Starting a consulting business. Can I get some feedback on my new site?

Starting a consulting business. Can I get some feedback on my new site?(appraptor.com)

32 points by tahoecoder 13 years ago | 49 comments

Drop the gmail email address. You have your own domain; use it.

I know HN is hugging this site to death right now and the present load is atypical, so I won't comment on the performance because this isn't a real world issue. (Curious, why did you choose Apache/PHP when you appear to be a Ruby/Rails developer? It's been a while but Nginx/PHP-FPM was always a better bet for high loads.)

Your strongest call to action is the freebies thing, but that's incongruent with the purpose of the site: to get people into your sales funnel. Make your "hire me" your most prominent thing and drop the "open source freebies" thing completely. By all means list your open source projects, but they should feature as part of your portfolio. Nobody's going to your site to get something for free, and for reasons I can't articulate, it cheapens your proposition.

Make your contact information easier to find by putting it on every damn page in the header and footer, and if appropriate in the middle of your page too. Make it stand out too because if I want to contact you I don't want to be playing hide and go seek with your phone number.

If you're able to link to live versions of the apps you've created, do so and make those links so obvious your mother would find them. The (+) icon makes me feel like I'm going to add something to something, not open up a drop down menu. Just put them as a row of links under the description rather than hiding away these important links. Follow the mantra that your visitors are stupid and tired when designing, even if they're actually bright and caffeinated. Also make sure you don't open any external links in same window/tab.

Having said all of the above, it's a nicely designed site.

Going off topic, the screenshot on http://www.mycelial.com/ is blurry as hell. I don't know if this is intentional, but it bothers me quite a lot.

krallin 13 years ago | |

Regarding the load time, using static HTML with a site generator would yield great results here. There really is not reason to be using PHP here.

A great option is to put it on S3 and distribute it with CloudFront.

bradgessler 13 years ago | | |

Yep, take a look at http://middlemanapp.com/ and https://github.com/polleverywhere/shart.

espeed 13 years ago | | |

GitHub Pages (http://pages.github.com/) with a custom domain is even easier.

kintamanimatt 13 years ago | | |

Even that might be overkill. Static files served up by Nginx would do the trick nicely. For a brochure site that isn't going to see anywhere near as much traffic in such a short period of time ever again, a CDN is even overkill.

tahoecoder 13 years ago | | |

Yeah, good call. I wasn't expecting this kind of surge so I didn't plan ahead.

tahoecoder 13 years ago | |

Thanks for the well thought out feedback. Good call on making the "hire me" the focus in the nav. I'll make those changes. Sorry for the performance right now.

kintamanimatt 13 years ago | | |

I don't know when you read this, but I edited my comment repeatedly and it's probably a little different now from when you first read it!

tahoecoder 13 years ago | |

I prefer developing in ruby/rails. I just put this site up on my small linode because I didn't need to do anything dynamic with it. The linode was already configured for PHP so I was lazy and just went with that. Might move it to Heroku after this and perhaps change it to a small sinatra site.

kintamanimatt 13 years ago | | |

Why not static HTML files? I can't find anything on your site that justifies server side processing and in this sense you might be over-engineering. This is your call, though!

Your site is currently a three page site and while I appreciate unrolling would cause a little bit of code duplication, I wouldn't say it's enough to lose sleep over. In fact, you could just make it into a one page site, which might be a perfect fit for what you're trying to achieve.

drewcrawford 13 years ago |

Relevant experience: I am you, except for native iOS dev.

This website is written for another software developer to read. Your primary customer will be a larger (than you) Ruby/Python shop that has more work than it can handle. You will be working closely with other, more trusted-by-management software developers who are sort of vetting you, and may be trying to angle for a hire. These companies are just large enough that they have better lawyers and better paperwork, so disputes can get hairy. Also, they will be protective of the relationship with the ultimate customer/client, so the success of the project really hinges on how well the people above you have captured the requirements. That said, the sales process will be easy and familiar, because you have a career of experience already selling yourself to other software developers.

Is that the customer you were shooting for? If so, good job!

jonemo 13 years ago |

Minor comment on the domain name: "Appraptor" might confuse potential customers into thinking you are an iOS/Android developer. For most non-technical people (potential customers) "apps" are the things you get from the App Store.

On the "hire me" page I suggest including a few pieces of info about the way you work: Do you only work remotely, or are you willing to visit clients on site? If so, where are you prepared to travel to? It also sounds like you are outside the office a lot (good for you!), so how can you be reached? Do you work full time or part time? What size project are you after? What happens after those two months are over, will you be around to support your work if necessary after that time period?

tahoecoder 13 years ago | |

Excellent points. I've mainly been working remotely, but I am also willing to travel to the bay area to visit clients (might even move there soon). I will make some changes to that page to include my skype contact as well.

auctiontheory 13 years ago |

Sierra Perks, Rails, Chrome, Beta, and Pinterest should be capitalized.

