I decided I was a specialist in interactive design. Someone who could make graphic design interactable.

Very soon after, our small design company Kibook was founded, and though I was still very much an interactive designer, over the following years, my repertoire expanded to administration, accounts, project management, pr and the clichéd tea-making.

Though I enjoyed the mix of responsibilities, freedom, obligations and insights, I found myself beginning to think of myself as a generalist. I attempted to retain the specialist title for interactive design, but my time and experience in the other areas grew.

Naturally, as a director in a small company, much of the time spent was talking directly with clients. After a decade, I began to migrate back towards a specialist title but this time as a ‘consultant’ as I also struck out on my own to freelance in other companies.

At a large agency, I then found myself described as a generalist – someone to plan, design, script, manage, architect information and generate ideas. It then dawned on me that the best way to perhaps describe people like me is as both a specialist and a generalist.

I’ve found that most people who work in digital have come from one discipline or another – the obvious being graphic design or computer engineering – and then move on to gain experience in other areas.

In fact, I believe exposure to other areas enriches the specialism, as well as develop skills to perform digital-related tasks more effectively. I’ve found that having worked at all levels of a project in my own company, simply created an awareness of the whole process that proved essential when applying myself within a specialist capacity at another agency.

In the age of digital, general skills may in fact become obligatory with our experience anyway. And though a non-digital worker’s experience and skill set grows regardless, the net is infinitely cast wider with digital.

Embrace the General Specialist in you!

Selling Services

People sell their consultancy, production skills, and journalistic endeavours (to name a few) directly to paying clients. Delivery online, whether it be via email or content depository via a web service, has become second nature. For people who utilise the internet for work, location isn’t therefore as much of an issue.

To use experience as an example, I can only reflect on my own design-skills-based profession. Everything I do, I’ve manouveured towards online delivery. It’s simply become more satisfactory and convenient with regards to client work. I used to do a little print work that required a few trips to the printers next door, but as fun and as interesting as my visits were (I got on well with the litho operators and the boss), even with the deliciousness of tactile design, they were not enough to keep me from streamlining my work to online.

Laptop Office

You see, I’ve always liked the idea of running everything from my laptop. There’s a certain dependence on the machine but at the same time, its liberating to know that the portability means I’m mobile enough to stay fully connected away from a fixed office location.

Of course, this is nothing new, as more people steadily have been working from home or on the road for years. But the good thing is that this trend has simply popularised the growth of services online to facilitate working online. Add the increasing connectivity of the world and with this growth has come opportunity.

Online Opportunities

I’ve found that there’s wheat to be sort from the chaff, but opportunities do lie in blogging, Twitter and affiliate marketing. It’s possible to make an income online and people have found ways to prove that they’re making alot online.

Personally, I don’t think it’s as easy as many people make out. There’s hard work involved, but to me, that makes it all the more “honest” (depending of course, on the method). But the point is that with all the prolific services, opportunities and technology involved, there’s an ongoing cycle of learning that’s kept persistent with the net’s development.

Micro-Incomes

But as the population’s net-literacy improves, whether they’re in it for the money, there is money to be made online. However, the motivation has to be there for the cycle of learning to take place. As more people devote time online, there could be a possible trend in more people starting to make their living online. In a number of ways, creating micro-incomes that collectively give them a salary they need. Would-be-entrepreneurs won’t necessarily make a million overnight, but then a collection of micropayments is much more realistic.

Since my work revolves around design and websites, I deliver online both via email and in updating client websites. I complement my client income with income from my blogging activities too. How people make their money is of course personal, but blogging and web design work is most definitely not the only way.

Travel and Work

With just my laptop, its become realistic to work whilst I’m traveling and also travel whilst I work. The strategy has become to diversify the work as this balances both the variation in income levels and the time I can actually commit to spend on working.

Whilst traveling and visiting new countries for example, the last thing I’d want to do is spend all day in a hotel room working. However, an hour or so in the evening tending to a few small jobs doesn’t bother me. In between constant traveling, I’ve been able to devote full-time hours to projects.

If the truth be told, it’s actually a freelancer’s life more than anything and the struggle to take control of the feast-or-famine work structure that comes with it. But struggle is eased with a diverse work / income flow that results from working online.

Seeking Opportunities Online

With the economy the way it is and the misnomer that the company-job-is-for-life, I often try to encourage friends to find their way online and seek opportunities that match them. It’s not always directly to do with making money, as it could even be as simple as nurturing a profile on LinkedIn and expanding their online social network.

