Thread: Need a Good Web Designer. Tips, Names and Suggestions?

My boyfriend is treating me to my own website, so I no longer have to use this MySpace/Facebook/word-of-mouth/agency crap. I'm super stoked!

As most of you probably know, shopping around for a web designer is no easy task - it's about as easy as "shopping around" for your future husband, if you ask me! There are just so many web designers out there, I don't even know where to begin. And so few who really "get" rich, luscious the aesthetic that BDers are going for. That's why I like the idea of a dancer, or somebody who specializes in dance, doing my site.

We're looking to spend a fairly modest amount of money to get me started. No extraneous Flash will be needed, so it should be a simple job. But it has to be pretty.

Are any of you Web designers? Can anyone point me in the direction of somebody who is awesome? Anyone have any good tips for selecting a good designer?

Help!

My boyfriend is one.
tobeythorn.com

I like his website, though it is a lot of Flash. Right now, his portfolio is pretty small, but I have a lot of faith that he could something good for you. He's creative, and he listens and researches what the person wants. He's on the verge of becoming a belly dancer himself (he's at his second lesson).

If you're worried about the distance of your designer, he's Boston-area bound this fall.

As for tips, I'd make sure everything is in a contract (of course). I'd make sure you see a drawing of the layout before your web designer goes through. You should have some sites in mind as examples of what you like (and possibly what you don't like) and be able to say something about what it is you like. Occasionally, my boyfriend has had people who use ambiguous terms. It's much easier to design a website if you know the person hates black text on white background, for instance.

I'd also make sure you like the person's portfolio. It's like picking a tattoo artist or a dress design or belly dancer; if you hate what they do, why would you pick that person?

My husband designs web sites. He did mine and is currently working on a few other dancers' sites. We are going to be tweaking mine a bit more (optimizing, and just generally making it slightly more user-friendly), but I love it! It's Belly Dance by Serafina. He has other samples he can send too, so if you're interested let me know and I'll send you his information!

Serafina

Michelle Joyce has done great work.

I had a great website designed by Samira Tu'ala, a fellow dancer and one of the organizers for the Las Vegas Belly Dance Intensive. She was friendly, professional, attentive and her prices were quite good. Most importantly, I love my new site!

you might want to post the job specs on something like this
Design Quote: Graphic and Web Design Jobs, Bids, Quotes, Leads. Hire web designers, programmers.
or
Custom Web Design and Programming. Freelance Programmers. Outsource Web Development Outsourcing
or
European Freelance Marketplace. Custom Web Design, Programming, Copywriting

and have designers submit quotes and portfolios to you

Originally Posted by Razia

I had a great website designed by Samira Tu'ala, a fellow dancer and one of the organizers for the Las Vegas Belly Dance Intensive. She was friendly, professional, attentive and her prices were quite good. Most importantly, I love my new site!

Um, your site is great, but it is almost identical to Hannan Sultan's. Good thing you guys are on opposite coasts. I wonder if the same CSS template was used...Very strange...

Originally Posted by andalee-oriental

Um, your site is great, but it is almost identical to Hannan Sultan's. Good thing you guys are on opposite coasts. I wonder if the same CSS template was used...Very strange...

It looks similar to a lot of templates I saw on DreamTemplates.com and other sites, when I was considering going the DIY route. I'm almost positive I've seen it somewhere. That's one caveat to using stock templates - somebody else might end up with exactly the same site as you!

Well, I don't think people should hire designers who use open source CSS templates. For that money, you need something original.

I think it can still be original, though. My husband is using Joomla with most of our sites now and we love how easy it is to update them - from ANY computer (as long as it has an internet connection, of course). Sometimes he'll start with a template, but I think he's done a great job customizing them.

Some examples: (these are our sites or family sites - he hasn't taken on new clients in a few years)

Joan Limbrick Medium level of design.

Ambient.us - Download full length ambient albums - dub, down-tempo , space, new age: Very high level of custom design on this one.

