October 22, 2002Busy night..in the laboratoryWith all the craziness happening in the Richmond area yesterday, I figured last night was a great time to tuck myself away up my computer room and get some real work done. What work you may ask? One of my coworkers' husband contacted me a few months ago to build him a website. He's an artist (paintings, murals, etc.) and wanted another way to get his name out there. As with all of my other web project clients, we've spent the past couple of months working through the planning phase, the design phase, and now the building and content phases. This is usually where I have run into the most problems with clients. Here's what normally happens: Me: Mr./Mrs. Web Project Client, I need some content for your website Them: What kind of content do you mean? Me: Well...words..pictures..the stuff that MAKES a website. Them: Oh, I guess I have to figure something out. Ok, I'll send you something. (Two weeks later...) Me: Mr./Mrs. Web Project Client, have you gathered your content for the site? Them: Oh, no, I've been really busy with other things. I'll send it soon. (One month later...) Me: Anything yet? Them: Oh, I totally forgot about the site. Yeh, I'll come up with something soon. Forget it. What I don't understand is how many people I've tried to help create a web presence for them and then they just kinda crap out in the middle of the project. Best of all, they realize 3 months down the road that their website isn't up and running and they subconsciously blame ME for not delivering on their site. Yep. My fault. But, that has definitely NOT been the case with this latest web project. What has been the case is that the client keeps changing his mind about how the site should look. We traded screenshots of the photoshopped design for a few weeks and finally decided upon a look and feel. However, he now wants to change many elements about that design: Background colors, button labels, etc. But, I can't really complain. Why? Because every time he sends me a big, long email detailing what he wants changed, that just means that I'll spend that much more TIME making the site look exactly how he wants it to look. And folks: In my business, Time = Money. Bring on those changes. Oh, and if you're curious, check out my work in progress. Posted by Jeff at October 22, 2002 10:14 AMComments
By far the most complicated process in the web-for-hire business. I couldnt' agree with you more Jeff. And you're right- it brings up the "should I just say 'forget it' and dump the client, or just do it and get paid for the extra time" question. When I did freelance stuff, I was always torn by this. But now that I have a few years of content-control experience (with much of the frustration you described), I think I'd present things in more of a "here's what I'll do for you" way, and A LOT LESS of the "so, what do you want here?" way. Posted by: Brian at October 22, 2002 12:10 PMWow, I totally fit the stereotype you are describing. It took Brian and me almost a year to make Lololand--thank goodness he didn't dump me, especially since it was pro bono work!! :) Posted by: Lololand Client at October 22, 2002 04:56 PMThat artist of yours is a hottie! Posted by: Engaged Girl at October 22, 2002 04:56 PMPost a comment
|
|
