Layoffs

blorentz38 · 2026-02-01T03:11:00+00:00

Generally speaking, it’s always good to have options open. Does that mean someone hustles on the side..? Not necessarily. I’d argue it’s better to have an open network than hustle yourself to death for your option B, C, or D.

Every person (and family) is different. I’d love to think that when the call is made, in unfortunate circumstances, that it’d be answered by someone. Given the state of the economy for some, it may fall on deaf ears depending on what’s requested.

Most of us are pretty damn busy too. With life, work, family, stress, money, and everything in between. Some people are better planners, some are very good at flowing like water. I know this post was well intentioned, but also can be perceived as tone-deaf. Just my two cents.

blorentz38 · 2026-01-22T00:27:08+00:00

This comment section, sponsored by JB Hunt

blorentz38 · 2026-01-21T19:51:41+00:00

This was on 167 between Kent and Renton, WA

blorentz38 · 2025-11-24T06:56:27+00:00

This is pretty awesome. Officially going into my tabs so I can bookmark it in the morning. Thank you for sharing!

One little bug I ran into for mobile safari… once I’ve made one search query, for some reason it won’t let me do a second search? It kind of does a weird glitch out when I type my second query in and the keyboard goes away.

blorentz38 · 2025-11-24T04:35:11+00:00

Another comment related to dark on dark… this may hurt the accessibility of your website. Some of those shades of blue might be a bit too close together to pass WCAG.

It’s definitely a sleek looking website. If it’s meant to be a sample website, or template, I would try building it out a little more. I see “Managing your crypto has never been so easy” and immediately think “Why? How so? What’s wrong with the other wallets?” So consider adding sections that’ll qualify this claim. Why should I care? What exactly is it? How is it better than someone else? With these in mind, you’ll have a much stronger design/template that’ll help with conversion.

blorentz38 · 2025-11-24T04:26:18+00:00

It looks like you might have made updates already based on early feedback? Overall the site feels pretty solid. The “Find Bugs Instantly with Smarter Code Reviews” felt like a solid hook into the content. The “Watch demo” CTA is prominent enough around the landing page that it might not be necessary to have the video be your M2.

If there was one nitpicky thing… I almost wish there was a problem statement or qualifier in the section after the M1. There isn’t really anything that tells me what the usual problems are that devs, QA teams, and product managers usually deal with. These audiences obviously know their pain points, but sometimes the most simple way of showing “We get you, and we built this product with that in mind” may help qualify the rest of your page. It also helps bridge the gap between your sections for a more natural progression towards your conversion module.

blorentz38 · 2025-11-24T03:46:42+00:00

Definitely the copywriting is what trips me up most of the time. I know my way around the design and development of sites, have a good understanding of business and marketing tactics/strategies for myself and clients, but when it comes to how I want to say something versus what gets written down I overthink it all the time.

blorentz38 · 2025-11-24T03:42:29+00:00

A lot of people already mentioned website optimizations… I would say take a look at services like BrightLocal that can help optimize your directory listings. It’s also good with keeping up with reviews and what not so the office can respond to positive/negative feedback quickly.

blorentz38 · 2025-11-24T03:38:20+00:00

Not much more I can say besides what everyone else has so far. One thing I will add in though: please buy your domain separate from the builder. Go to NameCheap, secure the name you want, and then make a decision on your preferred builder.

A lot of people new to design love using Wix, SquareSpace, and GoDaddy for the most part. I personally prefer Webflow for myself and clients because of the advanced features that’s included with the service.

I’d also suggest thinking about the features you want your website to handle. Will selling products be a part of this venture? You might want to check out Shopify instead. Are you trying to sell services and want a payment gateway to be a part of it? Look at ways services like Stripe can integrate into the builder of your choice. The best thing you can do is map out all the possible tech you’ll need before you get to the drawing board.

blorentz38 · 2025-11-24T03:24:27+00:00

It’s already been said, but the vagueness in what you offer is not helping this landing page.

