Page 1 of 1

Web Site Tips for Magicians

Posted: December 5th, 2008, 6:51 pm
by Matt R
Magicians: Here's a short checklist of things to consider when building a web site....


Web Site Tips Article

Re: Web Site Tips for Magicians

Posted: December 5th, 2008, 7:34 pm
by mrgoat
I clicked on that expecting it to be trash.

It is, in fact, totally perfect.

Re: Web Site Tips for Magicians

Posted: December 6th, 2008, 7:15 pm
by Matt R
Thanks Mr. Goat (I think...) :^)

Re: Web Site Tips for Magicians

Posted: December 10th, 2008, 12:37 pm
by Jack Turk
Well done Matt. I've seen several things
from you and they were all good.

--Jack

Re: Web Site Tips for Magicians

Posted: December 14th, 2008, 9:57 pm
by TheDean.
Good stuff Matt. (Again.)

Re: Web Site Tips for Magicians

Posted: December 14th, 2008, 10:17 pm
by Steve Hook
Matt:

Is that page working properly? I'm not seeing any text in the red area.

Re: Web Site Tips for Magicians

Posted: December 15th, 2008, 11:30 am
by Matt R
Yes, the page is working fine. Most likely problem is a firewall issue (such as a corporate firewall) or older browser version

Re: Web Site Tips for Magicians

Posted: January 5th, 2009, 1:15 am
by Roland
What's your opinion on autoplay video?

Thanks,
Roland
www.DanceOfIllusion.com

Re: Web Site Tips for Magicians

Posted: January 5th, 2009, 6:26 am
by mrgoat
Roland wrote:What's your opinion on autoplay video?

Thanks,
Roland
www.DanceOfIllusion.com


autoplay = bad.

Re: Web Site Tips for Magicians

Posted: January 5th, 2009, 9:49 am
by Jim Maloney
mrgoat wrote:
Roland wrote:What's your opinion on autoplay video?

Thanks,
Roland
www.DanceOfIllusion.com


autoplay = bad.


Ditto for autoplay music.

-Jim

Re: Web Site Tips for Magicians

Posted: January 6th, 2009, 11:24 am
by Jack Turk
Autoplay anything is bad and in my opinion, can
cost you gigs.

Say someone is surfing the web on their break at
the office. They need help for a family event or
whatever. They come to your site and the first
thing that happens is a very loud, very noisy
audio track that blasts from their PC speakers.

What's the first thing they do? Close down
the website or go someplace else.

Make your site easy and friendly to use with the
customer in mind. That's an axiom that covers
just about all sins.

--J

Re: Web Site Tips for Magicians

Posted: January 6th, 2009, 1:27 pm
by Matt R
I completely agree on autoplay sound, it is similar in my mind to forcing someone to watch your flash intro. Let the user decide what they want to see and hear.

Re: Web Site Tips for Magicians

Posted: January 7th, 2009, 1:16 pm
by Kevin Connolly
Good post Matt. Anyone know of dewcent website developer as mentioned in the article? I want to launch a site, but I'm not too computer savy. I need it to be simple. :)

Re: Web Site Tips for Magicians

Posted: January 7th, 2009, 2:01 pm
by mrgoat
Kevin Connolly wrote:Good post Matt. Anyone know of dewcent website developer as mentioned in the article? I want to launch a site, but I'm not too computer savy. I need it to be simple. :)


What's your budget?

Re: Web Site Tips for Magicians

Posted: January 7th, 2009, 6:28 pm
by Kevin Connolly
$500- $1,000US

Re: Web Site Tips for Magicians

Posted: January 8th, 2009, 5:51 am
by mrgoat
Kevin Connolly wrote:$500- $1,000US


Sorry, I don't know anyone for that range that would help. You won't get a 'proper' professional design for that. But probably a younger, less experienced designer. Maybe contact a local university or something similar?

Re: Web Site Tips for Magicians

Posted: January 8th, 2009, 8:26 am
by Kevin Connolly
No problem.

Re: Web Site Tips for Magicians

Posted: January 8th, 2009, 10:31 pm
by Spellbinder
mrgoat wrote:
Kevin Connolly wrote:$500- $1,000US


Sorry, I don't know anyone for that range that would help. You won't get a 'proper' professional design for that. But probably a younger, less experienced designer. Maybe contact a local university or something similar?


I love it. You have to pay over $1000 to get a "proper, professional design."

The only thing you need is a site that attracts the customers you wish to attract and gives them the information they need to hire you. If you have that on your Web site, it is both "proper" and "professional" and the only ones who won't admit it aren't really your customers at all, but other jealous magicians.

Don't get a college student... they think they know too much. Go for a high school nerd who'll realize you are doing him a favor. Make sure he teaches you how to update the site yourself so you won't be helpless once it goes on-line.

Re: Web Site Tips for Magicians

Posted: January 9th, 2009, 4:32 am
by mrgoat
Spellbinder wrote:
mrgoat wrote:
Kevin Connolly wrote:$500- $1,000US


Sorry, I don't know anyone for that range that would help. You won't get a 'proper' professional design for that. But probably a younger, less experienced designer. Maybe contact a local university or something similar?


I love it. You have to pay over $1000 to get a "proper, professional design."


Yes you do. I have commissioned websites for the last 7 or 8 years. I recently did a project with 15 new websites. 10 pages each, including flash video and bespoke wordpress templates. Cost 2k per site and that was cheap.

You get what you pay for in this world.

Sure, you can get a copy of dreamweaver, and put up a site that has your contact information on for free.

Equally, you can go to any number of machines and get 'professional' business cards printed for 5 bucks.

Equally, you can get a second hand tux from a charity shop that doesn't quite fit you.

All these ways of saving money are great if you don't care about what people think about you. If you have no concern over the image you are projecting.

Personally, I do care what people think when they see my suit, when I hand them my card and when they visit my site.

I am not suggesting you are wrong. You pays your money, you makes your choices.

Re: Web Site Tips for Magicians

Posted: January 9th, 2009, 9:04 am
by Kevin Connolly
Spellbinder wrote:
mrgoat wrote:
Kevin Connolly wrote:$500- $1,000US


Sorry, I don't know anyone for that range that would help. You won't get a 'proper' professional design for that. But probably a younger, less experienced designer. Maybe contact a local university or something similar?


I love it. You have to pay over $1000 to get a "proper, professional design."

The only thing you need is a site that attracts the customers you wish to attract and gives them the information they need to hire you. If you have that on your Web site, it is both "proper" and "professional" and the only ones who won't admit it aren't really your customers at all, but other jealous magicians.

Don't get a college student... they think they know too much. Go for a high school nerd who'll realize you are doing him a favor. Make sure he teaches you how to update the site yourself so you won't be helpless once it goes on-line.


Thanks Spellbinder. I think your right. I had a very nice web designer contact me already and we started to work on it. I'm confident it will work out.

Re: Web Site Tips for Magicians

Posted: January 19th, 2009, 12:56 pm
by MagicWhiz
Always build a SEO Friendly website. It may be hard to show up in front pages of Google for the keywords magic tricks or magician. But it'll benefit you in the long run when Google considers the Age of your site and relevant content.

Try posting your link in local directories.