

Starting a consulting business. Can I get some feedback on my new site? - tahoecoder
http://www.appraptor.com

======
kintamanimatt
Drop the gmail email address. You have your own domain; use it.

I know HN is hugging this site to death right now and the present load is
atypical, so I won't comment on the performance because this isn't a real
world issue. (Curious, why did you choose Apache/PHP when you appear to be a
Ruby/Rails developer? It's been a while but Nginx/PHP-FPM was always a better
bet for high loads.)

Your strongest call to action is the freebies thing, but that's incongruent
with the purpose of the site: to get people into your sales funnel. Make your
"hire me" your most prominent thing and drop the "open source freebies" thing
completely. By all means list your open source projects, but they should
feature as part of your portfolio. Nobody's going to your site to get
something for free, and for reasons I can't articulate, it cheapens your
proposition.

Make your contact information easier to find by putting it on every damn page
in the header and footer, and if appropriate in the middle of your page too.
Make it stand out too because if I want to contact you I don't want to be
playing hide and go seek with your phone number.

If you're able to link to live versions of the apps you've created, do so and
make those links so obvious your mother would find them. The (+) icon makes me
feel like I'm going to add something to something, not open up a drop down
menu. Just put them as a row of links under the description rather than hiding
away these important links. Follow the mantra that your visitors are stupid
and tired when designing, even if they're actually bright and caffeinated.
Also make sure you don't open any external links in same window/tab.

Having said all of the above, it's a nicely designed site.

Going off topic, the screenshot on <http://www.mycelial.com/> is blurry as
hell. I don't know if this is intentional, but it bothers me quite a lot.

~~~
krallin
Regarding the load time, using static HTML with a site generator would yield
great results here. There really is not reason to be using PHP here.

A great option is to put it on S3 and distribute it with CloudFront.

~~~
bradgessler
Yep, take a look at <http://middlemanapp.com/> and
<https://github.com/polleverywhere/shart>.

~~~
tahoecoder
Thanks for those resources. Didn't know about them and they look really
useful.

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drewcrawford
Relevant experience: I am you, except for native iOS dev.

This website is written for another software developer to read. Your primary
customer will be a larger (than you) Ruby/Python shop that has more work than
it can handle. You will be working closely with other, more trusted-by-
management software developers who are sort of vetting you, and may be trying
to angle for a hire. These companies are just large enough that they have
better lawyers and better paperwork, so disputes can get hairy. Also, they
will be protective of the relationship with the ultimate customer/client, so
the success of the project really hinges on how well the people above you have
captured the requirements. That said, the sales process will be easy and
familiar, because you have a career of experience already selling yourself to
other software developers.

Is that the customer you were shooting for? If so, good job!

------
jonemo
Minor comment on the domain name: "Appraptor" might confuse potential
customers into thinking you are an iOS/Android developer. For most non-
technical people (potential customers) "apps" are the things you get from the
App Store.

On the "hire me" page I suggest including a few pieces of info about the way
you work: Do you only work remotely, or are you willing to visit clients on
site? If so, where are you prepared to travel to? It also sounds like you are
outside the office a lot (good for you!), so how can you be reached? Do you
work full time or part time? What size project are you after? What happens
after those two months are over, will you be around to support your work if
necessary after that time period?

~~~
tahoecoder
Excellent points. I've mainly been working remotely, but I am also willing to
travel to the bay area to visit clients (might even move there soon). I will
make some changes to that page to include my skype contact as well.

------
auctiontheory
Sierra Perks, Rails, Chrome, Beta, and Pinterest should be capitalized.

"Local restaurants and bars" should not be capitalized beyond the first
letter. Use "and" not "&".

Your descriptions intermingle functionality with technology. Might be clearer
to break up each one into two paragraphs - what you did, and then how you did
it.

