We’ve all been there, phone call or ema comes in with an inquiry about you providing a service for Sam Smith and company.

So you arrange for a meeting and burn a couple of hours, because after all Sam is a really nice guy and he’s easy to talk to. Next you come up with an arrangement that delivers a service and you’re off to change Sam’s business world.

Now Sam didn’t come in the door with a quality control seal on his forehead telling you, “I’m good for every penny you bill me and I’ll pay on time too.”

No he didn’t, and now you’re in to the job and Sam hasn’t paid his bill yet. You never saw it coming did you?

Hopefully I’m going to give you some advice that will help you avoid some of the low probability ones and get some clients that have the stamina to pay you at the end.

Screening doesn’t always work!
If I could have prescreened all my past clients, I’d be so far ahead of the curve today. Truth is you can’t prescreen anyone, bit you can listen for some telltale things which might help you decide when to pursue an engagement and when to become unavailable.

1. When you hear things from a relatively new business that run in circles or they just aren’t clear about their focus or direction. RED FLAG!
Projects of most types require a reasonable amount of clear communication. If you’re marketing a product for a client and they cannot give you clear information you could be in for trouble and your chances of success and getting paid seriously dwindle.

2. Casual is fine but there are limits.
Some people are casual by nature and usually a hay or hey is acceptable when your relationship has been solidified and one or two payments has been successfully remitted. If the potential client is overly casual during the “courtship” phase of your b2c relationship this is a RED FLAG!
If there is an overly casual tone to their emails, spelling mistakes galore or prolific slang then this may indicate a very casual approach to starting the project and may even set the tone for late payments or the project dragging on and on foreeeeveeer delaying a final payment.

3.They have no idea or solid roadmap for their project.

If your Sam Smith has no idea about their needs except that they think they need business cards and maybe a logo, or “I think I need a website that can sell stuff.” the best thing you can do for both of you is send them away to think about their plan. At bare minimum, Sam should have his business name, a product pitch, know their target demographic and have some short term goals outlined about what they want their product or service to do. Yes that sounds like a short form business plan to me. It is simply impossible to work for someone with no plans. To do so is a waste of your time an you run the risk of not getting paid.

4.They are the go between and not a decision maker.

It’s ok for the initial contact from Sam to be done by his assistant. It is not ok for his assistant to continue the engagement solely with no contact by Sam. RED FLAG WARNING!!!

This can be a sticky situation since the assistant might like a different shade of blue than Sam. So here you are at the precipice of your project and Sam doesn’t like the assistants rendition one bit.

So, before taking on a project, make sure you you have direct contact with the primary decision maker before the final specs are approved, and if Sam is just too busy to be involved all the time make sure he will be actively involved throughout the whole process and at major decision junctures.

If there will be more than one decision maker for the project, add at least 40% to the budget to account for the extra communication, legwork and development time. This will help compensate you when those inevitable changes to the color blue do come around.

5.Their last designer didn’t do it for them.

While their complaints may or may not be founded, really it’s not any of your business and it’s unprofessional. This has nothing to do with the work you will performing for them and, if something goes wrong, they may be talking badly about you next or is a good indicator that Sam is difficult or unreasonable.

Consider sending Sam on his merry way and no matter what you do, do not join in the bash feat. Speaking badly about another professional always reflects badly on you, even if your intentions are good.

6.Sam has some very very short deadlines.

Don’t you hate the expression “I need it done yesterday.”? Uh we do too! This can only be a a recipe for failure.

When confronted with this type of client consider the following:

This client has no idea what it takes to put together a project like a website or marketing project. This shows that the have a sheer lack of understanding of the project scope or do not value your professional expertise.

If you do agree to take this on, you must consider getting paid a rush fee for working evenings and weekends to get it done on time. Rush fees are typically 200% of your regular hourly rate.

7. Sam has no deadline
This can only mean one thing… Sam is not serious about this project. So before you take on this project make it clear to Sam that you require money up front to start. If Sam has some skin in the game he is more likely to be interested in the project. And if he isn’t, you have been paid for some of the work you performed.

