As many of you may know trying to obtain the raw Illustrator files or PSD for websites and logos and similar can be a huge challenge.
We take over many websites on a monthly basis and were shocked as to how many do not have proper backups of all their raw files. They go to the originating graphic designers and over 70% of the time they are completely uncooperative and either ask for extra money or worse they claim to own the Intellectual property.
I have never taken this to law courts, however in my opinion if the original graphic designer did not advise the customer they will not own the files and/or indicate an additional fee is required is being somewhat fraudulent. I know the old caveat emptor comes in but let’s face it most customers have no clue about how important this is until they want to leave.
I would love to see a judge rule that after a customer has paid for a custom logo or web design in full that they don’t own the rights to it, the designer does. This does not make any sense to me.
Business owners, be aware that this important asset for your company may not even be owned by you. Don’t allow yourself to be in this situation and ask right in the beginning for full release of all rights and all your raw files on a cd.
Our policy is simple, once the design is complete and final payment is made, you own everything. I would far prefer the customer come back because they like the service we provided versus being forced to.
I’d love to hear other comments on this extremely important subject.
Advertising and Marketing Agency established in 1995. Marketing, PR, Web, SEO, Design, Mobile, Branding, Video and Green Hosting. Nanaimo, Victoria, BC, Vancouver Island and Los Angeles.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
How to Choose a Web Design Company
The Vital Basics You Need to Know
Years in Business - Most experienced business people know the statistics. 80% of all businesses will fail in the first five years. 80% of the remaining 20% will fail in the next five-year cycle. With those types of statistics we highly recommend a company that has been in business in at least it’s sixth year of operation. We mean FULL TIME, not a side business.
No Sub-contracting – Most businesses lose quality control when they out source. Make sure the chosen company performs all work in house otherwise you will face a middleman markup. Lets face it although we realize capitalism is what keeps us in business we stand by fair labor practices and encourage local employees. In addition, rather than dealing with one company you end up having to deal with several that leads to more of your valuable time being wasted.
A Team or a Lone Ranger – Lets face it, as the old saying goes, “two heads are better than one” still holds true. Building a business or niche website presence takes many levels of expertise, and we have yet to see any single person achieve the success a team offers.
Home Based or Commercial – This is not a slam to any home based business as in thousands of circumstances they can do a good job, however not in the web industry. We know this first hand as Webacom was a home-based business for a very short time. It wasn’t until we moved to a professional studio that we were taken seriously. Our whole goal is to help business increase their value and how many multi-million dollar home based businesses do you know of? In addition working in an atmosphere with a team generates far more creativity for your project.
Portfolio – Proof of Competence – As with most professional web design companies a fairly large portfolio is important. Any successful web company creates at least eight plus websites in any give month. That means an average of 96 a year. If they only have 10-20 websites in their portfolio how experienced are they?
Part Time or Full Time – Wholly Dedicated – Would you want your year-end done by someone that was not 100% dedicated to a full time career in accounting? Successful businesses take their work seriously and dedicate their careers to full time. If you chose a part time web master and needed emergency work, are you willing to wait until they have time off their real jobs? Most won’t - and shouldn’t - wait, your website is serious business and it’s not a part time effort.
Experience – Perhaps the most difficult subject is experience. Our own employees have changed drastically over the last five years due to changes in web technology. We now have far more staff with database experience versus in the past with mostly HTML knowledge. Here are the main categories of experience needed to create a successful website.
Graphic Designers - Experienced with all current trends including vector graphics and current design programs.
Website Developers – These are the people that take the designs from the graphics department and slice and format the custom website for content.
Database Programmers – If you need to sort and quickly retrieve large volumes of information, whether those are photos and images or SKU numbers and information for your product line, you'll want to have that information stored in a database. A database built by the right person will be scalable and allow you to maintain your inventory levels in real time.
Content Writers – Most business owners feel they can create their own text, however we have rarely seen any that have been successful. Formally trained post-secondary writers will increase your profits substantially. 85% of all websites fail to make a profit and that’s because of bad content.
