is a good web site important?

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is a good web site important?

Postby Guest » October 4th, 2002, 10:34 am

For the past month I have been working on my web site trying to come up with something interesting.
(It's always harder when you are doing something for yourself)

When I notice that half the magicians on the Internet has really bad pages (usually made with FrontPages)

So here's my question
Do you think that having a web site is a good marketing tool?
Personally I think it's important to have and a good one since we sell our images to peoples.

Having a bad web site give a bad image of ourselves to the potential customer.
Also I have the same feeling about the name of the domain, often I see magician using a hotmail as the principal e-mail or geocities web space
I think thats it's add a lot more to your image and professionalism if you have you .com with your own e-mail (my taught)

So please tell what you think!

-Get out of the casual!-
Pete


ps. Before everybody rush to point them
Sorry for the grammar and English mistake I'm no English native tks!

Guest

Re: is a good web site important?

Postby Guest » October 31st, 2002, 1:36 am

Don't knock Frontpage! I have gotten a lot of gigs from my simple page.

I avoid any sort of plug in program as a lot of people bypass sites that they can not load.

The information should be simple straight to the point and show

a) what you do for them
b) what you look like
c) how they can connect you further.
d) who else you have worked with.

However, you also need to submit it to as many search engines as possible. I paid $150 a month ago and I have gotten ten bookings from my site!

www.funnybones.com.au

Guest

Re: is a good web site important?

Postby Guest » October 31st, 2002, 9:37 am

Originally posted by Nicholas J. Johnson:
Don't knock Frontpage! I have gotten a lot of gigs from my simple page.

I avoid any sort of plug in program as a lot of people bypass sites that they can not load.

The information should be simple straight to the point and show

a) what you do for them
b) what you look like
c) how they can connect you further.
d) who else you have worked with.

However, you also need to submit it to as many search engines as possible. I paid $150 a month ago and I have gotten ten bookings from my site!

www.funnybones.com.au
Nicholas, it is always nice to read that magicians are getting bookings. However, I was dismayed to see on your site that you are exposing tricks. The torn and restored card page etc.,available for anyone to see, belittles an otherwise OK site IMHO. What is your motivation behind this? I am against any type of exposure, but that's just the way I am.

best, Graham

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Re: is a good web site important?

Postby mrgoat » October 31st, 2002, 10:12 am

Originally posted by Pete B. Onion:
For the past month I have been working on my web site trying to come up with something interesting.

When I notice that half the magicians on the Internet has really bad pages (usually made with FrontPages)

So here's my question
Do you think that having a web site is a good marketing tool?
Personally I think it's important to have and a good one since we sell our images to peoples.

Having a bad web site give a bad image of ourselves to the potential customer.
Also I have the same feeling about the name of the domain, often I see magician using a hotmail as the principal e-mail or geocities web space
I think thats it's add a lot more to your image and professionalism if you have you .com with your own e-mail (my taught)

So please tell what you think!

ps. Before everybody rush to point them
Sorry for the grammar and English mistake I'm no English native tks!
I cannot agree enough.

I think that the majority of websites by magicians are breadful - and indeed FrontPage always indicates a lousy site. I challange anyone to show me a decent site done in FrontPage!

:)

Of course all of this is subjctive.

Some magicians like having little clip art bunnies and animated gifs and scrolling marquees. They think it's nice.

It's tough.

I think a website is the modern version of a brochure. But better. It can include movies, its instantly updatable, its available to almost anyone anywhere.

Clean, simple, easy to navigate and not flashy is all a site needs to be. IMHO.

Guest

Re: is a good web site important?

Postby Guest » October 31st, 2002, 10:43 am

Its not very important to have a good homepage, but it coud be very dangerous to have a bad homepage.

Sorry for my bad englisch. Im just a Kraut.

Bastian

Guest

Re: is a good web site important?

Postby Guest » October 31st, 2002, 1:11 pm

S**T!!!!

The tricks page was meant only for magicians who I gave the address to!!!!! :eek: I am embarressed! Just don't blame Frontpage for my stupidity.... Sorry!

I used Frontpage and I like my site and it gets me work. However, I am open to any feedback...

P.S. For the record, people should only learn how tricks are done is they intend on performing them.

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Re: is a good web site important?

