Personal Websites

[BoomDrive]

How many of you have your own website for your freelance services or company? Does it prove to be a useful tool to your freelance career?

I'm working on a site right now (HTML is a hobby of mine). Thought I'd toss the question out there and possibly learn something from those who've set up their own websites.

Thanks!

[NewsMan]

Mine is working out ok, but has only been out two months or so.
www.13weeks.net (http://www.13weeks.net)

[Lensmith]

My company website helps me save time.

Several times I've been in the middle of working when a potential client calls wanting information. It's nice to be able to give them a web address for basic information. Then later, if they're interested, we can talk money.

I used to list all my rates on the site but...business is better when I can talk costs in person.

The most important thing I wanted with my web site was for it to load fast. There are a ton of creative photog web sites with all kinds of bells and whistles. The problem? They take forever to load for viewing. Mine covers a lot of information plus it loads fast so I don't lose potential customers who are in a hurry to find a crew.

B-Roll Online has a great person for web site info. Ivan is the man in my book. He helped me find a place to host the site (free) and then made it happen. The guy held my hand through the whole process and I couldn't be happier with the results.

Having the site helps me get the eyes of potential clients. It makes my negotiations easier and, in some ways, sorts through the clients who are serious and those who are just looking for "cheap".

A web site serves the same function as any company sign in front of a store. People need a way to find you and the internet is much better than buying an ad in the Yellow Pages ;o)

Be sure and consider all your costs when deciding where and how to put up a web site. Hosting fees, registering your site address, is money spent above and beyond the initial site design costs. Shop around for someone to help you design your site. Of course you can do it all yourself but...it was great with Ivan because we could brainstorm together for the best product. His experience brought a lot of things to the mix that I hadn't thought of. Everything from design elements to layout.

I know it sounds like I'm giving Ivan a BJ here but his valuable insight made my site better than I could have done it alone.

I've had my site up for almost five years now and it made a difference for me in easing how I do business...not to mention bringing in a few clients apart from my regulars ;o)

I do want to be clear. Having a web site is not going to all of a sudden give you more work than you can handle. It's only one tool among many to use running a business.

[NewsMan]

I s'ppose I should've elaborated. No need now. The above says it.

[BoomDrive]

Originally posted by Lensmith:
My company website helps me save time.

Several times I've been in the middle of working when a potential client calls wanting information. It's nice to be able to give them a web address for basic information. Then later, if they're interested, we can talk money.

...

I do want to be clear. Having a web site is not going to all of a sudden give you more work than you can handle. It only one tool among many to use running a business. Two very excellent points. I'm actually designing the site myself and a friend is going to host it for me. I love designing sites-- I'd be happy to do it for other photogs. I'd have to figure out those rates, though.
;)

It sounds like the site idea is a great way to provide a frame-of-reference with prospective clients. Now, all I have to do is actually get my foot in the door with those seeking freelancers.
:)

Any suggestions as far as that goes?

[dhart]

I've been averaging 2-3 jobs a month off my little website. Semaphore Video (http://www.semaphore-video.com) Cost me less than $500 to get up and running. Takes a while for all the search engines to find your site but once you're in the club producers should be able to find you easily. Good point about refering questions to your website when out shooting another job and you don't have much time to talk. It works well. When a producer can see a list of your gear and credits it's seems to put them at ease. Good luck with yours.

[imported_blank]

Thank you Lensmith. You are a classy guy and a true friend.

I agree with you, we sure " brainstormed together" and I have learned a lot from you as well.

You did leave out the most important reason to have your own website " A place to host your very own avatar for your b-roll profile" ;o) ;o) ;o)

Oh yeah, you all should check out Nino's web site. A true "gear head" :D you should see all the cool toys, not to mention all the cool inventions the man designs.

[Nino]

Thanks Ivan. My web site, if you can call it that, is as basic as they come. Probably it doesn't even qualify as a "web designing for dummies". It's done mostly on Microsoft Word and with some template that came with the computer. I admit that it should look better. I believe in "show it and not say it", that's why I use a lot still frames from my reels. Pictures are always more credible than words.