8. Sam says this is easy peasy!
Alright who is the professional here? If this was really that easy Sam wouldn’t need you. Chances are Sam would be your competitor. No matter what, you’re the professional so you know what’s easy and what’s difficult.
Also, remember you’re the professional, so you have to act that way too.

9. This one should be obvious, but I can’t tell you how many new designers I’ve seen take on a new project on the promise of future pay or a share of future profits. Don’t take these projects on, period. Whether that business succeeds or not is not in your control and it’s not your responsibility to carry that burden for them. And 9 times out of 10, you will never see a penny on your work or hear from them again.

11. Trust your instincts.

Try to talk to that potential client over the phone before you agree to ta ke on their project. If something feels off, but you don’t know exactly what it is, go with your gut. It senses things that logic does not. Trust me, your logical mind will thank you for avoiding that disaster later.

Now I don’t have as bad a spam problem as the author who’s blog post about spam I’m reposting. I did ask for permission but have not heard back so I’m posting it anyway. The main difference between his and mine is that I am using anti spam comment measures and it truly helps cut down on the amount of garbage posts. Now with that said I don’t know the amount of daily traffic his site has and I don’t know if countermeasures are in place, but if you have a WordPress blog and aren’t using either akismet or bad behavior you are going to have the same comments that he is having.

Note: I’m posting his content as is with no editing. There is some colorful language, but I’m keeping it complete because it’s important in showing his frustration. Frustration is something that we are all familiar with when dealing with anything internettie. (yes I know it’s not a real word, but it fits)

On to the guest post

Sometimes you have to back up your words

For those of you who are reading this through an RSS reader or because it was imported from the original blog, you might not understand the concept of this post, but it’s getting to the point where I really have to say something. I have a WordPress-themed blog, where I have taken a great deal of work to configure http://www.duanegundrum/blog. It’s not your average thrown together blog, mainly because that’s how I designed it. But one of the things I’ve noticed is that no matter what I do, I can’t stop from getting hundreds of spam messages a day. And they’re ridiculous, too. I have yet to figure out WHY, and it drives me freaking nuts.

I get comments like this: “You’re definitely on the right track with this issue, and I read this blog every day because not too many people can deal with an issue like this one like you do.” Now, on the surface, you’d think, wow, someone reads my blog and agrees with me. But they don’t. They don’t read my blog, AND they don’t agree with me. Instead, they somehow spider into my blog and send random shitty comments that are generic in nature, meaning absolutely nothing whatsoever. Which causes me to have to go through and delete HUNDREDS of comments a day that are all stupid, ridiculous, and a waste of time.

Another one: “I love your WordPress theme for your blog. Did you do it yourself? Can you give me some hints on how to design my own?” In the beginning, when I received the first of 300 of these, I actually believed this was a sincere question from someone. But again, you have to focus on the generic level of the comment to realize this person is sending out these questions to EVERYONE who has a WordPress themed blog. Why they do it? I don’t know. They’re probably selling some stupid piece of shit spam thing that no one is EVER going to buy, but they’re convinced if they keep spamming people with their garbage, they will eventually get someone so stupid to respond that that person will also be anxious to give them money for ridiculous crap. Or maybe they’re trying to hack systems. I don’t know. I don’t really care. I just wish they’d stop.

Now, I’ll add this as well. Every time I make a comment like this, someone thinks he or she is inventive and sends me a generic response as a joke. Well, please don’t. It gets deleted with the rest of them because if it sounds remotely like one of these comments, I go at warp speed and delete them all. Which means, if you thought you were being clever, no one will ever know. I don’t say this to sound mean or uncaring; it’s just you don’t realize the magnitude of this problem. It is so out of control that I devote zero time to dealing with it as humor.

The problem with this is that I am pretty sure there are actually people who do comment on my posts and actually read what I have to say. This makes it that much harder to connect with them, and I really do want to connect with the people who read what I have to write. So, it would not surprise me if real comments are being thrown into my spam filter and deleted with the hundreds of others per day. I wish that wouldn’t happen, but what can I do?

