Brainstorm Me

August 13, 2016 1:53 PM

If one were an expert in Blogger design options, what could one do with such expertise? Brainstorm me, please.

Whenever I see other people talk about Blogger, they talk about it being really limited and suggest Word Press is better.

My experience with Word Press is that it is like you walk by a store window and like something you see, and you can only buy the entire outfit, that's it, and wear it that way forevermore, no modifications. In some cases you can make modifications, but I found Word Press templates super frustrating and never really was happy with any of them. I switched to Blogger a few years ago and I am infinitely more satisfied with the experience.

Blogger is more like "I like the cut of that suit. Can I see it in red? Oh, good. Can we try a different shirt with it? Nice. How about switching out the long skinny tie for a bow tie. Perfect!"

But it took me over four years and multiple websites to get here. So, I think a lot of people are just missing out. They just don't understand what the potential is and/or it simply isn't worth the time it would take to figure it out.

So, once in a while, I wonder if this has potential to be some kind of consultancy. Or something.

But, then, I think people would be reluctant to give me the password to their Gmail account in order to let me design their site -- and I am not sure I want that kind of access either, for reasons of liability -- and I think there are potential problems with trying to explain "You need Template X with Background Y and Modifications thus and such to get this look." So, in other words, I am not sure this can realistically be done at all, because if they don't let me make the changes, they may not understand how to make the changes, even with a "recipe" laid out for them.

I am looking for a couple of things here:

A) Fleshing out the idea of what a consultancy would look like, in practical terms.

B) Any other ideas people have for 1) helping other people have a more satisfying Blogger experience and 2) potentially making money off it.

C) ???? <--- (other suggestions)

Thanks.

posted by Michele in California to Grab Bag (6 answers total)

Best answer: I wasn't a Blogger designer, but I dabbled in Wordpress conulting/designing back in the day.

Could you create a gmail account specifically for the company/website and use that account to build the Blogger site? Then, when you get your final payment (I use to go to their location to train them on how to create posts/pages and collect the final 50% of the fee - nowadays one could use Skype or any of the screen-sharing programs like join.me) you give them the login information for the Blogger account.
posted by kimberussell at 2:16 PM on August 13, 2016

Response by poster: That's one possibility that I had not thought of. And it makes me realize I could have them add me as an Admin on their existing site and do it that way. Then have them remove me as an administrator.

Thank you.
posted by Michele in California at 2:21 PM on August 13, 2016

Best answer: You're describing how I've made a living for the past 20 years.

My clients entrust me with passwords, credit card info, account access of all kinds. That's a non-issue as far as I've found.

As far as WP goes, it's hugely customizable. I find it quite easy. Your description of it being a 'all or nothing' type thing is way off base IMHO. I guess it's not for everyone, but there's a huge business sector specifically using WP to create unique, custom websites. You either take the time to learn how, or pay someone to do it for you, but WP certainly shouldn't be described as inflexible.

Blogger, on the other hand, seems exactly as you describe it, one suit, available in some select few different colors and accessories. Take e-commerce for example. The options available for a Blogger site are kludgey at best.

But I encourage you to pursue this. Making a living doing web development for individuals and small businesses, use a CMS platform is a brilliant way to go. I work from home, for myself, at my own schedule. I travel each year for a 3 month stretch living and working in Europe. Some of my clients don't even realize where I am.

I charge an hourly fee for anything. I do the work first and bill all my clients when I do books during the first week of the month. This has only come back to bite me in the ass twice, and I'm only out $500 total after 20 years.

I have clients that do some things themselves. I have some who are totally lost when it comes to the backend and I do everything for them. I have one longtime client where I'm part of a team and I'm the website guy. I do Domain registrations, hosting setups, secure certificates, pretty much anything a person or business needs help with in the Online realm.

I'm sure there's even a market for helping folks with Blogger platform sites.
posted by humboldt32 at 6:18 PM on August 13, 2016 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Agree with humbolt32. I do mostly Wordpress stuff and I think there's a lucrative set of options for people who want to do the sort of thing you describe for anything (you could learn WP stuff too if you wanted to). Specifics include

- You have content on this platform and want to put it in Blogger, pay someone (you) to one-time move shit over
- Remember that guy who lost all his stuff be4cause he never backed it up? Pay someone (you) to make a backup and send it to you on removable media (or maintain backups for you)
- You need a new look and know nothing about Blogger. Pay someone (you) to give it a fresh new look.
- You have Blogger but you need to do social media? Pay someone (you) to help you cross-post stuff to/from Blogger and social media sites

The big deal is having contracts, having prices that are reasonable but not too-low (so people think you are doing them a favor and are not a professional) and having a portfoloio of good stuff that highlights what you are doing that is (maybe) not just your own blog. So if you know people in your networks who you think could use a blog facelift, offer your services for free or trade and add them to a portfolio of sorts. Best of luck.
posted by jessamyn at 6:50 PM on August 13, 2016 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: The big deal is having contracts, having prices that are reasonable but not too-low (so people think you are doing them a favor and are not a professional)

So, any thoughts on how I can figure out what is a reasonable hourly rate?

Thanks for all the feedback so far.
posted by Michele in California at 4:05 PM on August 14, 2016

Best answer: I might suggest doing project based prices at first so that you get an idea of how much things cost. Or a hybrid where you sell "packages" of hours and give people an idea of how many hours a thing would cost. So like "$40 is my hourly rate and a backup should take an hour so that's a $40 deal. Importing your stuff from Wordpress well take between 1 and 3 hours so that's about $50-100" or something. Obviously at first you want to build up clients and a portfolio (or just a few references) and I think you have to gauge based on your own abilities how much people should be paying you professional level rates ($100-150/hour) or just "helpful person who knows some tech stuff" rates (25-50/hour). You can ever offer discounts which I would suggest over just giving people a lower rate. Like "I charge %50 an hour but I'll give you a $10 discount for new customers" or somrthing.
posted by jessamyn at 6:15 PM on August 14, 2016 [1 favorite]