I always hated to send out resume and demo reels, now I can direct new clients to my "on line resume". Apparently they must like it because I usually end up with the gig. I can't say that I got jobs directly from my site. New clients might see my name on some of the many directories and go to my site before they call me. Or don't call me.

As soon as things slow down (and in the way that the Buccaneers have been playing it might happen very soon) I'll add a page titled "on location" with a number of stills with different set ups. I'm also planning to add some real demo reel. Ivan, I might need some help in this area, I'll pick your brains if I do.

I second what John said, I hate those sites that have all those graphics and animations and takes forever to get to the meat and potatoes. Unless of course you are in the graphics and animation business. Funny, after they do all that there's the little "skip intro" box.

I'm a firm follower of the KISS movement (Keep It Simple Stupid). And please, get rid of those "Our Mission" pages.

[NewsMan]

I would, except I do have a mission.

[BoomDrive]

Originally posted by Nino:
I'm a firm follower of the KISS movement (Keep It Simple Stupid). And please, get rid of those "Our Mission" pages. I agree. Shouldn't the entire site be a mission statement enough?

I'm limiting the graphics on my site. Any graphics I do have (save bona-fide photos) are in GIF form. I'd like to have at least one image of me at work on each page in the site, but that's what I'm restricting myself to. Photos of me "in action" will be confined to a "photo gallery" of sorts.

Definitely feel free to drop me a line. I'm always looking for a new HTML project to work on.

[imported_blank]

Yep Nino, I'm a "Keep it Simple" kind of guy too.
One thing to keep in mind when looking for outside advise is to make sure you get someone that knows at least a little about "MANUAL" coding.

When ever you want to discuss, just give me a shout. :)

[BoomDrive]

Originally posted by Ivan:
One thing to keep in mind when looking for outside advise is to make sure you get someone that knows at least a little about "MANUAL" coding.Mmm-hmm. Manual coding. Been there, done that. Found better ways to get it done.

[Dedline]

When I got enough into it, I just bought an obsolete version of Dreamweaver off Ebay. Cost less than a $100. Tough to learn quick though, takes a few days to get comfy.

[BoomDrive]

Originally posted by Dedline:
When I got enough into it, I just bought an obsolete version of Dreamweaver off Ebay. Cost less than a $100. Tough to learn quick though, takes a few days to get comfy. I don't understand people who still insist in coding by-hand.

If you're any good at website design, you know enough to constantly check the layout in multiple web browsers and different environments as you go along.

I've never played with Dreamweaver, though. Quite a few friends of mine in website development use it, though. Worth picking up?

[imported_blank]

Boomdrive, you obviously totally missed my point, so I will spell it out for you.

I wrote:
...when looking for outside advise, make sure you get someone that knows at least a little about "MANUAL" coding.

You wrote:
I don't understand people who still insist in coding by-hand.

No where did I say one should code everything by hand!! I said one should have some basic understanding of manual coding. Big difference!!!!

Sure, to post an image here on b-roll - its easy enough and faster to push the little image button on this board
http://b-roll.net/ubb/image.gif

However one should understand what syntax will be generated when pushing that button.
- and what it means).
code: <pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;"> http://b-roll.net/ubb/image.gif </pre>Pretty well every WYSWYG editor I ever used adds some wasteful code or cuts out some important code. This is especially true when opening a page designed by another WYSWYG editor or when working with a mix of HTML / PERL or HTML with some other CGI.

I kind of look at it like working with video cams and colour temperature. All you have to do is flick the pre-set switch on your camera - it will preset the WB on the rig BUT any photog worth his/her salt should know what that preset switch is doing when activated. When to or not to use it...

----------------------
I don't understand anyone that insists on coding everything manually either -- more so I don't understand people that design sites for other people (professional level) without knowing the basics of HTML and a little CGI..

-----------------
I ain't desperate enough having to come here and toot my own horn trying to solicit potential cliental for web design work (this is the wrong forum for that) However (once again) I will pass this advise to folks looking for web work:

"when looking for outside advise - make sure you get someone that knows at least a little about "MANUAL" coding.