Postby Brian Morton » October 31st, 2002, 2:06 pm

I built my web site over the course of a weekend. I wrestled Graphic Converter (I've got a Mac :D ), Adobe PageMill, Fetch (an FTP program), and a case of beer all to the ground until they hollered "Uncle."

Well, that's not totally true. The beer came along willingly.

The secret to a web site if you're an amateur at it (like me), is simplicity. Don't clutter it up. Have a distinct visual style. Make sure you avoid any unprofessional errors (like typos, for instance). Don't load up on java, Flash and sound files -- many people are still on dialup, and it drives them crazy to sit around forever waiting to hear your .aif file of "Do You Believe In Magic" loading.

I think I did pretty good with mine -- it was version two (I made all my mistakes on the first one).

http://www.LiesOfBrian.com

brian :cool:

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Re: is a good web site important?

Postby Tom Dobrowolski » October 31st, 2002, 2:31 pm

"Its not very important to have a good homepage, but it coud be very dangerous to have a bad homepage."

Bastian

Absolutley right !!!

I find it amusing that magicians get steamed when someone hires an "amateur" for a show but will "do it themselves" when designing their web presence. (which offers limitless 24 hour exposure to potential clients worldwide)

If you want a professionally designed web site hire a professional.

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Re: is a good web site important?

Postby Lance Pierce » October 31st, 2002, 6:57 pm

Originally posted by mrgoat:
I challange anyone to show me a decent site done in FrontPage!
Mr. Goat,

The following sites were all created in Front Page:

http://www.hyperweb.tv/

http://www.cfg1.com/

http://www.weddings.co.nz/

http://www.curtisschool.org/

http://www.cancer.duke.edu/

http://www.iconofile.com/

As was this one:

http://www.microsoft.com/frontpage/

Cheers,

Lance

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Re: is a good web site important?

Postby mrgoat » November 1st, 2002, 2:39 am

Originally posted by Lance Pierce:
Originally posted by mrgoat:
[b]I challange anyone to show me a decent site done in FrontPage!
Mr. Goat,

The following sites were all created in Front Page:

snip list of sites

[/b]
Web design is subjective Lance. From the list you posted I would say you have convincingly proved my point.

And the audacity of suggesting the MS site is well designed! Oh my!

:)

Guest

Re: is a good web site important?

Postby Guest » November 1st, 2002, 4:13 am

Having been a professional web developer for almost 5 years, I have a few thoughts to share.

Regarding FrontPage - Personally, I do not like FrontPage, but not because it creates bad web pages. Bad web developers design bad web pages, the software is just the tool to create the page. I have seen really bad pages that have been created in Dreamweaver which is the industry standard wysiwyg editor.

From a web developers view point here is why I don't use Frontpage:

1. You are limited as to where you can host. Even some hosts that have FrontPage extension will not give you tech support for them.

2. FrontPage creates a lot of propriety code, that slows down the web page and is not viewable on some browsers.

3. Personally, I don't like the software, the actual interface and tools. It's just not what I am comfortable working with.

HOWEVER - If you need to get a simple site up and running and it's all you have go for it! Or better yet - spend the money on a pro and create a professional image for yourself.

Either way - avoid Flash opening pages, they are going to hurt your chances for getting a high ranking in search engines and no one wants to see your name flipping around the screen anyway.

Avoid background music. It slows the page down and no one wants to hear the awful midi file you dowloaded. some people actually use their computers to listen to music - I do and as soon as a page with background music comes on, I click away.

Avoid Java applets. There is no reason for them and a bad applet is going to crash a browser or is not going to work on other browsers.

Don't do a black background with white text. It's hard to read, no one (except the magician) thinks it's mysterious and when a potential prospect goes to print it out to show your info to a committee - they are either going to get nothing (your text is white, remember) OR you are going to waste a lot of their black ink.

"Fancy" cursors - you know the ones - with the trailing comet or stars or ones that can look like a magic wand. It's annoying and doesn't add any value to the page.

Give your site visitor an easy to navigate site that is informative - not entertaining! Keep your contact information easy to find on every page. Your images should be a reasonable size and not take a long time to download. Your site needs to convey a professional image that will make people feel comfortable doing business with you.

Guest

Re: is a good web site important?

Postby Guest » November 1st, 2002, 1:29 pm

I still like Frontpage...

:p

Do people put their prices on their website?

