Why You Shouldn’t Barter for a Web Site

Although I believe empowering yourself with website building knowledge first. you might think this might go against my blog entry on barter earlier this week, I recommend against bartering for web work.

The only thing I can think of comparing bartering for web work for is like being married and not in love…. really truly not in love.

My family traded website work for our gallery to a designer that owed my uncle money. Since it was barter, the web site work was always the last thing on his “to-do” list. When it was finally finished two years later, it was already time to update it. Guess what? He didn’t have time for that additional work. Can you imagine the frustration of having to explain to a potential gallery or venue that you have a web site, but it isn't up to date?

Bite the bullet. Gone are the days when you had to either learn html, a difficult program or depend on a web-designer to build your website. If you can use the cut-and- paste feature on Micrsoftword you can build, manage, and update your own website on your schedule, not some web designers! Now, almost every hosting company has a free web site building program that is easy to use.

I recommend Yahoo Sitebuilder or Mac Website builder because those are the two that I’m most familiar with. Both are free programs that allow you to build a website for free. Hosting is now as little as $12.95 month. With programs such as this, there is a very minimal learning curve and if you want to add Paypal buttons, audio, or video it’s simply a matter of cutting and pasting these components into your website. The best thing about Sitebuilder is that it comes with a 24/7 toll free help number.

Social Media VS Web Sites 101 and a half

An interior decorating boutique approached me in October about helping them with their web presence. With the economy still face down they felt that having a web site would help them bring in more customers for the Holiday season. They also wanted my advice on a Facebook Fan page. The gallery has no web presence at all – no website – no Facebook page – nada – zilch – goose egg!  If you Google them, the only thing that comes up is their Yahoo Yellow pages entry.

I had them fill out one of my Website Building Helpers and then had an honest sit down with them. Here was the gist:

1) NPR reported in November that according to projections retail sales in stores would be down 1% and retail sales on-line would be up 6%. Does a web presence affect sales? No doubt. Yes!

2) A web presence is more than a website or a Facebook page. A web presence includes everything that comes up when you Google your name. This includes: Your website, blog, articles that have appeared in print, on the radio or on TV, social media profiles on Twitter, Facebook, My Space, Linkedin, etc.

3) A website takes up to 6 months to start establish. A Facebook presence takes up to 3 months to establish before a “Call to Action,” is effective.

4) The boutique wanted to pay someone to create a website. I recommended against the website and instead told them to take the money and hire a teenager to maintain a blog and a strong presence on Facebook and Twitter presence.

Have things changed for you in terms of how you use your own website? If so, I’d love to hear from you.