You get what you pay for, Photographer’s Edition.

08-17-2008 by Téa Brennan

With so many sites like bludomain, bigfolio, or other template sites selling Flash-based websites for $100-$400, I find myself having to "defend" my pricing to photographers (and other creatives, who, ironically, also charge thousands of dollars for their own work – you’d think they’d be more sympathetic if anything :) ), who either don’t understand why the template sites charge what they do, or even flat out refuse to pay a designer for a bespoke site.

I refuse to compete in the hundred-dollar market and here’s why. First of all, the only reason that Bludomain and BigFolio can sell websites can sell a Flash website for a ridiculously low price is because they are selling on volume. A Flash site with a content management system will cost you at least $15,000 – often much more. But the template guys spread their costs over a hundred people instead of one. Of course, the downside to this is that 99 (or even more!) other people have an identical website!

With a template site, you may get the benefit of a cheap website, but what is the real cost of that? I have browsed many, many, many photographer’s websites, and if you put yourself in the "browsing photographers" position, as most brides are, you’ll notice that they all start to look the same.

In a highly saturated market, a good stand-out web presence can make all the difference. Custom sites will instantly stand out from competitors (from a web browsing point of view)… simply because templates are so common!

My clients have noticed a significant jump in enquiries and bookings, just from having a site that is different from 90% of the other photographer’s sites. Part of it is in the SEO, but I think a big part of it, anecdotally speaking, is that if a bride is surfing through 15 (or 30 if shes particularly obsessive :) ) sites, 95% of which are bludomain sites… I guess that it has a homogenising effect in terms of the experience of the website.

And you are naive if you think that people don’t switch off if they see the same thing over and over, even if the images are different.

Websites are not just a directory of business, but are also an experience, that invoke emotional reactions. They are more like television advertising than, say, the Yellow Pages…and people wholly expect to pay for TV Advertising because it brings results. I guess if I can use an analogy with Yellow Pages listings, its like the difference between having the standard 2 line Yellow pages listing, versus the display advertising with your custom graphics and your look and feel. The display ads will always cost more (often a lot more than you think you can afford), but you get more, and the majority of the time, you get better results.

You ultimately get what you pay for with web design. And when someone next tells a photographer that they can go to istockphoto.com and get a great photo for much less, hopefully that photographer will know how web designers feel about template sites.

How to be a Good Client – post on Shane & Peter, Inc

08-28-2007 by Téa Brennan

I have just contributed a guest post on Shane & Peter’s great business blog. Go here and check it out!

What I have been working on this week…

06-18-2007 by Téa Brennan

I have had a few exciting projects this week, but the main one that I want to tell people about is the new website for Justine Ungaro, an awesome photographer based in Los Angeles. She has been really sweet throughout the whole process, and it is clients like her that remind me why I gave up that public service career.

Click here to visit justineungaro.com

click above to visit the site

I have also done a little bit of tweaking of the main part of this site. Yes, I know, the purists and pedants among you will gasp at the thought of a different design for every page, but for me, it seemed like a nice way to showcase my design ability. Yes, its a little lazy with tables and such, but hey, sometimes, tables just work. So meh :)

Also, because I tend to get all creative with designs all the time, if I feel the urge to redesign something or try a new colour scheme, instead of doing my whole website now I can do a page. Yeah, it breaks rules, yeah, I know, blah blah, but hey…it’s fun, right?

ummm, not much else that I can divulge at this very second, have been doing a fair bit of Lisa stuff and some other things that I hope to announce shortly, but it’s all loads of fun!

I have also been trying to fit in time to practise the piano and learn some new songs… but there just never seems to be enough time.

Oh, and Jules got a toddler bed. I am sad because my baby, right now, is sleeping in a big boy’s bed. :(

Why MySpace Sucks.

05-14-2007 by Téa Brennan

myspace2.jpgOne of my MySpace friends just asked me why I think MySpace sucks. I always thought that it was something that is self-evident and obvious, but the comment made me wonder if I should be clearer about what exactly it is that I don’t like about MySpace.

I guess the reason I don’t like it is for a number of reasons:

1. It isn’t WordPress.

This was the first reason I never really blogged here, because, well, I have been blogging for 10 years. I originally made manual html diary pages, moved to Blogger and then to WordPress. And I have no inclination to change it because WordPress is, well, fantastic.

Why on earth would I step backwards onto MySpace when I already run my own blog on my own domain? These things are not terribly difficult to set up, and, if you have a few bucks to pay a designer (like me), you can have a very cheap solution with your own branding that is much more flexible and has more income potential.

