Re: FN-FORUM Frightening or what? - in response to several different threads..

date posted 26th June 2002 20:26

Ray McGinty wrote:
>>>This organisation suggesting you invest in the web equivalent of a Lada is
>>>the one set up by the government to encourage effective use of the
>>>internet. Wonderful.
>>
>
> I find the whole thing depressing.
>

Oh aye...

Re: Butcher.

I could write a book on my own experiences in this over the last six
months or so. After moving to Lancaster from London where I'd been for
the last eleven years or so, I have had SO MANY "I'll do it in Word", or
"my nephew can do that on his Playstation" experiences that I've nearly
stopped doing web-sites...

Your average punter or small business does not understand the technology
involved in producing a website, they have problems changing the font
size in Word most of the time. You have to accept the "where there's
muck there's brass" view that they hold as it's all they know. It's the
same principle that probably leads most of us to attempt DIY that should
in reality be left to a fully qualified tradesman. "I'm not going to get
a plumber to come in and do the bathroom, I can go to B&Q and pick up
the bits for £1000, Dave the plumber charges £3000, I'll do it myself at
the weekend...." (a bit extreme but you get the point)

The problem we have is that "things change", technology moves on, people
get left behind, new niche markets appear, people retrain to exploit
them, etc... these potential "clients" are just ignorant of the current
reality, what we need to do is re-educate these people, or present our
marketing better so that they can see the errors they are making and
illustrate the consequences they may have to face in the future. As for
the government actually encouraging these SMEs to go down the DIY route,
and giving them what is PLAINLY WRONG advice, it's a disgrace. Wheeling
out an example of a "successful" e-commerce SME at a meeting is akin to
employing "experts" at a criminal trial who hold the viewpoint that you
need for your argument, you can find a dozen other experts who think the
opposite; it's par for the course.

The one thing you shouldn't do is exploit the client(s) ignorance for
your own gain. This is just wrong. The client HAS to be educated, make
them understand what is involved, encourage them to be involved if they
don't know, be open with the client so they can see what you are doing
and how it relates to them.....if your margins are low, then look at
your own business first and don't just pass the cost on to the client.

Returning to the butcher point for a moment; some businesses don't need
anything more than a simple informational site. Your average high-street
butcher is not going to get much return from a 24/7 fully-blown
e-commerce solution, unless the business specialises in exotic meats
etc...(then it's a deli!) There is a case for a simple client-based
ordering system if there is a B2B element in the butchers core business,
e.g. client goes to site places order for 500 slices of cured-ham
etc...butcher gets order via e-mail (using a form script or whatever),
order prepared and shipped when needed (you could even implement this
for regular punters, but who would use it?). Obviously, you would need
to implement some form of product cataloguing or coding system as well,
but all-in you could produce this in a couple of weeks for about £5-600
maximum without stress.

Things change if the butcher in question is a multi-outlet operation or
a chain, this adds a level of complexity and should be costed as such,
say tripling the cost for a single outlet - I don't do this kind of
website anymore so I wouldn't want to put figures in here. The bottom
line is that you have to do what is needed and not over complicate it or
add things that may be cool but not needed. Most businesses are
interested in content not design, if the design is good as well then
it's a bonus. There are obviously exceptions to this like anything in
life. As long as you follow the "branding" guidelines correctly...

For us (the collective - I may post our working practices in reply to
the thread of two weeks ago about collaboration if I have time) we are
lucky in that the majority of sites we do now are in addition to other
business that we do for an organisation, such as sound design,
production, or the training money-spinner. Mostly our sites are very
simple and take a week or so, some are complicated (like the music one
I'm doing now) but we get great deadlines for these (like end-of-year
when the album comes out!) so it's only stressful if you make it so. We
are very fortunate in this respect compared to most. We also get a great
deal of trust from the clients as we always try to generate a good
working relationship, I think this is VERY important regardless of what
tasks the client wants you to do. As an individual, I do take on more
normal business when I have time or need the money to live on, for
instance I'm doing some layout work for a publishing company who has an
office nearby (I go in when the raw docs arrive from the US and German
offices, so about two or three days a week including weekends) money is
crap but it pays the bills, just.

I need more coffee so I'm going to stop ranting right here

ade

P.S. it's raining here. I'd like to cheer up but I've just had 60
e-mails from a client who has obviously had far too much "coke" asking
me to change a colour from black to 59 other ones, after 60 e-mails
guess what colour we are back with, yep, you guessed it, black. I love
it, this is what I get up for in the morning!!!!!!!

apologies if some of todays posts have been a little curt...

--
chief druid and fish-frier
the funkyfish collective
[EMAIL REMOVED]
--