Website design help

[hannahcommunications]

A tech guru told me a little while back that the website design biz would so slow down for consultants as Microsoft and other big co's would continue to upgrade their user friendly designing programs so that those not trained in html programming etc. would be able to easily set-up and edit their own websites. I know pros hate FrontPage and programs like that, but from a biz standpoint is the website consulting biz on the rise or decline?

I work in communications and hire consultants to edit my employer's website. I'm not sure if website creation/maintenance is a skill that I should be developing myself...perhaps for self preservation or for independent work down the road.

[dahjah]

Re: Website design help

I would like to learn fe miself so I have total control, but that is not how biz work. If I do that it will take away time from another aspect of my biz.
I have someone to do this for me. But it would be good if we took the time fe learn hw fe do it ourself.

I don't know if it's on the rise but maybe it has levelled off.

Now the gaming industry has really taken off.
Such as ppl like EASports etc.

[hannahcommunications]

Re: Website design help

Free JAH you echo what I've heard from others. I wonder if it's not as much about having total control over different aspects of your business as it is about working more in concert with external "partners" who have the expertise in areas that complement or add to your current package of services.

[dahjah]

Re: Website design help

in the future i will hire someone who can work in the studio biz and is also able to do web design.
Maybe it will even be what hires the receptionist, she must be able to web design work

[Morpheous]

Re: Website design help

I used to run a web design and development business back about 5-6 years ago when it was booming. I combined it with software development when I worked in blue chip companies prior, as a software analyst.

The real money back then was in the server side and high level language programming like C, C++, ADA, Visual Basic, Visual C++, Perl, ASP, PHP and Java, MySQL, ORACLE,SQL.

Many other clients-side scripting too like Javascript, XML, DHTML, and all the versions of scripts with "TML" at the end that you can imagine.

All this coupled to design and develop content managemnent systems, database systems, online shopping carts, guest books, chat rooms and web forums like this one.

I paint this picture for you because to be a web devloper/designer you have to be knowledgeable in all the areas listed above yet the money for all that hard work is just not worth it. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/704555_dwl.gif[/img]

The web design bubble has definately burst for quite a while now. I have sold my business and now a mortgage broker. What a change in direction, but one have to adopt.

[j-kid]

Re: Website design help

Morpheous, how has your previous technical knowledge in the web design and development business helped or enhansed your present (mortgage ) business? Which skills would you say you have directly transferred and used in the runnung of the day to day business?

[Morpheous]

Re: Website design help

Originally posted by J kid:
[qb] Morpheous, how has your previous technical knowledge in the web design and development business helped or enhansed your present (mortgage ) business? Which skills would you say you have directly transferred and used in the runnung of the day to day business? [/qb]

Not much I would say. My experiance has not been tested at all. I just install a program that I use to get mortages quotes, lenders etc. and Manage clients portfolios and that's it as far as computing goes.

The place one can use both skills or transfer such skills to the mortgage sector is if one works for a bank, building society or large mortgage company. That is when what is called "business knowledge" is key. Meaning one who already have skills/expertise in C/C++, Java or PHP coupled with DBMS can use the "business knowledge" of mortgaging for example and work in the IT department of Banks, Building Societies or Mortgage/Insurance companies to work on software systems and programs they then lease to their high profile clients or sell to business experts in the field of mortgage, insurance, banking, finance, stock market etc.

For instance, The IT company I used to work for, I developed a software system within a team of 6 that used this software to trade stocks online and speculate stocks using derivitives. My team's job was mainly what is called the "back office" software development. In my current mortgage business, I would never use my knowledge in computing/software to that level unless I get a contract to do so. I could set up an IT company that contract out and manage a team of programmers under my scrutiny... pitching to the ripe market in Jamaicas finance, banking and mortgaging sectors but I really don't want to go down the programming route anymore.

I am happy in the mortgage sector and one meets more influential people in which to network with i.e. Bank managers, mortgage/business financers, property developers, credit companies, estate agents, insraunce consultants, solicitors etc. to name a few. Plus I get to travel around more and meet people rather than stuck at a desk stairing at codes on a screen all day.

[Sinco01]

Re: Website design help

Originally posted by Morpheous:
[qb]

Originally posted by J kid:
[qb] Morpheous, how has your previous technical knowledge in the web design and development business helped or enhansed your present (mortgage ) business? Which skills would you say you have directly transferred and used in the runnung of the day to day business? [/qb]

Not much I would say. My experiance has not been tested at all. I just install a program that I use to get mortages quotes, lenders etc. and Manage clients portfolios and that's it as far as computing goes.

