Freelance SW Designing...getting started advice needed.

Hello everyone..I have been using SW since 2001Plus was out, and just
bought my own seat of SW, and am wanting to do some freelance design
work for people or companies.

I have updated my website for some examples of my work, I offer CNC
Programming for lathes and Milling, Progressive die and Plastic
Injection mold design (I am currently a moldmaker with 20 years Exp in
Florida).

Any input would be greatly appreciated...I cna change the website
layout for better if need be...thanks

www.cdignition.com

 

the chassis in the first picture is going to be receiving a big-block
chrysler engine. good ol' bob z. has a soft spot in his heart for
big-block chryslers...

:~)>

bob z.

 

Text on main page way too large. On MachinedParts page text is a little
too small. Links page background too difficult to focus on . . . makes
my head hurt to look at it. Do some research into "meta name" portion
of html source code -- your keywords belong there and can help you be
more visible to Google (and other search engine) searches.

Take with large grain of salt, as I'm no expert at Web design, as
evidenced by my own site.

www.h2omarkdesign.com

Mark 'Sporky' Stapleton
Back from the dead
(It may be Easter, but draw no parallels)

 

Agree, text on website is way too large.

If you're looking for a cheap WYSIWYG website editor, I can highly recommend
Antenna Web Design Studio www.stormdance.net at US $49 it's a bargin. Far
less complicated than the likes of Dreamweaver or other high end editors.

I did my website with this software, it took me just a few days to become
familar enough with it to create my site and I know the one below was done
in Antenna as Jonathon, a regular here, recomended Antenna to me.

http://www.jjstedman.co.uk

John Layne
www.solidengineering.co.nz

 

Ooops forgot also did my partners website www.dianakalkan.com

John Layne
www.solidengineering.co.nz

 

For a minimal amount of money you can get a company like Site5 to host
your pages. They have some super easy interfaces for creating
standardized webpages with technologies like Mambo and Joombla. Do a
search for mambo and you will find some example pages. Super easy to
update and super easy to install through a host like Site5. Setting up
on your own = Nightmare. I tried.

The best part is that they look really professional which helps a lot.

 

When it comes right down to it, you probably aren't going to get a lot
of business from your website, even if it's professionally built. I
would try to make it look nice, but don't lose a lot of sleep over it,
especially if your business is at all dependent on geography.

I get no new business because of my website. Maybe that's because the
site isn't that great, but I've got all the work I can handle from other
sources (word of mouth, user group contacts, etc). People do go to my
site to check out information about my business, but new customers don't
make decisions based on it. I think the best things you can do to find
customers are:

- create a good relationship with local software resellers (who will
refer your service to their customers)
- create a good relationship with local machine shops
- contribute positively to local user groups
- develop expertise in a niche

Good luck

 

Ok, great input.... I use Frontpage 2000 for website design, it is real
easy to use, pretty much drag and drop, easy.. I will update the
sizes of text, and fix the links page(I will add to the links also, as
it is pretty barren,lol.)

Now, as for getting work, what would be the best type to look for??
Machine shops that need design help? I can pay freindly visits to local
shops, and maybe give them a small Info sheet about my services
available, and how to contact me....Is this the right tact?

Im in Sarasota, about an hour south of Tampa, and we dont have much of
a User group here...although I understand Tampa is getting one soon.

My VAR is in Tampa...I'm not sure how mch they can help me
either,lol..

thanks for the input..I appreciate it..I learn alot from this group.

 

Ok, I updated the website a little bit.. Fixed the links, and added a
few, and also fixed the fonts.. Should be better.

 

We live an hour and a half from the nearest user group, in Portland, and
make it to about half the meetings. It's usually worth the drive for the
things we learn. I don't know how well it will work for getting work, but we
have a fair amount of work done for us by shops in Portland. Mostly mold
work, some fixtures, not much general maching, which we can get done
locally.

Our VAR is also in Portland. I think it just depends on how good your VAR
is, how good your relationship is, and how far away people are willing to
send the type of work you do best.