Search Engine Optimization – Just as important as good content, your website profitability is seriously affected by your search engine marketing plan. Search Engines change their algorithms all the time and it requires a full time expert that understands all the new trends from social networking, video and photo marketing, link building strategies and more. It's critical to have solid SEO (Search Engine Optimization) for your site if you want it to be found.
3D Animators and Flash Animation – Yet another extremely difficult expertise. While the Flash introductions to web pages are disappearing rapidly, we now see Flash as a much more integrated part of people's websites sitting side by side with other elements. Most commonly, streaming video as seen on YouTube is displayed as a Flash file, many online games and interactive experiences are still done in flash as well.
A relatively new trend is 3D modeling for use on the web. Google Earth utilises 3D modeling applications to add additional layers of depth by allowing users to create 3D buildings. There are also virtual 3D environments such as Second Life that enable you to interact with other users on a more 'human' level. Wal-Mart, Sears and Ikea are just a few examples of companies that have invested in these new forms of online marketing.
Domains – Who owns your domain? Have you checked to see if the designer registered it in your own name? If not, you better check as we have seen new customers that have had to use lawyers to gain the right to their own domain. That’s not all, in the last month two businesses almost lost their licenses as there were changes in their industry that required an update to the website. In both cases the web master could not be contacted.
Hosting – Website hosting is critical to your success. If your website is down and you need it for a presentation or a trade show can you imagine the embarrassment and losses? Understanding servers is one of the most complex tasks and whoever is managing it better be an expert as it can effect your communication with your clients through E-mail and whole array of other risks from hackers to identity thieves. Is your data safe?
IT Department, Friend of a Friend, Your Children – We all love our children, family, friends and of course the IT person we hired to manage our computers. First web design IS NOT the same field as IT. It’s often confused with computers. Although we display our websites on computers the working behind them is vastly different from working with computers. Please, all respect to IT departments but if you read the proceeding you will know your education was computers, not web development and marketing.
We also see it time and time again, one of your children or friends just graduated and one small portion of the course covered perhaps a single web design. Next thing you know Dad or Mom wants them managing their website, after all these are our brilliant children right? Wrong, as with any discipline it takes years to get good at it. Would you really go to a dentist to get a root canal with only partial training? The same hold true with custom web design and marketing.
The list provided only covers the basics and we sincerely hope it educates you on how to make perhaps one of the most important decisions for your business.
Years in Business - Most experienced business people know the statistics. 80% of all businesses will fail in the first five years. 80% of the remaining 20% will fail in the next five-year cycle. With those types of statistics we highly recommend a company that has been in business in at least it’s sixth year of operation. We mean FULL TIME, not a side business.
No Sub-contracting – Most businesses lose quality control when they out source. Make sure the chosen company performs all work in house otherwise you will face a middleman markup. Lets face it although we realize capitalism is what keeps us in business we stand by fair labor practices and encourage local employees. In addition, rather than dealing with one company you end up having to deal with several that leads to more of your valuable time being wasted.
A Team or a Lone Ranger – Lets face it, as the old saying goes, “two heads are better than one” still holds true. Building a business or niche website presence takes many levels of expertise, and we have yet to see any single person achieve the success a team offers.
Home Based or Commercial – This is not a slam to any home based business as in thousands of circumstances they can do a good job, however not in the web industry. We know this first hand as Webacom was a home-based business for a very short time. It wasn’t until we moved to a professional studio that we were taken seriously. Our whole goal is to help business increase their value and how many multi-million dollar home based businesses do you know of? In addition working in an atmosphere with a team generates far more creativity for your project.
Portfolio – Proof of Competence – As with most professional web design companies a fairly large portfolio is important. Any successful web company creates at least eight plus websites in any give month. That means an average of 96 a year. If they only have 10-20 websites in their portfolio how experienced are they?
Part Time or Full Time – Wholly Dedicated – Would you want your year-end done by someone that was not 100% dedicated to a full time career in accounting? Successful businesses take their work seriously and dedicate their careers to full time. If you chose a part time web master and needed emergency work, are you willing to wait until they have time off their real jobs? Most won’t - and shouldn’t - wait, your website is serious business and it’s not a part time effort.
