July 3rd, 2008 PLEASE FORWARD
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News, Rants and Case Studies for Web Design Professionals
by Brendon Sinclair (tribune@sitepoint.com)
Read the HTML version of this newsletter, with graphics, at:
http://www.sitepoint.com/newsletter/viewissue.php?id=2&issue=403
IN THIS ISSUE - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- Introduction
- Editor's Perspective: 10,000 Sales a Day: Can You Cope?
- Marketplace Moments: Pitching Positive
- From the Forums: How to Charge for Mockups
- Tips & Tricks: Video Services to Watch
- What's New on SitePoint!
- Hot Forum Topics
- New Blog Entries
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INTRODUCTION - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I had a brainwave the other day as I was setting up a client's
site for an expected deluge of customers that would result from
her product and web site being shown on a national current
affairs TV show.
Every single ecommerce site should be built to be able to very
easily deal with 10,000 sales a day. If you have this
capability, it frees you to focus on the things that can grow
your business.  Read on for full details.
We're trying to find someone to do some work for us through the
SitePoint Marketplace. The very first guy who responded to our
brief broke one of the cardinal rules when he made his pitch to
us -- it's a thing that can stop anyone from getting work.
Luckily it's easy to fix, and to convert into a big positive.
This issue, we'll also talk about charging prospects for web
design mockups. While there's a good argument for doing them for
free -- just as there's a good argument for charging clients for
them -- we look at another strategy that might be more effective
than either free or fee.
We finish off this week with a couple of quick tips that will
help those looking to sell video online or make money from video
ads.
Happy Reading!
Brendon Sinclair
mailto:tribune@sitepoint.com
EDITOR'S PERSPECTIVE - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
10,000 SALES A DAY: CAN YOU COPE?
How would you cope if your site made 10,000 sales today? It's
not a question many site owners ask themselves, but as I
realised this week, it's a business imperative.
I recently had a client's site featured in a report on a major
TV show here in Australia. Because I've been through this
process before, I knew to initiate a range of strategies prior
to the story being aired to deal with the expected deluge of
customers. Here's part of what we did:
1. We automated the site as much as possible. We switched from
manual to real-time credit card processing, created downloadable
products, and set up email autoresponders.
2. We created a range of email template answers to answer
incoming sales questions.
3. We created an extensive knowledgebase to reduce email
questions.
4. We automated content management on the site.
While it's impossible to think of every issue or anticipate
every question that might be asked, automating the site with the
simple strategies above freed up 2 hours per day for our client.
And having these processes in place literally saved her weeks of
work when the story hit TV screens.
Then it hit me: every site should be set up on the expectation
that it will generate 10,000 sales a day. If you develop your
business like the big players do, it'll be as automated and as
easy as possible to run, will have the ability to cope with
massive sales levels, and requires as little time as possible on
behalf of the owners.
Once you've done that, you have a site that's scalable, and that
allows you to focus on the site's marketing and the business's
growth.
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MARKETPLACE MOMENTS - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
PITCHING POSITIVE
My business is using the SitePoint Marketplace [1] right now to
get some client work done, and we received an interesting
proposal for one job. In his pitch to us, the person has done
something that means they'll be less likely to get the job. So,
what's the problem?
The person who made the pitch criticizes some of his competition
in a very specific way.
That's a crazy strategy:
- He can't be sure that we're not in the huge category of
people he criticizes.
- When you criticize someone, what happens is the person
listening to you mentally assigns a negative perception to you.
So if you criticize others, you're seen as negative person.
- People don't believe you when you criticize your competition.
It's much more effective to praise your competition and then
utter these magic words: "Would you like to hear how we're
different from them and what that means to you?"
Don't criticize others in front of potential clients -- all it
does is make you less likely to get the job (plus, you look like
a loser).
[1] <http://marketplace.sitepoint.com/>
FROM THE FORUMS - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
HOW TO CHARGE FOR MOCKUPS
Fujiprovince asks if other designers charge to create mockups
[1] in the SitePoint Forums this week.
The answer from forum members is a very strong, "Yes!" But
sometimes, it's not as clear-cut as that. After all, your
competitors may well offer free mockups to generate solid leads.