2. It is a programmatic dog’s breakfast

Not only is MySpace “down” more than it should be, the proprietary CSS & mishmashed programming is a nightmare.

The lengths I had to go to just to customise my MySpace to look even moderately tasteful was a whole lot more effort and time than I would EVER spend on a site. You’re just lucky I was bored one day and I need to network.

I am motivated to redesign my MySpace because it is a front for my business and I am a developer. I know what I am doing and it made me want to stab my eyes out with the nearest blunt object. Several times.

3. The interface is counter-intuitive and annoying

In terms of an interface design, it is, well, nothing short of frustrating. Of course, intuitive design and navigation is something that is subjective, but nothing fills me with rage more than skinning a MySpace profile.

All it takes is for one person’s giant glitter graphic to totally screw up your layout. And in an already frustrating navigation, and the often-ridiculously-overcustomised profiles, it very quickly becomes a web user’s brain kryptonite.

4. MySpace is full of Emos and famewhores.

Well, that kinda speaks for itself.

5. Even when a musician or artist has thousands of friends, nobody ever buys anything or even clicks.

It does make me wonder exactly what the point of MySpace is, when I receive so many automated “Add Me” requests and spam comments. Even for the musicians profiles that I have done and added affiliate links or whatever, nobody ever clicks anything.

My position on MySpace for musicians is “don’t bother”. Sure, put a veneer up with some msuic and pictures, but you can have a much better web presence by putting a blog up on your OWN site, with your OWN online mp3 store, and your OWN blog, with fans that will make the effort to visit you.

Whats more, there is no way of tracking your visitors, which, in web marketing, is a crucial part of getting maximum exposure to the maximum number of people.

6. Bulletins are ridiculously overused and abused.

I think that Bulletins should be a premium service that is used purely for broadcasting newsletter-type things, NOT memes about your top 10 favourite types of zip lock bags and to OMG-FORWARD-IT-ON-TO-EVERYONE-OR-YOULLDIE!!!1111!!!.

ITS CALLED A BLOG, PEOPLE! That’s why its there. The Bulletin should be used with discretion.

7. As long as MySpace exists, artists will not be empowered or truly embracing the internet.

I know that it is tempting to call MySpace a revolution for musicians. I actually don’t believe that it is. Besides the massive audience that MySpace attracts (and yes, in marketing speak, sure, its attractive for artists), there really isn’t much that MySpace can do that is any different to anything else.

There will always be a difference between the fly-night fans and your core audience. I believe that MySpace does nothing but encourage people to collect the former.

What musicians need, for income, is loyal fans that will buy their stuff, or pay a subscription for extra privileges.

Investing a couple of thousand bucks in a decent online community will get you further in the long run than MySpace ever will, because the MySpace folks are all about getting themselves exposed and are all about viral marketing.

Sure, it can work, and I am not saying that MySpace is necessarily *bad*, but at the same time, I think artists need to focus less on it and put their energies where it should be — on the communities they HAVE rather than the communities they seek.

All of these ideas are a part of the whole LinkArtist approach to creating a musicians online presence, and it varies from person to person, artist to artist.

8. Stupid Glitter graphics & bots.

Again, something that is obvious. They are annoying as hell.

9. MySpace originally reserved the right to use your content.

The Billy Bragg fiasco has gone some way to remedy this, but there is something to be said about Intellectual Property rights whenever you use a proprietary means of publishing on the web.

For a musician, all they have is their music. For a writer, all they have is their written work And for an individual (even though it may seem that people are willing to sign away anything in the name of fame these days), all you have is your public image.

I know that MySpace did go some way to remedy the situation, and this is from last year, but still, people should ALWAYS BE AWARE of what you are agreeing to on these sites:

“By displaying or publishing (”posting”) any Content, messages, text, files, images, photos, video, sounds, profiles, works of authorship, or any other materials (collectively, “Content”) on or through the Services, you hereby grant to MySpace.com, a non-exclusive, fully-paid and royalty-free, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense through unlimited levels of sublicensees) to use, copy, modify, adapt, translate, publicly perform, publicly display, store, reproduce, transmit, and distribute such Content on and through the Services.”

This means that MySpace could use ANY part of your profile in any capacity, without having to compensate you.

Nice, huh?

There is nothing inherently wrong with MySpace as an idea, or even as a tool on the web. But I do hope that I can encourage artists to break as free from MySpace as possible and spend a few bucks to get it set up right the first time.

It is a necessary evil of sorts, heck, I have a profile and network with it. But at least be aware that there are alternatives that make for a much more positive environment to interact and promote yourself or your business.