1) Does merely sending out the cheque legally constitute paying me?
No
2) Assuming (hopefully) that the answer to the above question is no, am I entitled to kick up a fuss about the fact they are breaking the 30 day payment terms by not issuing a new cheque pending the potentially lengthy investigation?
You should politely press them to pursue the matter but there's little point at this stage thinking of legal routes. If you did, that would take time and they may be able to stretch this in various ways, including due diligence which may not entirely be in their control.
Presumably your terms have interest built in for late payment, up to you if you wish to charge that.
Can't suggest an outcome without knowing more but the probability is that they will eventually be refunded. Regardless of that, they are still as liable as they were for the payment before the cheque was sent.
Not that much wrong with your questions but unless the business owner expresses a particular interest in technicalities, chances are they don't have any.
You need to spend your time talking about what you are going to do for the business, the bottom line, that's why they are spending the money.
What are the best ways of promoting yourselves? Shall I just bombard agencies with my CV and samples of work?
Depends on the situation. There are places that will need information on you and others where posting a good profile is appropriate, here, wherever but don't make yourself the core of the content.
Make information available online and have this in print if required but remember that nobody buys you, only what you can do for them.
Currently, we receive about 200 submissions a week from web designers, graphic designers, photographers, copywriters, a saturated market. Almost all are deleted without being read, fact of life. The odd one that begins with an appreciation of what is really needed tends to be read.
A specialist designer contacted us about 5 months ago, who clearly understood his role. Client needs and benefits the complete and subtle focus of his submission. We did pass on a little work but no point now, he's too busy. Those who devote themselves to promoting themselves are busy as well, arguing over which park bench they are going to sleep on:)
Does anyone have experience of this and why it has been dropped instantly from Google?
Could be any number of reasons but without knowing the site impossible to comment rationally.
Not sure what you mean by lost pagerank, do you mean green bar type pagerank, which isn't really important but could be an indicator of other issues. Or do you just mean a dip in search results placement.
If the latter, one possible explanation is downtime during the move, from which the site may recover but again, just a guess without being able to check for other issues.
You might reflect on what you are selling. A website is an inanimate object, a business solution is not.
If all your customers want is pages on the web they can send people to instead of a brochure, they can do that for nothing. Should they be looking for ongoing benefit, not least customers, this is altogether different and creating the site is simply a stepping stone.
Many people make the assumption that putting up a website will somehow give this an impetus of it's own. Explain reality to them and what they need to do on an ongoing basis. Don't even think about selling websites, sell return on investment.
That is good advice from Scott, nobody wants to employ, or contract someone without being confident that they are confident.
Would just add that selling services is about meeting need and have never come across a business that as such, wanted a website. This is simply a vehicle.
What they do want is the right image, more custom, repeat custom, increased value in their business etc. Think beyond design until you have the contract, before then you need to explain how you are going to meet their business needs.
One part of this is often building a site that works well with search engines, even if this task may be eventually handed on to a specialist. You won't be popular if half your work has to be redone, or the site is already unsuitably indexed because you configured this badly.
Bear in mind that most business owners spend more time monitoring their bank account than their website. If they believe you will help with that aspect as well as their image, you will be busy. So having spent time learning to build websites, take a year to learn how to make them work for business, time well invested.
As an indication of how absent this thinking is from many designers approach, we have just completed a survey of 250 sites that claimed/believed they were penalised by Google. In reality, there were 3 penalised sites, the rest were penalising themselves.
" My main area of focus is Web-Design, and how in recent years flash has shifted from being a secondary element in a website to one of the main ingredients of a successful site, possibly sometimes the sole ingredient..."
You seem to be using a research premise that is incorrect, flash use has declined by some way. This does vary geographically but in general, for serious design, flash is rarely used. Up and coming mobile devices have a problem, as do a few PCs and search engines. Google have improved their ability to read flash recently but this is still limited. Bearing in mind that functionality in search engines is a prime concern for most websites, why would they use flash.
Equally, improved understanding of better alternatives, such as wider use of CSS has enabled many designers to retain their ideas but in a user friendly way. I can only speak for a proportion of the web trade but would estimate that amongst serious site developers, the use of anything beyond a very small amount of flash is tiny. As for clients asking for this, bear in mind most clients know not too much about websites and can in any event be persuaded away from ideas that will not meet their true objectives.
So you might be better to move the focus of your research, in case you are researching an assumption that does not exist.
The thing to remember is that the administrator will consider his first duty to be to himself. If you want to join in for a slice of the cake, you need to be a pain in his neck.
Make sure you file a claim for the full amount and in that claim, state clearly that hardship will ensue if you are not paid. If a creditors meeting is called, attend the meeting. In the interim, insist on being kept informed. Should you genuinely feel the administrator is not being helpful, put that in writing and if the problem continues, you can apply to the court for intervention.
I'm sure there are decent people who act as administrators but keep in mind that many of them are not in that category. At the end of the day, the more forceful and ever present you are, the more likely you might see some money.