Oh and to Lensmith, thanks again for the "unsolicited" reference.. (tooting my horn :D )

[BoomDrive]

Originally posted by Ivan:
Boomdrive, you obviously totally missed my point, so I will spell it out for you.Seriously, if you want to be an a-hole about it, go right ahead. I read your post, and it's not me that "totally missed the point."

Now it's my turn to pick apart your entry. I hope you have a pen and paper handy. Or, better yet-- why don't you open Notepad?

I wrote:
...when looking for outside advise, make sure you get someone that knows at least a little about "MANUAL" coding.

You wrote:
I don't understand people who still insist in coding by-hand.

No where did I say one should code everything by hand!! I said one should have some basic understanding of manual coding. Big difference!!!!That's funny-- I didn't say "code everything by hand," either. Did you pay attention to anything I wrote? Maybe you wouldn't get as bent out of shape about a response if you took the time to not only read the response, but make sure you understand it.

Then, you go through an entire unnecessary little schpiel about how easy it is to post an image, the function it performs, and how WYSIWYG editors like to put in unnecessary code. You failed to notice that I've completely invalidated that comment by an earlier response:

Originally posted by BoomDrive:
If you're any good at website design, you know enough to constantly check the layout in multiple web browsers and different environments as you go along.The funny thing is, you use an association from our profession to state the exact same thing:

Originally posted by Ivan:
I kind of look at it like working with video cams and colour temperature. All you have to do is flick the pre-set switch on your camera - it will preset the WB on the rig BUT any photog worth his/her salt should know what that preset switch is doing when activated. When to or not to use it...Which-- you know-- is pretty redundant, if you've kept up with anything I've posted in this topic. I suppose I should've added the fact that most GUI editors provide an HTML view exactly for purposes like this, but I was under the assumption that you knew a lot about web design.

And after this entire moot-point response, you just had to shoot some kind of pointless pseudo-jab that really does nothing for neither me and definitely not you:

I ain't desperate enough having to come here and toot my own horn trying to solicit potential cliental for web design work (this is the wrong forum for that).First, it's "clientele."

Second, absolutely nowhere was I trying to "toot my own horn."

Third-- it's a freelance forum, smart guy. So, technically, it is the right forum.

Since, once again, you've obviously missed the entire point of this topic, I'll gladly post the initial question for you:

Originally posted by BoomDrive:
How many of you have your own website for your freelance services or company? Does it prove to be a useful tool to your freelance career?I'm not trying to pimp myself out as a website designer. I've seen excellent examples of both good and bad website design. Given these examples, I know I'm a great designer and developer.

I can say the experiences with you have been nothing short of insulting, even unprofessional. If you really want to go the ridiculous route of child-like behavior, you can go right ahead and try me. In fact, you're more than welcome to send me a private message (http://b-roll.net/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=private_message;u=00001081).

Once you get off your ridiculously high horse, maybe I'll get some input from you about my original question. I'm simply good enough to take the good with the bad.

[Lensmith]

Check out http://www.tvcameramen.com/links/netlinks01.htm

You'll find a huge list of photographer freelance links to look at and get ideas. Some are pretty bad. Others are beautiful high dollar productions.

It was a good place to get ideas on what I did and didn't want to do with my own site when we were putting it together.

[BoomDrive]

Originally posted by Lensmith:
Check out http://www.tvcameramen.com/links/netlinks01.htm I was going to ask how to go about adding myself to it, but I decided it would be best to just check it out myself. Lo and behold, the answer was in the upper right-hand corner. :)

Thanks for the great link.

[Lensmith]

Originally posted by BoomDrive:
[QUOTE]Is this a site you can register with once you've got a site of your own created? The whole cameraman.com website has been dead since the Iraq war began. Yes, it's free...if they're still paying attention to the site.

Another place I suggest you check out is http://www.mandy.com/ as a place to list your new site. This is one of the older freelance listing sites and they offer a "free" listing and link to your site.

Don't forget to list here on the B-Roll Freelance Search too ;o)

[BoomDrive]

Originally posted by Rolling Ralph:
Sorry for jumping in boomdrive but I don't think Ivan was the one being the a-hole here. ... boomdrive kid, you got some nerve coming on here calling people a-holes. Do some growing up before you start posting here again. Your quotes intrigue me. Does my "jumping in, pimping my service" mean I can't offer to help someone who's given me advice? That's interesting.

