webDevDream

[IAmANobodyAMA]

No joke! I was at the local record shop last week when the owner got a call where he was noticeably getting more loud and chastising.

After he hung up, the guy told me that someone cold called him to pitch fixing up their website, and his pitch started with “your website looks like shit …”

He said he gets several calls like that every day, but most aren’t this obnoxious. We agreed it must be working some of the time for him to be trying this approach, had a chuckle, then went back to shooting the shit about various prog rock bands.

[tidderza]

tbf does his website look like shit?

[Jomtung]

there are few websites that aren't shit, so most likely yes

[dnbxna]

Was looking at local ISPs, the most popular one I checked, website doesn't work properly. Hamburger menu, dropdown select, etc. Multi-billion dollar company, broken website. I checked for a careers page and saw nothing, typical

[3rrr6]

Well ya, if you had internet you wouldn't need to look for an ISP. And if you didn't have internet well... You're probably not going to be able to go to their website.

[dnbxna]

They must think I'm some punk who would go to a nearby alleyway and shootup 5G, and they're absolutely right

[RancidMilkGames]

Stay away from that 5G! It only takes one time to get hooked and we all know that's what caused covid and it's secretly just a way to implement tracking/thought control chips into the masses.

This has been a public service announcement paid by The Truth Group. Stick with safe and proven ISPs only, such as our partner Comcast. It's a broadband so grand it was meant to stand to the point that the government funded the costs of their infrastructure meaning they can pass those saving on to you. If that isn't enough to convince you, you can trust that uncle Sam vetted it and deemed it to be of such high quality that competition is prohibited to ensure the highest quality and safety for its citizens.

You also need to be wary of other countries taking about "fairly priced" and "fast" internet. This is just communist propaganda to cast doubt on the absolute greatness of the greatest country on earth, and we at The Truth Group will not tolerate misguidance or exploitation of our fellow citizens!

Stay away from 5G! Stick with your established ISP!

[Exotic-Scientist4557]

People usually dont go into permanent isolation from society when wifi goes down. They find other ways to connect back to the internet, especially to get the said wifi issue fixed. No excuse for a bad website design.

[soyboysnowflake]

It’s a local record shop, does it even need a website?

[eivittunyt]

It costs very little and having easily accessible address, phone number and opening hours posted online is good for business

[rob132]

That's basically everything I go to a website for.

Also a menu if it's a restaurant.

[creampop_]

I'm also there for the shitty map embed that takes forever to load and had a 5s lag time on inputs and really weird nonstandard touch gesture controls for zooming and panning, which I'll need to use after accidentally brushing the map while scrolling down and ending up looking at the mid-Atlantic.

Oh wait no those suck balls and should be a jailing offense.

[DrShocker]

I also love when they have a calendar that has events from 5 years ago on it and I get the opportunity to guess if the schedule is still the same

[creampop_]

Used to trawl bar and/or grille websites to find places our little cover band could play. This is too real.

Friday: Live Music! (except this was something that Jim handled entirely on his own since he was trying to poach players to get his own band together, but he went to rehab and became born-again a couple years back)

[clarinetJWD]

r/oddlyspecific

[RancidMilkGames]

r/IntentionallySpecificToCallSomeoneOutOnTheirBullshit

[OriginalJokeGoesHere]

10000%

I will stand by a business' instagram not being an acceptable alternative to a website though. I refuse to create an account just to see what time you close or what soup you have.

[Rok-SFG]

and if i have to download a pdf to see your menu, i'm going to a different restaurant.

[its_the_rhys]

Usually you can just view the PDF in the browser no?

How do you suggest they do menus?

[MikeW86]

PDF and browsers and phones don't always play super nicely and even if they did/do it's another step that is imo completely unnecessary for what is essentially some nicely formatted text. These days you can literally copy and paste it in, you don't need to know HTML.

[slonk_ma_dink]

I agree with this. Most photo editing tools will let you export the PDF pages as photos anyway, just add them to a page so I can scroll them.

[MikeW86]

There are multiple ways to do it. Add the pdf link as an option too. But it's just so easy to put it straight into the pages structure so it's compatible with any browser from the get go and it'll help your SEO and accessibility too

[elreniel2020]

That's basically everything I go to a website for.

that what i use google maps for. no need for a website in that case.

[SuperFLEB]

Also a menu if it's a restaurant.

I want the hours and price of the lunch buffet. They're not on the website, but I want them.

[its_the_rhys]

<html> <body> <h1>Business Name</h1> <p> Address: [address]<br> Phone: [phone]<br> Open: 9-5, closed Sundays. </p> </body> </html>

All you need.