I don't make I try and make it so that people will email me for that info and I can add on expenses if needed.

How do people get visitors to ACT on the information in the site?

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Re: is a good web site important?

Postby Brad A._dup1 » November 1st, 2002, 9:59 pm

A magicians website needs to compliment him or her. If the site doesn't have the quality, or professional-like appearance, it can certainly detract from your clients.

....Genii's site, for example. I asked Mr. Kaufman if I could redesign it because I felt the design didn't fit the magazine. It's a good magazine. (The website wasn't that great)

Here's a look at how the Genii site used to be:
1998
1999
2000

Webmaster Brad
______________________________
I'm the webmaster, but I'm not too crazy about being called a "webmaster."
Former Vonnegut Character

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Re: is a good web site important?

Postby mrgoat » November 2nd, 2002, 3:45 am

Originally posted by Nicholas J. Johnson:
I still like Frontpage...

:p

Do people put their prices on their website?

I don't make I try and make it so that people will email me for that info and I can add on expenses if needed.

How do people get visitors to ACT on the information in the site?
So when a professional tells you the simple, technical reasons for a piece of software being bad you just ignore them?

Interesting. Design is subjective, but the *facts* are frontpage does produce messy code - have you tried 'viewing source'? It is also a fact that you are limited where you can host it.

I always also think it is bad to think a free piece of software that came bundled with your machine would any good.

Not many people I know use the MS Image Editor over Photoshop who wish to edit images seriously. Not many people use Notepad to edit large documents.

If you want advice on how to encourage people to call you (or whatever the Call To Action is you want), I would suggest you don't poo poo the other advice offered to you.

There are several basic mistakes you make on your site regarding human interface and navigation.

I would give it to a professional to redo.

Maybe then people would start to 'act' more on the information there.

But, websites are very subjective, feel free to ignore me totally. :)

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Re: is a good web site important?

Postby mrgoat » November 2nd, 2002, 3:48 am

Originally posted by bradmagic:
Genii's site, for example. I asked Mr. Kaufman if I could redesign it because I felt the design didn't fit the magazine. It's a good magazine. (The website wasn't that great)

Here's a look at how the Genii site used to be:
1998
1999
2000
Wow. These should go in Hall of Bad Design Fame. Good work WebMonkey! What an improvement!

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Re: is a good web site important?

Postby Steve Mills » November 2nd, 2002, 6:14 am

Originally posted by Scott Stevenson:
Having been a professional web developer for almost 5 years, I have a few thoughts to share.

2. FrontPage creates a lot of propriety code, that slows down the web page and is not viewable on some browsers.

If anyone has a web page here doesn't pay attention to anything in this thread, don't miss this. There are search engine spiders that just plain puke on FP code.

Scott makes some great points about Flash, Java etc. Don't do a lot of work and make an artistic success that can't be seen by the search engines.

Later.....
Steve

Guest

Re: is a good web site important?

Postby Guest » November 2nd, 2002, 3:37 pm

Perhaps because I am non-professional is why I enjoy using Frontpage. I have used a basic template that allows me to simply update the information and change links.

I get a lot of people doing basic searches who find my site so the propriety code isn't slowing things down too much.

I currently doing everything Scott suggests. There is no Flash or complex music etc. Just a simple and effective page.

Of course, I am always open to suggestions of making it better. I have spent money getting professionals to do sites before and the results have been less the exciting.

Most of the guys I have worked with feel like they have to make an artistic statement or blow you away because they are charging the earth.

I seems the end conclusion is that, Frontpage is not perfect but as Scott said "If you need to get a simple site up and running and it's all you have go for it!"

Incidentally, I have had several positive comments from clients including:-

"Great website!"

"Thanks for the helpful advice on your site"

"...then I check out your website and...what can I say...how it can it get any better."

Guest

Re: is a good web site important?

Postby Guest » November 3rd, 2002, 7:33 am

Its not the web tools thats important when you produce a web. The most important is the content.
You need a unique concept plus a good copywriting.
Crisp clear pictures is always great to have on your web. I have made several websites with Frontpage and Dreamweaver and both are good.
When you have a good concept then its time to make a unique design with eyecandy graphic.
Put a tracker on your web, its very nice to see how many visitors you have.
But to get lot of visitors you also need to make your web known by some kind of marketing.

