Web Hosting

If you want other people to view your web site, you must copy your site to a public server. Even if you can use your own PC as a web server, it is more common to let an Internet Service Provider (ISP) host your site. Included in a Web hosting solution you can expect to find domain name registration and standard email services.

Self Marketing

1. What's so special about me?

   What are the unique characteristics, capabilities, and creative perspectives that you bring to your work? Really. What is it that you and only you can bring to design? Why are you here, time-sharing molecules with the rest of us—on the planet and in this particular profession? In vintage advertising terminology, this would be your U.S.P. (Unique Selling Proposition). Take a hard look, and then ask yourself: Is what is unique about me/my firm apparent in my branding and promotion?

2. Am I taking myself seriously as a brand?

   Do you actually think of yourself in terms of being a brand? You are one in a very real sense. So if you were to hire a designer to do a brand assessment on you, what would they see? Are you walking your talk? Is it clear what you do and who you do it for and why you do it? Is your visual and verbal identity in line with your goals, objectives and unique characteristics? Do you need a slight refresh or a major overhaul?

3. What type of clients do I want to work with?

   Is it time for a new direction or are you satisfied with your clients? If you are unhappy: why? Is it the industry you serve or the actual people you work for? If you need new blood, it’s important to understand clearly what should/could be different. If you’ve got the right clients, ask yourself: How can we do more and better work together? Then take a look at what in your promotional efforts towards your target audience(s) needs to be altered or retained.

4. When was the last time I took a serious look at my competitors?

   If you were undertaking a branding or promotional effort for a client, one of the first things you’d do is review their competitive landscape. Have you taken a look at your own competitors lately? Have you even done the exercise of determining who they are currently? Your firm may have evolved, or maybe it was other firms that have moved into your territory, or maybe your key competitor is someone new to the business. What are they doing and saying about their work in their promos? How could you do it more effectively?

5. What kind of new paths should I be exploring?

   With the only constant in design being change, where should you be headed in the future? Maybe the answer springs from a cold hard look at competitors. Maybe it comes from that tiny voice of inspiration inside you. Maybe changes in your firm are in response to boredom or restlessness. Even if you want to continue with the same clients, collaborators, and type of work, ask yourself: What new skills, connections, and/or technologies are going to be good to add? Then ask: How should I discuss these in my self-promotional efforts?

6. Am I doing all I can to demonstrate expertise?

   Whatever it is you do, or plan on doing, clients won’t hire you to do it if they don’t trust you. So ask yourself: How are my promos showing professional expertise and supporting credibility? Do I have case studies, not just great visuals, which tell a compelling story about successful client engagements? Have we acquired: Metrics and results from our work? Client quotes and testimonials? Awards and accolades? Are we presenting all of these in a way that adds up to making a strong claim of expertise and mastery?

7. Am I inviting interaction and propagation?

   Designer self-promotion isn’t a static or fixed activity. It’s ongoing, and increasingly, it will illicit a direct response if you do it right. So ask yourself: Am I giving people something fascinating to talk about? Is it easy for people to interact with me in real and virtual communities? Do I encourage connection to my firms’ thoughts and ideas? Are we playing in a big or small arena? Should we change that? Also, is it ridiculously apparent how prospective clients should contact you?

8. Am I playing it safe?

   Am I bold? Am I hiding my light under a bushel and letting shyness or lack of confidence keep me from really promoting myself? Take a look are your relationship to risk taking. Is fear — of change, of failure, of rejection, of whatever — holding you back? The problem is that it takes a lot to stand out in our media-saturated world. Everyone is overwhelmed and has a short attention span, so there is no sense in holding back if you want to make clients aware of your firm. If there is some reason why you continue to seek the safe routine, you need to ask yourself: Is this stance really serving my firm?

9. Do I have the infrastructure to support self-promo?

   Ask: Have I really committed the necessary time and money to my branding and promotion? Is it the last thing on my To-Do List? Did I open a job number and develop a budget? If not, then ask yourself: Why not? What is holding you back? Maybe you need some new people and processes brought to bear on the problem. It might be as simple/complex as dedicating yourself to the idea of becoming your own client.

10. How am I inventing a new and better world?

    Maybe this question sounds a bit altruistic. Just maybe it will spark a different kind of discussion within your firm. The answer may lead you to shape a larger vision for yourself, your work, your clients, and our planet. Ask yourself: Am I creating options to help solve universal challenges like sustainability and globalism? How am I innovating on a human scale? Am I helping my clients to build new and exciting cultural bridges? If and when I do these things, how will I talk about them in my promotions? There’s nothing like deeply considering the world’s big problems to put your firm’s branding needs into perspective, right?

People don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it

Simon Sinek Linkedin

Getting Clients

Working with Clients

1. Share Your Process at the Start

   When your client understands the process you’re following to complete the project, they’ll be more likely to see that you’re doing all you can to work out any problems that arise. If clients aren’t clear about how long a step might take or don’t understand the amount of employee time involved, they may object to the time the project is taking or the money it’s costing them.

   Teaching clients about all that’s involved in producing the website they want and how long things will take can prevent a lot of problems down the line. Provide deadlines, describe who will be involved at each step, and above all, eliminate jargon so everyone can understand.

2. Get to Know Each Client

   Every client is different. Some will hardly look at ideas you send over and say “whatever you think is best.” Other clients like to dig in and walk with you every step of the way through frequent meetings and status updates. You need to be flexible enough to work with clients on both ends of the involvement spectrum and everyone in between. You also need to develop an understanding of each client’s communication preferences. Whether they favor the phone, email, video conferences or in-person meetings, they’ll be more likely to hear what you’re trying to communicate if you share in the way they prefer.

3. Be Ready to Ask for Help

   Here at 3 Media Web, we’re good at sticking to a schedule and putting in extra hours if that’s what it takes to finish a project on schedule. We also don’t hesitate to pull in extra developers if we need help to hit a deadline. It’s important to build relationships with trustworthy freelancers who you can call on if you hit a wall and need to keep projects on track. And don’t delay making that call if it looks like you could use a helping hand.

4. Identify Who’s Causing the Holdup

   Project delays that come from the client can be frustrating, but you can’t force them to get you the information you need to move forward. Clients are usually fully aware when the holdup is on their end, but when they’re not, you need to be ready to explain what you need to continue the project — without assigning blame or pointing fingers.

   I like to give clients an example of what the next step will be once they get us the missing information: “All we need from you is the content and the one graphic for the landing page, and then we can build the page within 24 hours and get it to you for approval.” That way the client knows what they’re missing out on because of the delay on their end — and what they need to do to get the process moving forward again.

5. Track Project Communications

   We use a project management system to keep clients informed and to track any issues that arise. Anyone on the project can log in and see how it’s progressing. There are a few clients who prefer to communicate directly through email, and we accommodate them as well, but we do try to push clients to use our ticketing system to keep us informed of what they need.

6. Work With the Client to Solve Problems

   Phone calls and emails are good for telling clients what they need to know, but screen share technology is a great way to show them what you’re talking about. We’ve used screen sharing to identify problems in websites that we just couldn’t quite solve over the phone. We also use Usersnap, which allows clients to mark up a live site and provide feedback on how the project is progressing. Open, honest communication is vital for agencies working with clients. They hired you because they like your work, and are eager to see results. Keeping them in the loop can go a long way toward managing challenges if they arise.