The place one can use both skills or transfer such skills to the mortgage sector is if one works for a bank, building society or large mortgage company. That is when what is called "business knowledge" is key. Meaning one who already have skills/expertise in C/C++, Java or PHP coupled with DBMS can use the "business knowledge" of mortgaging for example and work in the IT department of Banks, Building Societies or Mortgage/Insurance companies to work on software systems and programs they then lease to their high profile clients or sell to business experts in the field of mortgage, insurance, banking, finance, stock market etc.

For instance, The IT company I used to work for, I developed a software system within a team of 6 that used this software to trade stocks online and speculate stocks using derivitives. My team's job was mainly what is called the "back office" software development. In my current mortgage business, I would never use my knowledge in computing/software to that level unless I get a contract to do so. I could set up an IT company that contract out and manage a team of programmers under my scrutiny... pitching to the ripe market in Jamaicas finance, banking and mortgaging sectors but I really don't want to go down the programming route anymore.

I am happy in the mortgage sector and one meets more influential people in which to network with i.e. Bank managers, mortgage/business financers, property developers, credit companies, estate agents, insraunce consultants, solicitors etc. to name a few. Plus I get to travel around more and meet people rather than stuck at a desk stairing at codes on a screen all day. [/qb]

look like mi haffi join yuh ... tired of looking at code on that screen

[Rebycman]

Re: Website design help

There is some money in it but finding it can be hard. I've settled into a small niche market where I offer to outsource services like email hosting, site/logo design, and simple html updates. Its often cheaper for a company to hire someone like me than it is to provide an in-house office, phone, desk, software, salary, benefits etc.

Larger firms can afford the in-house dev's but the smaller ones cant. The problem is you need a lot of knowledge about computers (email servers, webservers, networks, html/asp/php/mysql/access, photoshop, the list goes on and on) to get and keep customers.

My idea of a fun (typical) weekend is to sit down at my network and just have at it. I've always been a jack of all trades type of person and I enjoy working on just about any kind of computer. If this is your idea of fun then you too can do this.

Da geek,
-Reby

[ohliz]

Re: Website design help

I've had a web development business since 1996. I went from people asking me what the internet was to some pretty sophisticated questions about what I can do.

I am not seeing as amny requests for work as I was about 4-5 years ago, but I never expanded to hire employees, always used subcontractors, so I am still fine, I just use subs less than I used to and do more myself.

I do not do only HTML and design, most of the work I do involves database backends to web sites that allow searching and insertion/display of various types of data on the web. Mainly though it lets me create HTML-free ways for clients to update content on their sites without "breaking" the design or the navigation.

I get a LOT of business from small to mid-size companies and organizations that tried to do their site themselves and realized there is a lot more to it than they thought. By the time they call me they usually have either had a cheapie site that isn't working for them or have tried to create one themselves and discovered that learning HTML, FTP, databases, etc etc is keeping them from focusing on their primary business, whatever that is.

My work is partly sales (selling my own skills and those of my subcontractors), a lot of consultation on marketing strategies (why do they want a site, what should it accomplish, how can we meet goals in their budget, etc), quite a bit of programming (mainly database to web stuff) and a lot of organizing. One thing I rarely do myself is graphic design, I work with someone who does that and only that.

Things are busy enough for me to often turn potential clients away, and I am not cheap, so I am very happy with where my business is.

I don't think I have ever lost a client to any kind of do-it-yourself software, though I have gotten quite a few that tried that first.

[hannahcommunications]

Re: Website design help

Ohliz what you describe is what I'm experiencing. When I joined my organization staff urged me to support staff training in html so updates/changes to the site could be done internally. I did, but the person trained really doesn't know what she's doing.

What training I took I forgot because I don't use it. I have far less frustration when I have the expert do the update...it's just that the $$$ hour rate for small fixes is sometimes hard to justify...

[ohliz]

Re: Website design help

Common problem and the bulk of my business [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] My main selling point is that once the web site is up and running, they don't need to pay me anymore, unless they want to add a major new feature/section.

Web sites that have the design and navigation separate from the content are made for "normal" people to maintain. My clients just copy/paste text or fill out a form and that updates whatever part of the site (say an event calendar or member directory) that needed updating - no HTML required.

What is actually happening is that a design template that we created is on a page with code that pulls text (and links, or images, or soundfiles, or lots of htings) from a database. When the client fills in the form to change something or add an event or whatever, the database is updated and the next time someone pulls up that page, the new/changed info is displayed.

Nowadays they call it a content management system and you can buy those (I do them on a custom basis but you can get them in a box, depends on what you need).

You might look into a CMS and see if that would work for your company.