1. Give as much detail as possible

Okay, so you’ve just registered or purchased a domain and your a designer like myself and you feel like designing a logo & a website design to sell off as a package. You do all the designing and then it comes to selling it off. Firstly before even purchasing the domain, you should briefly think of what the sites features may be? What niche will the site come under or how you plan to monetize the site?

When thinking about this you should write it up somewere and keep it until you have the design etc completed, then when it comes to selling the package add all that additional information in so it gives the buyer more knowledge and ideas of what to do with the website if they buy.

2. File sources

When you design the template or logo wheather it be in Photoshop or another program, you want to let the buyer know which file formats the package consists of. Theres no use in someone buying the package and they want to make additional changes but don’t have the program to do so. Again give detailed information.

3. Offer paid/free changes to the buyer

To further advance your chances of selling, you should offer a paid or free service to whoever buys the package. This meaning when someone buys the package your willing to help in anyway to make changes to the layout or logo so that it fits the buyers needs. This is a great way to get a sale although don’t over charge someone for changes, be honest and give a rough estimate on the changes needed. Obviously if its a huge structural change to a layout needed maybe a mid high $xx is needed although don’t overcharge anyone, it’ll keep you in the good books with buyers

4. Discounted prices on future packages

Offering a discount on anything you know yourself is a great way to get regular and future buyers. But don’t cut yourself short. You don’t want to offer a huge percentage off the next package because you don’t know if the next package will be more expensive or less expensive.

Personally, I’d offer a standard discount of 10% off the next buy for the buyer.

5. File Organisation

When selling the package you don’t want to be selling a folder full of revisions or files that the buyer really doesn’t need. Spend 15 minutes or so sorting out the folder in which your going to sell by organising for example - all .PSD files together, then if the template is coded, get all the images and code sorted into one folder and name it ‘Coded Version’. It saves the buyer so much time and effort trying to find files and also helps you to get in good habits.

Earnablog.com

Win 1200 Entrecard Credits

Earnablog are doing a competition to win 1200 EC’s which will enable you to advertise on the really high traffic blogs. If you don’t know or want to know about Entrecard read my recent short review on it.

To win the competition on Earnablog the basic and only rule there is, is to simple blog about their blog post on it. So here it is.

FreelanceSuite.com

I registered this domain over at GoDaddy and had plans for it to be a blog offering web design support and also offer resources and articles which were web design related. Although like always I have always got something else on which I have to put my time into. So I’ve put this up for sale at Sitepoint and also over at TalkFreelance.

If your interested and want to know more, then please contact me via email.

Kindest Regards

If your a designer and have a creative mind you will always look for ways to spice something up if its rather dull or boring. What i’m talking about is using design to display or showcase something differently. I have a few examples of this on EatFruitPlease. Firstly, theres nothing like a good ol’ change of theme, so over the past couple of days i’ve had a Christmas header which I created, this just obviously to settle the theme of the festive period and always try and keep a smile on peoples faces which it literally does.

Over the next year I’ll do my best to change the header and some other images to create a theme. I personally always check websites I visit regularly for it. If a website changes its theme now and then visitors are always interested in checking back for it. I don’t know if this is just a designer thing but I love visiting websites regularly to notice a change of image or whatever. For instance if its approaching Halloween changing the header to like a pumpkin or whatever sets a theme and tone for the website or blog which attracts visitors.

A different way of introducing design to people is by going that extra bit further with your creative mind. An example of this would be the new RSS image i’m adding to each blog post that I publish. Now I could have simply added a simple rss feed icon, but do you think that would have had the same effect? Personally I don’t think it would, I think the current one gives people the incentive to click it and subscribe rather than having the same old boring feed icon which bloggers see everyday, so spicing it up can have a different interpretation.

Another fine example are Google. If you haven’t noticed before but i’m sure most of you have, Google always change their main Google logo all the time if there is a special event or a special time of the year. This basically just adds to the theme trying to be created.

Imagery and showcasing something creatively can really have a knock on effect on your readers. Keeping them upto date by designing new images and introducing new images can attract new visitors and keep current ones. This article is a short one, but its been written to give designers the urgency to start using their creativity more and give their readers something to look at and enjoy.

Kindest Regards.

Digg It! 

Hello everyone,

The festive period is coming to an end with Christmas & Boxing Day almost done and dusted the new year is approaching. I can’t remember whatthis years goals were but i’ll definitely keep track of my goals for 2008.

• My first main goal is to get fit again and get built up. My girlfriend is a model for a small agency in Glasgow and she needs a male model to do some photography so shes asked me. I’m not poser material although I think the whole process will be quite fun, so my main goal is to feel better about myself and start getting fit again only doing more body building.

• Secondly I am going to go find work. Thats right, I am going to take a year out at university and try gain some experience as a junior designer at a local design firm here in glasgow.

• Thirdly I am going to expand on my skills. I am going to hopefully learn more in video editing such as programs like Adobe Premier Pro, Adobe Audition etc, I’ve done two modules on it in university and found it quite interesting so i’m going to delve into it a bit more. I will try and learn some new design programs aswell like Illustrator.