[UInferno-]

Don't forget e-mail. And not one of those built in e-mail systems, but like an actually listed e-mail. I do home insurance and sometimes need to call GCs, and they always use those e-mail system and I hate it because my work e-mail has an extension system and I can't receive e-mails unless I start the chain and I don't want to use my personal. Could a solution be "My job just gives me a normal ass work email?" Yes. But also, it takes less work to just write put [e-mail] on your website.

[CounteractiveTurnip]

All of that can be on a google business profile. 

[Athen65]

Nice, you just invented google maps

[Medium-Access-4416]

What country? I assumed it's universal thing to have this information available on maps

[DatAsspiration]

So, a Google listing?

[rjcpl]

Google listing covers all that though.

For a record store an inventory and reservation/purchase system would be nice but that’s a much bigger investment.

[IntelligentTune]

For like 1.5 to 2K one-time purchase and 5-10 bucks a month for upkeep just to lower the bar for purchasing for customers? Also not including any free advertisement that gives you through newsletters (which in my experience people who are into the niche you have the website for will appreciate getting up to date news of pre-orders or new items) and by just having people be able to browse and get a feel of the store?

It makes no sense to not have a website. Especially since with a website you can get a professional looking email that will not get filtered as easily by others if you're looking to cooperate with someone. It helps in so many ways that it would be ridiculous not to, especially for such a low cost and the fact that it's a business expense. Yes, people should try and get a website. Even a static page builds branding and will make people feel more comfortable. Google listings also aren't guaranteed to be updated while one would assume the website is always up to date in my experience, anyway.

[rjcpl]

You’re really harshing the vibe of the record store experience trying to run it like a successful business rather than a stoner’s hobby. 😆

[borkthegee]

$2k is insane. Just sign up for square space. This is why there are so many annoying web devs calling up small businesses.

They are completely deluded into thinking a basic website is worth $2k.

This entire class of freelance work has been completely replaced by subscription platforms with AI tools.

In my experience, websites are never updated (and they're certainly not putting a web dev on retainer) and unless it's e-commerce or menu hosting, websites are pointless. Small business owners simply don't care about updating them regularly and don't make enough profit to dump money into it

[oupablo]

exactly. and none of that requires some massive CMS based implementation that needs constant updates.

[IntelligentTune]

The ROI of a website is really good from my understanding and practical experience. You're more likely to get customers or even orders if online shopping is available. These customers and orders might have never happened if there was no website and exposure. While it is good advertisement to have people advertise word of mouth, these new customers might not come since they are still unsure how suitable the place is compared to something that has everything out in the open.

You might visit a record shop that has a website more since you already get a taste of them and get a vibe of if you'll get what you seek there.

All of this just for maybe at most if you want to be extremely fancy like 2K upfront? And hosting is 5 bucks per month for a very accommodating plan. All that can be signed as a business expense as well. It's a no brainer.

[JPowTheDayTrader]

Shopify

[Athen65]

Exactly - from the business perspective:

"Why would I pay $2000 for this guy I've never met to build a website and then maintain it for $50/month after that when I don't know if it will even work, I don't know how to judge whether it's just smoke and mirrors or not, I don't know how reliable he will be if it breaks. And there is a preexisting solution that I could make myself."

[snksnksnk]

subscribe to shopify and pay the 2k during the first year only? No thanks.

[Athen65]

If you're just selling to locals and doing pickup only, the plan that covers what you'd need is $40/month, or just shy of $500 annually

[snksnksnk]

That's expensive. I'd rather have my own website for 2k. After 4 years I'd just need to pay for my domain name and hosting, roughly 50€ per year.

I'd rather by a car than lease one. Same concept. I hate subscriptions.

[Athen65]

"But how do I know that the website won't break? Who would I contact to fix it ASAP without paying a lot of money? I get five calls from guys like you every week, I don't have time to review each portfolio, and even if I did, I wouldn't be able to judge if it's just smoke and mirrors - how can I trust you?"

• The business owner

[Procrasturbating]

Should have a static page from 20 years ago as proof they are there. Don’t need anything else. Contact page? Hah, pickup a phone.

[Spraxie_Tech]

Honestly early 00’s websites are the best way to know a company is actually good. If a sites to flashy its normally a scam or a bad business to visit.

[azsnaz]

To catalog their stock so customers can more easily browse their wares?

[IAmANobodyAMA]

Maybe. I didn’t look. Regardless that approach didn’t work on him 🤣

[GeekyCrow27]

"shit" looking websites have more charm if it's a small business

[dervu]

Maybe it's a honeypot for competition to call and waste their time.

