The Gaslamp Media Blog

Project: Football Team Websites
Client: Trabuco Hills High School & Santa Margarita Pop Warner
 

Websites are an awesome tool for sharing information, except when you have no easy way of updating it. Without a knowledgable webmaster on call, updating a team website was a chore and almost never got done.

That’s why the football coaches at Trabuco Hills High School and Santa Margarita Pop Warner approached Gaslamp Media to develop a new website where coaches are able to update game information and post important news, and parents can register their kids for team and events. We also redesigned their websites to be leaders in team websites in their region.

What we did

• Website redesign - To match the exciting action of football and quality of their programs.
• Installed a content management system with different levels of permissions for site administrators, coaches, and board members.
• Installed an easy to use WYSIWYG editor for a familar Microsoft Word-like interface. No HTML knowledge is neccessary.
• Team pages - Not only does the league have an informative website, but each individual team coach can update their own section.

Project: AmeriteamUSA website & video presentation
Client: AmeriteamUSA

If you are in the multi-billion dollar a year network marketing industry, we have some exciting news for you. We just launched AmeriteamUSA, a unique network marketing opportunity that actually complements your existing programs.

“We’re not the competition. We’re the solution”

AmeriteamUSA provides members the tools they need to successfully market their existing programs and the ability to generate an additional stream of income by selling subscriptions to the website. Members get their pwn personalized website ans can promote their other programs through banners that are displayed at the top and bottom of each page. AmeriteamUSA also provides additional value added services such as free subscriptions to other web services, leads, and training. Active members have a competitive promotion and benefits system and unlimited earning potential.

For more information on the the program, check out the website:

AmeriteamUSA.com

What we did

This project was one of the most comprehensive sites we’ve done.

• Corporate logo design and branding
• Custom website design
• Presentation design and audio/video syncing
• Flash video production and optimization
• Adminstrative reporting, payroll, site management, and customer service functions
• Integration with online payment services
• Web interface to let users edit their profile information and upload their banners or generate banners instantly.

How did it

• Site design - Adobe Photoshop
• Logo Design - Adobe Illustrator
• Flash presentation - Slides design in Adobe Photoshop, assembled in Flash, and exported to video for web
• Site template - Coded in XHTML for structure, CSS for design elements
• Programming - PHP5
• Database - MySQL 5
• Server - Hosted by LAMP Host

Project: FinanciallyHung.com
Client: Financially Hung

November 14, 2008 marked the launch of our latest completed project, FinanciallyHung.com. Started by Playboy’s 2001 Playmate of the Year and Baywatch actress Brande Roderick, Financially Hung is a professional business networking group that gives you access to exclusive parties, events, and networking opportunities.

Their slogan is:

“Sometimes it’s not what you know, but WHO you know - and we’re here to connect you with the WHO.”

The website is open to the public for a monthly subscription. Check out their website for more information.

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GoDaddy is an excellent example of marketing dollars outweighing development and infrastructure investments to create a wildly successful company with a sub-par product. I used to recommend GoDaddy to my clients because they were well known and seemed like a reputable company (if you can afford a Superbowl commercial, you must be a decent company, right?).

My honeymoon period with GoDaddy ended when they started using dirty tricks to nickel and dime consumers (like automatically extending your registration to 2 years on the checkout screen when you only asked for 1), bombard users with advertising (email and direct mail), suspend account without due cause, and their website became slower and clunkier as they expand their offerings.

To GoDaddy’s credit, their service does enable you to get a website up and running within a few hours and their basic domain name registration is a good deal at about $10/year with all taxes and fees included. However, it’s not enough for me to recommend my clients to use them anymore.

Here are some reputable alternatives I have used:

• enom - Google resells their registration services.
• Joker — Based in Germany. If you have a website that might spark some controversy, foreign registrars are often able to stand up for you against corporate or government pressure.
• Network Solutions - One of the pricier companies out there, but they offer excellent customer service.
• 1and1.com - Easy to use website, prices starting at $6.99 for .com domains, and free private registration. Only downside new domains may take up to 24 hours to be fully registered and available for user.

There are two vital pieces of information any website owner should know:

• Domain name information - If you have a website, you’ve probably registered a .com name (or one of many other “dot” somethings) for your business. A domain name registrar such as GoDaddy or Network Solutions keeps records of the domain name, who owns it, and where it “points” to. As you develop your business and your website, the domain name itself really becomes more important.
• Website hosting information - Your website is usually stored on a computer in a remote location, referred to as a “server”. This is where all of your files actually reside and get “served” to Internet browsers. This service is managed by a hosting company or managed by the person/company who built/manages your website. Most hosting services provide you with some type of “control panel” to manage your account and “FTP” information so you access your site files.

Avoiding hostage situations

Does this sound familiar?

• The person in charge of your website moves away, is totally unresponsive to requests, or the company managing your site goes out of business, taking all your website information with them.
• You started a business with a partner and the relationship has gone sour. The partner is holding the domain name and access to your website for ransom.
• You’re unhappy with performance of your existing website manager and bring on a new person/company. The previous site manager becomes disgruntled and threatens to take down your website or demands a sum of money.

We see these situations with our clients on a monthly basis. It slows progress, is an emotional and financial drain for the parties involved, and occasionally even involves legal action.

There are a few simple things you can do to avoid finding yourself in these situations.