Magic Sound Fabric - Home Very customized.

Spiralight Recordings Needs a few tweaks.

Blissive Software - Blissive Software He hasn't gone "all out" with this one, yet. Actually converted it just last week.

Amy's Favorites Still tweaking this one, but you can see how the modules make it easy to organize a lot of info.

Kiyaana Bellydance Performer in Fredericksburg, Virginia Medium level of design.

Welcome to Bellydance Downloads! Really no "design" here, but the modules I can use are perfect for the information I want to provide. Obviously this one has the most potential for looking like another site because it wasn't modified very much.

Hopefully you can balance form and function. My dance site still needs some work content-wise, but I'm happy with how it looks (though I'm sure we'll want to switch it up at some point) and I think it is very functional - the events module is super easy to update and it automatically removes events that have passed.

Originally Posted by andalee-oriental

Well, I don't think people should hire designers who use open source CSS templates. For that money, you need something original.

I agree templates can be a good thing...However, if you are paying good money for a Web designer, then I think you should expect originality...unless of course you hire a cheap designer and you both have discussed that a template will be used.

Bhuzzer Nadirah Johara is doing mine and she is great! It's almost done!

Edited to clarify - the site that I currently have up is a DIY site, NOT the one Nadirah is doing for me!

Originally Posted by danielabellydance

Bhuzzer Nadirah Johara is doing mine and she is great! It's almost done!

Edited to clarify - the site that I currently have up is a DIY site, NOT the one Nadirah is doing for me!

PM'ed ya!

Check out DreamStar Studios! Brian just finished ours and he does great work! Here's our site. It has a link to his.

The Jewels Bellydance Co. | Professional Bellydance Troupe | Bear, Delaware

Originally Posted by bethsoren

Check out DreamStar Studios! Brian just finished ours and he does great work! Here's our site. It has a link to his.

The Jewels Bellydance Co. | Professional Bellydance Troupe | Bear, Delaware

Awwwww I just got off the phone with Brian this morning. He's so nice and so helpful, but the price is way out of my ballpark, being the glamorously unemployed BDer that I am ..cr.:..cr.:..cr.: Maybe when I decide to upgrade.

Your site looks GORGEOUS, though!

Hi Satinworship!

I also do website design. My sites aren't flashy, but I've been told they're clean, simple, and easy to navigate. Here are some that I've done:

Chicago-Elgin Area Belly Dance: Christina King performances and classes --my site
Chicago Tribal Belly Dance : Blue Lotus Tribe --my troupe's site
Tribal Revolution --my troupe's event site
Chicago Belly Dance : Audrey Dances --another dancer's site
Chicago Shimmyfest: Jasmin Jahal --my teacher's event site
The Shire of Ravenslake --totally non-BD related... this is my local SCA group's site.

Mihri, PM'ed ya!

I can't afford to use a web designer, and I do a bit of html without any problems. But our main photog website (Ikonography - Barry Cheung Liverpool Photographer specialising in Wedding Photography. IKONOGRAPHY Wedding Photography - Liverpool Photographers / Liverpool Photographer / Wedding Photographer in Liverpool. Liverpool Wedding Photographer. Legal, Even) (hope google etc see that lol!) needs an upgrade/redesign pretty quick.

We've decided to use a template that gives a splash page with options to go html or flash-based, then a lovely, clean, easy, fast website, ideal for photographers. It costs $100 for the site and $100 for release to host it yourself (otherwise they host it).

It's the "Lucy" website ont his here list:

http://www.bludomain.com/websites.cfm?wcID=2

Gonna save me a lot of time and money - I was amazed that there were such good templates about. The last template I used was from Website Web Hosting AllWebCo Solutions and I was really pleased with that. Very friendly help files which did my html a lot of good. That one's at The Boudoir Book offering personal boudoir photography by an all female team. Boudoir photography (not boudior) based in Liverpool City centre offering Boudoir Photography for real women of ALL ages. The Boudoir book - the best in Boudoir photography (hello again google!). It's been through lots of versions already and I was amazed at the difference the colour makes - it was turquoise and red in a retro stylee before its present incarnation.

