It is very common for small business owners to have problems with their websites. These problems typically arise because of issues of communication with the web designers and programmers that they hire.


A big reason for this lack of clear communication, is because most small business owners don’t know much about web design (and most web designers don’t know much about business!) … small business people also have no way of judging if the web design work being done, is any good. 

You have to be realistic, there is no way of managing the process effectively, when you are totally blind when it comes to how to build web sites.


Do small business owners have to become web designers?


Short answer: no. 

… In fact, they probably shouldn’t. It’s best to stick to what you know (that’s running your business) and let others take care of the stuff you don’t know.


That said, I believe ALL small business owners MUST learn at least some basic web design, so that they can properly manage the building of their websites. To be able to do this effectively, you will also need to learn to speak with web designers and web programmers, in the language they understand: nerd-talk.
We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today.
Steve’s brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve.
His greatest love was for his wife, Laurene, and his family. Our hearts go out to them and to all who were touched by his extraordinary gifts.
As a nerd entrepreneur and a recent Mac user (just the last few years) I have to say we lost one of the true business leaders and innovators of our time. Unlike the crony capitalist and Wall Street dirt bags who still walk this earth, Steve Jobs died decades too soon.
I know you’re busy, so I will get to the point: if you are having problems building your website or, you are thinking of building a website for say, your small business and you have questions, then a great place to go is the online forums.
Besides being a place frequented by web nerds of all skill levels, the forums are also a treasure trove of information on web design and web programming. We have forums on subjects like:
HTML and CSS
PHP and Javascript
Dreamweaver and Photoshop
Best of all, our video tutorial authors frequent the forums – so you can talk to the experts directly. Check it out:
The one great fear any nerd has is the specter of outsourcing – will my job be outsourced to some cheaper part of the world?
Yes, free trade is really not free trade, it’s actually opening up barriers to allow big American, Canadian and European companies to ship jobs to much poorer countries so that they can save money on cheap labor.
The people who benefit are:
The executives of the big companies, since they can pay themselves big bonuses. Of course, they are the few who WILL NOT have their jobs outsourced!
The hard working people in the poorer countries – people of the west should not bear them any ill will. They are simply trying to earn a living like anyone else.
Bankers – who see the stock prices rise in the publicly traded corporations. In fact, it seems the big Wall Street banks were the major force behind outsourcing.
… But it is not all bad for SMART web designers and programmers working in the crumbling west. Read on and learn how!
How to Value Domain Names A nerd’s Guide to the Business of Domain Names
Domain name speculation is a game/business that started the 1990’s, where less than savvy investors got hosed and bought up domains for huge sums of money … sometimes in the millions.
Like any speculative bubble, once the public smells easy money, whole industries are created and the game goes on until there aren’t any suckers left. See housing and the .com bubble days for examples.
Domain Name Speculators
There is now a class of web entrepreneur – people who buy domains and then they try to flip them for huge profit. People who buy to flip, are speculators. Speculator is a nice name for gambler.
Beware: the game of domain name flipping is pretty much the same as the game of house flipping … once people figure out that much of the perceived value is just a bunch of crap, the fake value crashes.
One of my main motivations is to teach you web design skills that are practical, marketable and in the end, will make you more money. We want to teach you how to make a living with those skills.
… Yes, web design for cash is a good thing – in fact, it’s the goal for many of us!
How to beat the competition:
Though the Web is growing faster than ever before, you still have a lot of competition out there when it comes to web design jobs. In fact, there are many more web designers today than ever before. Fortunately, we have a couple of big things going for us:
The Web is many times bigger than it was in the 1990’s.
Like the 1990’s, the key to getting ahead of the competition is not all that hard because (as always) we have one thing on our side: laziness! Yes, people are lazy.
The more you learn, the more you earn:
The key to getting ahead is found in learning. The more you know, the easier it will be to find work, to land that contract and to charge more for your time. It is important that you as a web professional continue to develop your skills and to look to what is coming around the bend – those who jump onto the next web technology trend, will be able to monetize that upside.
… Since most people are lazy and will only learn new techniques when they absolutely have to, all you need to do to get ahead, is to continue to the learn.
So, what are the web skills for today and tomorrow?
Today the US government (the FCC branch) once again demonstrated that the will of corporations is more important than the needs of the people.
What is Net Neutrality?
It is a set of rules that in a nutshell, takes away the freedoms of the Web and places those freedoms into the hands of corporations like Comcast.
… Now Comcast is free decide which websites are worthy and which ones are not. For a fee though, you will probably be able to buy a more ‘free’ Web for your site – you better have a lot of cash though!
From Wired:
After five years of contentious debate that polarized the tech-policy world, FCC chief Julius Genachowski made good on President Barack Obama’s campaign pledge to strengthen rules governing the nation’s ISPs. The measure, which passed 3-2 along party lines, did not go as far as supporters would have liked, but the FCC faced steep resistance from Republicans and the powerful telecom lobbying machine.
… Isn’t it cool that corporate lobbying machines have such a strong hold on the agencies of government that are supposed to regulate these same businesses. I wish my mother ‘consulted’ with me when I was forced to eat my vegetables when I was a kid.
A final note: as far as I can tell, the mobile Web is the one being hit … ground lines are safe for now. But as we all know, the mobile Web is the future.
I just wanted to announce that several video tutorials will now be included (on a DVD) in the French edition of Web Design Magazine … published out of France.
🙂
Our videos now appear in a total of 4 different print magazines monthly. You can find our growing collection of videos (the complete video courses) and premium podcasts here:
I would like your advice … I have NO experience at all in web design … not very artistic or good at math!! Do I need these talents to become a web designer?
Teresa
Hi Teresa,
I have good news for you:
1. You don’t need to be artistic to be a great web designer.
2. You don’t need to be good at math to be web designer.
You need to learn to be organized and persistent thought.
Shameless self promotion:
If you want to save money and get extra stuff not found elsewhere, then the Complete Web Designer is the best deal … by far:
I recently got this email asking about the Complete Web Designer training package:
Hi Estefan,
Today I came across your website and liked what I saw, so my question is:
In order for me to complete web programmer and designer, what softwares do I need to buy. And how many different videos should I purchase from Killer site.
Please advise.
Regards.
Reza
My answer:
Hi Reza,
To answer your questions:
1. “In order for me to complete web programmer and designer, what softwares do I need to buy.”
None. We do teach you Dreamweaver and Photoshop, but you don’t need to use these programs in web design – many professional web designers don’t, as there are many free and cheap alternatives.
That said, all these programs work pretty much the same; so if you learn one web design program, it will be really easy to move to another … say, one of the free alternatives.
2. “And how many different videos should I purchase from Killer site.”