However, things take time and I’m constantly aware that time spent online working is often an investment. Not everyone is prepared or even willing for this kind of investment it seems and would prefer the stability of a conventional job.

But the internet has become a way of life for Generation Y and will be for the generations after them. Anyone outside of this net risks a disadvantage in their own offline working world but even more, might be missing out on opportunities that fit them online.

What Do We Mean by “Ebook”?

Ebooks by definition are digital files. To less frequent users of the web, they’re probably understood as the books you’ll find on devices like Amazon’s kindle or the Sony Reader. Basically, digital e-versions of fiction and non-fiction books found in bricks and mortar stores.

Ebooks are also commonly found on blogs and websites – as pdf files – a common format for most computer users to download and read easily. The subject of these ebooks vary considerably but mostly share the same characteristic in that they’re authored independently and without the need of a specialist publishing company’s help. Of course, this implies a low barrier of entry and thus the quality of these ebooks also vary.

These independently produced ebooks are the ones that this post is about, for reasons that will become clearer.

Why have Ebooks Grown Common?

1. PDF files are now technically easy to create

Where once specialist software was required in the past, most software today (e.g. Microsoft Word) is capable of exporting written documents as pdf files.

2. Ebooks grow alongside blog websites

Ebooks can be an extension of a blog website, particularly one that’s focused on a niche and a purpose. For example, beekeeping. As the number of blog websites has grown over the years, resulting from both personal efforts and professional ventures, the concept of the ebook has also grown.

Ebooks as Product

The perceived value of an ebook is elevated over content such as on a blog website. Independently authored, the creator of an ebook often distills their knowledge into the form of a digital book. The result becomes a product – an asset with which the owner can garner more influence over the net, a place in which information is the currency.

Ebooks as Marketing and Self-Promotion

Ebooks become cohesive and self-containing tomes, which depending on its content, ranks higher to potential readers who can “take away” the item without further commitment to the author or website from which it came. Authors often pour more energy and effort into the creation of ebooks simply to increase their value as much as they can.

Similarly to print books, the resulting efforts can often garner admiration from readers and potential clients, impressed with the author’s ability to put together a written product of value. The author can easily become an “expert” at this stage. Readers take this impression away with them and pass on their views to their friends and colleagues.

The author of ebooks elevate their own professional image as well as provide an easy way for people to perpetuate this image.

How Ebooks Make Money

With the ease at which ebooks can be created as products, and being essential tools for marketing and promotion, its not difficult to see why they’ve exploded in popularity all over the web.

Owners of online content are cottoning on to ways of making money on the web and have done for years and selling an ebook information product is one of them and a pretty effective one at that.

Cutting the publishing company middle man cuts the hassle and the cost, and combined with little financial investment upfront, the development of ebooks as a form of making money online is practically all profit.

However, ebooks aren’t a get-rich-quick route to fortune. Customers won’t buy ebooks unless there is a perceived value to them. Sales happen in several ways, some of which include referrals, reviews and well-written sales copy, in addition to good old fashion timing when it comes to marketing campaigns.

There are single page sales sites which convert as well as blog websites with plenty of content and loyal readers. The key feature they share is trust. The content of ebooks has a perceived value if the customer also trusts the quality of it. So therefore, selling ebooks alone won’t be an effective money making method unless they’re backed up with further information that demonstrates the quality within. But that’s ok as this often means that lots of information is also given away for free.

Are Ebooks Really Worth Buying?

This is ultimately down to you personally, but here are some points to consider:

1. The Value of Information

Ebooks most commonly offer information (as opposed to fiction) which can help improve your own skills and knowledge. Would you pay for this information?

2. Information Packaged Conveniently for You

Often, the information itself can be found online for free as well, but you may have to spend time searching and collating the information to get to the same value you perceive the ebook would give. Would you pay for this convenience?

3. Gauging the Quality

Background information on ebooks would help you decide how good the quality of the content is. Customer testimonials may be enough for you although if the ebook is the product of a long-running blog that consistently delivers timely, quality posts, you can easily find out and read the level of quality yourself. Is the quality good enough or do you trust the testimonials presented to you?

4. The Promise of Making Money

Popular ebooks on sale typically outline methods for making money online. With the above three points in mind, would you invest in the purchase of a money-making ebook, ready to invest more time in putting the scheme to use?

5. The Price of the Ebook

Ebooks prices vary considerably, much more so than print books, with some selling for a few US dollars up to others costing almost a hundred US dollars. With ebooks at the cheaper end of the scale, the four points to consider above are less vital with a much lower risk of disappointment. The final decision lies in your perception of the value of the ebook equaling or exceeding the price you have to pay.

