Yet another blog post based on an email question … the email:

Hello Stefan,

I just got through watching your video on basic web design. Before I decide to purchase this beginning video I wanted to ask a few questions.

I am currently seeking alternate ways to generate income. I live in a small town type atmosphere and think maybe there is a future in business web site development. I have built a web site many moons ago using Front Page and it didn’t turn out half bad for not knowing exactly what I was doing.

My questions are:

#1. Is it possible to gain the knowledge to develop attractive beneficial web sites without obtaining a college degree in computer science?

#2. I realize that starting out with the beginner course is the starting point, but where will (or should) that lead?

#3. What is a typical cost for someone to hire a web designer? I don’t want to rake anyone over the coals but feel I should charge a fair affordable price.

#4.In the old days when all we had was dial-up, the key was to keep website design to a minimum so that the pages load faster and keeps the visitor’s interest (same goes for the number of pages). Is this logic still true or are visitors looking for “wow” when they visit a website?

Thanks and look forward to your response.

Chris

My answer:

I’m going to answer you in point form – check it out:

#1. Yes. The best designers and programmers I know have neither.

#2. Once you understand the basics, your decisions as to what your web-specialization should be will be much easier to make. That decision will be largely made based on what you like to do. For example, some people may choose to get into Flash based work while others may choose to get more into PHP.

#3. Cost varies considerably based on the experience and talent of the designer and on where you happen to live.

#4. Speed of the site is always important. But, since we are in the age of Youtube, you have a lot more latitude than what we had in the 1990’s.

That all said, the best place to start your career as a web designer, is to start by learning the basics of HTML and CSS.

I hope that answers your questions,

Stefan Mischook
www.killersites.com

I’ve been using Paypal to process my credit card orders since 2001 and overall, it’s a pretty good service.

… In fact, I would argue that Paypal is essential for just about any e-commerce site since it is used by so many merchants and most importantly, just ordinary people.

Paypal’s main advantages are:

• Easy to set up.
• Can accept several types of electronic payments: credit card, e-checks and Paypal.
• Since Paypal is so well known, it will put your clients at ease. You’d be surprised at how nervous people still are of buying products online!

The Dark Side of Paypal .. for Canadian Merchants

For reasons unknown to this humble nerd, Paypal has a process in place that is not favorable to merchants/companies based in Canada.

Specifically, if you want to transfer your US cash out of your Paypal account to your US dollar bank account (that happens to be in a Canadian bank,) Paypal will not allow you to do this. Instead, Paypal will only wire transfer to a Canadian dollar account. And in the process, Paypal takes take a hefty premium on your money in the conversion. From my experience, Paypal can harvest as much as 6% in the conversion.

.. A nice little bonus for them.

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OK, this is a bit of a rant … I know. But there is some useful information that I think many would find useful nonetheless.

Thanks,

Stefan Mischook

www.killersites.com

I’ve been a advocate of website templates in commercial web design for years now, because it saves the designer a lot of time and in saves the clients a good chunk of cash.

… There are occasions where from-scratch custom design makes sense, but for most web design projects, templates are a great solution – especially with a little customization to make it look unique.

How to use Templates in the Web Design BUSINESS process?

I was recently asked by a web designer how I would show clients the templates that are out there? Do you send them to a template site (free or commercial) or do you do something else?

My suggestion is to meet with the client, figure out basically what kind of style their project needs, and then you as the web designer, go out there and take a bunch of screen captures of templates that you think could work. This way your client doesn’t have to sort through thousands of templates blindly – most clients don’t have much in the way of design skills …

Don’t show too many templates!

I would not show them more than say five templates. If you give them too many options, nothing will get done. You will find yourself in design-paralysis because the client will have a heck of a hard time making up their minds.

Stefan Mischook

www.killersites.com

In this session of the Business of Web Design, I go over what you need to have in a typical web design contract.

There are important elements that you must include to avoid problems down the road, things like:

- Payment terms.
- Delivery dates.
- Project specifics: how many pages, functionality etc.

… and a whole lot more.

Check it out: Writing Web Design Contracts.

Thanks,

Stefan Mischook

www.killersites.com
www.killerphp.com

Side note: I have to tell you, as an old-school web nerd who likes code, it was really hard at first to let go and let others do the work. Fortunately, it’s getting easier with every project!

Anyway, I do have my assistants here at killersites.com, who by the way, are a tremendous help. Nonetheless, sometimes I get outside help for whatever reasons.

Crazy quotes from Java nerds

I decided recently that I wanted to contribute back to an open source project that I have used in the past … by throwing the people involved in that project, some work. I also agreed to release the additions/modifications back to the community.

Anyway …

The modifications I wanted were relatively simple – a couple of filters, some rearranging of the UI etc ..

So I get back the quote for this project. I want to mention that I could do it myself in say two days – and my Java skills are rusty! The point is, this was not a big project.

