Request for Suggestions ...

[hawklady]

My little one-person consulting business needs a website to make some potential clients and certification groups happy. Let's not get into the whole ridiculous judgemental "What do you mean you don't have a website/Facebook/Twitter/blog/Skype - how can you possibly call yourself a REAL computing business?" bull and simply say that: after due

Comments

[mdlbear]

You might want to take a look at the site I put up when I was job-hunting; it has links to my linked-in profile, my resume in two different lengths and multiple formats, and a portfolio.

No frills -- no Javascript, only a little bit of CSS, and created with a text editor in raw HTML.

http://stephen.savitzky.net/

[hawklady]

Thanks!

[otherdeb]

I did a site with Hostgator via GoDaddy, and it looks pretty good. Still needs some work, but it you want an idea of what I put up, feel free to go look at otherdeb.net.

[hawklady]

Thanks - that's really useful!

(and I mean that honestly, not in a sarcastic way)

[otherdeb]

Not a problem - I had some really great mentoring about how to gather the info and put it together - willing to share if you want/need.

[elisel]

I don't have the slightest idea how to put together a website, but when I look at someone's site (and whether or not they have one DOES affect whether or not I choose to give an unknown entity my business) I want to know the type of work they do, some idea of pricing (marketing folks may have a different opinion on this, but *I* feel much safer knowing I'm shopping in the right ballpark), examples of things they've completed, a brief statement of work ethic (this doesn't have to be deep and moving, but is a good place to mention how often you usually communicate with clients)... I'm drawing a blank too. I wouldn't necessarily look for a resume on a freelancer's site - I think you could include a link, but more as an appendix than as the main fare that a site visitor is going to digest

[hawklady]

Thank you for the thoughts

[elisel]

Rant away! I support your rant and I'm glad you've managed to ping some of the skeezy sites. I wish more people thought like you!

[hawklady]

Those "skeezy sites" are about 90% of the IT recruiter-headhunting-contractor-middleman sites.

The vast majority are one or two people operating out of an apartment, a MailboxesEtc, and if they are a bigger company, it's because they are the US "presence" for their brother's company in India. In which case their real business goal is to attempt to get companies looking for talent to outsource to their India contacts.

It's sort of weird being the Token American, the one they retained only because the client insisted on me specifically, and then they latch onto it as proof "See we do hire local!"

Personally I have no problem with a business operating out of an apartment and a MBE box. It's when their website is splattered with pictures of a building in an office park and a multicultural staff of dozens (stock photos carefully selected for maximum diversity while being minimally offensive) that I get the twitches.