Experience – Perhaps the most difficult subject is experience. Our own employees have changed drastically over the last five years due to changes in web technology. We now have far more staff with database experience versus in the past with mostly HTML knowledge. Here are the main categories of experience needed to create a successful website.
Graphic Designers - Experienced with all current trends including vector graphics and current design programs.
Website Developers – These are the people that take the designs from the graphics department and slice and format the custom website for content.
Database Programmers – If you need to sort and quickly retrieve large volumes of information, whether those are photos and images or SKU numbers and information for your product line, you'll want to have that information stored in a database. A database built by the right person will be scalable and allow you to maintain your inventory levels in real time.
Content Writers – Most business owners feel they can create their own text, however we have rarely seen any that have been successful. Formally trained post-secondary writers will increase your profits substantially. 85% of all websites fail to make a profit and that’s because of bad content.
Search Engine Optimization – Just as important as good content, your website profitability is seriously affected by your search engine marketing plan. Search Engines change their algorithms all the time and it requires a full time expert that understands all the new trends from social networking, video and photo marketing, link building strategies and more. It's critical to have solid SEO (Search Engine Optimization) for your site if you want it to be found.
3D Animators and Flash Animation – Yet another extremely difficult expertise. While the Flash introductions to web pages are disappearing rapidly, we now see Flash as a much more integrated part of people's websites sitting side by side with other elements. Most commonly, streaming video as seen on YouTube is displayed as a Flash file, many online games and interactive experiences are still done in flash as well.
A relatively new trend is 3D modeling for use on the web. Google Earth utilises 3D modeling applications to add additional layers of depth by allowing users to create 3D buildings. There are also virtual 3D environments such as Second Life that enable you to interact with other users on a more 'human' level. Wal-Mart, Sears and Ikea are just a few examples of companies that have invested in these new forms of online marketing.
Domains – Who owns your domain? Have you checked to see if the designer registered it in your own name? If not, you better check as we have seen new customers that have had to use lawyers to gain the right to their own domain. That’s not all, in the last month two businesses almost lost their licenses as there were changes in their industry that required an update to the website. In both cases the web master could not be contacted.
Hosting – Website hosting is critical to your success. If your website is down and you need it for a presentation or a trade show can you imagine the embarrassment and losses? Understanding servers is one of the most complex tasks and whoever is managing it better be an expert as it can effect your communication with your clients through E-mail and whole array of other risks from hackers to identity thieves. Is your data safe?
IT Department, Friend of a Friend, Your Children – We all love our children, family, friends and of course the IT person we hired to manage our computers. First web design IS NOT the same field as IT. It’s often confused with computers. Although we display our websites on computers the working behind them is vastly different from working with computers. Please, all respect to IT departments but if you read the proceeding you will know your education was computers, not web development and marketing.
We also see it time and time again, one of your children or friends just graduated and one small portion of the course covered perhaps a single web design. Next thing you know Dad or Mom wants them managing their website, after all these are our brilliant children right? Wrong, as with any discipline it takes years to get good at it. Would you really go to a dentist to get a root canal with only partial training? The same hold true with custom web design and marketing.
The list provided only covers the basics and we sincerely hope it educates you on how to make perhaps one of the most important decisions for your business.
Social Media Marketing Seminars – Chamber Expo 2010
Webacom was honored to recently work with the Nanaimo Chamber Expo as a guest speaker for the Ask an Expert on Social Media Marketing seminar. If you need a guest speaker, training or implementation strategies on social media please contact us, socialmedia@webacom.com.
Every seat was filled and about twenty five more attendees stood in this filled to capacity venue. Quite obviously people are very interested in social media.
Two other panelists joined us, Nola Dunn, Marketing Director, Woodgrove Centre part of internationally based Ivanhoe Cambridge, a large shopping mall conglomerate and Paul Larson of ClearlyNanaimo.com, a Nanaimo based directory.