… And yet in the quote, we had a project manager budgeted in and crazy time devoted to testing. For example:

For a button that took the user to a screen/view that already existed … just a button: 8 hrs of testing!

??

Now we all know that Java guys love to over engineer, but this is crazy! When will Java nerds learn that you don’t need an aircraft carrier to move a rocking chair.

Stefan Mischook

www.killersites.com

Hi,

The following session answers a common question that has been put to me many times:

What hardware and software do you need to run a web design business? Do you need to upgrade to ‘industrial strength’ tools?

I also touch on a few other things that I know many of you will find interesting.

You can listen to the latest Business of Web Design podcast in the killersites.com magazine.

Thanks,

Stefan Mischook

www.killersites.com

Hi,

I just uploaded the very first session of the Business of Web Design course/audio-book.

The first session is the introduction to the course, where I go over some of the specifics of what I’m going to cover … along with a few other things.

Introduction to the Business of Web Design audio book.

Please post comments, questions, criticisms and even praise for what your hear.

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I have many other session/chapters already recorded and they should be out very soon … I just have to do the final edits.

Thanks,

Stefan Mischook

www.killersites.com

The ‘Business of Web Design‘ is an audio book/podcast series that teaches you to start and build a home based web design business.

I am still currently in the process of fleshing out all the details, but I do have a lot down on paper.

That said, I am very close to being ready to record the first (of many) sessions and I expect to have something out this week.

You can learn more about in the killersites.com magazine

Thanks,

Stefan Mischook

www.killersites.com

Let me just first say, that I have invested in it personally, where I created a video sharing system to help distribute my own content.

… I had other ideas beyond that, but I soon discovered that:

1. It would require a huge investment (millions) in capitol to just get it off the ground.
2. That most user contributed videos are just terrible. I deleted most of them.

You can read the rest in the magazine.

That said, I am compelled to comment on a couple things that the recent death of Tim Russert, has brought to the fore.

Issue number one: Where societies spend their money.

Mr. Russert apparently died of a heart attack … the way you are most likely to die. From the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute:

Each year, about 1.1 million people in the United States have heart attacks, and almost half of them die. CAD, which often results in a heart attack, is the leading killer of both men and women in the United States.

Given that so many people die from heart attacks, I was wondering how much money is spent on researching ALL disease.

With a little help from the almighty Google, I found on the Science Daily web site a disturbing piece of information:

A new study by two York University researchers estimates the U.S. pharmaceutical industry spends almost twice as much on promotion as it does on research and development, contrary to the industry’s claim.

OK, that’s bad enough. But what is even worse (in my opinion) is the actual dollar amount the pharmaceutical industry spends on ALL medical research: only (about) US$30 billion a year!

So why does this disturb me? Isn’t $30 billion a lot of cash? Well, let’s compare this to the money spent in Iraq every month: US$10 billion. So that adds up to $120 billion a year!

… So the US is in Iraq because of the terrorist threat – so they said. I do not want to get into that debate, because what’s important, is to see how many have died because of terrorist attack in say, the last 20 years?

From what I can tell, it is in thousands (less than 15 000 in 20 years) for the entire world. Yes, my numbers are rough, but the differences (between heart attack related deaths vs. terrorist deaths) is so staggering, that I don’t need to be very accurate with the terrorist death count.

Deaths in the last twenty years:

From terrorist attack: 15 thousand (the entire world – that includes the US)
From heart attack: 10 million (US only)

Hmm …

Another interesting fact is that many more people die of drowning in their bathtubs, than they do because of terrorist activity! Yes, you are much more likely to be killed by your bathtub than you are to be killed by a terrorist!

… Perhaps there should be a ‘war on bathtubs’?

What the above numbers show, is that it makes no sense from a life-saving point of view, to be spending so much money on the ‘war on terror’.

It’s a shame people seem compelled to do so, since it seems to me, that so many more lives (a lot more!) could be saved if more money was spent on medical research instead.

Issue number two: Why is telling the truth hard?

In praise the Tim Russert, many a politician has said that he was a ‘tough’ but still a fair interviewer.

He was tough because he held politicians feet to the fire, he pressed them to tell the truth … to be honest about whatever it was they were speaking about.

Mr. Russert was also praised for being unbiased and fair … he sought the truth and did not play gotcha games. That’s why he was one of the best journalist ever.

That got me thinking, why is telling the truth hard? Shouldn’t telling the truth be easy. Shouldn’t being honest about anything be our top priority? Sadly, we all know that for some, (especially for many politicians) telling the truth about hard things is hard.

How does all this have to do with web design, programming or the business of web design?

As a small business owner and web programmer, you have (to learn) to be brutally honest with yourself, because if you aren’t, you will find yourself in the poor house and your software won’t work.

… Kind of like government!

I have to tell you, I’ve pissed of a lot of people over the years because I tend to tell the truth. Maybe I should work on my delivery?

R.I.P. Mr Russert.

Stefan Mischook

www.killersites.com