Anyway, back to what I’ve tried saying before. If you’re really interested in communicating with me, PLEASE, and I emphasize PLEASE, make your comment have relevance to the particular post you’re responding to. Avoid being generic. If I post about Smallville, please talk about Smallville in your comment. If it’s about writing, please respond about something that has something to do with the topic of writing I was discussing. THAT will get a conversation going, and I’d LOVE to talk to you. It’s almost to the point where I’m thinking of just removing the comment feature completely because of how useless it’s been so far and how much spam I have to filter out of it on a daily basis.

Thanks for sharing in our frustration.

Peace
Chris

“So what you say”, “I liked the old facebook better!”  I understand and at first I completely agreed with you.  It was like practicing to run in one of those Halloween corn mazes and just when you got it down… You were blindfolded and told to spin around 4 times before they turned you loose in the maze.

Honestly it really isn’t that bad and I know you are going to love the new more visually engaging, easier to get data from, comment and post moderating Timeline for Business! So here is a rundown of some things that are new and changed in Timeline:

1. Real Time Stats – Posts and talked about and liked and all that stuff you wanted to know but had to wait for is not delivered in minutes!
2. No more custom app landing pages – Yes I know but all isn’t lost.  You just have to be creative and leading now from your wall.
3. New admin panel that makes it so much easier to find stuff!  My eyes thank you Mr.Zuckerberg.
4. Visually impressive Timeline Cover Images that you can actually market with (carefully that is.)

So here again is a link to our webinar and a link to our new book “Glorious Timeline” Your Comprehensive Guide to Smooth As Silk Transitioning Into Your Timeline.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click the Cover to Get the Ebook version for 8.97 on Amazon for Kindle and other Ereaders

Yes again the landscape of Facebook is changing.  I know your screaming and kicking and yelling at your screen, “I JUST GOT USED TO IT, NOT AGAIN!”  Well yes your business or fan page on Facebook is changing again but… I promise it is for the better and honestly I think it makes the boring old Facebook (yes I said boring!!!!) (OMGosh! He just called Facebook boring!) (Well admin it, it was mindlessly boring to look at, Let’s be honest.)  look fantastic.  Huge billboard style images showing off the individual tastes or collective creativity of businesses and groups.

I Love It!

Frankly because I am a very visual person, I find the additional graphics and images in both the cover area and the wall of Facebook’s new Timeline very engaging and makes me want to have more than just casual interaction with my FB Buddies.  This is the perfect time to start a visual marketing campaign if there ever was such a moment and if you don’t seize the moment at hand or you don’t plan for several weeks or even months out your foolish.  Now I know that creating an effective visual marketing campaign can be tricky, even with the best slogans, taglines, and calls to action; I get that.  And it’s going to be even more challenging creating feeling evoking imagery with out all of that verbiage, but you’re a champ I know you can do it!     And if you cant were here to help you!

“Stage Left,” Bring in Coach Denise Brimmer of AskCoachDenise.com!

On Friday, March 9th, 2012, Denise Brimmer and I hosted a webinar covering the new Timeline for Facebook and visual imagery do’s don’ts and maybes.   Was it a success?  Does 4000 people logging on to a webinar sound successful to you?  Now lets give the credit where credit is due, Denise has a huge following and is well known in the Social Networking and Coaching Communities.  imageProjektions is to say the least EXTACTIC about her working with us as our Social Network Engineer!  Now on to the webinar.   Our webinar covered a generalized overview of Timeline for your business or fan page.  This gives you the (In my opinion) all the visual cues you need to drive engagement to your fans and buddies.  There are also some new reach and pull opportunities coming that will allow you to touch that 75% number of Facebookers that don’t comeback and engage your page after liking it.

This webinar covers some other juicy details that are important as well and are very important factors in rallying you base and driving engagement.  Denise and I will be offering the webinar as an extended ebook as well for about $5.00.  The book will contain specific information about the Timeline features and some how to’s for visual engagement, a little about color theory and using phrases that aren’t taglines or calls to action but help fetter emotion and engagement.

So without further a due, “On with the show!”

Click here to view the embedded video.

