I have worked on many projects with medium sized businesses where upper and middle managers baulked at paying several thousands dollars for me to do a project, such as develop a website or create a Flash presentation.

But before they called me to solve their problem, they made several attempts to develop the project in-house for days, weeks, and even months without a lot of success.  Unfortunately, owners and operators of such organizations did not look at that as a cost to themselves.  This was never in the “budget.”

Projects that are outsourced are budgeted, but not the manpower and/or labor of salaried employees that work on the project.

Not realizing this will actually cost more. Here’s why:

Say you already have an in-house designer (not an actual web designer but a graphics designer) that makes a about $35,000.00 per year and he is messing around with a project for total of twenty hours.  What does that cost you in lost production time? 

What happens when higher level employees (that earn mid-six figures) get involved with this seemingly “little” project.  It really does happen.

Business owners and managers who have many employees on a yearly salary forget how much they are paying those employees on an hourly basis.  These managers have the attitude of: “Well, I’m already paying Jane to do marketing, so I should just get her to build the website and save us a bunch of money.”  That’s not a good perspective to have.  It ends up wasting money in the long run.

Here is an example of what I mean.  I met with a real company (but let’s call them Piney Pine Furniture Design) and they design and sell many types of furniture (chairs, beds, bureaus, etc.).  They asked me to meet with them to discuss their six page website project (yes, that is right—I did say six. This will actually be somewhat amusing later on). 

Before continuing, it should be noted that I had previously had an ongoing relationship with them doing other work (3D models and renderings of their furniture designs), so I figured this would be a quick meeting.  They knew me, I knew them and all would be well. Not so as it turned out.

I met with three employees (two designers and the design director) in a conference room for over two hours.  Each employee was a high five figure salaried employee, so for the math, I figured that 120 min. meeting cost the owner of the business: $276.00 in employee time to meet with me.  (These employees are actually probably responsible for producing ten times that amount in actual company revenue.)

Not too bad, but they came to the meeting with notes and preliminary discussion points.  I figured that the value of the time put into that outline was already $450.00.  Over the course of two weeks, we had three such meetings because the employees (three of them) who were in charge of the project didn’t really understand website design, although they were designers (furniture designs).  Three such meetings added up to: $522.00 in wasted time.  I knew what to do in the first ten minutes of the first meeting; it was a six page website.  I know website design.

Now, these dollars are just actually hour-to-hour dollars but not company dollars.  If you figure that an employee who works in an organization is actually producing ten times his hourly rate in company revenue (or at least they should). In other words if an employee is making $35.00/hour, he/she is producing over $350.00 worth of goods or services for the company to sell. That is the model used here.

The people I met wanted to “understand” the process and be educated. They wanted to design the site for themselves.  So really, I was just going to take their design and put it on the web.  Even simpler; but since they didn’t know anything about website design, knew very little about actual graphic design and many hours of meetings were wasted to “understand” a problem that really didn’t exist. 

Their problem was that they wanted to design the website.  The problem didn’t exist because they could have hired a professional (me) to design the website for them. Problem eliminated.

I figured that over 80 hours were wasted by the company’s employees trying to “design” this website (in which they were very, very bad at it).  All in an effort not to pay any freelance/consultant design fees. Interesting.

All the other things such as personal networking, online networking, business cards, postcards, offline ads, online ad, and so on are your other strengths (your appendages) that feed into your core. 

Those other strengths are great to have and you should exercise them a well, but do not ever forget about exercising your core: Your Website. ]]> http://www.audinwebdesign.com/blog/2009/01/02/building-the-core-advice-from-my-fitness-trainer/feed/ http://www.audinwebdesign.com/blog/2009/01/01/my-advice-for-the-nigerian-scams/ http://www.audinwebdesign.com/blog/2009/01/01/my-advice-for-the-nigerian-scams/#comments Thu, 01 Jan 2009 22:40:58 +0000 Ash Waechter http://www.audinwebdesign.com/blog/2009/01/01/my-advice-for-the-nigerian-scams/ 1.    Quit telling me you’re from Nigeria.  The jig is up.  Maybe you should try telling me you are from Belgium.  That would be more convincing.  They actually do have some royalty over there somewhere.  But telling me you’re from Nigeria is like my dad showing up in a red suit and saying he’s Santa Clause.  That boat has sailed for me –some thirty years ago.  The jig is up.
   
I got a great e-mail the other day that was almost convincing.  I deleted it but it said something to the effect that the United Nations was investigating scams and it was going to repay a bunch of people who were victims of scams.  It was a good enough subject line for me to read, but then they signed it from Nigeria!