The Psychology of Making a Purchase

Making financial transactions on the web has historically been fraught with security issues though has still grown in popularity. Increased awareness about safety, in conjunction with the convenience of an online transaction has helped. However, this will still be a consideration for some.

Personally, making transactions has never been an issue, but I held off buying ebooks as I couldn’t possibly bring myself to spend money on information that I perceived to be freely available elsewhere on the web. I’ve since converted, for the reasons below.

Why You Should Buy Ebooks

The decision to buying ebooks simply rests on the value the ebook gives. You would be buying information that you want. Assuming the quality of the content is there, the price can also be offset against any any time you would spend searching for similar content elsewhere. If you can work out your hourly rate then the value can be easily calculated. Not to mention the convenience of instant gratification.

If your intended ebook purchase is very cheap, you may find yourself spending more time than necessary in making a decision. Depending on the price, it could also be comparable to ephemeral daily spending such as coffees, cigarettes and perhaps anything else that isn’t good for you!

Finally, most ebooks online are sold by individuals, or minipreneurs writing about their expertise. People like me and you. Buying from them supports the little guy and in some cases enables them to continue doing what they love including also giving away free information that backs up their ebooks.

How Ebooks Can Make YOU Money

The point to take away in all this is that buying ebooks is not necessarily going to waste your money and in most cases, will provide useful content at a low price. Reading ebooks can also inspire you to write your own and forge a path to an online income.

Alternatively, or in conjunction with self-authoring, many other ebooks can also be sold as an affiliate product. If you believe in someone else’s work, you could try reselling it for a cut of the profits.

Footnote

I’ve recently invested in two ebooks:

Genesis Rocket – A Legitimate Plan to Grow Twitter Followers
(Disclosure: The link above is an affiliate link)

A Practical Guide to Designing for the Web

For people new to commissioning websites, this is an essential and simple concept to grasp and will save confusion later down the line for example, when domain names have to be renewed. Understanding the distinction will allow payments to be updated for both, to avoid domain names lapsing and therefore being lost.

Domain hosting and website hosting can be acquired from the same company but can also be bought separately from two different companies.

Domain hosting – the first thing to do

Domain hosting is the cheaper of the two, and is simply about asking a domain registration company to register and keep/host records for any domain name (usually for a minimum of two years at first). Its the first thing that needs to be done when considering having a website and “renting” webspace for the domain name at this point is unnecessary.

Each domain name is unique – there are different suffixes to choose from (.com, .net, .co.uk etc) but there can never be the same domain name twice. Therefore, its usually an important issue that when starting a website, you need to consider what name to go for and to check that it’s available to get.

You can read about tips for choosing a domain name by clicking here

Registering more than one domain

When considering domain hosting, you can also register more than one. For example,  you might want to get the same name, but use different suffixes (”yourbusiness.com” and “yourbusiness.co.uk”) or you might also want to get slight variations on the name itself.

For a business, the cost is minimal and since domain names are unique, it might be a worthy investment to acquire variations on your name to avoid competitors cashing in on your domain.

Setting details for your domain

With most domain registration companies, when you register a domain, you’ll often get access to an administration panel where you can set and change details for the domain and of course, pay for it in the future. You can usually set it so that when the new domain name is entered in a browser window address bar, it “forwards” to a web address you specify or simply goes to a “holding page” that the company provides. If anyone emails to the domain, the email is forwarded to another email address you specify.

Thus, you can imagine that at first, you can set the holding page for the web address and specify your own, perhaps personal email to forward to. Once you have a website, you can then set both of these to the new website details. If you register more than one domain name, you can do the above for your “primary” domain, and then all the other domain names can all be set to the same details.

Choosing a domain registration company

Nowadays, it seems competition has caused most domain registration companies to offer fair deals and a good service. I used to come across a few companies that would lock you in once you bought a domain from them, by enforcing a charge (I remember one being £50) if you wished to transfer the domain away.

Theoretically, once you’re happy with one company and it does everything you need, there isn’t much need to go elsewhere.

Price-wise, the main thing to watch out for is that the prices are reasonable (as a guide, “.co.uk” domains should be around £10 for the first two years and “.com” domains £15-£30) and that there is no charge to transfer domain names away from their system.

