Sun 16 Mar 2008

Boston Globe Article from April 1 , 2007

Posted by Milo Caruso under Web Development , Publicity
No Comments 

Web-design freelancers may be best bet

By Cindy Atoji, Globe Correspondent | April 1, 2007

Henry Stimpson may be in the public relations business, but even he was having trouble getting the word out about his marketing company.So the Wayland consultant turned to the Internet. But neither a do-it-yourself website on America Online nor Web pages built with pre-formatted templates from a hosting company fit the bill. That’s when he hired Milo Caruso, an East Falmouth web designer.Stimpsoncommunications.com has now attracted new clients, helping Stimpson expand his reach beyond New England. “It’s kind of a no-brainer,” he says. “If you’re serious about business, it’s something you need to have.”In a Web 2.0 era, whether it’s promoting a small one-man shop like Stimpson’s, sharing photos with friends and family, selling crafts, or exhibiting an artwork portfolio, a website provides global reach and 24/7 accessibility. But many entrepreneurs and individuals don’t have the time or patience to set up their own sites — nor do they have the resources to hire a big Web design agency. That’s when independent freelancers — who have multiplied by the thousands — can offer affordable services.

But choosing a web designer can be confusing. Your hacker cousin might be able to throw a few pages online, but building an attractive, fast-loading, user-oriented, modern website takes an understanding of aesthetics as well as technology.

“There are designers all over the country, some of them talented and some of them not,” says Sue Jenkins, author of two books on Web design and proprietor of Luckychair Web design studio in Little Rock, Ark. “It’s important to sift the wheat from the chaff .”

Start your search on citywide job board listings such as Craigslist.org or art associations like the Boston Chapter of the Graphic Artists Guild, Boston.gag.org. You can post ads and ask for project bids on sites like FreelanceDesigners.com, Guru.com, or ELance.com.

You’ll find a range of backgrounds, but ultimately “what you want is the complete package,” says web designer Caruso. “Someone who can help you not just with the design, but also with web content and development, database creation, web hosting, maintenance, and Internet marketing and promotion.”

Check for references and Web portfolios, avoiding designers who take a cookie-cutter approach or who have made pages that seem to lack functionality — links that don’t work, pages that take forever to load, navigation systems that don’t make sense.

“Know what it is that you want,” says Boston business marketing strategist Susanne Goldstein of the Accelerator consulting services. She recommends showing designers a list of favorite sites “like tearing out examples of a magazine to show a home decorator.”

And just as it’s not wise to go to a tax accountant without the proper paperwork, likewise, a web designer is dependent on a client for all the materials necessary for posting online, including text, photos, and graphics, as well as an idea of color scheme, layout, and interactivity.

“Think about whether you want animation, music, QuickTime movies, downloads, shopping cart, pop-up windows, close-ups views, downloads,” says Jenkins.

Expect to pay a flat rate for the project, anywhere from $500 to $5,000, depending on the complexity of the site. Be sure your written contract covers payment schedule, final completion date, and a detailed description of the work to be done.

And once it’s up, Caruso advises that you “give it a good browse, and then, more importantly, have as many eyes as possible look at the site. When you are very involved with a project, you may not be able to really notice the obvious mistakes.”

http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2007/04/01/web_design_freelancers_may_be_best_bet/

 

Wed 22 Nov 2006

Why Have A Web Site?

Posted by Milo Caruso under Web Development
No Comments 

One of the first things that a potential client will ask me is “why do I need a web site”? There is always a temptation to simple say “because your competition does” but this is a real cop-out of an answer. The real reason is manifold but the most important in dissemination of information.

Whether you are selling cars, furniture or just wanting to get an idea out there for general consumption, the web is a wonderful and far reaching way to do just that. For a fraction of the cost of traditional advertising and publishing you can craft a solid and if need be verbose web presence to let the world know what you have to offer.

The web, when used in conjunction with traditional media can be an even more powerful tool! A well crafted and designed print ad can simply be a teaser for a much more robust web ad. To put it simply, you can use your print advertising to give an intriguing hint about what you want to disseminate and once you have the reader hooked you can real them into your web site to see the full breadth of your offerings. By doing this effectively you can cut your print advertising costs AND get more information to your customer base!

 

Tue 22 Aug 2006

Open Source vs. Proprietary

Posted by Milo Caruso under Web Development
No Comments 

There are some topics that can really get techie types going. The Open Source (OS) vs. Proprietary (Prop) is one of them. In the one camp you have the OS advocates that will compile Linux to run on their dishwasher and on the other you ave the Prop fanatics that think all things OS are inherently evil. Even the Prop crowd has some issues with itself ala Apple vs. Microsoft. For my part I think that a balanced approach between the two is the best approach. I thoroughly enjoy developing in PHP with the OS Eclipse Platform’s PHP IDE,  Java (Prop) in the OS Net Bean IDE and .Net in Microsoft’s Prop Visual Studio.

I guess my point would be that one should not lock him or herself into a specific mode of development and by extension, mode of thought. I have found that a lot of people who allow themselves to be so wrapped in one to the complete exclusion of the other are also similarly hobbled in the way that they approach the world as a whole.

Blogged with Flock

 

Tue 22 Aug 2006

First Blog

Posted by Milo Caruso under Uncategorized
1 Comment 

Not entirely sure wy but I held off for a long while before I finally decided to do a blog. I think a lot of it was that I wanted to write the code myself, and actually started to. But, I came to the realization that there are a lot of already written blog apps out there AND I started using the browser “FlocK” which enables me to post to my blog as I surf which is a nice feature. I other words, I found a cool new toy that made me realize that writing a blog app, while noble, was a bit less than a good use of my somewhat limited time. Anyway, I will periodically be posting items here for general consumption as they strike my fancy. Good day.