My Newbie
Two Cents Worth

By

Bailey

Bisexual Pornsites

I don’t think I’ll ever figure some people out.

I have 2 mainstream clients. I designed their sites, host them and help them promote it. It’s been almost three months now and I’ve had a few “learning experiences” along the way, but for the most part, it has been going smoothly. That is until yesterday!

I got a call from the client of the first mainstream site I did. I put a lot of hours and work into this site (with help and guidance from Voltar), and I learned a lot from doing it. This site was for a family business and each member had a part they were responsible for. My client was responsible for promoting the business online, another member was responsible for promoting home shows and another attending conventions and such, with “Mom” overseeing it all. When I took on this job, it was my understanding that my client had complete control of the online portion of the business , and the “partners” don’t interfere with each others’ responsibility. As it turns out, her “partners” were happy with the site and contract, and the site has been up and running.

Just a little background on this, while in the planning stage, my client hesitated to add ecommerce shopping, but then decided to add it AFTER I had started building the site. We worked it all out and ecommerce shopping was added . Since this was all new to me - I undercharged for the amount of time but I learned how to set up ecommerce shopping from start to finish. (In this case I was paid to learn.) Like I said the site is finished, everyone is happy with it. I’ve been paid on time and things are good.

This client called to tell me ecommerce shopping has to come off the site. I was stunned!! Apparently “mom” had other ideas. When I met “mom” she explained that the cart was as an easy way for “those people” to steal from her. Who are “those people”? I asked, “You know, the hachets”. “Do you mean hackers?” “Yeah, those people!”, she replied. She took it further to say that she’d been doing business without it (ecommerce) and “the people on the internet” will just have to do it her way, which is to send a check or money order to a PO box and then the item is shipped. The online business was doomed!! I knew I wouldn’t be able to convince her about how secure online shopping is, so I tried to make her see how her payment options could turn customers away. I explained that “the cart”(as she calls it) is the cashier and customer service in one place. Her payment options were akin to shopping in a department store with no checkout registers. You would have to leave the items at the store, send a check and then the store would send you the items.

And if there is a problem, the only customer service is the same PO address you sent the check to. She acknowledged she would not be comfortable with that but insisted “cart” shopping and a department store shopping were not the same. Maybe they’re not same, but people are, and I don’t think many people will be comfortable sending a check to a PO box of a small private company they came across on the internet, especially with little recourse if there is a problem. Her mind was made up and ecommerce was taken off the site. At this point I also realized that “mom” viewed a website as nothing more than “keeping up with the Jones”, meaning her friends had websites and she wanted one too. I don’t mean to sound rude when I say that but that is truly her view. She doesn’t consider it an extension of her business. She told me she likes the site, and some of her friends liked it too. I guess I was happy that she thought enough of it to show it off - but she was clearly missing the point.

I was paid for my time to make the changes and they want me to continue managing the site. I know I have done my job. I put together a site that was original and had some effective selling techniques applied to it. It was optimized for search engines. I submitted it to the SE as well as every free business directory I could find. I’ve encouraged them to talk up the online portion of the business(at home shows etc) and have the domain address printed on business cards. As far as my clients business online is concerned I think they made a mistake removing eshopping. As far as MY business is concerned I did my job as agreed. It’s the customer’s site, I have to abide by their decisions, even if I don’t agree with it, and in a nutshell, as long as I do my job and get paid, there shouldn’t be anymore to it, but I still took it personally. I know that even if the site had a number 1 google rating for the most searched for term in their business and they had thousands and thousands of daily hits, it would mean nothing to her. However, if there were little or no sales she would point to those same hits and either blame the web design or give “the I told you the internet was no good.“ speech and not recognize the fact that she eliminated a key component of doing business online. I’ve come to the conclusion my real client is “mom” and she is going to be difficult.

I can’t say I wasted time on this site because I did learn quite a bit. Everything from selling techniques, to designs, and certainly about business and clients. I prefer the adult side of my business. It’s more fun and less stressful, and after dealing with this woman, the rules of the link lists don’t seem as bad. LOL!

Have a great week.

Well that’s just my newbie two cents...
Have a great week!

Bailey