Utterly Shameless Self Promotion
I’ve just had an article published in My Business - an Australian business magazine. The article is called Building a Website on a Budget. It’s a printed publication but I do have a PDF version you can read. Let me know what you think of it. The deadline for the next one is this Friday - eek!
May 8th, 2007 at 6:21 pm
Hi Sophie. Great article - covers all the bases. Is it ok if I mention your article and link to it from my blog??
Thanks
Daz
May 8th, 2007 at 6:35 pm
Go for it Daz!! And thanks.
May 8th, 2007 at 8:32 pm
Wow fantastic article Sophie I`ll definately be recomending the magazine to all our customers.
We find that alot of business owners want to ’sit’ on their sites instead of taking the approach you have discussed maybe this will finally give them the spark they need.
Can I get your autograph now your going to be as famous as koala bears and vegemite?
May 9th, 2007 at 11:59 am
Well done S!!
May 9th, 2007 at 3:39 pm
Thanks Michael and Peter, much appreciated.
May 10th, 2007 at 5:25 pm
Sophie, that was super!!!
Really well done. I really like your analogy of the car sale. Yes! Please tell us your budget!
That can be such a sticky part with some potential clients, and I think it comes from a fear that the designer will overcharge if the budget is higher than the designer expected. Nevertheless, business folks really should listen to your advice on that, or how can we possibly know what we’ll be able to do for them?
My heartiest congratulations to you on this article. Are you saying, above, that you’ll be doing this once a week?
Best Wishes!
Miriam
May 11th, 2007 at 10:11 am
Thanks for your lovely words Miriam. It’s definitely a tough one. I must admit lately I’ve found more prospect are starting to tell me their budget which is good.
The magazine comes out monthly and I have one in the next edition. We’ll see after that.
May 13th, 2007 at 5:14 pm
Nice work Soph! Has that magazine been around since 1996? The name rings a bell and if it is the publication I’m thinking of, it has been a great advocater of SEO/SEM and user-friendly design, long before even Aussie PC mags took note. Hope it becomes a regular gig for you!
May 14th, 2007 at 9:31 am
Thanks for dropping by Kal! Not sure if it’s been around since then, I’ll have to find out.
June 1st, 2007 at 1:58 am
Hi Sophie
Came across your really really good article on web design - bought back so many conversations with customers and colleagues and yes, at the end of the day it usually boils down to price.
I would add to designers - don’t be afraid to walk away from a project if it doesn’t ‘feel’ right. I nearly got caught out and was about to take on a small design job when the brief changed overnight to include functions i’ve never programmed before etc. which would obviously affect the price. Result - I walked away, and sleep soundly at nights.
I’m still learning a lot myself also. Having worked on my partners photo gift site - fabulous photo gifts (.co.uk), I’m now entering ‘phase 2′ and trying to explore blogs, rss feeds and social bookmarking etc as a means to driving extra traffic (and hopefully sales) but i am aware its all very much long tail.
Thanks again Sophie for the ’simple’ reminders of what design is really all about.
June 1st, 2007 at 11:09 am
Thanks for stopping by Jonathan! I’m thrilled you liked the article. I’ll have another one up soon - The Seven Sins of Web Design.
I think as a designer one of the best lessons you can learn is to walk away if it doesn’t feel right. Web design always involves ongoing earning and you seem to heading in the right direction. Good luck!