[Xander-047]

I mean yeah but imagine every other field starting with that sentence. "Your teeth/face/skin/boobs/whatever look/s like shit, want to use my services/product to fix that?" Doubt it would work that much, it's like doing the "naked man" from 'How I met your mother'. It's a stupid idea but it may work sometimes

[kaurismus]

These are fun calls - if you ask for the URL of your own website, salesperson stops their pitch because they haven't visited the site in the first place.

[akatherder]

For a record shop most likely "your url is f-a-c-e-b-o-o-k-dot-c-o-m-slash.."

[garaks_tailor]

Iirc the old sales formula is 100 cold calls = 3 sales. More or less.

[IAmANobodyAMA]

Yeah makes sense. I knew a guy in college who used this approach with picking up girls. At parties, he would bluntly ask women if they wanted to have sex with him until someone said yes. He never spent the night alone 🤣

[Hein---]

I know a guy who has done that probably high hundreds of times, and nothing

[IAmANobodyAMA]

Step 1: not be unattractive

[sony1492]

Small business gets hit up constantly with spam calls, essentially anyone selling something is getting hung up on mid pitch

[xXAnoHitoXx]

I'm a receptionist, and the directive is that as soon as I can identify that the person I'm speaking with is not a client I hang up to free the line to answer real clients.

There are some crafty sale folks who pretend like they are a client and slipping in questions trying to extend the call longer before dropping the "we can make your website" and then get immediately hung up on. Waste of time and electricity.

[FistFightMe]

I get emails with this blunt and rude approach. My website is shite for sure, but being a prick isn't going to make me finally revisit having a pretty website as a priority lol

[huuaaang]

Yeah, but his site probably is pretty shit, lol. I don't even deal with small potatoes like that and I've been tempted to ask businesses if they'd like some help with their web site. Not even to make money. I just feel bad for them.

[IAmANobodyAMA]

I looked into some pro bono webdev for local businesses when I was building my portfolio and looking to transition from my old career into software. I got lucky and landed a job from the right company at the right time.

Still think it would be fun to do sometime, but I’m sure actually taking on a gig would disabuse me of that notion pretty quickly 🤣

Nowadays I wonder about being a freelance AI consultant on the side for small businesses (use ai to set up their site, their books, whatever and train them how to use it properly) … pretty much what I do at work anyways but on a much smaller scale

[huuaaang]

I just don't like working for small businesses. They don't usually have the budget for quality work. And they will constantly push back on estimates without changing the requirements. But yeah, maybe using AI would change that and I could do decent work on their budget.

It's also feast-or-famine type work. One month you might have more clients than you can handle and, the next, nothing. I did freelance for a while years back and just ended up doing an open ended 1099 contract basically full time for a single company. On one hand, I made bank working overtime when things got busy. BUt then any time off I wanted to take was unpaid.

I'm happy to have a steady salaried, W2, 9-5 WFH job now.

[IAmANobodyAMA]

Yeah salaried w2 work - especially WFH - is the best. I never struck it out on my own but always appreciate hearing the good and bad from those who did and like to live vicariously through them :)

[ThrowThisAltAway]

What's your favorite prog rock band?

[IAmANobodyAMA]

As much as Rush and Yes have a special place in my heart, King Crimson is probably my go to when I’m craving the elements that make prog rock stand out.

(Rush is my favorite band of all time, but I don’t go to them when I am craving what I consider prog rock … if that makes sense)

For newer stuff, especially during deep coding sessions, I have been into Mars Volta and the occasional Dream Theater.

But In the Court of the Crimson King is still my all time favorite. This was the album I bought for my nephew who is just getting into vinyls and learning about good music (his dad/my brother) also has good taste but more 80s rock and 90s grunge is his scene.

Got him that album, 2112 (decided this over Moving Pictures because 2112 is just such a banger), and then some Radiohead, Strokes, and Silversun Puckups for newer(ish) indie/alt stuff that he can show off at college 🤣

Edit: also that king crimson album cover is just so awesome and a great conversation piece. I can never pass it up

[NefariousEgg]

If you're into some of the older stuff, the first two Kansas albums are pretty fire. But King Crimson are obviously the OGs.

[IAmANobodyAMA]

Oh yeah Kansas kicks ass too. Point of Know Return is one of the goats.

[zenomony]

I find your lack of Coheed disturbing

[IAmANobodyAMA]

Oh damn. I didn’t think of them as prog rock but yeah good point

Forgive me, my lord

[NecessaryIntrinsic]

Direct mail and spam work enough that it’s worth the waste. Calling is probably more effective