New Performing Careers Website

**scot** · Mar-10-2003, 11:09 AM

It looks good so far. Here are some things to think about:

You don't really need the photo at the top of the front page. People already know what the site's about and it takes longer to load.

If you want people to use the site on a regular basis, you should make it super quick for people to access exactly what they're interested in. Links to all the arts on the front page is a must.

A lot of other gig sites don't have expirations dates for postings. It will make things a lot clearer and easier to use if expiration dates are required.

You might turn "musician" to "band / musician". Also add stilting and fire performance.

In signup process, current employer does not apply. I stopped applying at that point because it made no sense to fill it out. You should at least have a way to bypass it. Possibly have "clients of note" a few rows of client,date,description text fields.

On the "Post a Job" page, you should have a million places to click to start posting a job. Make it as painless and foolproof as possible.

THE LOOK:
I believe you should limit your color palette as much as possible. Unless you are a very experienced graphic designer, it's hard to understand the way colors dictate how a viewer progresses through a piece. You have just about every color in this website. I would recommend limiting the main graphical elements to blue, purple and yellow. Take out all the red. Use the maximum of two shades of each of blue, purple and yellow.

I don't like the red borders around things. Bright red and bright blue look bad together. They are distracting. light purple would be a good alternative.

When I clicked on the "Employers" tab I expected that tab to pop forward. I don't like the word "employers." It doesn't seem appropriate. I don't know what you should use here.

I would prefer a solid color to the background stripes. They are too bold and attract attention. You could mute the colors or make it #000099 stripes on a #000066 background.

Black text on a white background is really bold and sore thumbish. tone up the background (a light blue #ccccff ) or tone down the text (dark purple #330033) It will make it easier on the eyes and easier to look at other things on the page.

I'll stop here

**Mr. Powers** · Mar-10-2003, 07:47 PM

Thanks for the feedback!... I definately agree with you on most of your suggestions. I designed this layout in a rather well-inspired afternoon of free time. I had some help with color schemes from a friend who is a graphic artist and swears by the purple and yellow combination... but I think that the blues need to be toned down a lot. I'd really like to keep the picture on the front of the page if at all possible just for the marketing value. I should still be able to keep the site loading quite fast even with it.

I'm going to re-work all the categories... I've been doing my homework and am now realizing how many performers are still excluded right now... I think I'll put some "browse jobs" links along the sides somewhere that link directly to jobs in specific categories like you suggested.

I've been working with this application for several months now upgrading all the individual parts. There's litterally hundreds of pages that I can potentially customize. I'm still working on just hitting the main ones. ie. "post job" "sign up" ...

Additionally ... this site is going to have an agent feature that will email you when matching jobs get posted to the system. There will also be options for performers to upgrade their profiles... and other ways for them to increase their exposure. Right now I'm working on putting together a list of as many "employer" and "job seeker" email addresses as I can find so that when I'm ready to launch I can announce it loudly to EVERYBODY. [img]smile.gif[/img]

I could go on for hours... Thanks so much for the feedback. I'll let you know when It's finished!

Chris

**Guest** · Mar-11-2003, 10:10 AM

Hi Chris,

I have great envy for you guys who can whip-out a web site with all the cool back-end scripting to support such a project as ambitious as this... Good For YOU! (...and good for US when you get it working!)

Here too is a well respected and effective site that does this sort of thing for professional speakers... http://www.SimplySpeaking.com I think you may be able to model some of the success that they have enjoyed, maybe even a "joint-venture" possibility, you with your variety talent connection and they with the corporate speaking professionals... and PERFECT Compliment!

You Might also check-out http://www.GigMasters.com

Just a thought or two...

I am at your service and in His service,
Deano
"EnterTrainer and Success Magician"

PS
If your JV works out... and you become successfull with this venture, just remember who made the suggestion! (Good for one FREE Membership!) Hehehehehe

**Mr. Powers** · Mar-11-2003, 02:41 PM

I wouldn't dare forget who helped me! [img]smile.gif[/img] And as for free memberships... ALL performers use this site for free... it costs nothing to post your profile and your resume. Anybody that helps me out in the next few weeks will also get an "upgrade" that exposes them to more employers. The software really caters to the job seekers which is the way I believe it should be. I really appreciate every one of you guys and envy YOUR talents! There's still much work to do on this site. I am now realizing that I have to rework my categories so that more of you will have a niche on my board.

Chris
mailto:c.powers@performingjobs.comc.powers@performingjobs.com</a>
PerformingJobs

**Mr.Taxi Trix** · Mar-11-2003, 09:39 PM

The most important thing for you to do if you want this thing to be interesting to performers, is lose the across-the-board template you now have. there are far too many questions and things to fill out which have nothing to do with doing shows. The "type of job preferred" section so obviously has no focus on performing, it gets annnoying. Same for the depth of the education section, and the pop down menus.

Get off the mass-(job) market template. This site is a goood idea.

**Mr. Powers** · Mar-12-2003, 07:17 PM

I'm on it... I'm going to chop a bunch of things off the "profile creation" pages so that it's more intuitive and relevant to performers. Changing out the default templates just takes a little while. I'm going to try building a bit of an email campaign as well to get things rolling in the next few weeks. So far I have about 500 contacts that I've found surfing around the net. I have a feeling that we'll be able to get a lot of performers to the site, but getting job posters will be a little more difficult. I'm going to try paying for microsoft's bcentral site submission to get the name out there a little bit too. Resources are tight, so I'm doing the best I can to build the site so that it speaks for itself.

