Web Master for A. G. Russell Knife site

A

A. G. Russell

Joined
Mar 10, 2001
Messages
2,033
My web master quit and went back to Austin a few years ago and I really need a new one.

I am very challanged in this area and need some help in the questions that I should be asking. Would any of you who know about building suprerior web sites be willing to tell me what I should be looking for in a prospect?

thanks, A. G.
 
Well A.G. IMO the look, feel and performance of your site is excellent, so I would look for someone that could maintain that level of excellence.
 
A.G.

do you work on a Mac, a PC, or both?

what programs are you currently using?

are you managing the shopping cart database?

are you doing Photoshop or any other illustration software besides?

are you doing any programming?

these are questions I'd ask a potential Webmaster and maybe a dozen more along with references and links to site they've done.

Gary
 
One big thing you should demand is for your applicants to have a portfolio. You want to see the calibre of work they've already done, because you don't want the expense or mistakes of someone who's just learning. They should have websites built that are functioinial, as well as pretty, and they should be able to explain why they did things, or why they didn't do things.

Additionally, you'll want someone who writes a secure website, but it's difficult for a non-technical person to evaluate this, to ask the right questions and make sure that the answers you're getting back are both true and relevant. I don't know how you would get around this... Maybe a friend's son or daughter is a programmer and would be willing to sit in on the interviews after you've narrowed it some?
 
If you want customers to be able to add reviews and so on, you want the website to be database-driven.

My preference is to develop such sites on a LAMP platform-- that is, Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP. It's all straightforward, public-licensed stuff, not bizarre, costly, and proprietary like Microhard (which is what I'm stuck with in my current environment). I'd look for someone who has developed dynamic, db-driven websites in the past.

I see lots of ads where the person writing the job skills section just took every hot jargon thing he could find and made a salad of it. Sure, PHP, MySQL, SQL Server, ASP.NET, Java, Oracle, C++, Novell, and why the hell not ask for a Flash whiz while we're at it. Really all you need is a solid LAMP developer.

I suppose you could run part of the storefront out of Amazon itself. I haven't looked into that, but people do it.

(BTW, webmaster for A.G. Russell sounds like the coolest job ever.)
 
I've been a customer for a number of years and find the website in general very good .Two suggestions ; if you are going to add reviews I think you would have to have someone to constantly monitor the reviews and eliminate the nonsense which would clutter up the website and benefit no one, I also agree that you should keep it simple not everyone has the latest computer with all the fancy programs .My best model for a website and company is www.mcmaster.com. Thousands of items , all easily and quickly accessed without extranious matter.
 
Yeah, I agree that being the Webmaster for AG Russell IS the coolest job ever.
 
howlin wolf said:
A.G.

do you work on a Mac, a PC, or both?

what programs are you currently using?

are you managing the shopping cart database?

are you doing Photoshop or any other illustration software besides?

are you doing any programming?

these are questions I'd ask a potential Webmaster and maybe a dozen more along with references and links to site they've done.

Gary
Click to expand...

GARY:

I HAVE THE FOLLOWING FROM MY IA

we use Mac's and PC's running Mac OS X and Windows for development,
with Dreamweaver and Photoshop as the main apps.

Our servers are running FreeBSD, and are using php and mysql behind
eZ_Publish as our Content Management. Our Shopping cart is using
perl and mysql.

We should be interested but perhaps not requiring FreeBSD/Linux experience,
they should be able to write native html, would be nice to be familiar with
perl, php, mysql, and it would be wonderful, but unlikely to have experience
with eZ_Publish.

THIS IS ALL VERY HELPFUL Thank you.

Where do you look for a knife person/webmaster willing to relocate to the second fastest growing area in the U. S. Las Vegas being first?

A. G.
 
FreeBSD and Linux are similar. Sounds like pretty much what I said-- a LAMP developer.

A. G. Russell said:
Where do you look for a knife person/webmaster willing to relocate to the second fastest growing area in the U. S. Las Vegas being first?
Click to expand...

The Fayetteville area? Not that it isn't nice and all, but what's driving the growth?
 
A. G. Russell said:
Where do you look for a knife person/webmaster willing to relocate to the second fastest growing area in the U. S. Las Vegas being first?
A. G.
Click to expand...

here on BladeForums, I reckon.:D
 
Low Taxes for retired people! Several work buds retired there & love it! My Father in Law even went back there when he retired to Arkansaw!
 
WeaselBites said:
FreeBSD and Linux are similar. Sounds like pretty much what I said-- a LAMP developer.



The Fayetteville area? Not that it isn't nice and all, but what's driving the growth?
Click to expand...

We are a few miles up the road from Fayetteville, in Rogers, that is Benton county and Walmart is the 800 lb gorilla driving growth. They require their vendors to have local office and display space and of course people.
 
I just move from Orlando to Rogers, AR a year (just a couple miles from Russell Knives) ago and I will say that this area is seeing tremendous growth, unbelievable really. I don’t think I would have moved to any to any other part of Arkansas but this area is beautiful with great people. If I were a Webmaster I would be all over this.

Scott
 
A. G. Russell said:
My web master quit and went back to Austin a few years ago and I really need a new one.

I am very challanged in this area and need some help in the questions that I should be asking. Would any of you who know about building suprerior web sites be willing to tell me what I should be looking for in a prospect?

thanks, A. G.
Click to expand...

I am available for Web work. I built this...

www.iPrepare.org
 
I HAVE THE FOLLOWING FROM MY IA

we use Mac's and PC's running Mac OS X and Windows for development,
with Dreamweaver and Photoshop as the main apps.

Our servers are running FreeBSD, and are using php and mysql behind
eZ_Publish as our Content Management. Our Shopping cart is using
perl and mysql.

We should be interested but perhaps not requiring FreeBSD/Linux experience,
they should be able to write native html, would be nice to be familiar with
perl, php, mysql, and it would be wonderful, but unlikely to have experience
with eZ_Publish.

THIS IS ALL VERY HELPFUL Thank you.

Where do you look for a knife person/webmaster willing to relocate to the second fastest growing area in the U. S. Las Vegas being first?

A. G.
Click to expand...

Very seriously If I was looking for someone to work in a specific part of the country, I'd try the NY Times. sold all over the world and you can at least be sure that they're literate. Also look in your area for employment/temporary agencys that deal specifically with the graphic arts. You can often find very talented people who are between jobs at these agency's.

Try the schools for graphic arts, they may tell you where the best headhunters are.

Good luck
 
You can reach a very targeted group by posting on www.aiga.org

It is the Association for Design Professionals.

You can also review portfolios of work from people from all over the country,
and see what you like.

Click on "Need a Designer?", or use the Search function.

-------------------------

Have been a customer of yours for years...

latest acquisition, a few months ago - Grandad's Toothpick 5", love the knife
 
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