One of the most valuable things to have behind you is a development shop. Great technical people are so hard to find so if you have a dev shop you’re part of or a friends’ you can tap to reliably build prototypes it is a huge advantage in the market place. I wish I still ran a development group, would have saved me so much headache along the way. Oh well - my advice for today, make friends with great developers.
So I started a thread on the NY Tech meetup list. (As you know, I’m not new to starting controversy on the list) but i thought I would share with everyone this new issue. I posted that I need a killer designer (which I still need!!!) and someone wrote that I should use 99designs.com to host a contest and find a designer for $99. Then a screaming matched ensued between people that think these things are the devil and between those that love these cheap ways to get free work. Personally, I think every service has its place - if people use them, clearly some people like them but some excerpts for my friends out there … Mile: But if someone is using a ‘bidding system’ that groups dev-shops against 17yr old high school students and 3rd world development agencies, they seriously have no fucking clue how to run a business.That tells me two things: a- they don’t have a budget b- if they did have a budget, they’re so ungodly stupid that they’re going to be a nightmare to work with until they somehow manage to lose their budget…When you bring up spec work like 99designs… i think add to that description the word “unconscionable” Dean: The thing I personally like about using 99designs is sometimes you see bits from each design you like and then you can give the designers who incorporate your feedback into their revisions. It’s a very different process and more beneficial than just using one designer, almost like a ‘group brain’ which delivers better than singular ever could.Dave: I have to say I agree 100% with Jonathan. Apply the 99designs “framework” to your business/industry and suddenly it doesn’t seem so appealing. Eddie: Jonathan, angry much? 
Chill, brother, chilllllllllllllll. Jonny: The 99Designs thing is a waste of effort because great design takes skill and time. (You’ve heard of 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration?) When I design for a customer, if they are properly budgeted, even for a tiny project I’ve wrapped my mind and effort around connecting their concept and taste to their clientele. I won’t (and nor will anyone else with a degree of and degree and experience) spend my limited and valuable time playing in some concept.?Dean: If some dude in Hungary or Poland is able o make a living out of it who are you to say that he shouldn’t be able to make his living this way.
I do a lot of web development so here’ s a couple of lesson’s I’ve learned…
1) NEVER use reverse type. Reverse type is white text on a blackbackground, it looks sexy but reduces conversions by 50% - it hurts your eyes.
2) Never play background music unless its under 5 seconds or related to the content - ie: myspace or a band’s site. Nothing gets people to close a site faster then music.
3) Never use random stock photos. I hate stock photos but if they are going to be used, make them relevant (check out familyloanfinder.com - stock photos are used but its a mortgage site and its a family in the photos thats fine. Stock photos of people with headsets is not cool. People can see the photos are stock.
4) Keep things simple. Content can be long but formatting needs to be simple. Bullets are good, photos are good, long paragraphs are not. People are lazy.
5) Your site should never reload. if people are going to a different page, the whole site should not reload, just the center content thats interacting with the user. Reloads cause dropoffs of 10%+ per reload. You can use Ajax, dynamic html, iframe, jquery/kphp i dont get care. Just dont refresh the whole site.
6) Don’t layer images. Using a background is fine but laying images over images is not. It’s confusing and hard to read.
7) Use positive colors and avoid negative/hard colors. Avoid sharp blacks and reds. Use bright greens and blues.
Example of a horrible site that i did: zenfinancial.com
- the site looks sexy and has a design that is still ahead of the curve but it is useless at driving client leads b/c
- irritating repeating music
- tickers in general are bad, this one is really hard to read
- content is in the center and not formatted well and moving
- used all hard colors
- used reverse type
9) When people leave send an exit popup to try to save the sale. A very aggressive exit pop is seen on theLeadfirm.com = it works though. Upsell services such as upsellit.com are useful if used right.
10) Testimonials are great, pictures testimonials are better, audio are even better and video is the best
11) use of video increases sales if its relevant
12) when collecting data, start on the first page of the form with only dropdown boxes (1-5) and no actual data collection. The second page should also be only drop downs, by the third page you can collect actual information. Why? people are lazy start with the simple stuff and drag the user in, it increase conversions a lot.
13) A sexy and relevant logo is important
14) Creating a brand behind the site, either a personality or as seen on tv or something that the person can recall helps a lot. Such as in all those home based business programs - it makes it so that the user can relate to the site. Personal testimonials, showing how you used the product yourself are amazing.
15) personally address the user if you have the data such as first name or at least location if you have their location