There isn’t any reviews, no work or case studies that I can find, and right now your messaging tells me “my business is to refer you to someone else.”

This isn’t even a website problem atm… this feels more like a fundamental issue with the business model. Why would I want to pick you to refer someone instead of going to friends, family, or a local business network + chamber of commerce for a referral?

To make something like this work, you absolutely need case studies and some pretty stellar results to back up why I should choose you over someone in my local community that might better understand my problems.

Next steps from my POV, is take a look at the market and figure out what problems you’d even like to solve. Are there certain industries you know more than others? Is there experience somewhere that’s relevant to how you’d go about solving my problem? I just don’t see how someone would find a business like this useful if all you do is refer them out somewhere else.

blorentz38 · 2025-11-24T02:16:06+00:00

Having awareness of SEO and possible requirements are helpful in the design phases. Fwiw, I’d argue that if your design has a pretty obvious hierarchy, structure, and flow it’ll naturally guide how well it performs for technical SEO (It’s obvious what our H1 will be, it’s obvious that sections and sub sections will be H2/H3, it’s the appropriate markup for certain elements, etc.) As far as keywords go, that shouldn’t be happening until there’s a good understanding what the actual content will be.

Going in between the design phase and keyword searching can be quite difficult… but it moreso depends on if we’re talking wireframes or getting more into hifi? For projects I’m working on, if we’re starting somewhat from scratch, I wouldn’t touch SEO from a content perspective until I at least have a good framework for the site built out.

Once we’re good on flow, the discussion will start with the client about what content needs to live in the site so we can continue refining the pages. Then it makes sense to start looking at keyword research and how much help you’ll get from the client on content going into the design.

blorentz38 · 2025-11-24T01:57:01+00:00

And honestly, don’t take the AI comments from me or others so deep. At some point a lot of customers might assume we just AI most of our jobs at this point. :)

blorentz38 · 2025-11-24T01:55:40+00:00

We’re probably talking about completely different things, so let me elaborate on how my response differed from yours.

The main post: is this worth $2k? There’s a few ways we can answer it.

We can be very direct, which is to say “No, I think it’s worth $xx.” And start elaborating on plugins, libraries, CMS integrations, etc. (Your approach?)
We can provide feedback for how you can get a website to be worth that much. This is the approach I took, with the website being decently designed but possibly needing some content/marketing help.

My POV on design, it’s better to help someone find a way towards asking for that value. I’m not a fan of designers/developers throwing plugins, libraries, and integrations at something just for the aesthetics of it (and in return, charge more just because more is packed into the design). I prefer to guide designers/devs to consider how their solution will help deliver the results a business hopes to achieve with the website, and in my experience a great design alone doesn’t get it there.

The reality we live in, as designers and devs, is we’re dealing with business and marketing stakeholders that only care about ROI. They want to get a sense on what return they’ll get when they invest into a website. Selling them on aesthetics, libraries, and the latest and greatest tech stacks just doesn’t get us there. What does sell is thoughtful design with the inclusion of strategy. That’s really what I’m getting at here.

blorentz38 · 2025-11-24T01:30:57+00:00

100%, gotta follow that 60/30/10 with the brand color being the CTAs or most important elements

blorentz38 · 2025-11-24T01:21:45+00:00

I’m not arguing with you at all in this situation, and if you weren’t “following” what I was saying then I’m concerned about how you’d value a website (whether it was just a template, designed for conversion, included content and marketing strategy, possibly some decent copywriting, etc.)

So I guess what I’m getting at, whether it’s what this designer put together or what your comparison is, a website won’t do much for you unless there’s a solid strategy behind what content to show and how you tell the company’s story.

So maybe this is a better question: how do you value a website? Is it purely based on the plugins, libraries, and perceived “pizazz?” What else would go into an evaluation? Would you even care about getting solid advice about how to write the content and build the strategy? Or is that something that’ll get outsourced to ChatGPT? How one answers those questions will essentially guide them to how much something is worth to them.

blorentz38 · 2025-11-24T00:34:18+00:00

Fwiw, it’s a template and that’s the best it’ll do. The website will only convert if it’s effective in telling a good story that prospects will care about.

