Designer required

[chris ashdown]

Mark

I'll offer something different

It takes quite a long time to get your site known to the search engines and with google you are likely to be in the "Sandbox" for about 6-9 months anyway.

Design is important but not at the expence of getting a presence on the web

I suggest you pick a standard design and slowly load up your products as time permits,and put the site up and running at the first opertunity, For this all you would need to get made is your Company logo

Next start an ADWORDS Campaign with Google which I believe helps get you going but watch the costs

When your up and running with your site then start talking to the designers if you still find the need, you will have definate idea's of where you want to go by then and can tell them exactly what you need them to provide

Populating the site is a chore but remember the only part that sells is the description and the images, make them both the best you can.

Some of the experts here may be able to help you with ways to populate the site 3K is quite a lot of typing after all

Wish you all the best

Myself a bottle of "Highland Park" goes down best

Opps never noticed another page so a bit outdated now!!!

[RuralWeb]

suggest you pick a standard design and slowly load up your products as time permits,and put the site up and running at the first opertunity, For this all you would need to get made is your Company logo

Great advice from chris - get the site up and google interested.

Checkout the test facility so you can have an actinic theme site up and running with a limited number of products or information and build the main site in the background. Update the live site when you feel it is ready.

Best of luck - sound like you will be ok. Just remember keep it simple and stick with the standard Actinic functions until you get going - avoid getting bogged down with fancy html mods.

[jont]

keep it simple and stick with the standard Actinic functions until you get going - avoid getting bogged down with fancy html mods.

.. and take snapshots on a regular basis .. if it goes pear-shaped you can roll back without losing too much work to a safe point.

[fergusw]

I cannot agree more with the advice given above. All these points should be bulleted and distributed with first time actinic/ecommerce users.

Often, as with most things in life, you only know what you need from something after you have lived with it for a while (no - I don't mean husband/wife before someone suggests it!)

Website design/functionality is a great case in point. What you think you may need now may in fact turn out to be less important than other factors you may not have considered. e.g. worrying about the colour and size of a logo when your price is 50% more than your competitors!

The real beauty with Actinic is that it has a great community forum with dedicated volunteers who pass on this sage advice and help.

Good luck.

[RuralWeb]

take snapshots on a regular basis

DONT FORGET THIS ONE!!!!

[Kathy-ged]

LOS Design thread

Hi Daren, We're still trying to get the music off our website you designed. Any Suggestions?

[Mike Hughes]

Kathy, Daren moved to work with a client and isn't around the forum as much as he used to be. (http://community.actinic.com/showthread.php?t=34877)

Have you tried contacting him directly?

Mike

[Kathy-ged]

Designer pit falls

Be careful of getting designer from the forum. We have had a very expensive and unsatisfactory experience with a design company that is regularly contributing, and offering 'guaranteed satisfaction'. Don't believe it! The best way to go is to find an Actinic website you like, ring the company for feedback on the designer. I have found a lot of companies are only too happy to share this information, and you could save yourself a lot of heart ache.

[TraceyHand]

Be careful of getting designer from the forum.

While I appreciate you have had a difficult experience with your designer, Kathy, that's something of an unfair generalisation to make.

As in any walk of life, the vast majority of designers on the forum are professional, trustworthy people.

I wouldn't like to think that anyone would feel they had to completely avoid forum designers after a bad experience with one 'bad egg'

[leehack]

Kathy, i understand your point of view and agree with it to a certain degree, but to my knowledge, there has only ever been 2 regular contributors on here who have turned out to be crooks or have really unsatisfied customers. Investigate previous sites, speak to site owners by all means, but don't brandish 99.99% of the regular designer community who contribute to this forum. The huge majority of designers on this forum are good honest designers, don't let a couple of bad pennies tar that.

I totally 100% agree that you should always contact other site owners, in fact any successful designer will want you to do this, as it is almost certain to end up in a booking.

[Kathy-ged]

Designer pit falls

Yes, you're both right, I suppose. I appologise unreservedly. I'm just so frustrated with never receiving replies to phone calls, emails, etc. And my website is still unsatisfactory! - So what do you do, spend another bucket of money on another design', or have your customers constantly moaning about the links failures, etc? -It's beyond me! (And probably therein lies the key?)

Sorry, to all you concientious designers, but I still think you should check with exisiting customers of any designer before putting hand into pocket.
Kathy

[Darren B]

OK i am no designer, but generals of business dont hand over all the cash until you are happy.

If your designer wants all the money up front tell him/her to piss off, if they are that strapped for cash they are probably not the people you want.

Same with any walk off life. There are a few exceptions and you would generally agree maybe 25% on draft, another 50% on hand over then 25% when any bugs or tweaks have been made or after 30 days. this is all part of negotiating you agree your terms, your agree what you want done, you dont part with your cash on if's but's and maybe's

and to be honest i dont any of the reputable desingers on this site would ask you for money upfront anyway.

D

[leehack]

Sorry, to all you concientious designers, but I still think you should check with exisiting customers of any designer before putting hand into pocket.

I wholeheartedly agree with the above and as a customer, you need to stick with the most important fact - If you have the money and have not parted with it, you are in complete control. This is the same in any walk of life.

I know some designers take a deposit, some take 50%. What is right or wrong i do not know. Personally, i detest paying for anything until i have it and it is complete, so that is how i operate. But, that in turn leaves me open to be abused or ripped off of course, it's the lesser of two evils i guess and to date has not yet happened, no doubt it will one day.

The truth is that when someone has been ripped off, it is really crap to read, but people do learn from it and to that degree, lets hope something good comes of it. Really sorry to hear your plight Kathy, hope it all ends well ultimately.

[Kathy-ged]

Sadly, we paid up front in entirety as requested! Naiive - yes I suppose so. But we have always dealt fairly with everyone, and have been a bit too trusting! We've learnt our lesson NOW!

[pinbrook]

There are a few exceptions and you would generally agree maybe 25% on draft, another 50% on hand over then 25% when any bugs or tweaks have been made or after 30 days.

this is the method i prefer, the 25% up front often covers the cost of buying the software so as a designer you cover your upfront expenses, I tend to leave the remaining 75% until 30 days after release date. it is quite important to have a finite date put on user testing and finally signing off.

then it can become clear after those 30 days that other issues with the site are more than likely to be not covered by the original design.

The 30 days are crucial times for the client, as he must then focus on proper testing whilst both his mind and the designers is fresh. Al lto oftenthe client doesn't test and then moans 90 days later that something isn't correct- this is when life becomes difficult with the designer moved on to a new project - it takes longer to get back intothe mind set of the original project.

its al lin your terms and conditions guys! T&C for design work the same as T&C for shopping