If you need a magical website I can help you develop any kind of web you need. Just contact me for more info.

Guest

Re: is a good web site important?

Postby Guest » November 3rd, 2002, 9:33 am

Originally posted by Kjellstrom:

Put a tracker on your web, its very nice to see how many visitors you have.
Counters and web trackers are fine if you have a personal home page, but not for a business. (Same thing with a Guest Book - leave it off of your professional site).

A counter on your home page is not the best way to see how many people have come to your web site because visitors don't always come to your site through your home page.

First, you should have your site professionally hosted and not on a free server. The best way to track your site is with your server's statistics. You can see which pages people came in on, what path through your site they followed, what search phrases were used to get to your site from different search engines and so much more!

If you are serious about web marketing and want to adapt your site, change your content and really understand the strengths and weaknesses of your site - learn to use and understand your server's statistics and leave the counter off.

Guest

Re: is a good web site important?

Postby Guest » November 3rd, 2002, 9:41 am

You can test my tracker on one of my personel homepages here:
http://extremetracking.com/open?login=togologo
As you see there is wealth of information.
Just click on one of these links.
Summarys
Unique Visitors
Incl, Excl, Reloads
Geo Tracking
System Tracking
Referrer Tracking etc...

And why should we not have a guestbook?

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Re: is a good web site important?

Postby mrgoat » November 3rd, 2002, 10:10 am

Obviously all this is subjective, but there are several elementary mistakes on your site.

The English is clumsy at best, and just wrong at worst. If you offer an English language site, and it's not your mothertongue, I would get a translator to look at it. Or a copywriter.

The Flash/Shockwave stuff is totally unneccessary - it adds nothing but confusion to the navigation. You seem to advise adding eyecandy. Most modern deisgn shuns eyecandy. That was a bit of a 90's design fad. Now minimal and functional is the done thing.

Talking of which, the site is in English but the navigation isnt? Odd?

You seem to be selling your services as a magician and also itemjs for magicians on the same site. Seperate your businesses.

Your hosting is free and bad.

Guestbooks are usually what goes on Geocities home pages etc. Not the thing you see on a professional site.

I could go on.

I just would concentrate on your magic, not your amateur web design. I also wouldn't be offering consultancy on web design...

All this is not meant to cause any offence, it's just your site I think perfectly illustrates the original poster's point.

Give it to a pro to do.

Guest

Re: is a good web site important?

Postby Guest » November 3rd, 2002, 10:11 am

Why would you want everyone to know your business? Why should your competition be able to access your statistics? The stats that the service you are using is only providing a small amount of data and is not completely accurate. There is a wealth of information available on your server's logs.

Why WOULD you want a Guest Book on your site? How does that help sell you? How does that help give you a professional image? How does people posting "Nice Site - very well done" in your Guest Book help sell you as a magician?

Give your professional image a boost and leave the page counters and guest book off and concentrate on selling people the benefits they are going to get from booking you.

Guest

Re: is a good web site important?

Postby Guest » November 3rd, 2002, 12:11 pm

I always imagine a guestbook being filled by comments by my adoring fans telling me how great I am.

Hmmmmmm

Maybe not.

How about links? What sort of links do people use? I have only fun links (or Procrastinations) at the moment because I don't want to send people to the competition.

Guest

Re: is a good web site important?

Postby Guest » November 3rd, 2002, 12:23 pm

Originally posted by Nicholas J. Johnson:
I always imagine a guestbook being filled by comments by my adoring fans telling me how great I am.

Hmmmmmm

Maybe not.

How about links? What sort of links do people use? I have only fun links (or Procrastinations) at the moment because I don't want to send people to the competition.
If you want to have comments of people who think you're great - then don't hide them in a Guest Book! Put those quotes through-out your site, because quotes from satisifed customers is always going to be more interesting to read than anything you can say about yourself.

Regarding links - why do you have to have any links away from your site? If the sole purpose of your site is to help market yourself as a professional entertainer - that is all that should be on your site.

Look at it this way - we all know how hard it is to get people to your site to begin with - why send them away when you finally get them there? You have them there, keep them interested, get them to take action and contact you.

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Re: is a good web site important?