I am right about this; come on admit it, You know we’re both exactly alike.   So when came along I immediately saw how it can be used to ferry visibility back and forth, to and from, and around the corner from to and around the corner to my website here.  But… When you read into the Pinterest TOS or their EULA or whatever you want to call the document allowing you to sign up for their services, you see that anything you post or “pin” through the Pinterest service you lose control over its copyright ownership.  Now did you actually think this was going to stop my group from using Pinterest?  Nope, not in the least!  We will be placing a beautiful watermark on each image that belongs or was created by us so that even if Pinterest seizes ccopyright control over an image, we don’t loose control over visibility.  Pinterest is a great service, it provides hours of mindless browsing fun as well as some really engaging things as well.

Now lets talk about Google’s new EULA and your privacy.   Big scary (AKA our Govt) and Google like to collect information for various reasons, albeit mostly to control the flow of George Washington from one pile to another.  Now I’m not really worried about the new Google user agreement because I’ve had my web history on pause since you were able to pause or delete it.

Anyway, for those of you who are new to the game here is a repost articles that sum it up for you by Leslie Meredith, and Molly Klinefelter.   Now these articles only parallel part of my opinion about users being provided services and the fact that NOTHING is FREE and everything has some price attached to it.  That is simply how the world works like it or not.

Below this I have posted the Google user agreement in its entirety for your reading pleasure.  And now… On with the Show!

Google’s new unified privacy policy will take effect on March 1. All the data Google automatically gathers about you, such as the sites you visit, will be dumped into one virtual bucket with your name on it. While you can’t opt out of the new approach without abandoning Google sites, you can erase your browsing history.

“Search data can reveal particularly sensitive information about you, including facts about your location, interests, age, sexual orientation, religion, health concerns, and more,” warns the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a non-profit organization based in San Francisco and an advocate for online privacy.

If you delete your Google Web History that includes the searches  you’ve made and the sites you’ve visited, you’ll prevent Google from associating that data with information it has collected from other Google sites you use such as YouTube and Gmail. While no one knows exactly how Google would use your combined information, the policy changes  have already prompted more than raised eyebrows.

The Center for Digital Democracy today filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission. It has asked the FTC to sue Google to stop the policy change and to fine the company. The FTC can impose fines up to $16,000 per day for each violation.

In the meantime, the EFF recommends that Google users delete their Web history. Here’s how:

1. Go to Google.com and sign into your account.
2. Use the dropdown menu under your name in the upper right-hand corner to access your settings. You’ll now be on your accounts overview page.
3. Find the section called Services and you’ll see a link to “View, enable, or disable web history.” Here you can remove all of your Web history or selected items. When you disable Web History it will remain turned off until you turn it back on.

To get a detailed view of the information about you that Google keeps, go to “Products” from your accounts overview page. Click the button labeled “Dashboard.” You’ll see a listing of the Google products you use and links to edit your information.

How to Turn Off Google’s Search, Plus Your World Personal Search Results

Molly Klinefelter, LAPTOP Editorial Assistant

Google’s newest feature, Search plus Your World, personalizes Google searches even further based on your Google+ account. When you enter a search query, Google will find results (or recommendations) based on who you follow on Google+ and what they’ve liked, suggested or searched for before. This can be an extremely useful feature, but sometimes you just want clean search results.

Here are some simple, step-by-step instructions on how to disable personal search results.

Disable Personal Search Results One Time

1. Enter a search term.
2. Click the toggle buttonon the right hand side of your results page (the button with a globe) that says ‘hide personal results.’
   

   CREDIT: Laptopmag.com

   View full size image
3. To get it back, simply click the button to the left of it that says ‘show personal results.’

Permanently Disable Personal Search Results

1. Select search settings from the gear icon in the top right corner of the results screen.
   

   CREDIT: Laptopmag.com

   \
2. Select  ’Do not use personal results’under the Personal Results header.
   

   CREDIT: Laptopmag.com

Remove Behavior-Based Personal Result Rankings

Even before Search Plus your World, though, Google was personalizing your search results based on your query habits so that sites you click more often show up higher for you. Google supplies rather difficult and aggravating instructions on how to turn this feature off, but by simply typing ‘&pws=0′ at the end of your search query, that particular search won’t give any personalized results.

 

New Web-Browser Add-On Protects Privacy

by Leslie Meredith

Prevent spam by using a Cocoon instant email address.