Then at some point, read this:
[https://training.kalzumeus.com/newsletters/archive/consultin...](https://training.kalzumeus.com/newsletters/archive/consulting_1)

~~~
tahoecoder
Thanks for the link. That was a really useful article for me.

------
fusiongyro
I think the raptor image and name are a little incongruous with the lickable
eye-candy Apple product screenshots below. If I were you, I'd consider going
all-in with it and just make the whole design a little more threatening and
ominous. You could really go for a Rebel brand archetype. Broadcast that
you're hardcore, you charge a lot, and you don't care if you scare away a few
clients in the process; they were probably lame anyway. Heavily emphasize the
blue/grey of the raptor image, lose the big flat Twitter "get in touch"
button, the red, the gawdawful Lobster headings. Throw a motorcycle in there,
make your logo look like a tattoo, use an Old English-style font. It would
certainly be a refreshing distinction from all the Creator/Magician archetypes
going around in this industry thanks to Apple.

I'm just a programmer though, so this thought experiment is probably not worth
all that much.

------
shitlord
This is all relatively minor, presentation-related stuff:

\- Parts of your website are unreadable when I tile my browser (Firefox) so it
takes up 1/3 of the horizontal screen space and 100% of the vertical screen
space. The "Open Source Freebies" button is truncated and I can't scroll (not
even autoscroll) to see the rest of it.

\- You should make sure your text has proper grammar. For comments on the
internet, nobody really gives a shit, but you're selling a product. You want
people viewing your site to see you as a professional, and little things like
typos or grammar errors chip away at that.

\- The dedication to _why's guide, while nice, doesn't belong in the "Hire Me"
section. Consider making a new section for it or something.

Will update this list with more things when I think of them.

~~~
tahoecoder
Thanks for the firefox heads up. I'll look into that. I'm embarrassed about
the grammar issues. Two people have now commented about that. I have been
writing a lot of the copy late at night. (part of me was expecting nobody to
actually see the site for a while, too. A "launch" of a consulting site is
usually 10-15 visits, in my mind)

------
grey-area
The most important feedback I'd have is that your website doesn't matter as
much as you think it does. It's important to have one, and important that it
shows off your talents, but as a consulting business your most important asset
will be satisfied clients and contacts in the industry you want work in. So
don't worry too much about your website - a simple static site showing off
some of your work will be fine as a showcase, would hold up better to load,
and doesn't need security updates. If you are busy, you may not update your
blog as much as you plan to now :) Likewise demonstrations of what you can do
with apps/sites you have created yourself are far less useful as proof than
work created for clients (who will spread the word about you).

New clients will come to you as referrals from other clients in the same
sector, or because they hired you before, not because they stumbled upon your
website or did a google search. They'll use your work for other clients to
gauge your competence rather than your website, though they might have a quick
look at that too. So the most important step you can take in starting a
consulting business is to cultivate contacts with clients and keep them happy
- if you have none, focus on getting the first few clients first.

------
pdevr
The site loads slow (maybe just for me). Edit: just saw your response to
others, ignore this.

I got 15 errors while validating the home page. You may want to make sure it
is all valid HTML5.

Nice site, overall. Some pretty neat themes as well. If the themes constitute
your whole portfolio, it may make sense to rebrand "Open Source Freebies" as
"Portfolio", depending on your situation (type of clients, past experience,
etc).

Good luck!

------
ibudiallo
Wordpress maybe very easy to use but it can be a big performance hog. Maybe
you can try to use a plugin like supercache[1]. I hope this helps.

[1] <http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-super-cache/>

~~~
tahoecoder
It's not a wordpress site.

------
oahzd
The left edge of the bird (falcon?) image you use on the front page doesn't
fully go to black. And I'm not entirely sure what the purpose of the bird is
other than being a cool image, but I feel like if you just had the texture in
the background extend the full way or something similar, that area would be
more effective.

Your footer doesn't stick to the bottom on pages that aren't as long eg I'm
using a 1920 x 1080 monitor and the about page
(<http://www.appraptor.com/about/>) isn't long enough. Google "sticky footer"
and there should be plenty of articles about fixing that issue.

Other than those issues and the ones that other people have brought up, I
think it looks great!

------
plaxis
As a non-developer looking to hire a developer, I would want to know what
specifically you can do. And sometimes I might not know the difference between
Java and Javascript. I see that the banner skills transition, but the
transition is seamless and probably timed long enough such that people will
miss your highlighted skills. Consider adding somewhere your "features" or
skills. In fact, the "details" inside each app are more compelling than what's
on the front page. Maybe switch and use the mini-pitch to create demand for
your skills.

I second the comment on grammar -- says the hypocrite.

Great job!

------
pseut
Off the top of my head; looks very nice. A few things jump out:

* I hate the bird

* copy editing:

"it's got" -> "it has" everywhere;

"in a beautiful way" -> "beautifully" (but really, "... It's got a pinterest
layout to show the pages in a beautiful way" doesn't seem to add anything
except the word 'pinterest' for SEO).

"Sign up and see what perks merchants are offering to members. Simple as
that." makes no sense; so... I sign up, and then you'll tell me what I get for
signing up?

edit: agree with other comments that you should not use a gmail account; use
the domain.

------
mtowle
Yes you can. Say we/us instead of I/me for everything. I know there's one of
you, and I know you're proud of that. But if I'm a client, fear of lone wolf
syndrome may lead me to avoid your company.

