LinkArtist Multimedia - The Blog

With so many sites like bludomain, bigfolio, or other template sites selling Flash-based websites for $100-$400, I find myself having to "defend" my pricing to photographers (and other creatives, who, ironically, also charge thousands of dollars for their own work - you’d think they’d be more sympathetic if anything :)), who either don’t understand why the template sites charge what they do, or even flat out refuse to pay a designer for a bespoke site.

I refuse to compete in the hundred-dollar market and here’s why. First of all, the only reason that Bludomain and BigFolio can sell websites can sell a Flash website for a ridiculously low price is because they are selling on volume. A Flash site with a content management system will cost you at least $15,000 - often much more. But the template guys spread their costs over a hundred people instead of one. Of course, the downside to this is that 99 (or even more!) other people have an identical website!

With a template site, you may get the benefit of a cheap website, but what is the real cost of that? I have browsed many, many, many photographer’s websites, and if you put yourself in the "browsing photographers" position, as most brides are, you’ll notice that they all start to look the same.

In a highly saturated market, a good stand-out web presence can make all the difference. Custom sites will instantly stand out from competitors (from a web browsing point of view)… simply because templates are so common!

My clients have noticed a significant jump in enquiries and bookings, just from having a site that is different from 90% of the other photographer’s sites. Part of it is in the SEO, but I think a big part of it, anecdotally speaking, is that if a bride is surfing through 15 (or 30 if shes particularly obsessive :)) sites, 95% of which are bludomain sites… I guess that it has a homogenising effect in terms of the experience of the website.

And you are naive if you think that people don’t switch off if they see the same thing over and over, even if the images are different.

Websites are not just a directory of business, but are also an experience, that invoke emotional reactions. They are more like television advertising than, say, the Yellow Pages…and people wholly expect to pay for TV Advertising because it brings results. I guess if I can use an analogy with Yellow Pages listings, its like the difference between having the standard 2 line Yellow pages listing, versus the display advertising with your custom graphics and your look and feel. The display ads will always cost more (often a lot more than you think you can afford), but you get more, and the majority of the time, you get better results.

You ultimately get what you pay for with web design. And when someone next tells a photographer that they can go to istockphoto.com and get a great photo for much less, hopefully that photographer will know how web designers feel about template sites.

There have been so many times that I have been tempted to quit this little web design caper.

For those that don’t already know, I am not just a web designer, but I also had a previous life in the drudgerous grey cubefarm known as the public service. I thought that that was what I wanted to do, until I realised very early on in my career that it wasn’t for me. Policy was a passion, it still is in varying degrees, and the temptation to quit has hit me on at least… I dunno 70,000 occasions in the 3.5 years I have been working as a designer.

I have been going through a bit of a rut lately, working through things, pondering the direction of the business so that I don’t suddenly hit 40, realise that I am still working 14 hour days, and realise that I have wasted my life…

So, browsing today, I found this. It applies to production, but it still resonates:

“It takes a while, its going to take you a while, and that’s normal… you just have to fight your your way through it…"

“It takes a while, its going to take you a while, and that’s normal… you just have to fight your your way through it… "

And again, just for posterity:

“It takes a while, its going to take you a while, and that’s normal… you just have to fight your your way through it… "

It is always so tempting to quit when things get hard. But I watched this video, and I have to admit that I got choked up hearing those words… at just the right time.

Nothing worth doing is going to be easy. It is a series of lessons, practise, constant mistakes and errors in judgement that get us to the point where we feel like an artist, rather than a Policy Officer pretending to be a designer… or a Mum with a hobby that earns her some cash "on the side" (that’s my favourite, given that I am the main income earner :)).

But, knowing that I am not alone, when there are SO many times when it feels that way, gives me comfort.

And hopefully, it helps to inspire me to keep going with this "little web design thing", and get better at it, so that when I am 40, I look back with pride and accomplishment.

I have been neglecting both of my blogs a bit lately, because I have just been so busy that I haven’t had time to do anything other than work, sleep and (occasionally) parent.

I have a queue of work right now, and the very first (almost) finished project to come out of my head down, bum up couple of months is the redesign of Cahoots’ website.

Cahoots have a great product. They produce hard bound photo books from your digital (or scanned) images, and have great software that is really easy to use. They have a number of options, which depend on how involved you would like to be in the process - from downloading the software yourself, designing and sending the finished product through, to having a book maker produce the design and book for you. They also run workshops, which I think is a great idea for people who want to get started but are not really sure how. They also have some great opportunities for Mums who want to work from home and have a knack for design, so be sure to check them out!

