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About Me/ShireWorks
 

I’ve been creating websites for over 10 years. While I have a Bachelor Degree in Fine Arts (BFA), I am entirely self-taught when it comes to web development. All the websites I create (as opposed to “maintaining” – like Little Bear’s site), I create entirely from scratch – all original designs, logos, layouts, illustrations, etc. I work entirely on my own, from start to finish, so I am able to significantly underbid just about anyone short of a high school student. I prefer doing smaller sites because I can totally immerse myself in the project and complete it in a short period of time, with few maintenance issues.  I had a previous career developing and testing proprietary financial surveillance systems at a very high-profile Wall Street company.
     
  

Price Quote
  Depending upon how elaborate you want to get, my best quote for a basic 7-12 page website is roughly $1000. I don’t require anything fancy like a contract – I simply require liking the client, having confidence that the association will be happy and symbiotic, and trusting that they will honor any agreement we make. I basically create original, streamlined, well-designed, seemingly simple sites that are seriously affordable. I prefer to work on a fixed-bid basis – it’s simpler, and doesn’t monkey so much with my design mojo!!! Please Note: the better prepared the client, the more I am able to focus on the design end of the process, and thus I am able to decrease the website price! This I why I so strongly emphasize that potential clients read this Client Prep page fully!
     
  Ad-Hoc Design Rate
  All non-fixed-bid website maintenance, print ads, and graphic work, etc. is performed at a rate of $25/hr. It is recommended that updates, changes, etc. be bundled together in one-hour increments to make the best use of time.
   
  Site Ownership
  I strongly believe that the client’s site is theirs. I prefer that you have the same access to your site/server as I do. Anything I create for you is yours for all eternity (whether it's the site itself, text, photos, logos, illustrations, or videos I may create) to use however you want, no holds barred, no limitations, no licensing issues, copyrights, etc.
     
  How I Work Best
  As respects the average web project, once I get all the materials and a good sense of direction from a client, I discuss and mock up a few design options, then go into my design cave and emerge 1-2 weeks later with most of the sight fully intact and functional. My best clients are those who have seen what I can do, like it, and once they hire me, they lay low and let me do what I do best. I should also note that I am a confirmed night owl. My favorite work hours are about 8PM to 7AM. So I'm not terribly fond of early morning conference calls or meetings, unless it's important. 10AM or later is ideal! I prefer email correspondence, not only because it's ideal for reference & traceability, but because it also forces folks (especially me!) to be both articulate & succinct.
     
 

Domain Name/Hosting
 

Aside from being certain that I can offer what you’re looking for, the first thing I need to determine is whether a company/domain name has been established. If a new domain name needs to be registered and “parked” on a web server, the initial cost is about $100 for 2 years of domain registration, and 1 year of high-end professional webhosting (meaning: when you’re having an issue at 3:00AM, a live, American, technocrat answers the phone and helps solve the issue!) The client pays for this, and I walk him/her through the process via phone.

All the websites I create from scratch are powered by:
In the spirit of full disclosure: I receive a small compensation for each new website registered and/or webhosted by IPOWER. The reason I so staunchly recommend this company is predominantly because when I am (or a client is...) having an issue at 3:00AM, a live, American, highly-skilled technician answers the phone in short order and helps quickly resolve the issue - with a genuine smile in their voice no less! Additionally, they provide an abundance of really great statistics and other bells and whistles that truly help the savvy business owner track even the most minute details about their visitors: what pages are the most popular, where each visitor is from, peak visitor times, etc. When creating temporary or password-protected pages, I have even track exactly when a client reviewed documents I put together for them (in one case, I even knew when the very high-profile Caribbean politician reviewed a project document!) It is genuinely all these reasons, and more, that I have been a loyal webmaster using IPOWER since 1999.
     
  Shopping Carts
  If you intend to sell products, I'd put together a list of options and software/hosting requirements. Some shopping cart software programs are provided for free by the respective webhost, and accommodate a specific number of products, with minimal bells & whistles. You also may need to obtain an SSL protocol to protect client information if you get into shopping online, and additionally procure a PayPal account.
     
  Client Materials
  I love when clients have “stuff”; text, brochures, one-sheets, photos, videos, testimonials, logo (this can often take as much thought & time to create as the website), etc. I love to have all the material a client is ready/willing to give me (preferably on a 2-8GB flash drive or if dealing with a large quantity of videos and high-resolution photos, an external drive). As I review the material, I’m looking at it from a variety of perspectives: 1. Ascertaining expressive, succinct descriptions of what/how you do what you do. 2. Extracting the most visually captivating material you have, and/or that can be newly created via photos or video. 3. Organizing the material in the best possible way to encourage & inspire visitors to stay as long as possible on your site. 4. Provide what the visitor most wants/expects/hopes to see & know about your business.
     
   Your Favorite Sites
  I ask all my clients to forward several favorite websites, and tell me what you like about them: is it the colors, layout, navigability, free-form style, professionalism, edginess, etc… what makes you like it? Even pages ripped from a magazine help me better understand what appeals to you.
     
   Meeting
 

While not absolutely necessary (e.g.; I have never met my MasterTrain client, my largest commercial client to date, located in San Antonio, TX), if you’re close, I’d prefer to meet, and chat in order to listen to all your ideas, see what your budget is, and get a sense of your own look, feel, style and energy so that I can translate this into your site. If you wish to go forward, I like to get 50% up front, and the rest upon final approval and/or completion.
   
   In Closing
 

Please let me know if you have any questions about the above, or about any of my sites.  I genuinely look forward to hearing from you!

  Regards,
 
  Sharon Smith
  smiths@shireworks.com