If you are an entertainer, I can create a site utilizing multimedia such as video and audio clips of your work, touring schedules, interviews and much more. I can even host live, moderated celebrity chats with you and "the world" on your web site. We have written special software to make this possible. It's a great way to connect with fans in a very personal way, and is great for keeping up the interest level on your site.
Part of the problem I have seen with sites run by companies for an individual entertainer, is their lack of attention to needs OTHER than "selling the goods". In other words, you go to a celebrity domain site (celebritynamehere.com) and what you usually see is only the commercial side of what the celeb is doing. They may have their CD's or videos being sold on there. Usually, these sites are devoid of any "fun" things for the user to experience, containing little or no in-depth info on the person or their history. Unless a new CD, movie or other project is being sold, these sites stay static. What happens is that the fans, the BUYING PUBLIC and LIFE-BLOOD of sales are sent away to the sites run by the dedicated fans, where there is usually nothing to buy. Why? Because there they find a fun, ever-changing site with lots of good in-depth info with rare and unusual materials not easily found elsewhere. You see, a well-run fan site has the potential to bring in the money-spending public whereas your standard business site only captures a few people here and there and rarely brings people back for more. A site must be well-maintained and forever changing.
Through my years of experience making popular fan sites, I can offer you the best of both worlds. The key here is to offer the public a domain name site which is easy for the celeb to rattle off in public (again, yournamehere.com), which has all the elements of a fan site (rich and hard to find materials that are rotated regularly) COMBINED WITH the commercial side (ability to promote and sell whatever you are doing at the time), all written from the perspective of the celebrity. In doing it this way, you find that people are excited to be on your site because you are GIVING THEM WHAT THEY WANT, hard to find, timely information "from the horse's mouth" as it were, something your average fan site does not have access to. The more participation by the celebrity themselves in terms of brief but regular communication through the site, the more loyal the fans become to you, your site and your projects. If you never "show your face", people figure they shouldn't care if you don't care. Again, they leave and don't come back. A small amount of personal attention goes a LONG WAY in terms of site profits in the long run.
As you might guess, it is no easy task combining all of these elements. I feel this is why others doing celeb sites don't usually even offer a maintenance option for their sites - it's WAY too much work for them to keep up with anything above and beyond very rudimentary changes. Because I feel strongly about making a celeb site work, I offer to maintain a site for a monthly fee. This includes updating your site by adding/changing text, images, etc., checking the site twice a day to make sure it is up and running, answering mail if necessary and making full backups regularly to tape & CD for disaster recovery. Think you'll just hire a kid to do your site, then expect he/she will maintain it for you? If this is not their chosen profession, it's not gonna happen because the dedication just isn't there and the novelty soon wears off. I know this because I get people coming to me saying they have been left stranded with no help maintaining their sites after the person that threw it together turned out to be a fly-by-night who ran off and found more fun things to do.
Your is money well-spent on maintenance done by me. Remember, your site is a 24/7 multimedia, interactive ad reaching people around the world bringing them back for more and more because there is always something new and fresh happening on it. No one can maintain the site as well as the person who created it.
I am also sensitive to the privacy needs of high profile people. You can always trust me to only share information with your fans that you have previously authorized. I have been entrusted by all the celebrities and their families involved in celeb sites we have done to always represent them in a positive light with dignity and respect. I maintain high standards on the password-protected, moderated message boards I have, making sure everyone follows the strict rules we have - you will find NO fighting, flaming or negativity on our celebrity site message boards. Message boards are also a great way to keep visitors returning to your site.
Remember, a site designed by me will NEVER have pop up ad windows or unnecessary java/bells and whistles that turn people away when they can't get the site to "work" when visiting. Just clean, elegant, hand written code which is tested to look and perform identically on all 3 major browsers and Web TV.
Bottom line: My priority is using my experience and expertise to help you make money and gain exposure for you and your projects or business. For more about my philosophy, check here.
Dog Showing/Breeding/Handling Sites
Present your showdogs on a professionally designed site utilizing clickable pedigrees, photos and even video clips for the whole world to see! Have you found yourself saying "I really want to make my OWN site, it can't be THAT hard" (but you never seem to get the time to learn how)? Sure, you can try and upload some photos and text into a canned web page template offered by some ISP's, but these templates generate huge and unnecessary code which slow down your page's load time and crashes some people's browser. An auto-generator will create in excess of 300 lines of code to make one page. To achieve the same "look", I can create the page in 30 lines. Who cares? Your web visitors do - shorter code means fast, no-wait load times and no crashing for them, period. Additionally, these canned templates are poorly designed, offer no "original" options, and just plain do not produce sites that look professional.
The one-time investment you make in having a pro design your site will save you money in the long run and serve as a source of great pride in presenting "the fruits" of your hard work in raising dogs, past and present. No more classified ads to pay for which can be $20-40.00 per month just for a few lines of text in national all breed dog magazines (and that includes no photos, nothing but text!) Additionally, many people have slowed and even stopped advertising in their high-cost breed magazines since so much more information is able to be conveyed on a personal web site - the information can be changed as the need arises on a web site, which is not something you can do in a bi-monthly or quarterly magazine (compare the $85-100+ for a one page ad in a breed magazine to the pennies spent presenting many times the amount of information on a site over time). A web site can also keep your show wins up-to-date unlike breed publications! Your site is a living testament to the commitment you have to doing the very best you can do, just like the commitment you have to your dogs themselves.
Again, a site designed by me will NEVER have pop up ad windows or unnecessary java/bells and whistles that turn people away when they can't get the site to "work" when visiting. Just clean, elegant, hand written code which is tested to look and perform identically on all 3 major browsers and Web TV.
Many of my customers have also delighted in the instant gratification a live webcam on their web site has brought them. Can't wait to show a fellow breeder the new litter of puppies that just arrived? Simply turn on your webcam, have your friends (anywhere in the world) log onto your web site and within seconds, they are seeing you and your puppies live! It's also excellent for showing prospective buyers dogs that you may have for sale. I have even heard of an experienced breeder showing another one how to tube feed their puppies over the webcam while on the phone at the same time - now THAT'S an example of how practical a live webcam can be!
Showdog handlers can use the web to show prospective clients their facilities through photos of their kennel, motorhome, etc. There can also be descriptions and photos of the handlers' accomplishments, contact info, show brags and anything else that they feel is pertinent to their business. There are very few well-designed, detailed handler sites on the net, most being merely "business card" sites which convey little information about the handler. A professionally designed handler site will definitely "stand out" among the crowd as well as gain the trust of prospective clients who will see that the handler cared enough to present him or herself in a professional manner through a great web site.
 Standard Business Sites
I am committed to a strategic approach to building your company's identity on the Internet. For the first generation of corporate websites, it was enough just to be there.
Now, more companies recognize that being online is not enough. They are taking a more critical look at their websites and realizing they need to develop a complete and effective web presence - one that promotes the company's goals and ideals in the same way that traditional media advertising has always done - it has to earn its keep. Your website must work as hard for you as any employee on the payroll. If it represents you well, visitors will see this as a positive reflection on your company or organization as a whole. Likewise, if it presents an image of disorganization or lack of professionalism, then that's the picture you've painted of yourself to the world. Whatever your needs are, I will work with you to develop a clean, great looking business site for you at a reasonable price.
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