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Tsunamis & Business Preparedness (source: E-Zine)
Design, Marketing - 11 hours 1 min ago
Being situated right in the middle of the Pacific, we are susceptible and reminded and instructed to be prepared for tsunamis. Although we can never tell when it can happen, we do have to be ready for that possibility as like this most experience. As with ... (source: E-Zine) - RSS and News widget on Feedzilla.com
Categories: Web Site Development
Top 8 Dreaded Favors Asked of Web Designers
Web Inspiration - Mon, 03/08/2010 - 23:30
Long before you officially take the profession of graphic or web designer, your friends and family will support your ambitions by developing your talent. At first, your loved ones inspect your work and if they like what they see, you’ll get flooded with their requests for one page flyers, t-shirt designs, logos, and company websites. When you are just starting out, you welcome their requests because it gives you a chance to grow your skill set as a designer. After all, it’s almost like dealing with real clients, right?
The drama comes when you actually become a full time designer. The friends and family who drew upon your talent during your newbie years are still standing around with their hands out, and now you also must contend with two more groups of favor askers: clients and anonymous foreigners who contact you through Twitter.
Here are 8 of the most common and eye-rollingly annoying favors all designers encounter at one point or another. For ease of reference, we’ll call the offending party “Dude.”
1. “Hey, can you take a look at my site and tell me what you think?”At first glance, this seems like a harmless five to ten minute project. Dude asks for your opinion, and you both know that you are an esteemed and dedicated design pro. You optimistically click on his website link, and you’re teleported back in 1998 with a Geocities-reminiscent design so horrifying it makes MySpace look professional. After you try hard not to lose all respect for Dude, you carefully suggest that he get rid of the Flash intro. You are then met with an uncomfortable defensiveness, where Dude refuses to accept your professional advice.
Lesson learned: Decipher whether your friend is looking for actual advice or just a pat on the back.
2. “Um, would you mind designing my site… for free?”It’s shocking how many people feel truly entitled to a free web design. If you’ve ever had the pleasure of introducing yourself as a web designer, you may notice the wheels instantly starting to turn in your acquaintance’s mind. Everyone, even those without any product or any relevant thing to say, want, demand and need a website. These are the people, especially, who will want such a website produced for free. They may lure you with the distant hopes they use to fuel their own insanity: “Once I get some visitors, I’ll direct them to your services” (Standard practice, regardless).
Lesson learned: Limit your charity cases to those you can do in your free time and only do it for charity because the only reward you’ll reap is psychological.
3. “Can you help me design my site to look like ______?”This request is closely related to the first two requests. Perhaps Dude has taken it upon himself to designed a website, already had a moment of epiphany and now realizes that it sucks. At least you’re on the same page. Then comes, “I’d like my site to look just like Avatar. You know, all 3D and stuff.” Once you realize that Dude is serious, another realization also sinks in. If you take on this “consulting” project, all of your time and energy will be engulfed by this vortex, and you won’t be getting paid for your trouble. What’s the solution? Direct Dude to Yahoo! Answers? No, he’ll never go for that, because this is a top secret idea.
Lesson learned: Find your inner ineptness and apply it to this situation. Feign ignorance, suggest peripheral design ideas such as blue color palettes and wait for your friend to get bored of the idea and come to his senses.
4. “I think I have a virus.”No one likes to hear these words, and if someone’s sharing this information with you, they usually want one of two things: sympathy or help, sometimes both. When you hear these words come from a client, you must assume they are referring to a computer virus (let’s hope). This your client’s passive/ aggressive way of getting you to offer assistance. If you, wisely, remain silent, he or she will shamelessly ask you for your help. Just because you work in front of your computer all day does not mean that you qualify for tech support. You have to Google things just like everyone else.
Lesson learned: Get the courage to finally direct someone to Let Me Google That For You. However, for professional relationships, avoid the snark and actually lightly research the problem, but make no promises and waste no longer than 15 minutes.