Good advice from SPS, there's no substitute for experience and practice. I had a look at the course details for the one you are proposing to join. If you have the money to spare, why not, just don't accept what they offer as gospel.
You will learn things you don't know but the course is a little dated and overly reliant on software, rather than technique, or knowledge. They equally demonstrate confusion on what websites are for, they are largely a business tool, not a design exercise.
Best of luck if you take the course but take SPS's advice as well. Search wider and try to relate everything you learn to the real world, that's the one that will pay you, or not.
The advantage of a part time college course is this will allow you time to build freelance work, possibly move closer to setting up your own business when you leave.
Your lecturer is right to an extent, these are not the most buoyant of times but there is no reason to assume 12 months will change that. Looking at all available data, quite logical to assume the bottom has not anywhere near been reached yet. Equally, the recession we are entering will probably take 4 or 5 years to turn round.
Having said that, in a recession, there are always positive people who wish to drive through the problems. If they believe you can help them do that, then you will have work. So the right course of action is whatever you think will help them believe in you and feel you will bring added value in difficult times.
Personally, I would consider playing both fields. Attend your college course but use the year as a springboard, with every hour you can stay awake devoted to building up your own client base. Then you are in a position to start your own operation, whilst also applying for jobs if you wish. The fact you have been proactive and carried out real commercial work will help with that as well.
XHTML is essentially a rewrite of HTML using XML syntax. Not that vastly different in appearance from earlier forms of HTML but more robust and flexible. Both now and looking to the future, there are sound reasons to use XHTML. Equally, if you are not yet familiar with any versions of HTML and had to jump from one to the other, perhaps to understand an older website, there aren't too many differences.
If you are just starting out learning web code, concentrate on XHTML, along with CSS for layout. You will inevitably come across and learn the differences between this and other forms anyway. No need to think of HTML and XHTML as completely different languages, just regard one as a development of the other and use the advantages of that development.
The safe option of course is to find a job, although they are often not that safe nowadays. If you want to control your own life and eventually be more secure, then work for yourself. Just bear in mind that building a business takes time and can be hard work, even when you are well set up, you will probably put in more hours than you would for an employer.
Your suggestion about approaching small businesses is very good. Knocking on doors may be old fashioned but still works. So many people seem to have become reliant on their own website as the only source of business.
Never any harm in talking to any business owner, so go out and do that. A good learning curve as well, you will get used to the questions and after a while walking out of the door thinking "Why did I say that!" you improve your selling skills. The core selling skill is actually simple, honesty. Business owners are people and they appreciate that, quite often sense that without realising, or the opposite of course.
No harm in trying different tacks at the same time. Put together a list of 100 local small businesses you feel would genuinely benefit from your help, then write each one a personal letter. Phone up and ask for the owners/main directors name and research their business a little. Don't run their business down, whatever you think, be positive but explain how you could help in specific areas and what that will achieve for them. If you don't hear from them, follow up a week or so later with a phone call.
Just keep on going, then you get a client, then a few more. You do a great job for them and they recommend your services to their friends. There aren't too many overnight millionaires, building your business is about patience and persistence. This doesn't suit everyone but if you do succeed, you will feel far happier than succeeding for someone else.
If you want to attain a degree, that's fine, although qualifications are not the most important thing.
When you are looking for a position, or offering freelance help, gear your approach to human nature. Business owners are less interested in what you have achieved than what you can do for them.
Be subtle but gear your approach along those lines. In reality, if you sit in front of someone and tell them you have a degree, or two degrees, they are just going to think, well, that's OK. If they truly believe you are going to put bread on their table as well as yours, much more interesting.
Honest opinion, write this off to experience after exploring a couple of options.
Try one forceful letter (to be signed for), not email, after carrying out a little research on USA law. Helpful if the letter at least gives an impression you understand the legal situation and intend pursuing that.
You could speak to a USA debt collector/lawyer. I found this number on our database - 001 520-290-2500 - Name David Hays - Location Tucson (don't think that matters) - Looks like this is his specialist field, might be worth a chat.
In reality, I suspect the cost involved in recovering the debt will prove irrational and no guarantee you will win, or see the money.
You might want to avoid hosting overseas, if you have any interest in your website featuring well in UK search engine indexes. A non specific domain, such as .com, hosted overseas is regarded as relevant to that country. Even an alternative such as .co.uk will not fare as well as if on a UK server. Google do offer a geographical location option through Webmaster Tools but once again, this is not as effective as the best approach. Saving a few pounds on overseas hosting is not worthwhile.
As to which host to use, most offering shared hosting are not wonderful and I agree that Fasthosts are not a great choice. You might try Heart Internet, fairly reliable, although like all shared hosts, not perfect. Their help desk does at least reply quite quickly, although if the question is fairly technical, don't expect the right answer.
A final point, whichever host you choose, avoid their WYSIWYG web builders. Take the time to learn how to build a standards compliant website, preferably in XHTML and CSS. This may look daunting but isn't too bad, you only need to know as much as your site requires at first. Then you will have a website of real use to you, your visitors and search engines. Taking the easier options eventually leads to too many brick walls and you end up having to use a better approach anyway.