What the domain registration company should offer for your domain

From an administration point of view, you’ll need to make sure you can do the following:

• Set the Domain Name Servers (DNS – this allows you to set where a website is hosted, if hosted elsewhere.)
• Administer the Domain Zone file (If you’re not setting the DNS elsewhere, you can set aspects of the domain elsewhere individually, such as the email)
• Set domain and email forward (If you’re not altering any of the two above, then you’ll at least want to control these two)

The requirements above might not make much sense but if you’re having a website built by a professional, the first two will be useful for them. Either way, these requirements should be standard and you can easily make an enquiry with this list to a company before registering a domain.

About Web hosting

Web hosting, in contrast to domain hosting has alot more to consider. What you’d actually be getting when buying a web hosting package, is an allocated amount of space on the web hosting company’s servers, to “host” your website files and a portion of the bandwidth to connect these files to the internet.

In theory, you could just host your website on your own computer if you could leave it on 24 hours a day, connected to the internet via your broadband supplier. But of course, in practise, your computer and internet connection would have to be set up in a certain way. Web hosting companies simply specialise in setting up computer hardware and connectivity to the web specifically to host websites and offer all the services around this in a much more cost effective way.

Which web hosting package?

Prices and types of web hosting packages can vary quite alot. You can get free hosting, inexpensive shared hosting or you could get your own dedicated server, which could cost a thousand or two per month to rent.

Basically, for most purposes and particularly for new, smaller web presence sites, you need pay no more than £30 – £60 per year.

I’d certainly advise against using free hosting space for a business website. You’re likely to have more restrictions and less control over how you use the space and it sometimes shows in the browser that your site is hosted with free space. The cost of shared hosting is negligible compared to the professionalism you gain from it.

Ultimately however, if you’re having a website built by a professional, they should know what’s needed for the site (e.g. whether a database is required) and therefore should be able to advise on the choice of web hosting package to get.

Separating domain name hosting and website hosting

Faced with both domain and web hosting, the most convenient thing to do is to look for one company that provides both and order from them. It’s certainly more convenient and the process automatically ties the domain name to the hosting space without you even having to acknowledge the need for it. There are sometimes settings that need to be set up between the domain name and web space, so being hosted with one company means that this is all arranged.

However, having gone through the process of getting hosting many times, nowadays, if given a choice, I’d advise getting the domain from one company and the hosting space from another.

There isn’t a compelling reason to do this, at least not when things are going smoothly. But keeping the two separate means they’re both independently controlled by you (or your website designer) rather than a company you buy from.

How domain names and web hosting are linked together
Registering your domain from one company (let’s say Fantasy Domains (!)) and getting web hosting from another company (Reality Hosts (!)) does mean that there’s an extra bit of admin to do at first.

But first, how are domain names and web hosting connected?

When you register a domain name, the domain hosting company registers the name to the appropriate “registrar” (e.g. Nominet, for all the UK suffixes). Once registered, when the domain name is entered into a browser (by you or your new visitors), the browser detects what the suffix is, does a check with the appropriate registrar’s records (e.g. Nominet) which then in turn tell the browser to go check with Fantasy Domains for the website files to show.

If you’ve not set up a website yet, then Fantasy Domains’ records might indicate that their default holding page should be shown.

Now if you got web hosting from Reality Hosts, the “extra bit of admin” that needs to be done, is simply to get the DNS Settings from them (usually two sets of numbers or something that looks like ns1.realityhosts.com and ns2.realityhosts.com) and then to login to the Fantasy Domains’ admin control panels for the domain, and enter the DNS settings there.

Therefore, after doing this, every time Fantasy Domains gets a “request” for the domain name, it simply tells the browser to go look at Reality Hosts’ web hosting files.

Make sense? The DNS settings are basically the link that ties the domain name to the web hosting space.

The benefit of keeping domain name hosting and web hosting separate

In the case of things going wrong with your web hosting (which is more likely than domain name hosting) and the relationship with the hosting company goes sour, you can simply set up hosting elsewhere.

Alternatively, over time, you might also find other reasons for legitimately moving web hosting. For example, your site might need a database or other dynamic technology not available with the current host, or a number of sites on different hosting accounts need to be amalgamated onto one server, or you might simply outgrow the hosting company.

Transferring your website to a new web hosting company

In order to transfer your site and assuming that the domain is registered with a separate company to your web hosting company, you begin by simply registering a new web hosting account with a new hosting company. The existing website then needs to be uploaded or installed on there so that you have two duplicate sites, the old one of which is viewable via the domain name.

The next and final thing to do is to get the DNS settings from the new hosting company and update the domain name control panel. Over 24-48 hours, your domain name will then start directing visitors to the new website.