5. “Let me help you with any of your extra work.”This favor comes in the form of a donated favor. In other words, Dude is suggesting that he’s doing you a favor, when he’s actually just trying to get paid. One morning you open your email box, and there’s an email from some dude you’ve never heard of. He wants you to lend him some of your work. Depending on your level of job-related stress, you may be inclined to offer him some work, but what’s this? No portfolio? No website? No spell-check. Wait, is Dude even located in the same hemisphere as you?
Lesson learned: You get what you pay for.
6. “So, it’s been a minute… How much longer is it going to take?”Just when you’ve got your Good Samaritan on and decided to help Dude during your free time, he starts becoming a diva. Never mind the impossible requests to make his website look just like *let your imagination run wild on this one,* or the countless revisions to a perfectly designed logo, or the endless hours you spent over IM trying to explain why putting an invisible list of keywords at the bottom of the webpage is unnecessary. When you least expect it, expect to receive a phone call, email, direct tweet saying, “Hey, so, um… when’s the project going to be finished?” You reply back, “Dude, I told you I was going to fit this in between my actual work from actual clients that actually pay.” To this, Dude replies, “I didn’t think it was going to take this long, maybe I should just get this professionally done.” Oh, that’s a killer. First of all, Dude has no consideration for the amount of time you’ve invested in this project. Secondly and more importantly, you are a professional. Why not offer you money so that you can prioritize his project?
Lesson learned: Clearly state from the beginning that it will take you some ridiculously long amount of time to complete the project for free and if Dude’s still on board, he’ll be happy if you finish it sooner than expected.
7. “Can I use your server until I get my own hosting?”What’s so wrong about this request? You have extra space and you can afford the bandwidth. The problem is that Dude will never get his own hosting, and eventually he’ll forget about his site. A year later, you’ll remind him, “Hey Dude, you know you still have your stuff on my server? I’m moving to another server, so is it alright if I get rid of it? You have a back up, right?” Dude will do one of two things: he’ll respond with indignant anger, upset that you’re rushing him to get his act together or he’ll pretend to be okay with it, all the while, holding a grudge.
Lesson learned: Friends don’t let friends use their servers.
8. “Hey, I volunteered you to re-do my co-worker’s step-daughter’s wedding album.”You can replace this with any task in which your mom volunteers your services for free. It’s always lovely to deal with someone who’s happy to accept your honest labor for free, because we all know they won’t make any unreasonable demands. The most difficult part of this ordeal is having to contend with your mother in her role as the merciless middleman who nags you for quality, timeliness and her good reputation.
Lesson learned: Grin and bear it? There’s no real way to avoid this nightmare.
What are some of the most annoying favors your friends and family have asked from you?
About the AuthorJacqueline is an artist and a writer who spends an inordinate amount of time playing Super Nintendo and watching Star Trek. You can find out more about Jacqueline on her website, and follow her updates on Twitter.
