Computer Repair Blog » web design

How I learned I want to code by myself

mike — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:35:12 +0000

A personal story
I created and administer my website using a program called Rapidweaver. It’s a low-cost alternative to Dreamweaver on the Mac; at least, it starts at a low-cost. The application itself retails for $79, and it does a lot of what you need it to do. And then it doesn’t do what you need it to do, as its simplicity makes it rather limited in its scope. You need to purchase plug-ins to do everything else, as well as additional themes.
Of course, the Rapidweaver plug-ins require a serial number to activate and use. I reimaged my Mac a few weeks ago, and loaded up Rapidweaver to make some changes to my website. To make all the appropriate changes, in fact to actually load my local copy of the website, I have to load all the plugins that are associated with it (in this case Sitemap, RWMultitool and Stacks, as well as the theme). Wouldn’t you know it; I don’t have the serial for Stacks. It was in an email that I didn’t get around to archiving before I killed. That is my fault, I get that. But should the software’s creator attempt to help me with his activation scheme? Yes, I think so. The Stacks website mentions to contact support if you have misplaced a serial, so I emailed the support for Stacks, and a few hours after that, I tweeted the creator asking for help. A few hours after that, he tweets me back stating that he would get to my email in the order it was received. That was 2 days ago.
Two days. That’s 2 days that I haven’t been able to update my website, to pull some information that I no longer want up there, to add some new information about my business offerings, to do general maintenance. That’s entirely too long. Sure, I could remove all the Stacks code from the site, and will have to do that today, but it requires redoing up to 10 pages of the site.
It’s time to learn to code on my own. I don’t want to have to rely on a program to do all the work for me, especially if I have to rely on the programs (non-willing, or slow) support to allow me to use the program. And it needs to be open platform, none of this Mac-only/pc-only nonsense. Good thing I have the time…

Website wording – who are you marketing to?

mike — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 04:40:16 +0000

What does your website say?

I requested a computer business forum check out my site today and give me some feedback. I did this because I felt it was a bit crowded, and also because it’s never exactly what I want. And I’m really glad I did.

I heard things that I never thought about. Someone told me that he couldn’t tell I did PC repair at all. Another told me that he wouldn’t ask a “consultant” to repair his computer, he’d look for a computer repair person.

I actually argued about this for some reason, like I was offended (maybe a little). The message on my site seemed to be directed to a larger business rather than a home-business or a home user. I realize that I need to review who I want to market to, and how to do so. It’s a lot to think about.

Also, one person took issue with one of the stock images on the site, of multiple people standing. He seemed to think that I’m overselling my company, telling prospective customers that there are many people in the company. Of course, I use the “we” on the website to describe what my company does, I’ve never thought of using “I”. How do you describe what your “1 person” company does?

It’s amazing what a few words can do to a message.

Here’s the site I requested feedback on. I’m hoping others will provide feedback too.

http://mandersoconsulting.com

Web Work

admin — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 20:55:14 +0000

If webdesign is something that your buisness is not offering then it’s something you should look into. You don’t have to be a web expert in order to get into being able to provide this service you just need to do a bit of research.

There are sites out there such as www.forums.digitalpoint.com that have people on there you can outsource to and they can do 90% of the work for you. An example would be you have a potential customer that is interested in a website. All you need to do is find out what kind of information they would like on the site and then find yourself a freelancer on a site and discuss the project with them. I have found quite a few that are very easy to work with, very reasonable prices, and very dependable.

If you are not providing web services to potential customers then you are losing out on a revenue that could be considerable.

Dan
www.ComputerRepairBusiness.net