Again, if you’re having your website built by a professional, they should be able to advise on your domain name and web hosting options, but its good to be aware of what your options are and the implications.

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During the course of a project, (not necessarily design based) you’ll probably have several stages where you’ll need to present work in progress to your client. It makes sense that at each stage, depending on what you’ve agreed to do, you’ll want to present the best work that you can. However, I’ve found that producing your best work in progress can also mean leaving out some features and leaving in bugs.

Consider applying “imperfect” carefully

Any suggestion here of presenting imperfect work should be considered carefully when you create work for a client and is merely an added thought process which you could use to help in developing any projects further, collaboratively and with respect to the client. You’ll need to understand your client a little to implement this too. Let me explain.

Work in progress presentations are exactly that, and are intended to present how a project is going to the client, so that they can be assured that things are working as scheduled and to their specifications.

Ambitious clients

I’ve found that projects that I’ve worked on rarely stick to specifications that were made at the start, so these presentations are often open to the client throwing in their own solutions, ideas and development “advice” based on their own expertise. I think this is completely normal and acceptable and there can be many reasons for this – the client needs to get their opinion in (ego possibly?), they need to feel like they’re doing their job or they genuinely believe that they’ve given good feedback advice.

The client can also be quite ambitious in their ideas without heed to perhaps a pre-agreed project budget, so any discussion of “new” work needs to be reined in.

Imperfect work opens discussions that the client contributes to

If you find yourself in these “grey” specification areas, leaving the work slightly imperfect can help to leverage the situation. For example, you could be creating an interface for a question and answer survey but leave out an obvious feedback indicator for the user. Of course, you will have prepared yourself by thinking through how it could work, but the issue could be discussed in your presentation, you propose solutions, the client can resolve it with their suggestions and thus, will have done their job.

How you deal with your presentations depends on your client and your working relationship, and of course, you may have done a good job as expected by the client and they are simply happy to tell you to carry on.

However, you’ll need to do your homework, but leaving work “imperfect”, could give rise to greater collaboration between yourself and the client, opening up synergies between your expertise and the knowledge the client has of their market.

Alternatively, assuming you think through your own work processes carefully and thoroughly, knowingly presenting imperfect work and then opening up discussions keeps you in control and you won’t be thrown by the client questioning ill-considered work.

Things to consider are:

• Leave work imperfect by all means, but during work in progress, not in the final product!
• Don’t go too far in leaving mistakes – you’ll just look incompetent.
• Know your client and their expectations to judge how imperfect to be.
• Leaving work imperfect and leaving features out can be too different things, depending on your project spec. (Leaving features out could lead to project phase extensions and new budgets.)

Ultimately, any process you adopt in the course of a project should aim to deliver the best work you can do in collaboration with the client’s expectations.

Case Study : A difficult client and how email helped protect us

One previous client we had, who were a small company run by a couple of Phd-titled directors, commissioned us to produce a seemingly straight forward branding and website project. During the final stages of branding, they unexpectedly changed tact and suddenly decided that what was produced was completely wrong.

Its not great to have an unhappy client, but this is sometimes unavoidable in the world of design where subjectivity sometimes rules. We were a little worried since the client was beginning to be a little difficult and we knew they were quite intellectually keen.

However, we had done nothing wrong, had followed their feedback during the stages of development, and had gone through our meticulous sign-off stages. This was our initial response to the client.

To cut a long story and potentially long law suit short, we easily produced a concise, digital email trail of all these things and presented these to them. After 2 days, they responded by proposing to send out a cheque for the branding stage of the work.

Structuring and backing up email is good practice

If you have issues with a client, email histories aren’t always going to solve the problem. Even if they will, not having a good system to structure and back up email won’t stop you doing so either.

However, the case study above did highlight to me the importance of developing a habit for maintaining a good system for every day aspects of business and life such as email. If and when problems do arise, you can get through them quicker if you’re prepared and have the right tools and set up.

Using email online and why it may not be for you

There are two main ways people use email – online with a service like Gmail, or offline using desktop client programs like Outlook.

Using an online service like Gmail might negate having to consciously back up your email since there is a presumption that they won’t lose your data and they place heavy emphasis on their search functionality, allowing you to quickly bring up something from the past. However, I’ve never wanted to use business email in this way since I never feel fully in control of it, being at the mercy of Google service policies.