Suppose I'm saying that templates can be dead useful cos you get to take control, can amend it when you want to, doesn't take a great deal of skill, and all the testing (which is the pain=in-the-arse bit) has been done. You only have to test your own changes.

The guy who did the current ikonography website charged me £500 and I loved it at first but now I think it's too hard-hitting when we think that we want to push the weddings and portraits more.

Originally Posted by Freddie

I can't afford to use a web designer, and I do a bit of html without any problems. But our main photog website (Ikonography - Barry Cheung Liverpool Photographer specialising in Wedding Photography. IKONOGRAPHY Wedding Photography - Liverpool Photographers / Liverpool Photographer / Wedding Photographer in Liverpool. Liverpool Wedding Photographer. Legal, Even) (hope google etc see that lol!) needs an upgrade/redesign pretty quick.

We've decided to use a template that gives a splash page with options to go html or flash-based, then a lovely, clean, easy, fast website, ideal for photographers. It costs $100 for the site and $100 for release to host it yourself (otherwise they host it).

It's the "Lucy" website ont his here list:

http://www.bludomain.com/websites.cfm?wcID=2

Gonna save me a lot of time and money - I was amazed that there were such good templates about. The last template I used was from Website Web Hosting AllWebCo Solutions and I was really pleased with that. Very friendly help files which did my html a lot of good. That one's at The Boudoir Book offering personal boudoir photography by an all female team. Boudoir photography (not boudior) based in Liverpool City centre offering Boudoir Photography for real women of ALL ages. The Boudoir book - the best in Boudoir photography (hello again google!). It's been through lots of versions already and I was amazed at the difference the colour makes - it was turquoise and red in a retro stylee before its present incarnation.

Suppose I'm saying that templates can be dead useful cos you get to take control, can amend it when you want to, doesn't take a great deal of skill, and all the testing (which is the pain=in-the-arse bit) has been done. You only have to test your own changes.

The guy who did the current ikonography website charged me £500 and I loved it at first but now I think it's too hard-hitting when we think that we want to push the weddings and portraits more.

I have a friend who uses BlueDomain. Her Web site is EmilyAlanePhotography.com. I think those templates are mostly for photographers.

Here is another great one for people who like DIY. They have a ton of templates and if you upgrade, you don't have to have squarespace in your URL. Build a Website - Squarespace

Originally Posted by andalee-oriental

Um, your site is great, but it is almost identical to Hannan Sultan's. Good thing you guys are on opposite coasts. I wonder if the same CSS template was used...Very strange...

Not really strange at all. They are similar because they were both designed by my company, AM Solutions, and Hannan specifically tweaked and changed things to look similar to Razia's site (they are friends, and both were ok with this). I can assure you that both sites are custom, but they ended up being similar because they each had similar desires. Had you seen the original layouts both were offered, you would know how differently both began. Neither of these sites are based on an open source CSS template.

Additionally, both of those sites are integrated with a Content Management System which allows the respective owners to add pages, edit content, create photo albums, and rearrange the menu/navigation system without needing to know html. Our clients can choose from a variety of modules that assist them in meeting the needs of their business. There is more to these sites than meet the eye.

I generally work with businesses that have a fairly substantial budget, between $2000-$5000. I like to do dancer sites because I am a dancer, but they aren't my most profitable market. Bellydancers who want my sites ususally get a pretty substantial discount from my normal prices. Aside from the sites we did for Razia & Hannan, We did the site for Leyla Amir, Egypt National Tours, and we are currently working on a new site for Amaya and the Chronicles.

Originally Posted by princessisabella

Michelle Joyce has done great work.

I'll second that!

Originally Posted by andalee-oriental

I have a friend who uses BlueDomain. Her Web site is EmilyAlanePhotography.com. I think those templates are mostly for photographers.