 

Last week Microsoft and Google clashed over who had a better privacy policy. When you use a Web-browser add-on called Cocoon, it just doesn’t matter. The free tool creates a safety zone within Firefox and Internet Explorer to stop websites from tracking you, reduce spam and protect against viruses.

Cocoon’s co-founder Jeff Bermant admits he’s not a tech guy. “I wanted to give people relief from worrying about what can go wrong on the Internet,” he said. “Cocoon is for people who don’t know much about their computers.”

Most websites, including the two Internet giants Google and Microsoft, install cookies to track their customers’ movements online and capture the unique address of each visitor’s computer, called an IP address. Why? To serve up more enticing ads. Cocoon blocks both cookies and IP addresses by routing your page requests through their servers.

The Internet Explorer tool, known as a plugin, launched last week in a trial, or “beta” version, which means there still may be some kinks to work out. The Firefox version is well established. The company has submitted Cocoon to Apple for use on iPadNewsDaily and iPhones.

Cocoon’s privacy policy differs from both Google’s and Microsoft’s  in three important ways:

1. Cocoon does not track where you go or what you do online.
2. The ads shown on Web pages while browsing within Cocoon are not based on your browsing history.
3. If you close your account, no trace of your data is left on Cocoon’s system.

Cocoon appears as a toolbar at the top of your browser window. When you click the “power button,” the tool bar turns blue to indicate that Cocoon has been activated and your activities are protected.

Cocoon includes “disposable email” that lets users set up unique, throw-away email addresses to use when they subscribe to a website. Then they can easily delete the address to stop an onslaught of spam.

Disposable email services have been around for years, but they require users to visit their sites to generate a new email address and then copy and paste it into the site that is requesting the information. With Cocoon’s Mailslots feature, an option to create a one-time email address automatically appears on a site’s signup page. Click “create mailslot,” and Cocoon fills in a random, anonymous address at cocoonemail.com. In the future, email from that site is collected in your Cocoon inbox or mailslot. If you want to stop receiving emails, you simply delete the address for that particular site.

Cocoon also has built-in virus scanning tools that analyze all downloads and incoming email attachments both inside Mailslot and from your regular Web-based email accounts like Gmail and Hotmail.  It also scans Web pages before they load to protect your computer from malware.

Cocoon touts its portability, but to access your Cocoon account on another computer the plugin must be installed in the browser of the computer you’d like to use. Once it is installed, you can log into your account with your email and password. When you log out of your session, it’s as if you’ve never been there.

How Google’s New Privacy Policy Will Affect You

by Leslie Meredith

 

You’re on the way to a meeting. Traffic seems to be slowing. A text comes in: “You’re going to be late. Take the next exit for alternate route.” It’s from Google.

This is not Google’s version of Siri. It’s a result of the company’s push to use data it collects from you in novel ways that could be helpful, or unsettling.

“That’s not something I want my computer telling me. It’s creepy,” said Kurt Opsahl, senior staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit digital rights advocacy organization located in San Francisco.

“Google has always collected information. That hasn’t changed,” Opsahl said. “But information that was once siloed will now be co-mingled.”

Google’s new policy replaces more than 60 existing product-specific privacy documents, for services including Gmail , YouTube and Google Docs. Google says the unified terms will provide better search results and serve up ads that are more likely to be of interest. By combining your history across products, it will have more data to work with.

Connecting the dots

Further, Google will merge data from the products you use and then analyze it to make new assumptions. That example of getting a text when you are running late is from a Jan. 26 email that Google itself sent to users. If you have an Android phone, Google already knows your location. If you keep appointments in Google Calendar, it also knows where you are trying to go. By cross-referencing that data with its traffic information service, Google can send you that alert.

Opsahl also pointed out that there are many people who have more than one Google account, such as one they use for business and one for personal communication. If data from different accounts are pooled into one Google repository with your name on it, that could cause problems.

“If Google received a warrant to disclose documents, and your business and personal docs are intermingled — that’s a problem,” he said. “Some would like to say, “No, thank you” and keep their accounts separate.”