Therefore, I’ve only used business email via a desktop client, which always allows me to search for past messages without a net connection if I need to. (Much more convenient in the days of dial-up!) I do use several online services for personal accounts, at the very least because it keeps me aware of what is out there.

How I structure my business email

I’ve mainly used Entourage as my program of choice and my point of emphasis is to structure your email and its back up so that you can easily find past emails again.

I have a level of folders, one of which is titled “Clients”. Inside this is a sub-level of folders – one for each client. Inside each of these is another sub-level, with one folder for each project for that client. Depending on the nature of my working relationship with that client, I might also have other folders called “Maintenance” or “Admin” as well as the project ones.

All my emails (well, not the spam filtered ones) still go into the Inbox, as I use this with Entourage’s flagging system as a “to do” list. Therefore, once I’ve processed a client email, I manually move it into its appropriate folder. The alternative is to set up rules so that Entourage checks who the sender is and automatically puts the email into the right client folder.

For me, keeping a folder structure is more useful to keep track of timely email conversations, especially when relevant emails aren’t automatically connected by common recipient etc.

For instance, Entourage has a “link” feature on each email to bring up other emails that were sent to and from the recipient. However, I’ve sometimes had email conversations with clients, and then send a separate email to my colleagues about that conversation outside of the client’s knowledge.

Keeping emails together in folders allows me to group these (for my eyes only!).

How I back up my emails for future proofing

Another reason why I like to keep my emails grouped by client and then by project is so that once a project is finished or I’ve stopped working with a client, I can easily identify that folder and archive all those emails.  On Entourage, I do this with a program called Entourage Email Archive X.

All emails are exported as text files – one for each email – and I can then place these archived emails with each archived project in my back up.  I preferred having archived emails as text files as being such basic files, they’re future proofed and independent of any particular email program system.

At the moment, I’m also experimenting with using Apple Mail 3 as an email client, for a couple of my accounts. Supposedly, with the program’s search abilities, you shouldn’t need to categorise emails into folders as it should be easy to find what you want with your search criteria.

I’m giving it a go so that I can see the best of both approaches but also because after using Entourage for the last couple of years, Apple Mail 3 might now be the better option, as it seems to do the same things that I need (as described above), but also has better integration with other Mac OSX programs (that I use).

Online and offline email

With the two main ways people use email – online with a service like Gmail, or offline using desktop client programs like Outlook, its not always a decision that needs heavy debating before making a choice, but I still think requires a moment of consideration, depending on what you’re using email for and your own circumstances.

Nowadays, with always-on connections, using an online service is much more fluid, so your method of choice depends on your own requirements for your email.

Things to think about are in the following list of advantages and disadvantages for both methods.

Online Email Service Advantages

• Quick and easy to set up – whichever service you use, you simply follow their registration screens
• Access from any browser with a net connection, on any computer
• You don’t need to own a computer
• Service provider is likely to have their own back up system in place, so that your account won’t suddenly disappear by accident

Online Email Service Disadvantages

• You need an online connection to use the service
• You’re stuck with the service’s domain name i.e. yourname@gmail.com
• It looks less professional, if you use this for business
• Backing up to your own files may not be possible
• The service has control over your email account and if policy dictated, could simply restrict access or even delete it – Hotmail did this to several people I know

Offline Email Service Advantages

• No net connection required to use
• Data is yours and yours alone.
• Easy to check email accounts for your own domain names Several accounts can be set up and checked automatically
• Most programs are able to allow emails to be archived out and / or backed up
• Using email is faster offline

Offline Email Service Disadvantages

• You need to own and set up a computer with the program
• The program might cost you money
• Unless you have a back up system in place for your computer, there’s a risk you’ll lose all your emails

My set up

Since I have several email accounts for business and pleasure and the fact that my online account with Gmail can be checked with my desktop program of choice, Entourage, I stick with an offline program for my email. It fits my work flow and it is set up to check all my accounts automatically.

If I’m stuck without my laptop, but have access to a browser, I can still query my POP email accounts using free webmail sites like : www.mail2web.com.

Getting around disadvantages in either system

One thing to note is that if you’re tech savvy enough, there are usually ways to get around some of the disadvantages if you’re stuck with one or the other method. For instance, you can set up Gmail with your own domain name so that you can go online to the Google site and send and receive email with yourname@yourdomain.com.

The trade off on effort is for yourself to judge. What’s your system and what do you use?

The fact that there is a pitch in the first place, however, already implies a process of assessing which supplier might fit the needs of a client the best. This process could include a presentation of some kind, either formal or informal, where the client gets to meet your team and see first hand, your portfolio and/or your possible ideas in answer to their brief.