Do you even know what "pimping" is? It involves money. Did I directly say I would charge him for helping? No.

I'm going to say this just once more, because you obviously missed it the first time around. Unless you've got some worthwhile advice, don't bother responding. Send me a private message (http://b-roll.net/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=private_message;u=00001081) with your concerns about my BBSing instead. It's as simple as that. Getting into a stupid little "he said this, he said that" war fills the thread with crap and does nothing for anyone.

Trust me, I've been posting to BBS systems for a long time. It takes more than a few ill-informed sentences on a computer monitor to make me re-think my feelings for someone else's profoundly inept retort.

[imported_blank]

Thanks Ralph, for jumping in and sticking up for me. I must say though, I never accused anyone here of pimping - all I said is that I myself don't solicit my non camera related services to other posters on this site. That's all. With that being said -- whenever I please, publicly I will pass along free advise such as " make sure you get someone that knows at least a little about "MANUAL" coding.

Also,
sometimes I may publicly write something that may contradict with another poster's views or advise. I WON'T take time from my busy schedule to privately send a message to some anonymous child comin' on here calling me all kinds of nasty names. Ralph, thanks again & no matter how much the "been around the BBS system" spelling-corrector child begs to have a private spelling p#ss, my advise is to forget about the nasty kid. Sorry for the run on sentences. Yeah right!!!

To the webmaster, Nino Lensmith & all the regulars here, I apologize for this waste, as you know, usually I hold my standards higher at this freelance space. redface.gif

[BoomDrive]

Originally posted by Ivan:
Also,
sometimes I may publicly write something that may contradict with another poster's views or advise. I WON'T take time from my busy schedule to privately send a message to some anonymous child comin' on here calling me all kinds of nasty names. Ralph, thanks again & no matter how much the "been around the BBS system" spelling-corrector child begs to have a private spelling p#ss, my advise is to forget about the nasty kid. Sorry for the run on sentences. Yeah right!!!I obviously bruised your precious ego with a simple line:

Originally posted by BoomDrive:
I don't understand people who still insist in coding by-hand.The funny thing is, nowhere in this response did I mention you. Still, you've taken to the idea that somehow, I was talking about you. If that doesn't show signs of an ego-- well-- nothing does. So, that's why I called you an a-hole. That sure is a whole lot of "nasty names" there.

I'm still betting you never really read my responses anyway. If you did, you'd notice I provided you with a direct link to send me a private message-- twice. I'm wondering: how is your schedule that busy that you don't have the time to click a link, but you do have the time to click a "reply with quote" button? What a weak, paltry claim.

One thing is very evident: you sure do have the time to continue wasting everyone else's time by posting inane drivel in a thread that really had nothing to do with you in the first place. I'm wondering why that is?

Do both of us a favor: move along. This thread has already become ridiculously spammed by your worthless and unprovoked "retaliation."

Oh-- and it's "advice."

[ransom]

Are you boys settled down yet? I give the name calling and ball swinging a C+ at best. How's about acting more like adults. Ya might not look so stupid to the rest of us :D

How much do people spend to design and then maintain their site? What is the bottom line dollar figure per year?

[BoomDrive]

Originally posted by ransom:
Are you boys settled down yet? I give the name calling and ball swinging a C+ at best. How's about acting more like adults. Ya might not look so stupid to the rest of us :D He started it!
:rolleyes:

How much do people spend to design and then maintain their site? What is the bottom line dollar figure per year? Unfortunately, it's a large range you're talking about. Usually, you'll find small companies paying other companies to build their sites, not individuals paying companies. A lot of decent designers charge from ~$300 on up. You can also tack on domain name registration, hosting, and email-- but with more fees.

If you've got a few buddies in the CS/IT industry, I recommend checking with them. They may be able to point you to a starter company that won't drain your wallet. That's what I did. Buddy of mine does the hosting, I do the designing.

Doing a search through Google to get an idea would probably work. :)

[Lensmith]

Several of my friends have sites which they paid between US$600 and US$900 to design and set up. Some really beautiful sites to view. With Ivans professional help and kindness, I paid much, much less.