Postby Bill Duncan » November 3rd, 2002, 1:19 pm

Originally posted by mrgoat:
And the audacity of suggesting the MS site is well designed! Oh my!
Damian,
Not showing just a bit of antiPC bias there? True the Microsoft site doesn't have that cheeeeeezy brushed metal look or the overly glossy glass icon look and feel that you get with you better looking Macintosh sites but it's easy to navigate and doesn't screw up any of my browsers.

I visited mac.com and the Frontpage sites using Mozilla for example and the Microsoft site loads much more quickly... and it' doesn't have the aforementioned affectations.

Guest

Re: is a good web site important?

Postby Guest » November 3rd, 2002, 1:29 pm

Regarding links - why do you have to have any links away from your site? If the sole purpose of your site is to help market yourself as a professional entertainer - that is all that should be on your site.
Good point. I guess I feel bad because alot of the other performers I work with link to my site but I don't return the favour

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Re: is a good web site important?

Postby mrgoat » November 3rd, 2002, 1:48 pm

Originally posted by Bill Duncan:
Originally posted by mrgoat:
And the audacity of suggesting the MS site is well designed! Oh my!
Damian,
Not showing just a bit of antiPC bias there? True the Microsoft site doesn't have that cheeeeeezy brushed metal look or the overly glossy glass icon look and feel that you get with you better looking Macintosh sites but it's easy to navigate and doesn't screw up any of my browsers.

I visited mac.com and the Frontpage sites using Mozilla for example and the Microsoft site loads much more quickly... [b]and
it' doesn't have the aforementioned affectations.[/b]
Er, MS have a whole Mac section and their verions of Office for OSX is the best I have seen. Their site, however, is slow, hard to navigate and too big, basically.

I am not being biased against MS, just Frontpage, as it is famously rubbish. Go to any designener, irl or online and sya you like frontpage and see the reaction.

Not sure why you were comparing a site for selling a famously bad wysiwig editor and an online members only area - seems a little odd. Not quite sure what you were trying to achieve.

Just because I use a macintosh, doesn't make me a anti MS zealot. I use a PC running 2k for routing and gaming, I use a Mac for everything else. I will stick Linux on teh next PC I get. I like to embrace all platforms as they all have advantages. Frontpage is just pants, however.

I am not sure if you were trying to deliberately goad me with your mac stuff, but it's not really on topic it it?

All the best

Guest

Re: is a good web site important?

Postby Guest » November 3rd, 2002, 2:23 pm

Mr Goat, its not very good to write anonymous, i think. And my web works fine for me, I had over 20 bookings this year, thanks to my web. One of swedens biggest food stores contacted me some days ago, they had visited my bad web and get very interested in my magic show :)
The web is not for english visitors, if you click the menu you will only find swedish language.

My " small" online shop is in english.
I did this ebook in english because swedish is a very small language.
And that is working very good, I have sold over 100 Ebooks in 4 months :)
Not bad for a bad web maker.
Plus my web is going to have a new design.

Please let me get your www adress, it would be a great experience to see a superior website !

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Re: is a good web site important?

Postby mrgoat » November 3rd, 2002, 2:37 pm

Originally posted by Kjellstrom:
Mr Goat, its not very professionell to write anonymous, i think. And my web works fine for me, I had over 20 bookings the last year, thanks to my web. One of swedens biggest food stores contacted me some days ago, they had visited my bad web and get interested in my magic show :)
The web is not for english visitors, if you click the menu you will only find swedish language.

My " small" online shop is in english.
And that is working very good, I have sold over 100 Ebooks in 4 months :)
Not bad for a bad web maker.
Plus my web is going to have a new design.

Please let me get your www adress, it would be a great experience to see a superior website !
I said this wasn't intended as insulting and now you get all aggressive.

I can speak none of your language, but I assure you the copy on your site has mistakes. On top of that, it just isn't good copy.

I am glad the site is working in your native country.

I use mrgoat online for Usenet, irc etc. Not in my act or on my site. I am not being a professional here, hence I don't use my real name. THis is quite common online activity, in fact it is recommended by most guidelines not to use your real name online. No need to start calling me unprofessional.

My site is very different to yours, it is clean, simple and easy to navigate. I am sure you will hate it as there is no eyecandy, no shockwave, only a couple of pictures and no java.

Guest

Re: is a good web site important?

Postby Guest » November 3rd, 2002, 2:42 pm

I never hate anyone I just get "jealous", I hope i typed that word correctly...