Why you won’t get the job

Beyond the written proposal, there are many (fair and unfair) reasons why you won’t get the job, including the possibility that a winner has already been chosen, a competitor has a working relationship already with the client, the presentation was crap, or the client simply gelled better with another supplier. With these kinds of reasons, there probably isn’t much you can do, apart from bitch and complain internally.

The tip

However, one thing that I’ve found to give yourself a better chance of winning a pitch, is – simply read the brief and respond with a relevant, written proposal intelligently.

Makes sense and sounds obvious right? I know that in a pitch, other proposals are likely to be written well – particularly as todays market is much more competitive than it was during the dot-com boom of the early noughties.

However, through past experience, I’ve been surprised how easily we usually get through first stage pitches – usually based on the written proposals. This we’ve found out, simply by asking the client afterwards.

We do put some effort in, and simply read what the brief is, reply with a sensible, well-written proposal, and answer the requirements they need. Depending on relevance, we also tend to throw in a few (written) ideas to get the client interested, use a few buzzwords, and name drop some brands from our client list.

Other people’s proposals

There have also been a few occasions where we’ve managed to see proposals from other companies. Unfortunately, these weren’t the competitors who lost to us, but rather other agencies that we’ve partnered up with, and so therefore, we got to swap proposals before submitting to the client. Its surprising how some of these proposals were actually just generic documents, talking more about what the agencies can do, rather than what they can do for the brief.

When you’re faced with a pitch, of course, anything can happen and you can’t always predict what your competitors will do. But once you’ve made a decision to pitch, commit yourself and do a good job of the proposal.

You might have heard about how some agencies win the project by going far out and doing something that is completely opposite the brief? I don’t think this will always work and if anything, I’d say leave that to the presentation, not the proposal.

Opportunities fall flat

I’m sure I’m not the only person in business, who welcomes opportunities like this and rise to the occasion when they appear. However, in this particular case, I never heard back about the proposals, nor did I see any proof that the potential client had gone to another supplier (I did do some research).

Recently, this potential client contacted me again for a quote, and with some hesitation, I thought “well, why not, I don’t have to spend much time on this”. So I gave the quote.

Then the first enquiry came. For the record, this potential client was trying to sell our service to his client :

“Our client wants to know what the difference is between the work you do and the work their webmaster does.”

The lack of understanding that the value a design company could give, turned me completely off. With this contact’s track record, I saw the light as they say, and made my excuses and left…

Not wanting to waste time

To explain, as an interactive design company, we quoted on rebuilding a website using a new brand logo and new content. A “webmaster” generally maintains a website, but can have all sorts of responsibilities (which would be agreed with their employer) which could include rebuild of a website.

To cut a long story short, we don’t know what the difference between the work is without knowing what this webmaster’s actual responsibilities are and since this could be a cost reducing measure from the end client’s perspective, with respect to the (small) budget, we didn’t wait to find out.

Selling services not understood

What I realised is that our potential client was more or less trying to sell our services, (on top of his consulting services which I’m sure he is an expert in) but the likelihood is, that he didn’t really have a clue about them. Otherwise, I believe that before coming to us, he should already have clarified the requirements for the quote so that the above question did not need to be asked.

With this in mind, its probably not surprising that none of the proposals went ahead. He basically may not have had the knowledge to explain the benefits of a service like ours in order to match it to the requirements of the client.

Partnering skillsets

With hindsight, it may be easy to flag up an opportunity to partner our skillsets and approach the end client together, which has worked successfully with other projects. In this case, the mistake our potential client may have made, could be that he didn’t suggest this. The mistake I made, was the assumption that he could sell the proposal to the end client – an assumption I had that lasted 6 proposals.

To recap

• A potential client calls, asking for proposals
• The proposals are for well known international brands
• Questions and enquiries ensue
• A promise that the potential client will be in touch
• No word for 2 years
• Potential Client calls again requesting a new proposal
• We quote
• An enquiry is made
• I see the light and decline the opportunity

Other ways to recognise time-wasters

There are of course, other ways to recognise time-wasting clients, for other reasons. Here’s one for free – they ask you to pitch, then after the results come back and you haven’t got the job, they reveal that no other cost could beat an indian company that was also on the pitch list.

I guess an enquiry to the potential client asking about the other companies on the pitch list would suffice.

Relationship building with real potential clients

Also, be aware that some clients may appear to waste your time, but don’t. In one particular case, I discuss a job with another potential client but then didn’t hear back for a year. When I heard from them again, we got the job.