This project was delivered in pretty much record time, and I am proud of the result (which, for me is a pretty big ask seeing as I am highly critical of my work!). I worked with Cahoots’ existing branding and style guide to create a fun, practical and clean design that utilises a lot of really cool features, including a Flash flipping book (after all, they sell real books and we needed to get that across), some neat javascript features, and some really cool work with the Joomla templating system.

There are still some of those inevitable "smoothing out" things to do after going live, but be sure to check it out here:

Click here to visit Cahoots

Whilst on the hunt for an alternative to the shiteous built-in WordPress WYSIWYG Editor, I found this little gem. I am posting from it now, in fact! It’s available for Mac OSX and Windows, which is great, because I am running Leopard on my main machine, and XP on my laptop… so I don’t need to worry about being on a certain computer to use it.

The beauty of this app is that it allows you to queue posts, draft posts and edit everything offline.

I am terrible lately at updating my blog, mostly because the mental effort (shyeah, I know…) required to open my browser, be online, save drafts, etc, becomes too cumbersome. Yeah, my life is so hard.

Anyway, check it out!

This project has been an absolute pleasure from start to finish.

I had a good feeling about Tasj from the very first time we met, and it resulted in a project that I am really, really proud of, and I hope brings Tasj more wonderful clients that appreciate her beautiful photography!

As an aside, there really is nothing that makes me happier, than having clients that just… trust me… to do what I think is right for them and their business. It is a tremendous honour, and not something I take lightly. Trust in your designer not only helps the project move a whole lot quicker and MUCH more smoothly, but it also means that your designer will walk to the ends of the earth for you Which is why its so important to find a designer that GETS you.

I learned a lot about my own creative process with this project, and realised that half of the battle is visualising the right solution. The actual designing and coding is just one part of it, but a lot of the time spent on a project is going into a sort of contemplation period, where I think about the client, look at their work, get a sense of what they’re about, and producing a site that not only differentiates them on the web, but also makes them feel genuinely invested and excited about the result. I think this is a part that many people take for granted, or somehow think that a design should be knocked together in Photoshop in 4 hours max… its much, much more than that — and I am getting much more confident in knowing that my vision, 9 times out of 10, pans out

Anyway, Tasj has been the catalyst for this realisation, that I am actually really good at what I do, and I LOVE pushing myself to do better each time. And that’s pretty awesome, coming from the laziest person on the planet!

This site is powered 100% by Wordpress (the geeks will appreciate it), with Tasj having fully updateable galleries, integration between her site content and her blog, and some nifty little tricks thrown in for good measure (refresh the home page a few times and you’ll see that the background image changes every time :))

Anyway, its been an absolute pleasure working with Tasj, and we wish her well, and look forward to her glowing testimonial

Check out the page HERE.

I have been going about my usual business, working my arse off, the usual, and have discovered that my host is having intermittent issues - if you consider “intermittent” to mean “no-mail-server-emails-for-2-weeks”.

It was strange, because I usually get a lot of enquiries, but this week have not received any! SO Annoying!

So, if you have tried to email via the Enquiry form, I hope you read the blog, because you can email me direct at tea@linkartist.com.au instead. In the meantime, I have been reassured that the email server will eventually be fixed and I HOPE that the queued emails get through…

And yes, I will have a non-boring, non-business related blog post later in the week

If anyone ever tells you that you can’t get a full multimedia-based website up in a week, they’re lying. It doesn’t, however, necessarily mean that you SHOULD, and if it happens often enough, you will die of exhaustion, your family will leave you, and you will lead a hopeless shell of an existence.

I can now unveil the new Lisa Loeb site, which is still very much imperfect (we are still adding archived content, as well as more music, videos and the store), but I am nonetheless proud of. The domains are propagating as we speak, just as Lisa prepares for her appearance on my not-so-secret-crush’s show, Late Night with Conan O’Brien.

I wanted to get the site up and live to take advantage of the inevitable traffic spike after a TV Appearance, plus we have a new CD coming out next week as well… so, I am excited, I am delirious with exhaustion, and I am so out of whack with my work/life balance right now it is insane.

But, it’s worth it.

And, if anyone else asks me to deliver a WHOLE JOOMLA SITE delivered in a week or 2, please, in the nicest possible way, take that cactus over there and please shove it up your rear. Twice.

