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.

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

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

I have just contributed a guest post on Shane & Peter’s great business blog. Go here and check it out!

Since the launch of Justine’s site, I have been working nonstop! If I have been an antisocial beyotch, well, it’s probably because I have literally had to turn off Skype and IM to be able to sit down and concentrate for a block of time. I am really very pleased with the progress I am making since relaunching this site (I will be doing another design as soon as I find the time — my portfolio page is horrible and I need to get on that!).

Right now, I cannot think of anything I would rather be doing than working with my clients, making web pages, and just generally having a ball of a time.

Anyway, I can give you all a few sneak peaks at what I am currently working on:

1. Glo3.com.au

This is a really nifty Australian invention that utilises ozone to completely sterilise and clean boots. Obviously we wouldn’t be keeping it in our wardrobes because it is an industrial thing, but it can be used to dry ski boots, mining boots, and all sorts really. This site is powered by CMS Made Simple and I also illustrated the model on the front page, based on the client’s CAD drawings. Pretty nifty, huh?

Anyway, you can have a look by clicking on the image:

2. Anna Rose Photography

This is currently a work in progress, and one of the many photographers that contacted me after the launch of justineungaro.com . What’s great is that Jen is actually Perth-based and is sweet as pie… so its great! Anyway, because of issues with iiNet there is only a splash page up at the moment, but I think it gives you at least a sneak peek at the direction of the site:

3. Trista Lerit Photography

Another project that I am very excited about! Trista loves florals almost as much as I do, so she’s let me design something purdy and ornate. It is still only at the mock stage, but I thought I’d show you a sneak peek anyway:

I am also doing a few other projects like a CD cover, but I can’t show those yet.

Oh, and I have been asked by the ABC to be profiled as someone with a “cool job”. Will tell you more when I know more!

I have had a few exciting projects this week, but the main one that I want to tell people about is the new website for Justine Ungaro, an awesome photographer based in Los Angeles. She has been really sweet throughout the whole process, and it is clients like her that remind me why I gave up that public service career.

click above to visit the site

I have also done a little bit of tweaking of the main part of this site. Yes, I know, the purists and pedants among you will gasp at the thought of a different design for every page, but for me, it seemed like a nice way to showcase my design ability. Yes, its a little lazy with tables and such, but hey, sometimes, tables just work. So meh

Also, because I tend to get all creative with designs all the time, if I feel the urge to redesign something or try a new colour scheme, instead of doing my whole website now I can do a page. Yeah, it breaks rules, yeah, I know, blah blah, but hey…it’s fun, right?

ummm, not much else that I can divulge at this very second, have been doing a fair bit of Lisa stuff and some other things that I hope to announce shortly, but it’s all loads of fun!

I have also been trying to fit in time to practise the piano and learn some new songs… but there just never seems to be enough time.

Oh, and Jules got a toddler bed. I am sad because my baby, right now, is sleeping in a big boy’s bed.

One of my MySpace friends just asked me why I think MySpace sucks. I always thought that it was something that is self-evident and obvious, but the comment made me wonder if I should be clearer about what exactly it is that I don’t like about MySpace.

I guess the reason I don’t like it is for a number of reasons:

1. It isn’t Wordpress.

This was the first reason I never really blogged here, because, well, I have been blogging for 10 years. I originally made manual html diary pages, moved to Blogger and then to Wordpress. And I have no inclination to change it because Wordpress is, well, fantastic.

Why on earth would I step backwards onto MySpace when I already run my own blog on my own domain? These things are not terribly difficult to set up, and, if you have a few bucks to pay a designer (like me), you can have a very cheap solution with your own branding that is much more flexible and has more income potential.

2. It is a programmatic dog’s breakfast

Not only is MySpace “down” more than it should be, the proprietary CSS & mishmashed programming is a nightmare.

The lengths I had to go to just to customise my MySpace to look even moderately tasteful was a whole lot more effort and time than I would EVER spend on a site. You’re just lucky I was bored one day and I need to network.

I am motivated to redesign my MySpace because it is a front for my business and I am a developer. I know what I am doing and it made me want to stab my eyes out with the nearest blunt object. Several times.