In this case, the potential client wanted to find out more about us but didn’t ask us to put the time in to prepare a quote. However, we still maintained a relationship, and gave the benefit of doubt to the situation. The obvious words here are “networking” and “relationship building”.

When it comes down to it, each potential opportunity really can be unique. Someone who might seem like a time-waster might not be and vice versa. As with most things in business, you’ll probably need a combination of experience and the ability to listen, understand and read between the lines, to sniff out the time-wasters.

Even so, I make no excuses – anyone could still be wrong. And if you’re actually on the commissioning side, please heed all the pointers in this article!

Anyway, back to our “potential client”. Although I responded politely to the question (above), and wished him all the best in finding another supplier, I still to this date, did not receive a ‘thank-you’ for the time we spent on the proposals. But I’m not bitter, I got my experience out of that and I’ll know for next time.

Technorati Tags: potential clients, save time on proposals, time wasting clients

However, unlike choosing a name for your new-born, each domain name is unique – you won’t find yourself bumping into another mark.com down the digital road.

Hence, this creates the all too common scenario of having to “find”, rather than “choose” a unique domain to create your slice of cyberspace. It goes without saying that knowing your domain name options will make the task easier.

Anatomy of a domain name

A domain name comes in two parts – the name itself, which you make up, and the suffix which you choose from a number of options:

www.[name].[suffix]

Suffixes

Suffixes are most commonly either “.com”, “.net” or “.org”, which originate from the US domain registrar. There are more suffix options, including ones that are country specific. More about domain suffixes further down.

Its worth noting that when composing your domain name, obtaining a unique domain may be as simple as choosing a different suffix. Therefore, for the above two parts, it will be important to choose what each part will be, but then also to choose what the combination will be.

To be able to purchase the domain, the combination of these two elements need to be available. I.e. No one else should already have bought it.

A starting point is whether you already have either a business name, or a personal name from which you can create a domain. If you do, then a check on www.netbenefit.com will reveal its availability as a “.com”. If you don’t, then you have the freedom of seeing what’s available and making your decisions then.

For instance, when I co-founded my design company, since we would specialise in digital, it was important to us that we could get the “.com” with our name. We consequently made up a word (Kibook), which was easily available.

Depending on your circumstances, but in particular if you’re a business, the following are points to consider.

Tips for choosing the name

• Its best to keep things simple. Choose a name which can be easily spoken, spelt, read, and written. “Katz” might look funky, but try explaining that every time you quote your domain.
• The shorter the better.
• Choose a name that can uniquely identify you as much as possible.
• If you want to extend the domain to indicate what your site does or what its for, then keep it as short as possible or use it as an additional domain (e.g. joe-design-by-numbers.com) which you later set up to redirect to your main domain.
• Include keywords for your site’s purpose if possible. For example, if you clean drains, use both those words.

Tips for choosing the domain suffix (.com, .org etc)

• Forget two and three letter “.com”s and obvious word combinations of slightly longer domains – they’ve likely been taken. A quick search will prove it.
• Unless you’re an organisation or network, your best choice for your domain is to choose a “.com”. As the most common suffix, your contacts and customers are less likely to get your web address wrong. Also, if you type a single name into the address bar of most browsers, it may default to assuming you mean a “.com” and will try to reach “<yourname>.com”.
• Choose your suffix to represent what you will use the domain for. I.e. a “.com” or “.co.uk” for a company (or individual) and a “.org” or “.org.uk” for an organisation such as a charity. This will give that little bit more info to your visitors.
• If more than one suffix is relevant to you and available, then buy the other options. If anything, the cost is negligible for a business, and it will stop competitors from getting them and stealing your visitors when you’re successful. For instance, my company uses Kibook.com as the main domain for our website and email addresses, but also own kibook.co.uk and kibook.net. The “.co.uk” is more a backup, and we have emails set up with the same prefixes to forward to the relevant “.com” email address (i.e. mark@kibook.co.uk, also forwards to my main email account “mark@kibook.com).

Lastly, to search for and actually buy a domain, you can use any number of domain name and web hosting companies online. Personally, I use the following:

Freeparking.co.uk for UK domains (.co.uk etc)
Westhost.com for US domains (.com etc)

Hopefully, the above will help give some pointers about getting a domain name. It is by no means a comprehensive discussion, and I’ll hopefully be looking into other aspects of domains in the future.

Technorati Tags: choosing a domain name, domain names, tips and tricks