Gold Coast Web Expert

We have 6 large jobs quoted on at the moment and another 8 smaller jobs quoted on.
If we get most of the jobs (my guess is we’ll get 10 out of the 14) we’ll have enough work to last our team the next 3 – 4 months. This work, along with our existing work (we manage quite a number of client sites) means we’ll be working our little butts off each and every day.
So then I’ll have some decisions to make – do I put on more staff or do we stop all of our marketing and not take on any new clients for a few weeks?
Based on my previous experience this is what can happen when we get super busy:
Our existing clients can suffer.
They can suffer because we’ll spend time and energy trying to attract new clients. We’ll spend more time on attracting these new clients than on looking after our old clients. Old clients who have supported our business for years, clients who refer their friends, clients who pay on time every time, clients who we like.
And that’s plain crazy.
So if we refuse extra clients it means we’ll be able to allocate more time to our existing clients. And they’ll get better service, be happier and refer us more clients.
Do We Put More Staff On?
The other issue is staff. To continue to attract clients and provide them with the quality of service we take pride in providing we’d need to put on new staff.
But that takes time. Finding the right person for the job is a time consuming process. Interviewing people is a time consuming job. Then training this new person is a time consuming job.
I’ve found the best time to put new staff on is when things are a little slower. That way we get the opportunity to educate and train the new team member in a more supportive environment and can allocate the appropriate resources for this very important job.
Hope that perspective helps you in your review of staffing needs.
Brendon

Hello
Probably the biggest hammering I’ve received online came from this web site here.
One of the fundamental points of difference between myself and the forum members was that some saw my marketing and sales message as sleazy and damaging to the industry.
My view at the time (and still is) was that web designers who design pretty sites that aren’t functional (like many designer do) are the ones damaging the industry. That suggestion soon got howled down.
The Perfect Example
Anyway, today I saw the perfect example of what I’m talking about.
I went in to chat with a web site owner about a site where I need to develop 30 pages of content for a web site. The content will be provided by the client from the notes he has handwritten.
I won’t go into all of the work we’d need to implement to meet the client’s objectives because of this next bit.
The client told me a competitor had already quoted and the quote was for $100. That’s $100 in total. For developing 30 pages of content for a web site from handwritten notes and optimising the entire site for search engines.
I Wouldn’t Do 1 Page For $100
I wouldn’t do 1 page for $100. I mentioned to the client that to have the 30 pages of work done for $100 was unreasonable, but he had an answer for that.
The other quote he’d received was for $150!
So he was thinking the $125 was around the mark.
The Way I See It
The way I see it is this: these people (they’re both students) quoting these low, low, low charges are damaging the industry.
Because what happens is this:
* The job doesn’t get finished
* The project fails
* The client becomes convinced the web doesn’t work for his business
* The client never gets his web site redone because of the very poor past experience
And then the entire web industry suffers because not as much web development work is being done and not as many jobs are available. And on goes the vicious cycle.
What do you think? Are people doing web work for crazy low prices hurting or helping the industy?
Regards
Brendon

I had a guy in yesterday to discuss his web site needs for the second time. I’d provide a verbal quote at our first meeting and at the end of this meeting the client said “Yep, all sounds good. Let’s get started.”
He pulled his cheque book out and said “It was $14,000 wasn’t it?”
I said, “No, I didn’t say $14,000 did I?”
He said, “Yes, pretty sure you did. That’s fine.”
It Was $4,000
I hadn’t said $14,000. I’d said $4,000.
I told him he must of misheard me – it was only $4,000. He was rather delighted with that!
Doing The Right Thing
Every now and then you’ll be faced with a situation like this. But if you keep in mind that you’re in business to meet the needs of your client and be an open, honest and ethical businessperson then it’s easy to make the right call and do the right thing.
I don’t know how people can sleep at night when they do the wrong thing.
Regards
Brendon

Howdy.
I’ve never really aggressively targeted Google Adsense with any of my sites – I’ve only ever put the ads on 2 sites just to get a feel for how they work (this site is the only site with ads now).
But what happens is I keep getting a sizable cheque from Google each month or 2.
So sizable in fact that I need to start looking at putting Adsense onto my main web site over at Tailored.com.au.
What do you think? Would it detract from my brand?
Appreciate any feedback to brendon@tailored.com.au.
Thanks
Brendon

Howdy
I recently completed redoing a site for a client (July, 2005) – the site was the usual kind of job we do. The site had been going for a year and hadn’t made any sales.
I got on well with the client and reinforced how effective the new site was going to be. I ended up saying “The new site will make 30 sales in the first 30 days or I’ll buy you a bottle of Jansz champage!”
I dropped in the champagne yesterday. The site had made 28 sales!
The client was thrilled to get the champagne (we’d been doing a countodwon for the last week) and we sat and had quite a chat.
It got me thinking at what an effective way it was to develop the relationship with the client – have some fun with them with a ‘silly’ sort of bet. It wouldn’t be the best strategy to use with a lot of clients but it was something different that kept me top of mind with this guy.
Can you do something similar?
Brendon

Howdy.
I’ve just posted a blog on my Tailored Consulting site about the price of petrol/gas.
There are a lot of opportunities for web developers there.
Every man and his dog will be doing LPG conversions on cars. How about a web developer approaches a major conversion business with the offer of a web site. And make it a web site that will achieve a high search engine ranking.
That could be worth millions to the conversion company.
As a web developer why don’t you get out there and ask?
Cheers
Brendon

One of the services we provide is monthly management of web sites where we edit, market and report on a site.
Jump over to the Tailored Consulting site and grab yourself the free sample report (for the basic sites) of what we give the client at the end of the month.
Cheers,
Brendon