Well in addition to my current business, I've noticed that more and more people are starting up their own business and they need websites.
I did originally want to be a web developer but six years later I am a little bit rusty, but have done a few websites for clients and they have always been happy but never charged enough in the past.
My business plan is to be a locally based web firm who provide everything from hosting to the photography.
I will spend the next few months brushing up on my PHP skills and getting even better at CSS (already my strong point).
The problem is there any market for this? I would be producing brochure type sites around the £250-£300 mark but most will be database driven so my clients can easily edit it. I will not be the cheapest, but for that I will make sure every site is at least W3C AA compliant, is SEO optimised and works bug free on all the major platforms. I have an advantage because I already have a pool of trusted customers.
I am just finding with the PC market is that more and more people are getting their mates just to reinstall to windows to save money, even though that is the last thing which should be done.
|
>> hosting
You mean arrange hosting. But beware of your SLAs. Even Amazon's EC2 went down for a region or two recently.
|
Yep and that is the big difference, rather than just doing it almost on the side (I paid taxes and everything, but I did cut corners) I will make sure everything is all legit with proper terms and conditions etc.
Was speaking to somebody I know from university and he has made a success of doing this in the Wigan area.
It is something I am not going to rush into, but spend a lot of time launching it.
|
Don't get me wrong you could build this up and host it somewhere. But you'd need to have something worth hosting first.
>> re-install... even though that is the last thing which should be done.
It depends... if I had an issue with my Mac the data is backed up continually to the Time Machine drive. I'd trash the drive and pull back everything from that so a rebuild would be easy. But how the Mac handles application packages is superior to Windows and the registry ;-)
But since I backup systems to the NAS as well, if I had a big issue with a Windows box I'd probably trash that too. Especially if it had a virus or trojan. I'd never fully trust it again.
|
It depends on the circumstances, the problem is clients hate any changes in their windows system and although I do my very best to keep it identical it is not always possible. I had to reinstall my own computer because I bought a new hard drive, took a long time to get everything back how I wanted it, but then I have lots and lots of applications.
With rootkit and bad viruses I can understand the logic of formatting but most the time it is just simple windows problems. There is a shop near me which I seem to get a lot of jobs fixing their mess from, they have a habit of reformatting everything and then customers phone me up to say its still not right. Very often I find popped capacitors, faulty RAM, bad sectors etc. E.g the hardware faulty which was causing windows not to work properly, the shops solution was just to reinstall.
Server wise I have two options, ideally I want to be in a position where I can hire my own server at a data station so I have complete control over the hosting, but for now it will be a reseller account with a reputable firm.
Before I start though I need to learn and fully understand Ajax and learn more about SEO.
|
There's a lot of effort & skill in this Rattle - skill you have (or can rapidly brush up on) and effort you're willing to invest, but unfortunately because it's a saturated market, you wont recoup what your time is worth.
What about slotting yourself in as a middle man - let someone like 1&1, square space, whoever... take the strain. You offer a consultancy service to your clients.
Half the problem for Joe Punter is knowing what to choose and why. You can guide them there, and you can take a cut commensurate with your time spent. They might want a template tweaked, you could do that.
From the punter's point of view, it's the same achievement - a turn key website, SEO in place, yada yada. Same price too.
From your point of view, it's a much less time intensive job - you take the appropriate building blocks and stack them to suit this customer's needs - yet still pays the same (if not more once you're registered as a reseller or on whatever supplier's affiliate programme).
Last edited by: Skoda on Thu 2 Jun 11 at 21:20
|
There are too many computer experts that think they can design Rattle, how are your design skills?
|
I've studied a few graphic design modules while at university. While I am not a graphics designer I am more than capable of doing any web graphics and anything more complex I know some very good graphics designers which can handle that.
Web development was something I was good at, but in 2005 the market was too saturated and I was very naive in many ways. I am not claiming to be the worlds best web designer but I think I have the skills to bring it all together.
|
>> It depends on the circumstances, the problem is clients hate any changes ... took a long
>> time to get everything back how I wanted it, but then I have lots and lots of applications.
This one thing Macs have sorted. A proper backup can be restored to exactly how you had it on a new machine. Not just a new harddrive. I could go out and buy a MacBook Pro and restore my system to it. Just boot up off the install disk and select to restore from the backup. It really couldn't be simpler.