• Have everything registered in your name - Many people find registering a domain name and hosting an intimidating process, especially if they’re unfamiliar with the Internet. Have someone you trust help walk you through the process to register these for you in your name. If it’s for your business and you have a partner, include that information as well during the registration. Most importantly, if you have a third party consultant or business register the name for you, make sure you’re listed as the main or administrative contact.

  If there is ever any disputes, you can call your domain registrar or hosting company and verify you are the rightful owner.

• Keep records of the login information - Keep printed records of your registration info. Should anything happen with the parties involved or your email disappears, you’ll be able to access your site. Know your domain registrar and web host company, and all related login information.

To be sure your website is registered in your name, do a WHOIS lookup for your domain name on whois.net. If it isn’t, contact your website manager or business partner to make that happen.

Craigslist.org is definitely one of the best tools out there for getting something done, whether it’s selling your old stuff, finding a job, or finding a workout buddy. As designers and developers, we often find ourselves posting for skill sets we don’t have available in-house or don’t need very often. Here are some tips on how to successfully hire someone, and how to get hired on Craigslist.

Tips for employers

• Be specific as possible - Especially for technical gigs. Talk about the scope of the project, what skills are needed, and the time frame.
• Offer a specific dollar value in compensation - This allows potential applicants to see if it’s worth their time. This can be a per hour figure or a fixed rate for the project.
• Hire local individuals. - If you were looking for a company to do your work, you probably wouldn’t be posting a free ad on Craigslist. I delete any responses that start off with “We” or “I represent a company based in [insert foreign country name].”
• Ask for samples or references - Every employer takes a small gamble when hiring someone, especially when the needs are immediate or short-term. What looks good on a resume does not always translate well to real world abilities in the workplace.Take a moment to evaluate applicants based on their previous work and ask which parts of the project they actually worked on. Sometimes applicants will show you a beautiful web project they worked on, only to find out later that all they did was make the icon or add one piece of functionality.

Here’s an example I used when hiring for an artist for illustration work:

Need illustrator for a character (Downtown, San Diego)

I need a character developed and illustrated in vectors (preferably in adobe illustrator) as a mascot for a website.

Please send me some samples of your work for consideration.

Compensation: $100

Immediately, a potential applicant can see if they qualify for this position:

Am I character artist? Yes.
Can I produce vector art in Adobe Illustrator? Yes.
Can I take this gig for $100. Yes.

The result was I got a dozen of qualified applicants and was able to make my decision within the day and deliver my project on time.

Tips for gig seekers

This is really the hard part of the equation. How do you get noticed in a flood of emails that fills employer inboxes within an hour of posting an ad?

Here’s a few tips:

• Apply early - Take advantage of Craigslist’s RSS features. Each section of the site comes with it’s own feed, and you can even subscribe to feeds from custom searches. Take this feed and put it into your favorite RSS reader (I like Google Reader or the Firefox’s integrated RSS reader).
• Read the ad carefully - This is probably the most important tip. If you manage to get through the first round of filtering and receive a call or email, be able to recall what the original ad said.
• Use proper etiquette - The internet is plagued with one-liners, misspellings, bad grammar, and curt emails. Don’t fall into this norm. Impress your potential employer by looking respectful and intelligent.
• Provide your best form of contact - Include your phone number if possible. If not, check your email regularly. Don’t lose out because you can’t be reached.
• Submit your resume in popular file formats - This has become an issue with the release of Microsoft Office 2007’s new .docx format. Safe file formats are PDF or .doc (Microsoft Word 98 to 2003, or Rich-text format).

Here’s an excellent example response that sums up the whole article:

Subject: Regarding your craigslist posting

To whom it may concern,

I am writing this email in response to your craigslist posting for a PHP Web Developer. I have been doing web development in PHP for over 5 years and would love to work with you. I have attached a copy of my resume to this email for you to review. Here are also a few links to some of my previous works:

-http://www.sample-site-1.com

-http://www.sample-site-2.com

-http://www.sample-site-3.com

Please feel free to contact me anytime by email or call me at 619-XXX-XXXX.  I look forward to hearing from you very soon.

Regards,

Joe Applicant

619-XXX-XXXX

Attached: Resume.doc

The applicant was able to get the necessary info I need to assess his qualifications and I ended up hiring this person out of a batch of about 50 applicants.

What could possibly motivate someone to wake up at the crack of dawn each Tuesday morning to go to a meeting?

It’s simple: quality referrals.

As a service professional like many of the members in my networking group, I rely heavily on referrals for my business. In fact, it accounts for nearly 95% of our revenue. There’s nothing more powerful for opening doors to new clients than the good word and recommendation of others.

BNI provides a structured process for giving and receiving referrals, leadership opportunities, and ongoing training. It’s that structure that impressed me most when I first visited and convinced me to join. So far, it’s been the best decision I’ve made this year and has proven to be big part of my business marketing.

What’s unique about BNI is that they only allow one member per profession. By joining, I became the group’s website design and development professional and locked out any competitors. Membership for certain professions such as financial services or other professional advisor roles are extremely competitive and prove valuable for the accepted member.

Yearly membership in BNI is $330 a year, which comes out to less than a dollar a day. You can easily recoup your initial investment after your first few referrals. There is also a weekly cost for breakfast and room accomodations, which varies based on which chapter you belong to.

If you would like to explore BNI in your area, visit the BNI website to find a local chapter.