Woodgrove Centre was invited as Webacom recently worked with them on a Facebook social media campaign utilizing a video contest. The full case study on this social media video contest is here. http://webacom.com/news/case-study-woodgrove-centre-social-media-marketing-campaign.html
We found the mass majority of attendees eager to learn and we quickly ran out of time. The need to train businesses of all sizes is really important as most attendees were not using social media or did not know how to use it correctly. One of the more important questions was “What is the starting point for Social Media?” This varies as it is dependent on time and the type of business services or products they sell, it’s best to meet with a Webacom Social Media Consultant. Webacom suggested to start with a blog using Blogger, Wordpress or the best idea is to drive traffic to your own website, thus having your blog directly on your site. It needs to be named /blog so search spiders can find it.
Here are a few social media statistics to back up why we made our recommendation:
Percentage of Companies using specific social media Channels and/or Blogs who have acquired a customer from that channel.
• Twitter: 41%
• LinkedIn: 41%
• Facebook: 44%
• Company Blog: 46%
As you can see the blog has the highest percentage of customers that have obtained new business from blogs. Quantity of articles is directly proportional the total lead generation it creates. Were not at all saying to use a blog only, however it‘s a great way to start. Imagine thousands of dedicated readers over a period of time educating and engaging them about your products or services.
A video transcript of this seminar is being edited as the whole event was videotaped. If you would like a link to this important video please let us know and you will be one of the first to view this event on Social Media Marketing on You Tube. socialmedia@webacom.com
In conclusion we feel there is dire need for businesses to adapt to proper social media marketing and other relevant media’s like mobile, viral video, websites and search. Our concern is many business owners are sticking to what they know, traditional media and our fear is they will become less competitive in both the local and international market place.
If you need training, consulting, speakers, social media tools and how to leverage with your current marketing please contact us, socialmedia@webacom.com.
Every seat was filled and about twenty five more attendees stood in this filled to capacity venue. Quite obviously people are very interested in social media.
Two other panelists joined us, Nola Dunn, Marketing Director, Woodgrove Centre part of internationally based Ivanhoe Cambridge, a large shopping mall conglomerate and Paul Larson of ClearlyNanaimo.com, a Nanaimo based directory.
Woodgrove Centre was invited as Webacom recently worked with them on a Facebook social media campaign utilizing a video contest. The full case study on this social media video contest is here. http://webacom.com/news/case-study-woodgrove-centre-social-media-marketing-campaign.html
We found the mass majority of attendees eager to learn and we quickly ran out of time. The need to train businesses of all sizes is really important as most attendees were not using social media or did not know how to use it correctly. One of the more important questions was “What is the starting point for Social Media?” This varies as it is dependent on time and the type of business services or products they sell, it’s best to meet with a Webacom Social Media Consultant. Webacom suggested to start with a blog using Blogger, Wordpress or the best idea is to drive traffic to your own website, thus having your blog directly on your site. It needs to be named /blog so search spiders can find it.
Here are a few social media statistics to back up why we made our recommendation:
Percentage of Companies using specific social media Channels and/or Blogs who have acquired a customer from that channel.
• Twitter: 41%
• LinkedIn: 41%
• Facebook: 44%
• Company Blog: 46%
As you can see the blog has the highest percentage of customers that have obtained new business from blogs. Quantity of articles is directly proportional the total lead generation it creates. Were not at all saying to use a blog only, however it‘s a great way to start. Imagine thousands of dedicated readers over a period of time educating and engaging them about your products or services.
A video transcript of this seminar is being edited as the whole event was videotaped. If you would like a link to this important video please let us know and you will be one of the first to view this event on Social Media Marketing on You Tube. socialmedia@webacom.com
In conclusion we feel there is dire need for businesses to adapt to proper social media marketing and other relevant media’s like mobile, viral video, websites and search. Our concern is many business owners are sticking to what they know, traditional media and our fear is they will become less competitive in both the local and international market place.
If you need training, consulting, speakers, social media tools and how to leverage with your current marketing please contact us, socialmedia@webacom.com.
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