Website Designer

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Larry Berman on January 28, 2010 at 12:07pm

I've built web sites for over a hundred artists, but do it rarely now because of time constraints. You need to decide what you want the web site for. Identification purposes like a business card with a picture of your work and show schedule, or a way to actually sell with pictures of all your work and a shopping cart. Or something in between. Other decisions are whether you want flash or HTML, or both and whether or not you want to do the updates yourself.

Do you already have a domain name and if so, is it easy to tell people without having to spell it. I do have a lot of tips on promotion.

Larry Berman
Digital Jury Services
http://BermanGraphics.com
412-401-8100

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Permalink Reply by Heather Brady on January 28, 2010 at 3:28pm

I am a textile artist, and work as a graphic designer for a living. There are lots of decisions to make before you start making calls. How fancy a website do you need? Are you going to integrate e-commerce or a shopping cart? Do you have lots of high-quality photos of your work at the ready?

It is really easy to spend a LOT of money really fast in web design. It is best to go into it with a clear idea of what you need, and ideally a rough idea of how you want it to look/work first. Look at sites, bookmark them, and make notes on what you like. I'm assuming that you will be on a budget, so make that clear up front. Before you make any commitments, make sure the scope of work is defined and a budget is established. You can always add to it later. Also, request that you receive electronic copies of all the files, so should the site go down or disappear for any reason you have a backup that you can use to re-load all of the information. You will also need to settle on your url (your www.__________). You pay by the year for the ownership of the name, and you can check availability yourself prior to deciding - just google "internic whois" to see if your desired names are available.

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Permalink Reply by deb upright on January 28, 2010 at 4:06pm

Thanks for the reply, I have the pictures, know what I want, have the budget set. What I need is a recommendation of someone who I can trust. Someone I can see what they have done. Nothing fancy, I do need a shopping cart. I want to promote this as an online catalog for my work.

Thanks again for your input.

Deb

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Permalink Reply by Jim Bellis on January 28, 2010 at 7:59pm

Hi Deb,

Here is my recommendation for you. Check out www.webnwordwiz.com. She will be able to work with you on whatever you need from start to finish. She is a Graphic Designer, Web Designer, Artist and she's my wife! So take a look at her site. There is contact info within and tell her in your message that you are from Art Fair Insider web site.

I hope this information helps you out. Good luck!!

Jim
www.mosaicillusions.etsy.com

deb upright said:

Thanks for the reply, I have the pictures, know what I want, have the budget set. What I need is a recommendation of someone who I can trust. Someone I can see what they have done. Nothing fancy, I do need a shopping cart. I want to promote this as an online catalog for my work.

Thanks again for your input.

Deb

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Permalink Reply by Scott Fox on January 28, 2010 at 10:11pm

Hi Deb,

Visit http://www.elance.com. This site is like an Ebay for freelance services.

You can post your web design needs there in a proposal format and get bids from design teams all over the world overnight. These providers are publicly rated with stars (again like Ebay) based on their successful completion for previous clients.

You can also look at current requests from other folks who are looking for web design help to get an idea of expected budgets, time lines, etc.

I have successfully engaged contractors from Estonia, Puerto Rico, India, etc. to do any number of small projects over the years.

I hope that's helpful to you.
Scott Fox
Author of e-Riches 2.0: Next Generation Online Marketing Strategies
http://www.ScottFox.com

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Permalink Reply by Larry Berman on January 29, 2010 at 3:50am

Hi Scott. elance is not a good idea for an artist who has little experience building a web site. I think they would be better off with a web person who has experience working with artists and can guide them through what their needs are. Someone they can pick up the phone and talk to. I'm sure you are aware that the person placing a bid has to give exact specifications as to what they want, which is difficult because though they know what they want, it's almost impossible to put it into writing in enough detail that the web site will match their vision.

You can't pick up the phone and speak to the programmer, though they may be located in the US or Canada because they are required to communicate entirely through the web site interface so a permanent record is kept in the event of any disputes.

It took me almost four months to get http://JuryImages.com functional. We had it built in two parts by a programmer in Germany through elance. Initially we had chosen a different programmer who took a month of telling us he was working on it but didn't do a thing. We eventually had to file a claim and the programmer had to pay a fee to back out of the job so we could relist it. Even though I created all the graphics and built a non functional web site as a sub (child) web on one of my sites for him to copy, it still took months to get it to match my vision in a way that was functional.