We all know how difficult it can be to compete against people
who churn out sites for $5 an hour. I think I've mentioned
before that the best web designer I've seen worked out their
hourly rate and figured out they were only earning $3 an hour!
Do you compete with that, or do you walk away and stick with
your "It's my time, so I'll charge for it" philosophy?
Perhaps a bit of a compromise might get you a better result. The
next time you're faced with this conundrum, you might try this
approach.
"Yes Ms. Prospect, we'd be delighted to do a mockup for you. You
want to get a clear idea of what your site will look like, and we
want to show we're the right people for the job. As you know, a
mockup takes a good few hours, so the cost will be a nominal
$400, but if you proceed with us, the mockup fee will be
subtracted from the quote we provide for the job as a whole."
What happens in this case is you've given the prospect a sample,
and she's committed. She'll be very, very reluctant to "waste"
that deposit by not moving forward with you for the project's
development.
Is this solution the silver bullet? Well, like everything you do
in business, try it, test it, measure it, and refine it. Do what
works best at making you the most money. Anything else is just a
guess.
[1] <http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=555993>
TIPS & TRICKS - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
VIDEO SERVICES TO WATCH
Looking for a way to sell videos online? I've been investigating
this issue for a client's training videos and found PayLoadz [1].
Simply create an account, and when someone buys your video, they
receive a download link with an expiry date.
There are various levels in the service's flat-fee payment model
[2], and a bunch of features are included with user accounts.
Our Australian and Japanese readers will be pleased to know that
AdSense video units are now available [3] to them. Video units
are embedded, customizable video players which enable publishers
to earn extra revenue. Relevant and non-intrusive companion and
text ads accompany the video content. Visit your AdSense Setup
tab to get started with video units.
[1] <https://www.payloadz.com/>
[2] <https://www.payloadz.com/account/acct_levels.asp>
[3] <http://adsense.blogspot.com/2008/06/video-units-now-available-in-australia.html>
SPONSOR'S MESSAGE - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Understand & solve your user experience problems with TechSmith's UX
solutions.
Morae 2: Usability Re-Imagined.
UserVue: Real users, real feedback.
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WHAT'S NEW ON SITEPOINT! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Mark Boulton's Freelance Design Secrets
by Andy Kowalik
Andy Kowalik catches up with Mark Boulton to discover the man
behind the successful web design studio, the route he took to
achieve this success, and what's crucial in keeping it that
way.
http://www.sitepoint.com/article/1650
CSS Positioning Properties At-A-Glance Guide
by Nigel Peck
Need a quick online guide for CSS positioning properties? Look
no further than Nigel's essential at-a-glance guide, which
contains all the common properties.
http://www.sitepoint.com/article/1231
Fancy Form Design Using CSS
by Cameron Adams
Form design is the necessary evil of web development. Don't you
wish you had a wizard's wand to create accessible yet attractive
forms? We have found such a wizard! Here, Cameron Adams shows you
how to use CSS to create forms that are both great-looking and
usable, and gives you the code you need to make the job easy.
http://www.sitepoint.com/article/1569
HOT FORUM TOPICS - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Google learns to crawl Flash
<http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=557010>
BusinessWeek: 10 Commandments of Web Design
<http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=556440>
Domain Name shake up
<http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=556235>
Advice for a customer satisfaction survey after a site goes live?
<http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=528793>
3 COOL Social Bookmarking sites many don't know about:
<http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=510064>
NEW BLOG ENTRIES - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Design Blog: PIXEL PERFECT
Learn Design From The Mastersa?"First Up: Mark Boulton)
http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2008/07/02/learn-design-from-the-masters-first-up-mark-boulton/
Why The 10 Commandments Of Web Design Are Complete Baloney
http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2008/07/01/why-the-10-commandments-of-web-design-is-complete-baloney/
Web Tech Blog: TECHNICALLY SPEAKING
How To Engineer Your Way To The Front Page Of Digg (11 comments)
http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2008/07/01/how-to-engineer-your-way-to-the-front-page-of-digg/
4 Easy Ways To Spruce Up Your HTML Markup (28 comments)
http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2008/07/01/4-easy-ways-to-spruce-up-your-html-markup/
Web Pro Business Blog: STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS
Why Multitasking is a Waste of Time (12 comments)
http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2008/07/01/multitasking-is-a-waste-of-time/
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