Hosting and registration are the ongoing costs you pay to keep your site alive. I used http://www.register.com to register my site. They, like many registration companies, offer package deals including web design and hosting. I found my a la carte deal with Ivan fit my wallet better.

Ivan found me a great place to host my site which offered a lot of space. Some "free" hosting places only give you one or two pages and charge for additional space. Since my site had to be in two languages, I was looking at double the space.

My hosting is free as long as I let them run the banner ads at the top. I can pay something like US$6 or US$8 bucks a month if I want it ad free...which is not a bad price.

Registering my address name, http://www.latincam.net/ , runs about US$30 a year but...the price varies depending on how many years you want to pay for in advance.

Another thought is to keep your site from looking abandoned or out of date. Like any newstory, try and design it so it's "dateless". Meaning, limit material on the site which will need updating. Things like rates or "here's my latest project to view" type things. It's nice for clients to see the latest but...it costs money every time you want to change something if you're not doing the updates yourself. An example from my site...I used to list all my current rates for work which needed to be changed each year. I found I prefered negotiating the price for work with each client instead of promoting flat rates which might or might not fit into every clients budget. I'm always a better salesman in person ;o)

My friends with sites get charged a couple of hundred dollars each time they want to add pics from their latest jobs or change layout/text information. I think pics showing you working add to customer confidence. They see you working with your gear and have an idea of your level of professionalism. Having a pic of myself on the site has made it easier for the client to know who to look for when they pick me up at the airport for a job too. Generic shots? Fine. Current shots of obvious "dated" events like Super Bowls or WTC coverage? Fine too...as long as you don't leave them up five years from now with nothing newer to show. Current pics have their value but if you're looking to shave overall costs, generic shots can have a longer shelf life.

Lastly, just putting up a site doesn't mean search engines will point people to you right away. A few, like Yahoo, want to charge you a fee to be "found" by their search engine if you are a business. Ivan and a few other designers offer a service which helps search engines find and list your site. This involves a series of key words, sent to each search engine, which will help them list you when potential clients looking for your services do an internet search.

Like anything from home plumbing to auto repair, you can do things all by yourself. I, however, prefered having an experienced professional advise and guide me, giving me the best product with minimum headaches.

Some of my friends with sites have been burned by less than professional web designers and hosts. Do a little research. Find out how long someone has been doing the work. Lots of folks do it as a hobby, which is fine up to a point. Those in it as a hobby many times lack the professional attitude of "responsibility" to their clients. One day they're in business to serve, the next they're bored and don't have time to deal with the tweaking and adjustments all good sites need to look their best.

[imported_blank]

Hey ransom
I looked for a way to contact you but you have no visible e-mail addy nor could I find a link to private message you. (hope you didn't put me on your private message ignore list)

Anyhow since there is no other way for me to contact you - here is a link.
For RANSOM to check out (http://www.ics-multimedia.com/special/)

(Sorry about the silly camera pic, I did that just for fun. :D )

This is a bare bones site for a bare bone price! May be just what you need though --- includes upload to free server, everything. Nothing more to pay. It isn't very pretty but note the price. Prettier can be done but will cost you a little more. Keep in mind that many site owners like Lensmith supply much of their own art work and put HEAVY INPUT into the site to have it tweaked to their liking.

Sorry for the PUBLIC message but there was no other way to get the info you requested to you...
Contact me for more info...

One thing you should keep in mind if getting one of the "FREE" server space deals Lensmith mentioned. They don't give you much support - "often" those free hosts will change hands thus change servers and this leads to "CHANGED PATHS" to things like sendmail (contact forms) or other CGI related services --- sometimes even the IP pointing to your domain name will change and since the free hosts don't care what happens to your site -- you better have a webmaster that will take care of those things -fast --with some kind of warrantee in writing! He/she better know a little manual HTML and CGI to be able to manually find & change those paths....

Hey LS
Try putting in the yahoo search engine this:
"central american television news & documentaries"
Below is the hit I got. Your site is on top of the list. :D
http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=central+american+television+news+%26+docu mentaries&ei=UTF-8&fr=fp-tab-web-t&n=20&fl=0&x=wrt