Go check out www.lisaloeb.com when the domain is working, and buy The Purple Tape on CD. And, if you don’t click on the visuals link and look at the videos and appreciate my work, I will personally come and kill you and your children and your children’s children, because that was a pain in the arse.

I have found that people can be surprised when quoted our price for web design, but the simple matter is that our services are worked out at $100.00 an hour which is, more or less, an industry standard. Web design, and then redesign, can greatly increase the price when you take in the fact that a page design, by itself, can take eight hours or more to create. Add together coding and all the other bells and whistles that make up a unique site and you have your price.

In the end you get a site, tailored to you and your business, which is unique. Your site becomes your front line in marketing your business and can generate you thousands upon thousand of dollars over the life of the site. Is that not worth paying for?

Two web sites, both belonging to design companies, were sent to me this morning that really show that you get what you pay for. One is in English and the other is German but both could be one and the same. The both want your business and both are cheaper than LinkArtist Multimedia, way cheaper.

I’ll talk mostly about the one in English as I can read their site but it’s not that hard to navigate the German site for reasons I will point out.

OK, example 1. Joyvill Inc.

On first impressions, Joyvill’s site is nice and clean. It’s jam packed full of all those buzz word that you expect to find from some of our competitors. Straight away you know where they are located and that they know what Search Engine Optimizations is.

The front page then goes on to things you should already expect, like a site that will impress your competition and your clients will be able to use. Would you expect anything else?

OK so sounds pretty good huh? A cheap easy to use, pretty site from a ‘Web Design’ company! Where do I sign? Not so fast!

Example 2 Design Bits

Have you clicked on the link yet? Notice anything? I’ll make it easier.

Kinda similar huh! There is a reason for this. They use templates for their ‘design’. Both sites come from the same template then are populated with content specific to their own site. If I had a template to use, I’m pretty sure that I could knock up that site in five hours or so. Five times $100.00 equals $500.00 not ‘from $1600.00′! So it’s easy to see where the profit is.

But what if both businesses are connected and or owned by the same group? I did consider that and it could be true. Instead I took a look at their previous work. Now using what you know about internet templates, do you see any similarities?

Basically it comes down to this. You get what you pay for. If you like what these guys are selling then how about this.

1. Go to Template Monster , Free Site Templates or one of the many other thousands of template sites on the net.

2. Pay between $25 and $65 for a basic template.

3. Using Google or any other search engine to hunt out step by step information you need to upload and populate your very own site!

4. Enjoy. Just don’t worry when you see a copy of your site somewhere else.

I have been so busy with my end of year work catchups… like with getting our new! site! ready! finally!… that I haven’t been able to post many projects. The new look facilitates it a bit better and there will be a few more in the New Year.

Annaliese Frank

Annaliese wanted something simple and feminine. You can check it out by visiting http://www.annaliesefrank.com

The Unbride

Justine Ungaro asked me to design a custom Wordpress theme for her bridal blog, The Unbride. Justine is cute, rock n roll, and loves the black ornate flower thing, so the end result was something a little fun and crazy. Justine hasn’t posted on it yet (c’mon girl!), but you can check out the design anyway

The Wedding Workshop

Cathrin D’Entremont hired us to produce an illustration of a bride to be used as her main “mascot” for her workshops. She wanted something cheeky, feminine and modern. If you know anyone that is looking to plan a wedding, I suggest they check out The Wedding Workshop, which gives loads of great advice about how to plan a wedding. It only costs $20 to get some great advice… check it out here: http://www.theweddingworkshop.com.au

WACOSS

After designing the website for their 2008 Conference, WACOSS (Western Australian Council of Social Services) asked me to redesign their main page, which was looking outdated. The CMS that backs it is having some issues so I haven’t yet been able to fully edit the content, but the design is live and the result is great, considering that maroon and khaki were the colours to work with.

I really love CMS work, it is so rewarding and I am proud to help an organisation like WACOSS, because 3 years ago I would’ve been falling over myself to work with them in Policy. Oh how things change!

So, thats it for now… I have a post coming about our funny and dramatic Christmas, so its not all work

OK well, Shane put the challenge out there, so I decided to do it… only a week late… but who’s counting? I have been so busy with work lately that I literally have 400 unread RSS feeds, a mountain of social phone calls to return, and an eyestrain headache that the Ray Ban Bunnies would be proud of…

So anyway, whilst I wind down from working… its time for me to do what I promised and answer some questions…

—-

What’s your personal mission statement?

