special offers and sales letters about a high-end product.

Can't argue here

Originally Posted by lhoudini

5. "Online marketing does not take any time at all because there are a lot of people out there surfing, who might stumble across your site and order from you". This myth was created especially for you - a busy business person who can't take the time to promote the web site on a weekly basis.
Success takes time.

Again a SEO strategy is critical here... and a business plan.

[SVB]

Yes, im afraid Ihoudini has got this all wrong..

[John Scott]

"Sell just one product on your web site and make a lot of money on it" is not how successful business owners make profit online. They first attract their visitors with a free or very low-price item, generate a customer list of e-mail addresses and contact them over and over again with special offers and sales letters about a high-end product.

That's a cheap gimmick which most of the time doesn't work. Let's replace that with:

Offer a serious product, ant a fair price which includes a fair profit margin, with good after-sale support, and customers wuill buy. Don't give away freebies unl;ess your strategy is one of preemptive market saturation.

[Emancipator]

What was the actual point of this thread? Can you post a sample 6.00 site where a non webdesigner built a great site that makes them money?

Web designers do more then slap pictures on a page. Try doing a Dating site in php , or a custom database driven cgi shopping cart and then tell me webdesigners are a thing of the past.

How is your small business owner going to know the first thing about any of this? People who sell features you dont need are scam artists ,but to lump all webmasters as being null and void in the IT market is just not correct.

[bytech]

As emancipator said, there is more to web design than slapping a few nice pictures onto a page.

I think most people don't realise what goes into web design. I know all my clients tell me "Gosh, I didn't think about this, or I didn't think about that". Obviously, my clients are people who know that there is probably more to this all than the eye can see at first, else they would not be my clients. Still, they are surprised at the breadth of the field... Now, imagine the surprise on someone's face when they discover all the things they need to know, while developing their first web site.

I think many of us started by developing that first site "for fun", and got hooked a bit at a time. There is nothing wrong with do it yourself... You have to start somewhere. Still, for professional results FIRST time around, leave it to the pros. If you can gain a good background in web design before going to the pros, you'll make a better decision on who to hire... but for christ's sake, don't build your own site and declare the Internet and whole industry a big fraud, two weeks after the launch of your first "do-it-yourself website"... because no one clicked on that rotating picture of "E-mail Us". Yuck. <shiver>

[dave conz]

lhoudini, are you going to respond to the discussion you've created? The second message you posted, instead of addressing the replies from myself and others, was simply a copy-and-paste job from a list of cliches. Some of your points are valid and fair. Some aren't. If you are going to post such statements, back them up and engage in the ensuing debate. Otherwise we will begin to think you are only here to post your sig.

[Emancipator]

Originally Posted by bytech

As emancipator said, there is more to web design than slapping a few nice pictures onto a page.

I think most people don't realise what goes into web design. I know all my clients tell me "Gosh, I didn't think about this, or I didn't think about that". Obviously, my clients are people who know that there is probably more to this all than the eye can see at first, else they would not be my clients. Still, they are surprised at the breadth of the field... Now, imagine the surprise on someone's face when they discover all the things they need to know, while developing their first web site.

I think many of us started by developing that first site "for fun", and got hooked a bit at a time. There is nothing wrong with do it yourself... You have to start somewhere. Still, for professional results FIRST time around, leave it to the pros. If you can gain a good background in web design before going to the pros, you'll make a better decision on who to hire... but for christ's sake, don't build your own site and declare the Internet and whole industry a big fraud, two weeks after the launch of your first "do-it-yourself website"... because no one clicked on that rotating picture of "E-mail Us". Yuck. <shiver>

Bang on right! Most my customers are other designers, webhosts, etc. But those who are not dont know the first thing about search engines, webdesign etc. They can build a site for 6bucks MAYBE but they sure cant compete with somebody who pays me to build them a site.

So you built your 6 dollar site, and get 4 hits a day and make $0.001 cents a day off your mom buying products from it. My customer who paid a few hundred dollars and is in the Top 10 of google for his products makes back my fee in one day and thrives. I am not an SEO guru either. I am a talente webdev who hobbies in seo. If you go one step further, get me to do your site, and John Scott or Phil to do your seo you will have one hell of a setup that makes you gobs of money.

A website is a profit venture, its not a business card. Non webdevs can make online business cards, only webdesigners make sites that sell.

Just my 2 cents, not intending to rant on anybody.

[Elysium]

Hmm im a qualified web designer you won't get a site for $6 from me. Hillarious thread, maybe time to do a "Harry Houdini".

[mediatech]

Originally Posted by JohnScott

That's a cheap gimmick which most of the time doesn't work. Let's replace that with:

Offer a serious product, ant a fair price which includes a fair profit margin, with good after-sale support, and customers wuill buy. Don't give away freebies unl;ess your strategy is one of preemptive market saturation.

There are some exceptions. I'm not selling anything... yet. I collect email addresses for demographic research and support requests. Helps to know who your audience is.

[Emancipator]

Mediatech, sorry I am lost as to what it has to do with webdesigners are not needed.. It may be to early for me yet

[mediatech]

Originally Posted by Emancipator

Mediatech, sorry I am lost as to what it has to do with webdesigners are not needed.. It may be to early for me yet

It's getting a little off topic