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Re: is a good web site important?

Postby Bill Duncan » November 3rd, 2002, 3:14 pm

Originally posted by mrgoat:
Just because I use a macintosh, doesn't make me a anti MS zealot.
Damian,
No, it certainly doesn't, but given your comments I thought I was a reasonable question.

...I am not sure if you were trying to deliberately goad me with your mac stuff, but it's not really on topic it it?
The topic is how important a good website is/was and not how much Front Page sucks or doesn't so I suspect we're equally off topic. Or perhaps just on a bit of a tangent? I don't think you can seriously suggest that the tool is to blame for a poor website.

I mentioned mac.com because your profile suggests that you use the site and doesn't list your own. I was trying to find what you might consider a good site.

cheers
bill
;)

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Re: is a good web site important?

Postby mrgoat » November 4th, 2002, 10:24 am

Originally posted by Kjellstrom:
I never hate anyone I just get "jealous", I hope i typed that word correctly...
The word is typed correctly, just makes little sence in this context.

Jealousy is when a man in a pub tries to talk to your wife.

So although spelt correctly, I am not sure what you mean.

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Re: is a good web site important?

Postby mrgoat » November 4th, 2002, 10:38 am

Originally posted by Bill Duncan:
[QB]
Originally posted by mrgoat:
Just because I use a macintosh, doesn't make me a anti MS zealot.
Damian,
No, it certainly doesn't, but given your comments I thought I was a reasonable question.
--

The comments are platform independant. Everyone with a smattering of web knowledge hates Frontpage. Linux, Mac, and even all PC web designers I know hate Frontpage for all the reasons stated.

Bill wrote:
I mentioned mac.com because your profile suggests that you use the site and doesn't list your own. I was trying to find what you might consider a good site.

--

Right, so as you admit there was no real comparison. Good. The differrences between a secure members only area with a public website advertising some software for loading times is massive and makes the test futile. They do different things.

What do I think is a good site?

It's immeterial, as design is subjective. However, there are fundamental and elementary problems with Frontpage which were pointed out in this thread.

All I have done is mention well accepted mistakes and errors - have a look at Jakob Neilson's human interface guidlelines - all stuff that has been confirmed in this thread anyway. Not talk about design. Specifiaclly because it is so subjective.

Design is personal, Frontpage's lousy code stupid extensions are well known mistakes.

This is the difference.

You can debate the use of fonts, colours and layout endlessly and never agree. I will never like Times New Roman, but I realise this is personal. You can't debate the quality of Frontpage because it doesn't have any.

Guest

Re: is a good web site important?

Postby Guest » November 4th, 2002, 12:08 pm

Bringing this thread back around to where it started AND hoping to tie everything else together, I submit these comments:

Is having a web site a good marketing tool? As a web site developer I say yes it is, providing it is developed correctly.

Web sites are unique in that the person creating the site has minimal control over the end result on someone else's computer. A photo is going to look the same to everyone you hand it out to, as well as a brochure. But what the site developer (pro or do-it-yourselfer) has no control over are factors like monitor size, screen resultion, browser version, operating system, browser customizations that the end user has made, font size and connection speed.

With that in mind, your goal in developing a sales and marketing site is to make it as compatible as possible and will retain it's look even with all the uncontrollable factors you're faced with.

This is why Frontpage and it's various extensions are not good. You may like working with Frontpage and it may look fine on your computer and your friend's computer, but someone out there is probably going to have a problem with just the basic functionality of the site. Advice for FrontPage users - if you must use FrontPage - stay away from the FrontPage themes - you can immediately tell if a site was created in FrontPage just by looking at those themes. This is also where you will run into trouble with proprietary code.

Instead of concentrating on all of the fun things you think make your site "cool", many magicians need to learn to write better copy, understand the value of benefits and quotes and discover how to make a flowing, logical site.

What is going to impress a potential client? When they first get to your site, they have to wait 30 seconds or more for a Flash animation to download that is not going to tell them anything about you or your product OR in that same time a page has downloaded with 1 or 2 images or you, quotes from satisified clients and a logical layout that keeps them in?

Make the site easy to read. Get rid of the white text on black background, get rid of any patterned background - some people have a hard time reading a lot of text on a computer monitor and those sorts of distractions are frustrating.