~~~
shimonamit
Just imagine how I'll feel if he says we/us on his site and then I discover in
our introductory call that he is a loner. Only say "we" if you can justify it.
If you tell me you're networked and have a working relationship with
ux/designers/programmers maybe that will fly.

~~~
pseut
I'd be fine with that as long as the "hire me" page makes it clear that it's
one guy. "We" has a more collaborative feel when describing the projects.

------
sans_seraph
Make sure you .stop() those fadein hover menus on the plus sign (+) buttons.
If you hover over them multiple times quickly then they bounce back and forth
fading in/out. Try something like this:
[http://justinmccandless.com/blog/Correctly+Fading+in%2Fout+o...](http://justinmccandless.com/blog/Correctly+Fading+in%2Fout+onmouseover+Using+jQuery)

------
orangethirty
I help fellow freelancers/consultants setup their marketing. Currently am
preparing to launch a product that simply takes the guesswork out of launching
this type of business. Since your page wont load, shoot me an email. I'd like
to give you real feedback (based on my experience working as a freelancer and
working with other freelancers). Email in profile.

------
stevoo
Footer : Make sure that the footer always stacks to the bottom. You might not
see it on a laptop but a modern desktop with a bit larger screen will

Contact : Add them all in footer. Make it easier for people to find them. Why
cant i send you a direct email from your site. Make that happen. Add a phone
too if you are serious about this.

------
Zombieball
I am not sure if your site is overloaded due to the increased traffic from HN,
or if the problem is unique to me, but it took ~30 seconds to finish loading /
rendering your homepage on my macbook pro. Perhaps you could look into
enabling compression or using a CDN.

Design wise, I like the site :)

Cheers!

~~~
tahoecoder
Yeah, sorry. In retrospect I should have put this site up on heroku.

------
nodesocket
Not a huge deal, but the load time is probably causing some people to turn
away. Replace Apache with nginx and use php-fpm. Let me know if you want some
help, happy to give you a solid nginx config.

------
signed0
I like the design of the site.

\- I'd add a redirect from www.appraptor.com to appraptor.com

\- The down arrow next to each section looks a bit odd. I would move it before
the label.

------
noonespecial
_It's got a chrome extension that runs concurrently and whenever you bookmarks
a site to one of your shared chrome folders,_

Should be no "s" on "bookmarks"?

------
tahoecoder
Sorry for the slow load times. I put this site on a small linode and wasn't
expecting this kind of surge. Trying to optimize apache right now.

~~~
timdorr
Try dropping CloudFlare in front of it. That should help a bit:
<http://cloudflare.com/>

------
andyhmltn
The freebies button is way more prominent than the hire me button and that's
not what you want I'd suspect. Try swapping them around.

~~~
tahoecoder
Yeah, I supposed more people would just be interested in the free stuff so I
made it easier for them to find it. My rationale was if somebody liked my work
then they wouldn't mind searching a bit more for the hire me link. Perhaps I
should switch them, though. It is a business after all.

~~~
andyhmltn
That's fair enough! They may be, but I just think the hire me button should be
the easiest to find as from your point of view, that's what you want people to
click.

------
vbrendel
Please don't write "interwebs". It only works when hearing it, not when you
read it.

------
Mistone
just a quick observation - solid feedback from HN here - way to be folks.

------
danielfriedman
why is the only way to contact you through Twitter?

~~~
tahoecoder
I have my gmail address and cell number up there as well. Guess I should make
them more prominent.