2.    Try spell checking.  Give your scam letter to some native English speaking fourth grade teacher for some spell and grammar check. Once this teacher gets through with your scam letter, it would be dynamite.

3.    Get a marketing firm to work with you on these scam letters.  You have a good thing going; you just need to “massage” it as they say in the industry.  You obviously have the will and the tenacity for this scam business but you just need some skills in the direct scam e-mail department. I’m sure there are some out of work direct-mail copywriters who could probably help you with your scam letter.

If I was you, I would get some kind of logo, a good English speaking grammar coach and a different address and start all over again.  This Nigerian business is old hat.  I bet if you sent letters coming from Antarctica you would do a lot better.  People would probably just gloss over it and you would be in business—the scam business.  It seems like a pretty good racket if you have time for it—I guess.  I’m just a marketer and I like to help anyone I can—even Nigerian scam people.  I will not call them artists because they are really not good at what they do.  They had a good idea, just the execution was bad.

As of this writing, I recently got a scam letter that actually has all the elements of a good scam.  It addressed me by my full name (spelled correctly—nice touch), referenced a person with my surname and the person who is deceased (in a car accident), has the photos of the (fake) attorney. 

It’s all very well crafted.  It might have worked except for the fact that it was from Africa.  No offense to the people in Africa, but any relative of mine who has a fortune of $53 million (to leave behind) is not spending any time in Africa.  It’s just that simple. 

My advice to this latest scam letter:
With a surname like mine (Waechter), you should at least start in Germany or England as your reference point and then go from there.  That’s the number one problem with these scams, they all emanate from Africa.  Make it a little more realistic.  Another reason why this most recent scam letter is ineffective is: too little, too late.  This guy should have done this type of scam (with photos, proper names, a good story, etc) a long time ago.

While writing this blog I could not figure out how this related to “Advice for Nigerian Scams” but I finally did.  You have to stay ahead of the game.  Every time a new idea comes along, it’s old news by the time you get around to implementing it.

]]> http://www.audinwebdesign.com/blog/2009/01/01/my-advice-for-the-nigerian-scams/feed/ http://www.audinwebdesign.com/blog/2008/12/12/facebook-and-linked-should-be-a-one-way-street/ http://www.audinwebdesign.com/blog/2008/12/12/facebook-and-linked-should-be-a-one-way-street/#comments Fri, 12 Dec 2008 22:27:05 +0000 Ash Waechter http://www.audinwebdesign.com/blog/2008/12/12/facebook-and-linked-should-be-a-one-way-street/ I recently consulted with a man who owns a small leather goods store.  When I first looked at his site I immediately saw a huge problem.  He had a rather larger button on the front page telling people to check out his profile on Facebook.

Why on Earth would you want people to do that?  Why?  It doesn’t make any sense. This man “Jerry” had spent thousands of dollars in offline advertising (in magazines, billboards radio, etc.) and thousands of dollars on PPC advertising, organic search results to get people to his website, to ultimately buy from him.  Now, he wants people to leave his website to check out his Facebook profile.  That’s insanity.  Immediately, I told him to take that off (the button, not the profile).  I will update you on the conversion rate improvement in a future blog entry..

If the product was already produced, say a T.V. set and they were selling at the store for $250.00 and you knocked down the price to $175, you just got yourself a good deal because the product was the same.  Do that sort of thing that has not been created and you have your self less of a product.  Some deal.

I got an (unsolicited) e-mail from:

Gary Reeves

Artist in the Sky, LLC. PO Box 248, Lake Village, IN 46349
219-979-9422 http://www.airshoot.info

He was good enough to thank me for his time (the time it took to read his e-mail), but that is where the nice customer service ends.

I was not able to reply to his e-mail (donotreply@bigskyaerials.info) because the reply would go to an unattended mail box.  I find the wording very rude: It clearly says, “donotreply.”  He might as well say, “go screw yourself” and be done with it.  

My professional advice to him would be to have is reply e-mail say,  checkusout@bigskyaerials.info and leave it at that.  No sense in getting nasty about it, by saying, “do not reply.”

I really wanted to see how this test case was going to go, so I went to his website.  I actually did have a need for aerial photography; I have done some do work with golf courses, so his services would be of use to me.

On the front page of his website was “Click Here to Enter”.  That is so eighties (actually nineties, but I like saying eighties).  Once I get into the website, I see a Frames Layout which is going to keep him from ever getting search engine traffic.  

I then wanted to contact him directly and was faced with an online form.  Sometimes I just want to contact people using my own system (i.e. my e-mail program), not their system.  This is not the way to do business.  You should make it easy for people to contact you, even if it means giving out your e-mail address on your website.  But I guess if you spam a bunch of people (like he did), you kind of expect getting spammed yourself.

