Musings on the Business of Web Design

Whenever I try to explain to people what my 'job' is, it always brings the realization home to me that this business of web design is a wonderful (terrible?) balancing act that can't help but inspire a diverse set of reactions.

It seems it always has to start with the marketing, because a web site is nothing more than a marketing tool. But marketing always seems cold and calculating to me and is not very satisfying until it produces results - delayed gratification, UGH.

Then I switch gears to the creative work involved in the design. As long as I like what I produce, I get instant and lasting satisfaction. I get better and faster at this all the time.

Then the actual programming that makes the marketing and design work. Switch yet again into a strict, technical environment.

Then of course there's the day to day business activities that take me all over the map, from sales to accounting to the janitorial duties.

I guess that may all sound like some sort of hell to some, but for me it's the challenge of being able to accomplish all those things that keeps me interested and glad to come to work every day.

Think Blogs aren't for business?

HA I say! I can tell you for absolute certainty that they are...Blogs are one of THE best online marketing tools I've seen in 5 years.

In five years of this business I never got one call from another designer to 'talk shop'. In the last two weeks, I've gotten two, and one could lead to a design project job, at least it's been mentioned.

So why now? Because they found my blog on web design. The nature of a blog invites community and conversation because we're not using our 'sales' voice so much as just writing about what's in our heads. People can get to know you through your writing style (and NO that's not a bad thing) and once that personal connection is made, it make people feel more comfortable about doing business with you because you seem accessible.

The contacts have made me feel a little like I'm a respected source on all things web, which makes me want to write more, which will lead to more contacts, which will make me want to write more...well you get the idea.

If you've got a blog, GREAT-get to posting. If not, what are you waiting for? Becasue believe me, it's not stopping at blogs. What's the next big thing (IMHO)? Podcasting - HINT: you'll see it on CDWebMaker.com when my site redesign is complete.

Number One on MSN in 36 Days!

I'm very self-impressed this morning and need to share this:

I launched Santa Fe Realty's new web site on February 23, 2006. Liana was interested in the search engine services provided by CD WebMaker, so I submitted the site throughout March and on the March 31 report, it shows a NUMBER ONE PLACEMENT IN MSN for the search term "southern colorado real estate"!!

How did this site do so well for this search term?

First, I believe it's due to the standards-compliant web design I did coupled with the design itself. The search term was cleverly (IMHO) integrated into the design of the site.

Secondly, like I've been saying all along, the content fulfills the 'promise' of the search term and domain name. We peppered the site text with "southern colorado real estate", and used it in the keyphrases and the domain name.

Lastly, submission to the search engines was aggressive.

No, the site isn't number one on Google yet, but number one in MSN is pretty impressive!

Here's to Liana for taking the advice she paid for, and the continued success of Santa Fe Realty.

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