Wherein I finish up “what I started Monday”:http://www.methodtree.com/branches/2007/03/riffs-on-southby/; that is, justify my schlepping around a MacBook for five days and find a use for all the notes I took at SXSW.
“Pick your clients. There’s tons of work out there.”
– said someone during Getting UnstuckI’m going to tell you this is true, and you’re probably not going to believe me. Especially if you’re not working for yourself. I heard this a year ago, too, but it gave me no extra comfort when it came time to quit my job and go out on my own. But it’s true, and it’s amazing.
Practically to a person, whenever I told people I was going freelance, they’d first say congratulations, then they’d follow it up with, “I know someone who needs a website. I’ll pass your name on.” Not all of them panned out—in fact, most petered out—but enough of them did that I could hit the ground running when I finally started up.
I feel I’ve been really lucky in that it’s kept up since then. I’ve not had to put out solicitations for work, or scour the Craigslist ads or gig boards for my next job. The work keeps coming from the blessed land of word-of-mouth. I don’t expect it to last forever, but I’ll take it as long as I can.
So what I’m trying to say is, jump in, there’s enough water to keep everyone afloat.
“There are other typefaces available on most computers.”
– said Mark Boulton, during Web Typography SucksI remember when I first noticed this trick. It hadn’t occurred to me to include typefaces in the CSS other than the ones guaranteed to be on everyone’s machine. Then I stumbled across a website set entirely in Comic Sans. After I staunched the sudden flow of blood erupting from my eyeballs, I brought up the code to marvel at what they’d done.
So it’s a neat trick, but I’m still wary to do it. I’m even wary to put a site in Lucida Sans, which is standard on all Macs but nonexistent on PCs. For the simple reason that you’ve got to test every page twice. If a page is going to appear radically different on a good subset of your audience, you better make sure you know exactly how it’ll look and that it passes muster. Most of the time, it’s not worth it to go to all that extra work just to use Goudy instead of Georgia.
“Write content to be read by people, not search”
– said Kellie Mecham, during How to Make SEO and Usability Work TogetherYe, if I could only get the clients to believe it. This has been one of my biggest lessons so far: even though I feel I know what’s best for a client and their site, and even though they’re paying me to provide this service for them, there’s no guarantee they’re going to listen. And I suppose, if I were in their shoes, I’d do the same thing.
It means I’ve got to be prepared. It means that, despite its stranglehold on the title of Most Tedious Aspect of Web Development, I’ve got to attend panels on SEO and read articles on the latest trends. When the topic comes up, I need be able to lay down some Knowledge and nip it in the bud, before we’re suddenly overrun with hacks and shortcuts for a Better Google Ranking Now!
Dear clients: I know you mean well. I want you to succeed as well. Trust Ms. Mecham, whose a pro at this stuff. The best way to a higher ranking is a path paved with good content and satisfied readers.
“Once you have enough users to provide enough income, you spend your whole day writing support email.”
– said Shaun Inman, during Design Aesthetic of the Indie DeveloperOr, “Earning your living from a successful web app is not all Wii and roses, you naive schmuck.”
Now watch as I don’t pay attention and consider doing it anyway.