If you can't afford a web developer and have to do it yourself, then keep it simple and don't get carried away with everything. All of those bells & whistles can be easy to implement. Just because you can do it, doesn't mean you should do it. Ask yourself "how is this going to benefit someone who wants to book me?"

There are so many ways a site is an effective marketing tool, but only if that site is going to be seen and understood by the person viewing it.

Guest

Re: is a good web site important?

Postby Guest » November 4th, 2002, 1:29 pm

A website is like a Christmas tree. Keep loading it with things that sparkle and eventually it will topple over. You don't have to use every decoration in the box, just because you can.

Too much technology is abused when it's plied in conjunction with the web. Javascript and Flash are just two. Once the pornographers and pop-up merchants start inflicting them on the innocent passers-by, users soon learn to switch them off. This leaves you with a site full of fairy lights without anything to power 'em.

Guest

Re: is a good web site important?

Postby Guest » November 6th, 2002, 10:11 am

I find that a lot of post here are quite informative and I will surely apply some advice mention above to my own web site.

But to continue with the discussion what about the domain name?

do yout thinks it's important for a magician who use the internet as publicity tool to have their own .com? or having a web page on a geocities (or other free hosting here) work as well?

Get out of the casual!
Pete

Doug Dyment
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Re: is a good web site important?

Postby Doug Dyment » November 6th, 2002, 10:38 am

I think it's important to have your own domain name, both for the professional credibility and the convenience (PeteOnion.com is a lot easier to remember and tell others about than an unwieldy GeoCities URL).

And given that you can own a domain name for considerably less than $10/year these days, it's pretty much a no-brainer!

... Doug
... Doug :: Proprietor of The Deceptionary

Guest

Re: is a good web site important?

Postby Guest » November 6th, 2002, 11:18 am

Yes! You need your own domain name and professional hosting. As already stated, you can get your domain name for under $10 a year. You can also get great hosting for as low as $7.95 - $9.95 per month.

A quick word about hosting - make sure you understand what you are getting. There are companies out there that will charge less. I've seen it as low as $1.95 per month. But what you need to understand is these hosting companies, in order to make money, need to rely on quantity. A typical server should have at most about 300 domains (this is just an average).

The low budget hosting companies will cram as many domains on their server as they can and that can affect the performance of the server, slowing down your site.

You also want to make sure you have access to phone technical support. Before you commit to a company - call them, see if you can get someone on the phone. Are they friendly and helpful? Is there web based administration to help you see your stats, configure your e-mail. Can you run CGI scripts and PHP?

Don't get caught up in the amount of server space they are allowing you. You are probably never going to need more than 10 - 20 mb. Most sites are under 5 mb. You will never use 500 mb, so don't pay for it. Server space is the cheapest thing a hosting company can give away because they know most sites will never use the allowed space.

Also a word about e-mail. If you have your own domain name, you need to use your domain for your e-mail. I actually saw one magician who had his own domain name, but his e-mail address was @davidcopperfield.com! The mail that comes to your domain can be redirected to your internet access provider (AOL, Earthlink, MSN, etc.) So if you are an AOL user, don't put your AOL e-mail address on your biz card. Put you@yourdomain.com and have it forwarded to your AOL account.

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mrgoat
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Re: is a good web site important?

Postby mrgoat » November 6th, 2002, 11:19 am

Originally posted by ddyment:
I think it's important to have your own domain name, both for the professional credibility and the convenience (PeteOnion.com is a lot easier to remember and tell others about than an unwieldy GeoCities URL).
... Doug
www.peteonion.com plus I think you need to pay for your own hosting (in the UK its only about 7 bucks a month) as that means you have control, and there are no adverts on your site. Or worse, pop up ads. *shudder*.

With domains being so cheap, it's silly not to have www.peteonion.com. Assuming your name is Pete Onion. Be a bit silly for me to use that, obviously. :)

goat lad

PS www.peteonion.com is available. I could buy it and sell it to you for thousands of dollars. Or maybe not...

PPS You also have the advantage of using that for mail too. info@peteonion.com, me@peteonion.com, freebeer@peteonion.com. Whatever you can think of. :)

Guest

Re: is a good web site important?

Postby Guest » November 7th, 2002, 10:45 am

Actualy I already have my own .com www.petemagic.com with my own email

Get out of the casual
Pete


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