“Google should make it easy for people to set up and manage separate accounts if they wish to do so,” Opsahl said.

Trouble ahead

While the new policy doesn’t eliminate users’ ability to set up different accounts under different names, Google intends to use data such as search history, whom you contact most frequently and your location to serve you better without regard for the partitions you may have created. “In short, we’ll treat you as a single user across all our products,” Google said.

The policy change could create problems for those who go by different names. Google’s new text reads:

“We may use the name you provide for your Google Profile across all of the services we offer that require a Google Account. In addition, we may replace past names associated with your Google Account so that you are represented consistently across all our services.”

Google+  requires real names while YouTube does not. Starting March 1, your real name could appear across Google products. If you’re hardworking accountant Jim by day and posting your Glee-inspired musical renditions on YouTube by night, you might have some explaining to do.

Take it or leave it

But Google has taken an-all-or-nothing position. “If you continue to use Google services after March 1, you’ll be doing so under the new Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. If you’d prefer to close your Google Account, you can follow the instructions in our help center,” reads Google’s FAQ page. Google says it remains committed to its data liberation policy, meaning you can request a copy of all of your data to use elsewhere when you close your Google account.

To get a glimpse of what Google knows about you, visit your Dashboard. Login to Google, go to “Account Settings,” select “Products” and then “Login to dashboard.” You’ll see a listing of the products you use and your most recent activity for each, including the last Web page you visited, your top three contacts and how many Google docs you’ve created.

Imagine the ways that data could be used — is it a “beautifully simple, intuitive user experience,” as Google says, or just plain creepy?

And now the Meat and Potatoes- Google’s New User Agreement for March 1 2012

123.45.67.89 - 25/Mar/2003 10:15:32 -
http://www.google.com/search?q=cars -
Firefox 1.0.7; Windows NT 5.1 - 740674ce2123e969

Even if your BMX track has a website already, my friend and colleague Teresa Linn and I are giving away free custom websites for any BMX Track and BMX Team.

If you’re in Florida, California, New Mexico, New York, or East Bumpkin we don’t care; we want your track to start making some green to support your riders.

Click the Screen Shot to Visit Naples BMX

Here’s what you’re gonna get:

1. Free hosting (no traffic limits or space restrictions)
2. Custom wordpress theme and a logo if your track needs one
3. Event calendar on the site (No more using a third party solution or redirecting to a different site, visitors stay on the site to see the events, and its MOBILE FRIENDLY!!!!)
4. Photo & Video Galleries (Unlimited picture posting on the site.  Not via flickr, smugmug or other third party site.  Unless you really want it to.) Videos are uploaded and posted directly in the site and posts.
5. Youtube video pulls and a whole page of Youtube videos pulled by our tubepress plugin.  If you have a channel we can pull that directly in the site or pull videos with specific key words in the titles.
6. Emails for board members.  No more personal emails if you don’t want to mix and mingle BMX and Grandma Joyce’s Christmas Cruise photos.  Oh, and we can give you webmail for those as well.
7. ADVERTISING SALES for your track!  Can you hear that everyone?   You can make banner and 125px square ads on all pages and track their clicks!  Start generating some revenue for your track instead of giving it away.
8. Track business directory.  Start doing business with the people you and your kids race with.  Free or Paid system- your choice.
9. Classifieds section.  This can also be a free or a paid system.
10. Piece of mind-  There are people behind you that will be there when you need help.

We’re BMXers too.  I race, my son races and I see how tracks struggle. This system that Teresa and I put together has the most requested features tracks asked for.  Remember it’s free and there are no strings attached!

If you need more information you can click here to send me an email or call me at 239-280-6077!

Thanks again-  Chris Rabkin and Teresa Linn

After showing me the initial drawings and illustrator designs for their logo concept, we set to work. This is a classic example why a commercial artist is essential for certain services. The Dutchkinz logo is based on multiple components that require different skill sets to produce.

The first component is the Dutchkinz text based or logotype. This required pairing text and graphics to make a memorable lasting brand deserving a second look.

