Thread

Friends:

I’ve been trying to get out of the web development business for quite awhile now (primarily because I have a day job and because my talents lie more in the area of strategy and online marketing than in actual development). I want to concentrate on providing strategy consulting to a small number of outside clients and also on some personal publishing projects of my own.

The challenge has been in trying to train some of my web development clients to use the EE control panel themselves.

One major client that I have wants to have their department staff people update the site (their motivation is that they don’t want to pay me to do it; my motivation is that I don’t have time to do it). To facilitate this, I wrote a 74-page manual with step-by-step instructions (including screenshots) on how to update various areas of the site. You’ll have to trust me on this, but I can tell you that I am meticulous when it comes to writing manuals - many people have told me I’m too detailed, but I think it helps the person consulting the manual to have instructions that say, “This is what you’ll see on the screen; click on the button that says this in the upper-right-hand corner of the screen; when you do that, this is what you’ll see; etc., etc.

I’ve also been to their offices twice for four-hour training sessions with the staff people.

But they still don’t get it.

For example, they have a .pdf calendar on their site that is available for download through a permanent link. They want to periodically replace the calendar. In the manual, I’ve told them that they have to make sure to give the same file name to the new file as the file name of the old file so that when they upload the new file, it will automatically replace the old file. In addition to saying that in the manual, I’ve told them in the training sessions and via email on more than one occasion that it has to have the same file name. But I keep getting emails from one person who is responsible for updating the calendar saying she tried to replace it but it doesn’t work. Invariably, I discover that the new file has a different file name. When I remind her that it has to have the same file name, she says, “Oh that’s right - I forgot” and then it works fine.

This is just one example and one client. Multiply that over and over again, and I’m beginning to think there is no light at the end of the tunnel (with regard to me getting rid of my web development clients).

I’ve started wondering if there is any wisdom in trying to find an external support company (something akin to support.com) that would be willing to learn the ins and outs of using Expression Engine and then I could refer my web development clients to that company who would charge them a monthly fee to help them when they get stuck trying to update the EE website.

On one hand, EE is intricate enough (at least at the outset) that I don’t think any old support company would be appropriate. It also could be daunting because different sites will be set up differently. On the other hand, maybe there’s a business idea in there for someone who has plenty of free time (yeah, right!) and knows EE extremely well (that doesn’t describe me).

Anyway, any thoughts on the feasibility of such a thing?

Thanks,
Frank

I dont think it is feasible for a couple of reason… and these are just opinions so YMMV..

You already stated the biggest one. There is no consistency between websites when developed in EE. It’s not like Joomla where the core is consistent and everything else hangs off of core.

But another biggie is that there are not many people that want to get out of that type of support. I know I make $$ off of just that type of support. Many clients think that they want a CMS and will be able to handle updating it and all but when the rubber meets the road they find that they really dont have time or do not care enough and are willing to pay the 50-75 per hour to have someone else make the updates.

Just my thoughts… And if they are willing to pay we can support them 😉

M.

Yeah, I hear you Marcus. When I was doing more web development, I liked the extra dollars from support stuff too. I’m just way too busy now to do it any longer and I’m trying to find a good solution to the problem, short of just kicking them under the bus and saying “no more”!

Frank

Lol… It might come to that. I saw in your profile that your site is geared towards church and parachurch organizations…. Let me just say I feel your pain…

😉

M.

<grin>

I see from your portfolio that you’ve done some work for churches as well. Part of the reason it’s hard to find someone to take over the clients is I’m not sure I would wish the experience on my friends! Maybe it will change over time as more churches see the value of the web and thus hire more web-savvy folks.

Frank

I make money doing maintenance as well, but I feel like it’s monkey work. I’d rather spend my time on design and development. That’s a major reason why I started using EE in the first place—so my clients could do their own maintenance.

One thing I do that takes me some time up front but pays enormous dividends down the line is that instead of making a detailed manual (and we all know from the famous “RTFM” acronym that people usually don’t enjoy reading manuals), is that I make screencasts.

I show and I talk. I do an overview of the Control Panel. I explain how to filter by weblog. I explain which content is in which weblog. I show them how use Textile, or how to format their entries. I show them how to upload files and images. I work on their site with their content.

I make a series of short 5-7 minute screencasts, and make a separate template group for my training stuff, so the clients have to login to see ‘em.

I also make lots of intentional mistakes while I work, so I can show them how to fix their own errors.

So, in the end, they have a nice menu of different screencasts they can use as a handy reference going forward.

My clients LOVE them. When new people come to the organization, they can watch them and get up to speed quickly. I charge for the time it takes me to make them. I’d rather spend the time making something useful, rather than to have to drive somewhere and train people who are just going to forget what I’ve explained a few weeks later!

Triple your rates. I bet that starts them learning the system on their own.

😉