"Local restaurants and bars" should not be capitalized beyond the first letter. Use "and" not "&".

Your descriptions intermingle functionality with technology. Might be clearer to break up each one into two paragraphs - what you did, and then how you did it.

Then at some point, read this: https://training.kalzumeus.com/newsletters/archive/consultin...

tahoecoder 13 years ago | |

Thanks for the link. That was a really useful article for me.

fusiongyro 13 years ago |

I think the raptor image and name are a little incongruous with the lickable eye-candy Apple product screenshots below. If I were you, I'd consider going all-in with it and just make the whole design a little more threatening and ominous. You could really go for a Rebel brand archetype. Broadcast that you're hardcore, you charge a lot, and you don't care if you scare away a few clients in the process; they were probably lame anyway. Heavily emphasize the blue/grey of the raptor image, lose the big flat Twitter "get in touch" button, the red, the gawdawful Lobster headings. Throw a motorcycle in there, make your logo look like a tattoo, use an Old English-style font. It would certainly be a refreshing distinction from all the Creator/Magician archetypes going around in this industry thanks to Apple.

I'm just a programmer though, so this thought experiment is probably not worth all that much.

shitlord 13 years ago |

This is all relatively minor, presentation-related stuff:

- Parts of your website are unreadable when I tile my browser (Firefox) so it takes up 1/3 of the horizontal screen space and 100% of the vertical screen space. The "Open Source Freebies" button is truncated and I can't scroll (not even autoscroll) to see the rest of it.

- You should make sure your text has proper grammar. For comments on the internet, nobody really gives a shit, but you're selling a product. You want people viewing your site to see you as a professional, and little things like typos or grammar errors chip away at that.

- The dedication to _why's guide, while nice, doesn't belong in the "Hire Me" section. Consider making a new section for it or something.

Will update this list with more things when I think of them.

tahoecoder 13 years ago | |

Thanks for the firefox heads up. I'll look into that. I'm embarrassed about the grammar issues. Two people have now commented about that. I have been writing a lot of the copy late at night. (part of me was expecting nobody to actually see the site for a while, too. A "launch" of a consulting site is usually 10-15 visits, in my mind)

grey-area 13 years ago |

The most important feedback I'd have is that your website doesn't matter as much as you think it does. It's important to have one, and important that it shows off your talents, but as a consulting business your most important asset will be satisfied clients and contacts in the industry you want work in. So don't worry too much about your website - a simple static site showing off some of your work will be fine as a showcase, would hold up better to load, and doesn't need security updates. If you are busy, you may not update your blog as much as you plan to now :) Likewise demonstrations of what you can do with apps/sites you have created yourself are far less useful as proof than work created for clients (who will spread the word about you).

New clients will come to you as referrals from other clients in the same sector, or because they hired you before, not because they stumbled upon your website or did a google search. They'll use your work for other clients to gauge your competence rather than your website, though they might have a quick look at that too. So the most important step you can take in starting a consulting business is to cultivate contacts with clients and keep them happy - if you have none, focus on getting the first few clients first.

pdevr 13 years ago |

The site loads slow (maybe just for me). Edit: just saw your response to others, ignore this.

I got 15 errors while validating the home page. You may want to make sure it is all valid HTML5.

Nice site, overall. Some pretty neat themes as well. If the themes constitute your whole portfolio, it may make sense to rebrand "Open Source Freebies" as "Portfolio", depending on your situation (type of clients, past experience, etc).

Good luck!

ibudiallo 13 years ago |

Wordpress maybe very easy to use but it can be a big performance hog. Maybe you can try to use a plugin like supercache[1]. I hope this helps.

[1] http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-super-cache/

tahoecoder 13 years ago | |

It's not a wordpress site.

kintamanimatt 13 years ago | |

To the best of my knowledge this site isn't running Wordpress.

oahzd 13 years ago |

The left edge of the bird (falcon?) image you use on the front page doesn't fully go to black. And I'm not entirely sure what the purpose of the bird is other than being a cool image, but I feel like if you just had the texture in the background extend the full way or something similar, that area would be more effective.

Your footer doesn't stick to the bottom on pages that aren't as long eg I'm using a 1920 x 1080 monitor and the about page (http://www.appraptor.com/about/) isn't long enough. Google "sticky footer" and there should be plenty of articles about fixing that issue.

