Archive for the ‘Web Development’ Category

Although websites are the easiest way to attract new customers to your business, roughly half of the small businesses in our country do not have a website. That’s an amazing statistic considering how many people use the Internet to connect with friends and search for products/services in their local area.

Over the past two years I have developed a number of websites for small businesses in my area. When I ask why they never had a website, the excuse I hear most frequently is that websites cost too much.

To be fair, many small business owners have a hard time finding the extra money to build a website — particularly nowadays with the bad economy.

So what are your options?

Option #1: Build the website yourself.

Domain names and web hosting are pretty cheap, and most personal computers come with do-it-yourself software. You own a business. Building a website can’t be that hard… right?

The problem with this approach is that you probably don’t know what you’re doing. Do you buy a Linux or Windows hosting plan? Do you need PHP or .NET support? Do you even know what HTML is?

Assuming you even get the website up and running… how can you be sure if it works in Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari and every other web browser?

More importantly – will it look professional? Your customers will judge your business when viewing your website, so you definitely want to make a good impression.

Option #2: Contact a web design firm.

Web design firms obviously have the resources and experience to build your website. The problem is that they’re expensive. (Can you afford to spend $5000 or more right now? I definitely can’t.)

Web design firms have to charge higher prices in order to cover their operating costs (salaries, benefits, utilities, etc). They will also try to sell you features or services you don’t need; things like Flash intros, Search Engine Optimization, and a slew of other things. They’ll even charge monthly maintenance fees on top of their development costs.

Although it’s true that those extra services are worth something (Search Engine Optimization helps your website appear at the top of the search engine listings), the fact is that most small businesses don’t really them. Will a cool Flash video on your homepage make your customers say “Wow”? Maybe. Will that video influence them to buy your product or service? The answer is almost certainly “no”.

Option #3: Hire a freelance developer.

Freelance developers are often the best choice to build a website for your small business. We have the necessary experience it takes to write the code and the knowledge to help you make informed decisions. Our prices are much more affordable than web design firms because we have virtually no financial overhead.

Some freelancers even accept bartered services… it’s win-win! (Note: be prepared to offer something worthwhile.)

Some things you should consider.

At this point, you’re probably leaning towards hiring a freelance developer. But if you’ve never worked with a freelancer before, there’s a few things you should know:

• Freelancers won’t work for peanuts. Just because we charge less than design firms doesn’t mean you can get a quality website for $50. We are experts in our field, so expect to pay a fair price (or barter for equal services).
• Freelancers don’t work for you 9-5. Many freelancers have regular jobs, so be prepared to meet with your freelancer on nights or weekends.

What are your thoughts?

In case you haven’t figured it out yet… I’m a freelance developer! I’d like to think that I’m not too biased, but I want to know what you think.

Have you ever worked as a freelancer? If so, what was your approach to working with small businesses?

Have you ever hired a freelancer? If so, what was your experience like?

Wow, another year has come and gone. I feel like the past few months have just flown by… which is either really good or really bad depending on how you look at things.

As 2009 comes to a close, it’s a good time to look back and see how well we stuck to our New Year’s resolutions. Although I’m sure that I am not alone, I will be the first to stand up and say that (yet again) I’ve failed to complete all of my goals for this year.

This blog has been a very useful tool to document the accomplishments (and failures…) that I have achieved – and documenting my New Year’s resolutions is just another way to help myself stay focused on what I find important. I suppose “important” is somewhat of a relative term; it would seem that I am constantly shifting my focus towards some new goal. Priorities shift up and down on the list, but I suppose that’s just life.

So how did I do in 2009? According to my New Year’s resolutions for 2009, I guess I did alright:

1. I did not learn Silverlight, and I’ll be honest and say that I probably won’t ever spend the time to learn it. I have come to terms with the fact that I’m a developer (NOT a designer) and thus Silverlight / Flash aren’t the best way to spend my time. I actually did sign up for a Flash class at the local community college, but it was cancelled due to low enrollment. I’m taking that as a sign from God.
2. I did redesign my website! Although I did briefly attempt to create multiple sub-domains and online demos, I found that the redesign helped bring in some extra work. I never got around to the other details, but I’m not convinced that I even needed them.

The question now becomes: “What are my resolutions for 2010?”

In 2010, I hope to:

1. Double the amount of freelance work I generated in 2009. This will be achieved by: spending some money on local advertising, continued networking with local web development companies, and possibly creating an email newsletter when I have a large enough client base.
2. Change my use of social media. I have already started to do this… but I want to use social media sites strictly as professional tools. I plan to limit my use of Twitter, LinkedIn and the wide variety of message boards I visit so that I only post professional (i.e. “useful”) content. Facebook is a notable exception – I like that it’s a network of friends, and I don’t want them all to think I’m a total square.
3. Give at least two professional presentations. I spoke at an LCNUG meeting earlier this year and I attempted to create an ExtJS user group for the greater Chicago area. I won’t say that either presentation was amazing – and I know that I can do a bit better.
4. Use more photos on my blog. Personally, I like blogs that have photos. I don’t know if you (i.e. my readers) actually care, so if you have an opinion definitely let me know.

If anyone else has suggestions for what you’d like to see me accomplish this year… I’m all ears!