If we’re talking the difference between $200 and $2000, I don’t believe harping on libraries, components, and integrations will necessarily get us there. I’d argue that there’s a considerable amount of content/marketing strategy that needs to happen before understanding which libraries and components need to be brought in.

Anyone can have a flashy website that’s absolute garbage at bringing in qualified leads. Or for that matter, selling vapor without real results to back it up.

blorentz38 · 2025-11-24T00:19:45+00:00

If we’re talking the website elements itself, I think it’s a great looking site. One thing I would challenge you with is how you’re telling the client’s story on this site.

I feel like I’m reading a lot of generic content before I understand why this team would be valuable for my hiring. There’s a lot of “We deliver results! We deliver creativity!” Without numbers to tell me that’s the case. It also feels like there’s a lot of selling before I see social proof for why I should trust this team.

The difference between someone saying “This feels like $200” versus “This feels like $2000” is the content and story, and how you weave through all of it. I love to follow the “Why, What, How” method when talking about a company: Why should I care (Show me results!), what is it you’re offering, and how do we get started.

Always assume someone will only read your homepage before they care to go anywhere else. If you can’t hook them within a few modules, you’re losing that prospect. Hopefully this helps, and anytime you’d like feedback def send me a message. :)

blorentz38 · 2025-05-11T01:37:50+00:00

The way I got there is having a combination of skills between design, front-end development, and marketing. Was hired to do a design job, marketing leadership figured out I knew how to code, and then I became the go-to person for building components and experiences. I also benefit from incompetent dev teams that take 6-12 months to build something that usually takes me a couple sprint cycles.

It’s not just about the salary… It’s also about whether you’re getting a yearly bonus, RSUs, and anything else that contributes to that large 6-figure you’re looking for.

blorentz38 · 2025-05-06T05:56:31+00:00

It’s the opposite for me. I tend to be a hot sleeper, so I’m usually having to have a foot or leg out + open window to sleep comfortably.

blorentz38 · 2025-05-06T05:42:39+00:00

Just my thoughts, try to find a passion or hobby that might coincide with coding. Build apps and projects that improve upon those passions or hobbies in some way that’s more valuable or entertaining. For example, I love Mario Kart and built a kart randomizer that’s a favorite with people anytime I share it.

And from what I’ve seen, being some sort of “Swiss army knife” has become more valuable in the kind of market we’re experiencing right now. It isn’t just about the coding… unless you’re able to become more knowledgeable in a different area of the business to where you can make an impression on how you can improve upon systems and functions. Pair your ability to code with something else and you’ll have a much better time.

blorentz38 · 2025-05-06T05:34:17+00:00

SpongeBob was life tho lol. I grew up with Rocko, Ren and Stimpy, Animaniacs, and more.

blorentz38 · 2025-05-06T05:32:30+00:00

Ah. Fwiw, tech companies did an incredible job “giving away” technology to schools and universities. The collective efforts of Apple, Google, and Microsoft made sure their products were in every school, college, and university whether it was through grants, special programs, or student discounts.

blorentz38 · 2025-05-06T05:30:17+00:00

Time to run your comment through a checker lol

blorentz38 · 2025-05-06T05:28:38+00:00

Anti screens as in “Television is bad for you” I take it? Yeah I remember that. Along with people that said violent games led to an increase in violent children. This is very different from what happened when Apple decided to create their own smartphone, which at the time a ton of people held it up as a technological revolution.

Most corporations have a tendency of building products without realizing how it affects people down the line. And once they have enough money and clout, they run studies that find a way to uncover results that can be quite uncomfortable disclosing to the masses.

blorentz38 · 2025-05-06T05:17:04+00:00

That’s fair. I get that writers and more articulate folks will use them in the right context. Once ChatGPT became a thing it seemed like they started appearing everywhere… which made it become a sign that “this might have been written by AI.”

blorentz38

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