Other than those issues and the ones that other people have brought up, I think it looks great!

plaxis 13 years ago |

As a non-developer looking to hire a developer, I would want to know what specifically you can do. And sometimes I might not know the difference between Java and Javascript. I see that the banner skills transition, but the transition is seamless and probably timed long enough such that people will miss your highlighted skills. Consider adding somewhere your "features" or skills. In fact, the "details" inside each app are more compelling than what's on the front page. Maybe switch and use the mini-pitch to create demand for your skills.

I second the comment on grammar -- says the hypocrite.

Great job!

pseut 13 years ago |

Off the top of my head; looks very nice. A few things jump out:

* I hate the bird

* copy editing:

"it's got" -> "it has" everywhere;

"in a beautiful way" -> "beautifully" (but really, "... It's got a pinterest layout to show the pages in a beautiful way" doesn't seem to add anything except the word 'pinterest' for SEO).

"Sign up and see what perks merchants are offering to members. Simple as that." makes no sense; so... I sign up, and then you'll tell me what I get for signing up?

edit: agree with other comments that you should not use a gmail account; use the domain.

mtowle 13 years ago |

Yes you can. Say we/us instead of I/me for everything. I know there's one of you, and I know you're proud of that. But if I'm a client, fear of lone wolf syndrome may lead me to avoid your company.

shimonamit 13 years ago | |

Just imagine how I'll feel if he says we/us on his site and then I discover in our introductory call that he is a loner. Only say "we" if you can justify it. If you tell me you're networked and have a working relationship with ux/designers/programmers maybe that will fly.

pseut 13 years ago | | |

I'd be fine with that as long as the "hire me" page makes it clear that it's one guy. "We" has a more collaborative feel when describing the projects.

sans_seraph 13 years ago |

Make sure you .stop() those fadein hover menus on the plus sign (+) buttons. If you hover over them multiple times quickly then they bounce back and forth fading in/out. Try something like this: http://justinmccandless.com/blog/Correctly+Fading+in%2Fout+o...

orangethirty 13 years ago |

I help fellow freelancers/consultants setup their marketing. Currently am preparing to launch a product that simply takes the guesswork out of launching this type of business. Since your page wont load, shoot me an email. I'd like to give you real feedback (based on my experience working as a freelancer and working with other freelancers). Email in profile.

stevoo 13 years ago |

Footer : Make sure that the footer always stacks to the bottom. You might not see it on a laptop but a modern desktop with a bit larger screen will

Contact : Add them all in footer. Make it easier for people to find them. Why cant i send you a direct email from your site. Make that happen. Add a phone too if you are serious about this.

Zombieball 13 years ago |

I am not sure if your site is overloaded due to the increased traffic from HN, or if the problem is unique to me, but it took ~30 seconds to finish loading / rendering your homepage on my macbook pro. Perhaps you could look into enabling compression or using a CDN.

Design wise, I like the site :)

Cheers!

tahoecoder 13 years ago | |

Yeah, sorry. In retrospect I should have put this site up on heroku.

nodesocket 13 years ago |

Not a huge deal, but the load time is probably causing some people to turn away. Replace Apache with nginx and use php-fpm. Let me know if you want some help, happy to give you a solid nginx config.

signed0 13 years ago |

I like the design of the site.

- I'd add a redirect from www.appraptor.com to appraptor.com

- The down arrow next to each section looks a bit odd. I would move it before the label.

noonespecial 13 years ago |

It's got a chrome extension that runs concurrently and whenever you bookmarks a site to one of your shared chrome folders,

Should be no "s" on "bookmarks"?

tahoecoder 13 years ago |

Sorry for the slow load times. I put this site on a small linode and wasn't expecting this kind of surge. Trying to optimize apache right now.

timdorr 13 years ago | |

Try dropping CloudFlare in front of it. That should help a bit: http://cloudflare.com/

andyhmltn 13 years ago |

The freebies button is way more prominent than the hire me button and that's not what you want I'd suspect. Try swapping them around.

tahoecoder 13 years ago | |

Yeah, I supposed more people would just be interested in the free stuff so I made it easier for them to find it. My rationale was if somebody liked my work then they wouldn't mind searching a bit more for the hire me link. Perhaps I should switch them, though. It is a business after all.

andyhmltn 13 years ago | | |

That's fair enough! They may be, but I just think the hire me button should be the easiest to find as from your point of view, that's what you want people to click.

vbrendel 13 years ago |

Please don't write "interwebs". It only works when hearing it, not when you read it.

Mistone 13 years ago |

just a quick observation - solid feedback from HN here - way to be folks.

danielfriedman 13 years ago |

why is the only way to contact you through Twitter?

tahoecoder 13 years ago | |

I have my gmail address and cell number up there as well. Guess I should make them more prominent.