People like Macs for one reason but they have benefits for other reasons.
Khoo Systems do website development and hosting. They have many servers in locations you'd want them - London and somewhere in the north. Basically at the end of high speed, resilient links to the Internet. And that costs.
Rattle you'd be better off finding some companies you could try reselling services for and getting comission.
I hear more and more companies apart from Amazon (with EC2), Google and (soon) Apple's iCloud are getting into this big time. My employer is already big in this area but not for individuals or smaller companies.
|
Something I am looking into. One of the services I was thinking of offering was branded on-line backups, but the market is just too crowded but looking into the best way of reselling existing services such as Mozzy Pro.
Voice IP could be another area.
It might even be after I brush up on my skills I just forget about all of this and apply for a job.
|
>> It might even be after I brush up on my skills I just forget about all of this and apply for a job.
I'd say you could earn a lot more as a salary this way. Maybe move into a company on a helpdesk type role and quickly move on.
Trouble with backups is most clients will be Windows users. And it is nowhere as easy. For a Mac user, plug in a USB drive and configure for Time Machine backups. And that's it. You can restore files to a point in time but also rebuild an entire machine. People do it all the time.
As for VOIP... didn't Microsoft just buy Skype.... offer consultancy fine but you cannot offer a service.... Linux based VOIP systems work very well BTW.
|
I meant consultancy :). Got quite a complex sip based system going here and it works well.
It is just very difficult at the moment less and less jobs, more people setting up businesses and less consumers with money.
I don't know why but I am only just releasing that my knowledge is worth a lot more than what I can charge people for.
I am away seeing my cousins from tomorrow so won't be able to reply much I just want to keep this thread about web development and the difficulties rather than my personal problems which have been well documented else where :).
|
The money is in consultancy and services. Getting requirements and defining what they want (all paid) and then pass them on. Maybe after some development ideas?
Can you (after brushing up) get some demo sites running and then show them off to customers? Host them back at home for demos.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Thu 2 Jun 11 at 22:25
|
Yep there will be a few sites up and running before I launch. Will be doing them at a loss just to get the portfolio up and running and brush up on my skills.
I will all also out source certain things but I need to plan everything and work out exactly who needs to do what.
|
|
I wonder if Khoo Systems could do some hosting for you...?
|
|
i agree about consultancy. you have a good rapport with your customers now so use what you have already. be a middleman who can speak to the customers and find out what they want or need and reccomend how they get it done.
|
just googled build your own website in minutues for free.
so whats the catch?
|
A lot of catches with free websites.
My background is actually in web development, I worked as a CSS coder and a website I worked on won an award. I have a degree essentially in web development too although I started that nearly ten years ago and thins have changed the theory remains the same.
My design skills are fine for modern CSS sites, I tend to look at other peoples marketing and take the good elements of that and introduce it into their sites.
I've thought about offering the consultancy side of things before but not sure if it would work.
I have a lot to learn before I start this, but those skills won't be wasted even if it is not a success.
What spurred me on is a competitor does websites, and I've seen the sites he has produced and while they look ok they are have many flaws (graphics instead of ASCII text, no ALT tags etc, tables instead of CSS etc).
AI think I can make it work but I know it won't be easy and I am not expecting a fast buck.
|
For those not in the know, CSS is simply Cascading Style Sheets ;-)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cascading_Style_Sheets
|
|
I should think those not in the know gave up on this thread a while back :-)
|
There was an old person of Putney,
Whose food was roast spiders and chutney,
Which he took with his tea,
Within sight of the sea,
That romantic old person of Putney.
Last edited by: Edward Lear on Fri 3 Jun 11 at 08:28
|
|
It's funny. Two years ago when Rattle started posting here (or somewhere else, anyway) in pidgin English the idea would have been laughed out of court. Now he writes in grammatical sentences which are generally free of spelling mistakes. What a difference it makes.
|
I strongly recommend developing your skills in something like Drupal, and using that as a base for your customers' websites. Building your own stuff is just asking for trouble in increased workload.
Drupal is secure, well developed, robust, and almost infinitely extendible.
|
Thinking of starting a new web business - rtj70