Categories: Web Site Development
Lead Generation Marketing - Shame is a Stinky Cologne, Dexter (source: E-Zine)
Design, Marketing - Mon, 03/08/2010 - 20:56
There is one thing in particular people who come to me for help -- or who send in copy and marketing pieces to be reviewed -- consistently struggle with. And that is 'positioning.' And although there are loads of ways to create the positioning you need, on... (source: E-Zine) - RSS news feeds and Widgets on Feedzilla.com
Categories: Web Site Development
Cull Your Client Base in Order to Grow (source: E-Zine)
Design, Marketing - Mon, 03/08/2010 - 20:44
This may sound a bit harsh, but it's not about the client as a person, it's about their value to your business. Just as you grow your business, you need to work with clients who are also in growth mode, or who have the potential to do so. (source: E-Zine) - RSS feeds and Feed widget on Feedzilla.com
Categories: Web Site Development
How to Make A Small Business Up and Running (source: E-Zine)
Design, Marketing - Mon, 03/08/2010 - 15:27
Whenever you start a small business, it requires careful planning. Thus, most people consider the following steps in order to create a good business. These steps include creating a business plan, getting a license for the business and finding your store lo... (source: E-Zine) - RSS widgets and RSS feeds on Feedzilla.com
Categories: Web Site Development
Metrics For Innovation (source: E-Zine)
Design, Marketing - Mon, 03/08/2010 - 15:01
What metrics do you use to measure innovation? Only financial ones matter, as it turns out. (source: E-Zine) - RSS widgets and RSS feeds on Feedzilla.com
Categories: Web Site Development
What to Consider When Starting a Small Business (source: E-Zine)
Design, Marketing - Mon, 03/08/2010 - 14:26
Most people want to break the cycle of getting up and going to work. In fact, most people who have been working on a company for a very long time consider looking for other jobs that can fulfill them. However, some people go to great lengths of setting up ... (source: E-Zine) - News widgets and RSS feeds on Feedzilla.com
Categories: Web Site Development
Expansion Integrated in the Startup Plan (source: E-Zine)
Design, Marketing - Mon, 03/08/2010 - 14:17
The usual process entrepreneurs are doing in creating a business plan fails to include the part of growth and expansion. You might think that this is something too optimistic, negativity should not be a part of your start-up plan or else you should not go ... (source: E-Zine) - RSS news feeds and Widgets on Feedzilla.com
Categories: Web Site Development
Your Buy - Sell Agreement May Not Work (source: E-Zine)
Design, Marketing - Mon, 03/08/2010 - 13:21
Chances are, your buy-sell agreement is flawed and will not work like you think it will or should work. While this may appear a bold or presumptuous statement, it is likely a true statement as you will see as you read on. (source: E-Zine) - RSS and News widget on Feedzilla.com
Categories: Web Site Development
Porter's Five Forces Model (source: E-Zine)
Design, Marketing - Mon, 03/08/2010 - 08:41
Porter's Five Forces model was developed in 1979. The model summarizes the 5 factors, which affect the performance of a company by five forces. These 5 forces are as follows. (source: E-Zine) - News widgets and RSS feeds on Feedzilla.com
Categories: Web Site Development
50 Inspiring Textured Web Designs
Web Inspiration - Mon, 03/08/2010 - 00:05
After showing you A Showcase of Clean White Web Designs a couple weeks ago, it’s time for us to add some textured designs to our lists. Textures are a great way to give a special touch to a website. They can be used in a specific part of the layout – the header/footer, for example, or they can be used in the whole page as a background. The thing is that textures are versatile, beautiful and stylish. So here are 50 excellent examples of textures in web design to inspire you.
ok.cogaoke.com theiheartfilm.com scheppsdesign.com giantantmedia.com adflavor.net Voices of Haiti maggietaylor.com jamesmli.net freshlimesoda monkeyworks illustration jeroenhoman.com Chalet Minouchet LogicbombMedia swiths.com established1986.com crush + lovely Walk to Washington DPS – Designer Peter Steven harmonyrepublic.com bikeandsaddle.com Istok Pavlovic spoutcreative.com custodialabuse.org the Blizzards the darling tree giantantmedia.com frisk web villadario.it Min Tran’s Blog nickstedt.de theseen.biz colazionedamichy.it Jobs on The Wall goodbytes.be Healthy Harvest dnadarwin.org spoongraphics Inspire 2010 kilian muster carolrivello xgraphica.com Ronnie Wright Camille Boidron Divensis KalyanChatterjee designfabrika thinkup.org corvus pixelthread baneydesign About the AuthorGisele Muller is someone that recently discovered a new career online. A person that really likes technology, design, photography and creativity. An eternal geek wannabe, tech fan and a communication lover! Current location: Porto Alegre, RS – Brazil. Twitter: @gismullr