All isn't that complicated with elance. It took two days to add a simple image upload form to http://BermanGraphics.com working with an elance programmer.

Larry Berman
Digital Jury Services
http://BermanGraphics.com
412-401-8100

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Permalink Reply by Scott Fox on January 29, 2010 at 6:43pm

Sorry to hear that you had some bad experiences with Elance.com.

But I still recommend their service over that of a random referral or (the more common option for first time web site builders) somebody's unreliable nephew.

As an established broker of freelance services, Elance.com offers:
- insight into multiple providers with verifiable track records,
- a structured bidding process that lets you compare prices and keep costs down,
- a dispute resolution and refund process if things go poorly (as opposed to trying to chase your friend's nephew for money he already spent and damaging your friendship in the process).

You're right that communication and preparation of your requirements is key before working with elance contractors, but that's highly recommended with any 3rd party service.

Elance.com (or similar competitors at Guru.com, Odesk.com, Rentacoder.com, etc.) may not work for everyone here. But if you are clear and professional about communicating your needs, these services are worth considering, especially if you don't have a trusted, reputable, experienced, affordable and available web designer friend already on call.

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Permalink Reply by Linda Anderson on January 29, 2010 at 11:09pm

Hi Deb,
For what it's worth I'm very happy with Homestead. I used to have Network Solutions and while they were okay, I love the quick response time and dedicated attention I get from the Homestead Guys. If I have questions, I always talk with a real person. I've kinda watched them grow thru the years and they are connected with INTUIT.

Personally, I like dealing with U.S. companies, especially now - made in U.S.A or services based in U.S.A. means alot to me. These guys are based in Colorado with some of the programmers in California.

Another nice thing about them is your site can be as simple or as complicated as you'd like. You can do it yourself quite easily by using their business templates, or you can have their designers work with you on setting up a more complicated site. Mine was quite complicated as I needed several levels of folders and, I'm afraid, I was a bit anal about having it exactly as I wanted. Man.... these guys were patient with me and at times when I did not know how to explain what I wanted to get across, they walked me through it until we both were on the same page.

Costs can vary but for what it's worth, they are the ones I've been most satisfied with.
Good Luck! Send us your link when it's done.

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Permalink Reply by Linda Anderson on January 30, 2010 at 12:19pm

Another thought.... perhaps Connie or Scott could add here, but it seems to me NING has a shopping cart etc. Since you are familiar with this website Deb, perhaps you could use NING for your site????

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Permalink Reply by Connie Mettler on January 30, 2010 at 6:55pm

Deb, you won't believe how easy this site (ArtFairInsiders.com) is to set up and manage. Really! It is click and point and WYSIWIG. Another option as Linda suggested.

There are some great suggestions in this thread. I am so pleased to see you helping one another. That was my mission when I started the site. Good job, guys!

Linda Anderson said:

Another thought.... perhaps Connie or Scott could add here, but it seems to me NING has a shopping cart etc. Since you are familiar with this website Deb, perhaps you could use NING for your site????

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Permalink Reply by William S. Eickhorst on January 31, 2010 at 5:43pm

Deb:

You might check with the folks at a local college or university art department that has a Graphic Design major. There are always very talented students in these programs who could use some extra money and would like to add a "real" piece to their portfolio! It would be hard to find anywhere else where you get as much bang for your buck!

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Permalink Reply by Sofie Dittmann on January 31, 2010 at 10:12pm

I built mine myself (sdittmann.com). As Connie suggested, there are WYSIWYG solutions out there, even if you don't have much time. I only needed a simple online presence with some galleries, and since I used to do web design (and marketing) full-time for a living, it was natural to build one myself. Even though I must say I was my own most complicated client. :) My sites are all hosted on hawkhost.com, and I have never had any issues.

To sell, you can use a site like smugmug.com (for photographs), and for artists there are sites like etsy.com. You can still link to an external site like that, and some can be customized to look like your website. There is also a small biz option for example on Yahoo!, but then you pay more for hosting.

deb upright said:

Thanks for the reply, I have the pictures, know what I want, have the budget set. What I need is a recommendation of someone who I can trust. Someone I can see what they have done. Nothing fancy, I do need a shopping cart. I want to promote this as an online catalog for my work.

Thanks again for your input.

Deb

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