The next component required infusing Dutch culture into a multi-use branded image which conveys warmth, trust, and good taste. Sebastian Hermans had started integrating his two children into the logo which did not lend itself to cohesion. The children’s likenesses or caricatures were disproportionate and not well executed. Here’s where the classical art training behind being a commercial artist is essential. By looking at photos of the children, we were able to transfer their likeness to side profile images and then convey happy, warm, tasty, and even this product is delicious thoughts; with these two children holding a plate of poffer pancakes with their aroma rising from the stack.

Without correct anatomical construction, viewers would not be able to move past the malformed bodies of the children and the brand impact would be completely lost.

Once the logo and the branding were complete, packages, banners, collateral print material, apparel, and other essential marketing pieces were easily created.

Finally, after all pieces were client approved; all images, fonts and uses were placed in a standards book and sent to the legal council for the Trademarking process.

Dutchkinz Pre-imageProjektions

Dutchkinz Final Trademarked Hex Logo

Dutchkinz products can now be enjoyed at a major league ball field near you!

Rock on Sebastian!

By scanning the above image with your smart phone the QR code will take you to a website run by the Red Cross to support Japan after their earthquakes. Scanning that code will save you from manually typing 58 characters in to your phone’s browser which we know less than 1% of the people would even try.

QR Codes have kind of, almost, in a way, taken over the in America, but not really. Confused? Read five different blogs and you will hear many different opinions on what the future of the QR code is. For the uninitiated, the above middle square is a Quick Response code.

QR codes have been popular in Japan and South Korea for awhile, and seemingly like always, we are slower to pull in new technologies which still blows my mind.

So why the fractured feelings about the future? Marketers. Marketers made us hate picking up the phone during dinner time. Marketers forced the government to create a Do Not Call List. Spammers (the worst marketers) made us buy spam blockers. Marketers stuff our magazines with multiples of those subscription cards that keep falling out but all have the same offer. Marketers make us turn the volume down on commercials because they jack up the sound, well, they claim to Congress that they don’t. Liars. If it sounds louder I don’t care what you call it.
So Now What?

QR codes are still in the novelty stage where people will click them to see what Easter Egg they will find. The novelty will wear out and it will go back to what is constantly preached, quality.

Few QR codes that I see actually mentions what I will find on the other side. Tell people what to expect so that they aren’t disappointed. And please, oh please, make sure the site they go to is optimized for the mobile experience. You’ll just piss a customer off if you don’t and that’s not your goal right?

Already over half of the internet viewed through mobile devices so QR codes will become just more useful. Soon, if new technology doesn’t wipe it out, you will need to give people a reason to scan the code. If your pitch, product, or service isn’t good enough, they won’t; just like it should be.

Here’s the scenario… You hire a web designer/company that builds websites (whatever you want to call them) to create you a masterpiece on the World Wide Web (Booming echoing voice in the background.)

Everything is going fine and all of a sudden something affects the dynamics of the relationship between you and your web people.   So the back and forth ensues, tempers escalate, and you find yourself asking these questions:  Do I really own my website?  What legal rights to I have to get copies of my website?  What if my web team is no longer a good fit what legal rights do I have?

Let’s address these aspects point by point.   And truth be told, I have gained clients and lost clients because of similar circumstances, either because views change, expectations change or scope encroachment happens.

Point 1: Do I really own my website?   The answer is yes.   You do own your website and you are free to take it to any service provider that can service the needs and requirements for your website.  The part of the site that you may or may not be entitled to is the programmatic or code aspects.  If your site was custom built, you have customized functionality built on to your site, or anything that you paid for the development to you are entitled to that intellectual property.  You are not entitled to intellectual property if you just signed up for a service that aids in the construction of your website or helps deliver content.

Point 2: If you paid for a website unless it states otherwise in a contract or specifically states that you do not own your website (which I find pretty silly that anyone would ever sign such a document) you can take your site and go anywhere with it.  The only caveat to this is if you still owe your web people money. If you still owe money, your site is the property of your web team.  Sorry, no way around it.

Point 3: You are wanting to dissolve your relationship with your web team here is your legal rights.  If all the points I mentioned are covered (like you didn’t sign anything dumb, or owe anyone money) You are the copyright holder and intellectual property owner of your website.  Ill go into more legaleze in a few.