Forum Home
Press F1
 
Thread ID: 25731 2002-10-10 21:40:00 want to get into freelance web design/programming, tips anyone?? wumania (2209) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
87898 2002-10-11 09:21:00 >Thanks tweak'e for the debugging. I must say I cut and pasted most of template code

i'm no expert beleive me. i also was wondering what course you did as i might do it myself.

that "debugging" is a little bit from validator.w3.org which is a handy way to check pages. opera (and mozilla) have it built in. simple one click to check how many mistakes i made....argggh <off the fix my web page> 		tweak'e (174)
87899 2002-10-11 09:22:00 hiya sal, thanks for responding . I found the web design course was very useful . Certainly I would never have learned so much in 10 months time . We covered HTML, JavaScript/DHTML and ASP/ADO . Also computer hardware, networking, IIS, Windows NT/2000 and some Linux . The course I did was a diploma course called Internet Technology at NatColl . I am unsure what kind of training institute you have near you, but from what I have seen (from your website) and I can conclude that you have learned heaps by yourself, and certainly you are able to learn or pick up from home . So you may not need to attend a course like what I did . Save yourself few grands and get some more IT books, that is, if you can motivate yourself to read them all !! :p

For me, I learned best by attending classes . Your learning style could be different, so you know what's best for you .

Bill 		wumania (2209)
87900 2002-10-11 09:25:00 Ingredients damn silly typo... :p wumania (2209)
87901 2002-10-11 09:35:00 Hey C_S, I know the type of noodle you liked !! It's hot but you get used to it. Where do you live mate?? You should move to Auckland, here we have plenty of Korean shops. You will be amazed by the variety of noodles they have.

Thanks for your kind comments. I appreciated it very much.

Bill 		wumania (2209)
87902 2002-10-11 10:13:00 Been there done that. I tell you what you up against:

1- Bored bosses who make their company website out of word templates
2- Script kiddies who know how to use a PHP wizard
3- Old fuddies who use nothing but notepad and don't use graphics.
4- Peoples who use online wizards to make ahomepage about their pets
5- 376 other web site design company (at last count)

My advice: don't make you rely on it for full time income untill you have a good solid customer base. In the meantime, McDonalds are hiring... 		JohnDoe (2202)
87903 2002-10-12 01:01:00 Oh, the other thing - try to get clients not customers. What is the difference? A client is a customer who keeps coming back!

Categorise your customers into four groups:

A - Always understanding, clear in what they want, payon time and are likely to have other A clients as firiends.

B - Pretty good, will pay at the latest possile, but always pay - a bit annoying to deal with at times.

C - Pain in the arse - never pay on time, have to chase them down, and its always your fault in their minds.

D - never pay full stop.

Tell all your C and D customers not to come back - or get cash in advance.

Write to all your B's and try to soften them into A's.

Write to all your A's and butter them up.

Then, your A's and B's will give glowing referrals to all their friends, nad the good thing is is that A's are usually friends with other A's, B's with B's etc.

So, you build up a solid customer base pf A's and B's, and you can then live off the referrals. A normal professional business starts out with 90+% of their customers responding due to advertising, and the rest from referrals.

Once you have been opreating a year or so, and supposing you have done a good jobn and looked after your A's and B's - advertising will account for just 20% of your clients and referrals will account for the rest.

GBP (Good Business Practice).

Starting a business is rewarding, but hard work and don't expect to start making any money for at least the first six months to a year.

Also remember, that most businesses in NZ fail within the first two years - usually because they don't have, or don't follow their business plan.

G P 		Graham Petrie (449)
87904 2002-10-12 01:36:00 cool site!!! haha look at mine (www.geocities.com)...................................any way im chinese tooo, hahahaha.
how did u get people to pay to put there ads on your site?? 		phillip pond (435)
87905 2002-10-12 02:04:00 Thanks for the valuable tips. I am sure alot of us reading the post can benefit one way or the other. Keep up the good work !! Ta heaps ~~~ :D wumania (2209)
1 2