Ooops yes I meant to say that but got carried away as usual! Had a look at her site, lovely (if anyone else wants to see it, it's EmilyAlane.com) - and Andalee's got a link on it - nice one!

Has there ever been a thread about search engine optimisation? If not, I'll start one - no use having a website if no-one's going to find it eh?

My number one tip - get a content management system!!! I paid to have one put on the back of my original website and it is the best thing since sliced bread. It is sooo worth paying a bit more to be able to update your website at will.

Originally Posted by Freddie

Ooops yes I meant to say that but got carried away as usual! Had a look at her site, lovely (if anyone else wants to see it, it's EmilyAlane.com) - and Andalee's got a link on it - nice one!

Has there ever been a thread about search engine optimisation? If not, I'll start one - no use having a website if no-one's going to find it eh?

I think there's an SEO thread in the Tech forum. This is something I've been researching a lot. I find it funny when dancers say "Everybody finds me on my website! That's how I get all my work."

Yeah....but something has to lead the consumer to your website in the first place, doesn't it?

Originally Posted by jewelbellydance

My number one tip - get a content management system!!! I paid to have one put on the back of my original website and it is the best thing since sliced bread. It is sooo worth paying a bit more to be able to update your website at will.

Yeah, this is the revelation I'm having. I love the idea of updating my content on a regular - if not daily - basis.

Fresh content is what the "spiders" like to eat ..g.:

I have been thinking about getting rid of my old website too and going to a more personalized one. But how much $$ are we talking here?

I think it really depends on what kind of site you're looking at. My boyfriend's current client is paying him $800 for a site. I think it involves some Flash, the installation of a content management system, and some other things.

When you talk to your site designer, you should be able to get a good estimate. Just make sure you have a clear idea of what you want upfront; my boyfriend has had clients tack on lots of extras, and they were surprised when he wanted more than his original estimate

Originally Posted by jewelbellydance

It is sooo worth paying a bit more to be able to update your website at will.

the best cms imo is joomla. free & easy. just need a msql data base & s/ftp access to hosting. don't let anyone charge you a lot of $ for these. a simple one can be installed in under an hour.
look into
Joomla!
or
PHP-Nuke
or if you are a little more tech savvy & have admin access to your webserver
Plone CMS: Open Source Content Management

some hosting companies have free auto propagation for a cms through your shared hosting control panel. you don't even have to install it.
Browser Update Page
Web Hosting - Shared cPanel Linux Web Hosting

throw a template over it and you're done. spend the $ on customizing the template, not something your hosting company will provide you for free

no offense meant to web designing bhuzzers

Sabrina's right on the money. In my day job, I run a corporate website for an international company. A CMS is waaaaaay better, even if you thi k you won't be updating your website very much, because you should be able to update it yourself.

I can't stand it when a web designer creates a website for a flat rate, but then charges you out of the nose afterwards to update the website, such as changing an email address or embedding a YouTube video.

A good designer will empower you to administer your own website once it's launched. You should expect to pay them a few bucks for tune-ups to patch software and handle anything you yourself can't figure out.

Stay away from Flash. Flash, IMO, is going the way of the dino, and if you ever have the world's prettiest, flashiest website, it doesn't help you any good if no one can find it because Flash isn't accessible. That means Google can't crawl it because it can't find any text to index.

The first BD Evolution website Jillina had up was all in Flash, and now they finally have a much more usable, and functional (and pretty!) BDE website based on Joomla. I am sure their Google ranking improved considerably because of the change, as it all has to do with search engine optimization.

I see this again and again on belly dancer websites, where entire menus, text, and charts are actually pictures, not text. Google can't crawl a picture. If you stick your belly dancer name in a pretty font as a picture on your website, chances are, Google won't be able to "find" you as easily if someone looks you up because pertinent information isn't in plain text (in HTML).

I hope that makes sense . . . lemme know if you have any questions. :)

Lis

My web designer Sean bigashdog.com did an awesome job.