3. The interface is counter-intuitive and annoying

In terms of an interface design, it is, well, nothing short of frustrating. Of course, intuitive design and navigation is something that is subjective, but nothing fills me with rage more than skinning a MySpace profile.

All it takes is for one person’s giant glitter graphic to totally screw up your layout. And in an already frustrating navigation, and the often-ridiculously-overcustomised profiles, it very quickly becomes a web user’s brain kryptonite.

4. MySpace is full of Emos and famewhores.

Well, that kinda speaks for itself.

5. Even when a musician or artist has thousands of friends, nobody ever buys anything or even clicks.

It does make me wonder exactly what the point of MySpace is, when I receive so many automated “Add Me” requests and spam comments. Even for the musicians profiles that I have done and added affiliate links or whatever, nobody ever clicks anything.

My position on MySpace for musicians is “don’t bother”. Sure, put a veneer up with some msuic and pictures, but you can have a much better web presence by putting a blog up on your OWN site, with your OWN online mp3 store, and your OWN blog, with fans that will make the effort to visit you.

Whats more, there is no way of tracking your visitors, which, in web marketing, is a crucial part of getting maximum exposure to the maximum number of people.

6. Bulletins are ridiculously overused and abused.

I think that Bulletins should be a premium service that is used purely for broadcasting newsletter-type things, NOT memes about your top 10 favourite types of zip lock bags and to OMG-FORWARD-IT-ON-TO-EVERYONE-OR-YOULLDIE!!!1111!!!.

ITS CALLED A BLOG, PEOPLE! That’s why its there. The Bulletin should be used with discretion.

7. As long as MySpace exists, artists will not be empowered or truly embracing the internet.

I know that it is tempting to call MySpace a revolution for musicians. I actually don’t believe that it is. Besides the massive audience that MySpace attracts (and yes, in marketing speak, sure, its attractive for artists), there really isn’t much that MySpace can do that is any different to anything else.

There will always be a difference between the fly-night fans and your core audience. I believe that MySpace does nothing but encourage people to collect the former.

What musicians need, for income, is loyal fans that will buy their stuff, or pay a subscription for extra privileges.

Investing a couple of thousand bucks in a decent online community will get you further in the long run than MySpace ever will, because the MySpace folks are all about getting themselves exposed and are all about viral marketing.

Sure, it can work, and I am not saying that MySpace is necessarily *bad*, but at the same time, I think artists need to focus less on it and put their energies where it should be — on the communities they HAVE rather than the communities they seek.

All of these ideas are a part of the whole LinkArtist approach to creating a musicians online presence, and it varies from person to person, artist to artist.

8. Stupid Glitter graphics & bots.

Again, something that is obvious. They are annoying as hell.

9. MySpace originally reserved the right to use your content.

The Billy Bragg fiasco has gone some way to remedy this, but there is something to be said about Intellectual Property rights whenever you use a proprietary means of publishing on the web.

For a musician, all they have is their music. For a writer, all they have is their written work And for an individual (even though it may seem that people are willing to sign away anything in the name of fame these days), all you have is your public image.

I know that MySpace did go some way to remedy the situation, and this is from last year, but still, people should ALWAYS BE AWARE of what you are agreeing to on these sites:

“By displaying or publishing (”posting”) any Content, messages, text, files, images, photos, video, sounds, profiles, works of authorship, or any other materials (collectively, “Content”) on or through the Services, you hereby grant to MySpace.com, a non-exclusive, fully-paid and royalty-free, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense through unlimited levels of sublicensees) to use, copy, modify, adapt, translate, publicly perform, publicly display, store, reproduce, transmit, and distribute such Content on and through the Services.”

This means that MySpace could use ANY part of your profile in any capacity, without having to compensate you.

Nice, huh?

There is nothing inherently wrong with MySpace as an idea, or even as a tool on the web. But I do hope that I can encourage artists to break as free from MySpace as possible and spend a few bucks to get it set up right the first time.

It is a necessary evil of sorts, heck, I have a profile and network with it. But at least be aware that there are alternatives that make for a much more positive environment to interact and promote yourself or your business.