Categories: Web Site Development
Successful Strategic Execution - Business Processes Must Be Addressed to Achieve Desired Results (source: E-Zine)
Design, Marketing - Sun, 03/07/2010 - 06:59
To have a successful strategic initiative well executed means you must go beyond the surface and truly dig into your daily operations and the supporting business processes. This article provides some tell tale signs why you must be achieving the desired re... (source: E-Zine) - RSS feeds and Feed widget on Feedzilla.com
Categories: Web Site Development
Can History Help Us Develop Better Plans? (source: E-Zine)
Design, Marketing - Fri, 03/05/2010 - 15:09
To be truly effective, a strategic plan has to embody certain key elements. First, and foremost, the plan has to be based on a vision -- that is, a vision what success looks like. This element is the cornerstone of an effective plan, and it applies to the ... (source: E-Zine) - RSS widgets and RSS feeds on Feedzilla.com
Categories: Web Site Development
How & Why Small Businesses Should Have a Plan to Achieve Their Goals (source: E-Zine)
Design, Marketing - Fri, 03/05/2010 - 13:49
As individuals and businesses we set goals that we want to achieve but do not have a plan to achieve these goals; the following way of setting goals helps the business owner develop a goal and a plan to achieve these goals. Let me warn you ahead of time th... (source: E-Zine) - RSS widgets and RSS feeds on Feedzilla.com
Categories: Web Site Development
Innovation Teams - Central Or Not? (source: E-Zine)
Design, Marketing - Fri, 03/05/2010 - 11:56
Do you need a central team to manage the innovation process? This article examines the issues and benefits of a central team, and how you can organise one in your organisation. (source: E-Zine) - RSS widgets and RSS feeds on Feedzilla.com
Categories: Web Site Development
WDL Premium: Colorful Grunge Textures
Web Inspiration - Fri, 03/05/2010 - 08:56
Today we’re giving our WDL Premium members a premium texture pack from PremiumTextures.com. These twelve textures were created by combining public domain images of nebulae with existing grunge textures to give them a wonderfully unique, colorful feel. There some of the most unique textures you will ever see, and are great for creating beautiful website backgrounds.
There are 12 textures in all. Here’s a preview:
Download Colorful Grunge TexturesPremium Member
You must be a WDL Premium member to download this file.
Sign Up Login About the ArtistPremiumTextures.com sells high quality textures for designers, photographers, and creatives alike. The textures can be used in any of your projects, both commercial and personal. Just don’t sell them as your own stock photography.
Categories: Web Site Development
Cooking the Books Government Style - What is and Will Be the Impact on You and Your Business? (source: E-Zine)
Design, Marketing - Fri, 03/05/2010 - 07:57
Europe's Original Sin, says the front page of the Wall Street Journal on March 3rd. Then the subtitle notes that National Leaders ignored Greece's soaring debt for years. This leads into a discussion of how governments ignored sticking out their balance sh... (source: E-Zine) - RSS and News widget on Feedzilla.com
Categories: Web Site Development
The Fabulous Money Map - Mindset, Marketing, and Motivation (source: E-Zine)
Design, Marketing - Fri, 03/05/2010 - 07:45
Earning great money doing what you love to do, and is your mission in life, seems the ultimate fantasy - but it's not out of reach! With the right plan, consistent and smart work, and a heart-centered approach, you, too, can start making fabulous money. (source: E-Zine) - RSS and News widget on Feedzilla.com
Categories: Web Site Development
The Anecdote to Good Intentions - A One Page Business Plan (source: E-Zine)
Design, Marketing - Fri, 03/05/2010 - 07:21
Well here we are in the new year of 2010 and all of us have most likely have thought of some New Year's resolutions for our personal lives and our businesses. But how many of us have followed through and written down a focused, structured business plan for... (source: E-Zine) - RSS news feeds and Widgets on Feedzilla.com
Categories: Web Site Development
Thinking the Unthinkable - The New Leadership Imperative (source: E-Zine)
Design, Marketing - Fri, 03/05/2010 - 07:01
People ask me all the time what I consider to be the biggest challenge facing today's business leaders. I don't even hesitate on this one. It's not foreign competition, new technologies, the rising cost of energy and raw materials, unstable financial marke... (source: E-Zine) - RSS and News widget on Feedzilla.com
Categories: Web Site Development