Then on the left hand side it says: For Best viewing adjust your monitor.”  My monitor?! Oh, really?  You want me to adjust my monitor.  Okay, bud, I will do just that to accommodate you.

This guy would save a lot of time just by getting a better web presence rather than sending e-mails all over the place.

The best advice I can offer (is advice I am giving myself): don’t spend anymore time on this blog entry.  As I was say, “I cannot save the world.”

Many businesses look at a website as some one shot deal, like a diet.  As soon as they reach their goal (say lose 50 pounds or in this case, the website is online), they completely walk away from it.  They expect it to just work by itself.  You have to constantly improve upon and look at current technologies.  If you are business owner and absolutely cannot do it for yourself, you should hire someone to do it of you.  You must look at your website as a long term strategy, not a short term diet plan.

For three months after my purchase, endless.com sent me their newsletter (or whatever it was supposed to be) by e-mail every single day.  I unsubscribed.  So, I no longer received the annoyingly blatant “Please buy from us today or we will remind you tomorrow” newsletter anymore. Out of site and out of mind.

Two years later I was racking my brain trying to remember what the name of the Amazon shoe outlet was.  I wanted some new shoes and I knew it was a great place to buy shoes.  Just like Amazon, endless.com has a huge selection.  But even knowing how much I loved the online retailer was not enough to recall the name of the website.  Needless to say, it was quite frustrating; especially when I wanted to tell at least three people about the website.  I was wishing things would change. 

Today, I received one of their postcards in the snail mail (I didn’t get off that list) and there it was: endless.com.  Great! 

What am I getting at and how does it relate to Branding? A very forgettable brand name is what prompted this post.

So, here is a company who was genius enough to come up with a name you could easily use in the offline world (the world we live in) and it would be very memorable: Amazon.  “I got it on Amazon,” you could say to your friend as you stand in line at the bank.  But Amazon in their infinitive wisdom came up a rather generic adjective for their new venture. Nice.  “I got these on endless” just doesn’t have the same oomph to it as “I got this on Amazon.”

That’s branding.  Don’t get caught with the .com domain name syndrome.  You are not a brand just because you have a .com after your name.  Whatever happened to broadcast.com?  And what is a broadcast anyway?  How do I get one?

*As I re-read this post for proofreading purposes, I realized how pathetic “special type of shoe” equating to standard white boating shoes really sounds.  But I’m not changing it because it really was nearly impossible to find a regular pair of white boating shoes with some regular laces.  And that’s the fact, Jack.

Barack used all sorts of media to his advantage and had a great budget to back it up.  So, what does this have to with a blog about website development?

Budget.  You should have a realistic budget for your website.  If your website is your business or an extension of your business, you must have a realistic budget; otherwise you are literally wasting your money.  Ask John McCain.  Every dime he spent on his campaign is wasted money—because he lost.  He gets no value out if it.  None at all. 

So, how does this factor out?  Let’s take a quick look:  It is written that Obama had four times as much money to spend as McCain.  So, McCain (as the loser) can write one book about losing the presidential election.  How many books do you think Barack Obama can write about winning the Presidency and the next four years being a President?  A lot, right?  So, do you see how putting up a good strong front with a healthy budget is really going to pay off for you later?

Having a lackluster budget which will give you a lackluster website will create a losing situation for you.  Therefore, you have wasted your money.  If you have a budget of about eight hundred dollars for your website, you have lost and wasted your money.  If your budget for your website is close to five thousand dollars or more, you have a good chance of winning. 

Recently, I was working with a client who had a website (developed from a do-it-yourself online hosting company) for her professional massage practice and had several Buy Now buttons placed where buying online wasn’t really necessary (in order to receive the services) which were offline at her massage studio.

On her web site there was a series of massage packages as part of her services.  The services were listed as: 60 Minute Session: $60.00, 30 Minute Session: $30, and so on.  Next to each massage package was Buy Now.  That’s it.  Nothing else.  No, Buy Now and get 20% off the walk-in price.  It was just Buy Now.  No one is going to pay upfront–site unseen–without some strong (like 20% off) incentive to do so.  In her practice (massage therapy) it is customary to pay after the massage, so no one would pay online before booking the appointment.

When you have situation where people can either pay upfront (and online) or pay after they get a service, you need to offer some incentive to do.  Just having sign that says Buy Now is a waste of time and looks rather weak on a website.  In my practice, I usually charge 30 – 40% upfront for my web design projects, but if they pay me 100% upfront (my version of Buy Now), they get a 10% discount off the entire project.  It works every time. 

People want to save money and you have to give them a reason to do so.  So, let them Buy Now and save 20%!