Internet Business Blog

There were many great conversations on the forums this week, unfortunately I was way too busy to really delve into most of them. I was able to save four however, and I’ve left my responses below each set of block quotes. If you have anything to add, don’t be shy!

1. Outsourcing PHP Scripting

Have just fired my fourth PHP programming firm. In all I have lost six figures due to programmer incompetence over the past few years. I’ve tried searching for a UK/US/CA firm and just can’t find one. How on earth do you find a good programming firm? Any help would be appreciated, I’m really losing money by the second at the moment!

My Take: I think that the original poster of this thread is finding his “talent” incorrectly. If he has hired and fired four programmers and losing six figures in the process he hasn’t been doing his homework. Take time, don’t rush into things, and don’t hire someone on the cheap. Good programmers are hard to find, mainly because (in my experience) they are all working! You probably won’t find what you’re looking for on forums, elance, or the like.

2. Value of a Commerce Site Face Lift?

I have worked in ecom for 8 years. Face lifts, are worth 1% additional sales at the best.

Minnapple’s quote above is solid gold. Thought I’d give it its own thread.

What results have you seen from commerce site Botox, cosmetic surgery? I’m referring purely to prettying-up a site.

My Take: My top performing Ecommerce site looked nice, but it wasn’t anything spectacular. As with all Ecommerce sites, your number one priority with design should navigation and usability. Your site can be pretty as hell, but if people can’t figure out how to add products to their cart, check out, create wish lists, and navigate around you’re not going to convert well. Many ugly commerce sites have functionality in mind - and that is why you hire a developer with real Ecommerce experience and not an “artist”.

3. Anyone Rent An Office To Be More Productive?

I am considering renting a small office in a building somewhere to get out of my house. My home office is great, but i find that I am becoming less productive gradually. When I actually drove to an office, i was extremely focused without any distractions.

It will be an unwarranted expense, but I am sure that my production and profits will increase quite a bit.

The added structure will be nice also…

Anyone?

My Take: I’ve thought about renting an office in the past, but found that the funding to do so would be spent more wisely in other areas (such as growing my businesses!). I have a medium sized home office now, but will have a large one on Sunday when we move into our new home. That is all the motivation in the world to progress right there. As long as you can work in a home environment, I say - why not?

4. Getting The “Big” Clients

I’ll start with a little background.

I’ve been doing web design for about 6 years now. The last year I’ve been doing it full time.
I usually have work, even if it’s not work I particularly want to do. My clients are usually small businesses or individuals, found via sites like Scriptlance. In order to have a steady stream of food, I’ve been charging far less than I should be!

I don’t like to sound big headed, but I’ve worked really hard at learning it! I’ve kept up with new advances, and I think my work has improved a lot over the years. I’d say (and here’s where I sound very arrogant!) that I’m better than a lot of designers out there, although there are some dreadful ones!

I keep in touch with a lot of other people in the same field, as I feel it helps. I was talking to 2 people in particular last week, and got a bit jealous! They’re both average designers - both still use tables, and one slices directly from ImageReady. They’re designs aren’t dreadful, but they’re a bit… clunky and out of date. I wouldn’t usually put someone down like that, everyone’s got a learn, but in my conversation with them I found they were both doing work for huge clients - one was CNN, the other MSN!

So, I put it to Sitepoint - what is it you need to do to get those clients?

Best wishes,
Richard

My Take: Richard, It’s all about networking. Networking and referrals are the lifeline of a business such as ours. Sure you can do other things to help bring in prospective clients such as SEO, linkbaiting, PPC campaigns - but nothing brings in new clients like honest, hard work and clients who are so happy with the results that they immediately refer all of their business associates to you.

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