To live my life like this is “it”, and leave a legacy for my children that they are proud of. And to leave this earth just a little bit better for having been here. Anything else is a bonus.

What’s the biggest mess you’ve dealt with this year?

I am guessing that you *don’t* mean that nappy of Jules’ that i had to clean up about 2 weeks ago when he had severe diahorrea? Apparently us business people aren’t supposed to talk about such unsavoury things - and that is why I am always crossing the line with people.

In all seriousness though, the biggest mess that I have had to clean up is from my own lack of confidence. And yes, occasionally my tendency to tell clients about my son’s diahorrea and bad cake disasters…

What current entrepreneurial efforts consume your time?

Right now, building my business to not just be a job, but to also be earning income when I am NOT pull all nighters is something I am working on. I am also working on some ideas for band sites, and a few other things that never get my attention because I am too busy.

I have found that I feel uncomfortable calling myself an entrepeneur, too, which is probably why I find it hard to talk about my “entrepeneurial” efforts…

Why do you do what you do? What inspires you? When do you get most excited?

Quite simply, I love just about every aspect of my job… except for that point in the project where its bugs and niggles, that PISSES ME OFF AND IS ANYONE A CSS GURU THAT CAN HELP ME OUT BECAUSE I AM TEARING MY HAIR OUT OY VEY…

What inspires me? Well… I am a big picture kind of girl, so I would have to say that for me, the inspiration comes from helping to empower people using technology. It sounds really trite, but I really do get a kick out of making things look cool, but in a meaningful way.

I spent a lot of years trying to find my place, and trying to maintain my sense of optimism about human nature (although that has been tested, and I have been known to cry from the disappointment of people’s selfishness sometimes!), so for me, in a small way, being part of this little information revolution that will one day be looked upon as a turning point for humanity… well… that is kinda inspiring, don’t you think?

Boxers or Briefs? or as Naomi says, Bikini or Thong, duh?!?

Briefs make for a much better client relationship… oh, wait, you mean the other kind of undies… do women wear boxers?

What do you do when you’re not [designing | programming | managing | writing | toiling for the wo/man]?

I think about designing, programming, managing, writing and thank fuck for every day that I am not working FOR THE MAN. Oh, and I try to spend time with my kids

What one thing made the biggest difference when getting started?

Perseverance, fo sho. I have now been doing this for almost 3 years. It has flown by…

What’s your exit strategy?

On a plane, to a place with no extradition treaty, with a suitcase full of old ladies’ life savings…

ok, not really…

What is the last thing that made you belly laugh?

I belly laugh at least once a day. I think it was Jules’ impersonation of Charlie the Unicorn. It’s usually as a result of watching my kids.

Have you ever been in business before?

No… this was actually very scary for me. Lucky it crept up on me!

At what point do you consider yourself successful?

I already am. I have overcome tremendous obstacles already in the last 28 years, and the fact that I am even sitting here today, in my house, with my kids asleep… without any great worries (other than petty shit that gets us all from time to time) — I already am a success.

What was your first experience with a computer?

It involved rohypnol, a fishnet stockings and a mattress on the floor. It’s best I don’t talk about it. Let’s just that that Amstrad CPC 6128K will never be the same.

Steve Jobs vs Bill Gates in a jello wrestling match, where’s your money?

Probably in both of their pockets.

Where do you do your best thinking?

When I am swimming laps. Which I don’t do nearly as much as I should/want to!

What does your average daily work / life balance look like? How much time do you work, play and sleep?

Balance? hahahahahahahahha

Unless 3 hours of nose picking whilst I contemplate a design counts as play… well… yeah. I am answering this at 1am - does that answer your question?

If I could introduce you to anyone, who would it be?

Naomi. She’s a top top chick

What stops you from giving up when you are frustrated?

The fact that I could never, ever tolerate sitting in a cubicle again.

If Chuck Norris and Steven Hawking had a baby (hey it’s my damn interview), would you vote for her for president?

Well, given that Steven Hawking is from the UK, he would need to live in the US to have the baby, otherwise she wouldn’t satisfy the American birth requirement for US Presidential candidates. See, I know stuff about stuff and that. Girls and boys, that’s what a degree in Politics gets you.

Why do I now, suddenly have the mental image of Steven Hawking judo-kicking? Oh how my un-PC mind works.

And I don’t vote for the US President so it a moot point.