• And last but not least I am finally going to try and learn to code! Yep valid XHTML/CSS, simply to try and make more money as a freelancer.

Thats about it, over the course of 2008 i’ll be posting on how I personally think I am getting on with my goals. If you could be so nice and leave your comments and what your goals are going to be for 2008, i’d love to know

Hello guys, well I simply couldn’t resist coming on to tell you all what I got for Christmas. Santa left me a good few things and i’m absolutely over the moon with it!

• £1,000 in cash
• Emporio Armani Watch
• CKIN2U aftershave
• Clothes
• Topman Gift Vouchers
• Socks

Thats it really. Didn’t get a Macbook. Boooo! But i’m real happy with what I got, I’ll probably go buy myself one tomorrow :)!

Anyways, have a good yun :D!

Me absolutely rough from last night. Can Santa cure hangovers for Christmas? :p

Hello everyone just a quick blog update to say have a very nice Christmas and I hope Santa brings you what you want. This will be my last post for about a week or so, but keep i’ll keep you posted, no doubt i’ll post quicker than that :)!

By the way, if you’ve noticed already, I’ve taken the blog down on KolaKube, it’ll just be my personal portfolio now, so goodbye blog ;)!

Merry Christmas!

Not done a worthwhile read in a while, so I’ve managed to take a little time out and write a nice little article on Unreliable People. Recently, I have been speaking with a few people and they have been telling me some really sad news and when I mean sad news, its relating to them being so hyped for a new project but its only for a certain person to basically knacker it for them.

Basically, I was chatting to a friend of mine like you do and we were discussing our projects. He asked about mine and I told and him and when I went to tell him he didn’t really seem up for chatting about it. He eventually came around and told me that his coder had basically taken far too long to do the job and was being petty and unreliable at finishing it, which then resulted in him putting his project up for sale.

So why should good projects go to waste because of the ‘reliable’ people we need to make it happen? Thats what I’m here to discuss today. So say your a designer and you’ve designed your website design for a hyped project of yours, but your not a coder so thats were youhave to go next… to find a coder. Finding a coder nowadays isn’t so hard, there are the use of forums, blogs and even the personal websites of these coders.

So what should you look for when trying to find the ‘perfect’ coder? Well there isn’t such a thing as perfect but lets use the word ‘reliable’ again. Firstly, you’d obviously want a portfolio of their work, just basically the same case if it was a coder looking for a ‘reliable’ designer. Secondly you’d probably ask the coder how experienced they are at what they do and then ask for a quote on how much your design or whatever it is that you want coded.

During all this its best to kind of take in how the coder is responding and imagine it as if you were chatting to them in a real life situation. For example you wouldn’t want someone who is dull and boring and replying with one or two word answers, you’d want someone who is cheery, inviting and enthusiastic at what their objective is to do. But if they are like that does that make them ‘reliable’? The coder in which my friend had been let down by has had many reviews from people in which I have personally spoken with. I also know the coder aswell and have had trouble in the past with him… but lets not get into that.

The last and final question that you would ask the coder would be, what is your turnaround time. Now this is a key question to ask and its upto the coder/designer themselves to anticipate and give an estimated time on how long they think they can dedicate to the job and how long they need to complete it. Some of the factors in which the coder/designer would need to take into consideration would be the complexity of the job and covering every aspect of the brief or job to the fullest.

Long Term Relationships

I’ve worked with many people over my time as being a freelancer and I can safely say that long term relationships are so helpful. If you do find the right man for the job, why not stay in touch and start chatting regularly. There are so many advantages of long term relationships and here are some below:

• Simple jobs in which some people might charge $10 for you could ask your long term partner to do for free as a favour. Just think of it this way, all they $10 add up!
• If you have a project lined up and your looking for someone to implement something to it which might cost you a bit of money, again ask your partner for a favour.

It really is down to how well you get along with people and building a strong relationship. I’ve worked with two people over the past year who I stay in touch with and they have done so many favours for me in the past that overall adds up to easily over $xxx.

I have been unreliable…

I personally will admit at times I have been unreliable, but no matter the situation its always good to repay the client somehow. Doing so by offering them my services for a discounted price or even a freebie, this will always help in getting your relationship with a client back on track.

So have you been in a situation were you thought someone was reliable to do the job, but in the end disaster struck? Why don’t you tell me about it, I’d love to hear some of your storys!

Merry Christmas.

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Sign up to my RSS Feed please, I’d be grateful!

Hello everyone,

This post is dedicated to the lame posters who continue to blog post on here but never really leave their name or email? Why do people hide when posting crap? It’s quite funny to be honest :)!

If you own up i’ll send you a free cookie! LOL

Kindest regards,

James

Hello everyone,

I’d like to finally say that I have managed to get that pretty little free time to add some extras to my blog. Firstly you’ll see the feed reader which tells you how many readers that have subscribed and you can also now subscribe using your email address.

So go on subscribe today :-D!