If anyone knows anything about email campaigns, contact me, I'd love to talk to you.

Chris
mailto:c.powers@performingjobs.comc.powers@performingjobs.com</a>
PerformingJobs

**Minnie Maniac** · Mar-14-2003, 03:42 AM

I know absolutely nothing about websites, but I just can't deal with the blue stripes in the background! Also, is this site mainly focused on the US or is it worldwide?

**Guest** · Mar-14-2003, 10:23 AM

[quote] Mr.Powers: "I'm going to try building a bit of an email campaign as well to get things rolling in the next few weeks. So far I have about 500 contacts that I've found surfing around the net."<hr></blockquote>

Hey Chris,

E-mail is a great way to drive eyeballs to your site, my consideration is (and I can't tell by your post... that's why I'm asking) are all the 500 contacts that you "found" surfing around the net 100% permissioned, opt-in?

If you have just foraged around the net looking for names and addresses and they did not "on-purpose" ASK to be included in your 'e-mail campaign', it's SPAM.

If you spam... it's true that you may get some returns, but you will find that you will get blocked from entire servers, and black listed on complete networks and it will cripple any affirmative outcomes you hope to attain.

I only say this cuz I think what you're doing is going to be great and I don't want to see you growth stunted before you even get off the ground brother!

Just asking... (not assuming!)

I am at your service and in His service,
Deano

**Mr. Powers** · Mar-14-2003, 04:25 PM

The contacts I mentioned are talent agencies and companies that I felt would be interested in using the site as a channel for their business. Since it's a business to business type of contact and targetted to a specific interest group and I didn't buy their contact information from any third party list service I wouldn't call it spam. Besides this is only a one-use list and will never be used again. The trouble with getting a site off the ground is that the mostly widely used site indexing services such as DMOZ are a complete joke because they're poorly managed. I'm going to buy my way into yahoo and most of the other major search engines but I've found that for most of the client job boards that run our software, email has been the best tool for getting recruiters. It's like going door to door basically. Trust me I hate spam as much as the next guy.

Again... I'm never going to spam the performers... I know word-of-mouth will be my best tool in that area.

Also... I've had a few new ideas kicking around... let me know what you think.

1. Affiliating with a site called Gigdates.com - this site was built by a buddy that I went to school with. It's mostly for music bands, but I think I've got him convinced to branch out.

2. Adding an area to the site to allow performers to upload clips, audio, and pictures of themselves and they're performances. The only thing with doing this is that it would require a lot of computer resources to run it and it would cost me a lot to build and maintain. but wouldn't it be cool if presenters and employers could see like 30 seconds of your best juggling act?...

3. This one is actually almost finished... I've built an affiliate system to the site so that anyone that wants to put links to my job board from their web page can do so and make a few bucks in return. For instance, if a talent agent was on your site and saw a search box that looked for performers on performingjobs.com and then bought a job posting or subscription then you would get a generous share in the revenue from the sale. I'd really like to try and get performers.net to try this out so we can test the system.

[quote]Originally posted by Minnie Maniac:
I know absolutely nothing about websites, but I just can't deal with the blue stripes in the background! Also, is this site mainly focused on the US or is it worldwide?<hr></blockquote>

-- Those blue stripes are gone... I'm going to fix it in the next day or so. Seemed neat at first but have had more than one complaint about it. I'm going to go darker and lose the lines... that'll make the rest of the site stand out too.

[ 03-14-2003: Message edited by: Mr. Powers ]

**Guest** · Mar-15-2003, 12:32 PM

Hey there Chris,

I applaud your talents and efforts on behalf of yourself as a businessman and us as performers... it is a necessary bridge that has to be gapped with folks such as yourself... THANK-YOU!

Performers are, on the whole "artisans" and have the spirit NOT of a 'business' persona, but rather that of a performer... it's just the nature of the beast. By the time it's figured -out that they would like to make some money from the skills that hay have cultivated... they are a GREAT performer with NO gigs, that's just ONE of the reasons that more of this sort of thing HAS to succeed!

I'm "in your corner and on your side" on this one...

[quote] Mr. Powers: "The contacts I mentioned are talent agencies and companies that I felt would be interested in using the site as a channel for their business. Since it's a business to business type of contact and targeted to a specific interest group and I didn't buy their contact information from any third party list service I wouldn't call it spam."<hr></blockquote>

With the success of your venture at stake, I only wish to help and support you and your efforts to the most successful outcome possible! That is why I am going to reiterate my initial consideration.

The FACT of the matter is... "if they did not ask for the e-mail, it is unsolicited, and by definition -- spam."

Keep in mind, I'm ON your side, and I want you to SUCCEED! See, I just don't want you to get 'knocked-out' before you even get into the ring for a round or two... and believe me, if you send-out unsolicited e-mail, no matter how "targeted" or even how WELCOME it may be to the receiver, it is still spam and you WILL get knocked off entire servers!

I know for a fact that is my host provider (server) saw hundreds of e-mails passing though his network, he would "shoot first, ask questions later" AND then he would make sure all his network pals knew to do the same... it's just what they do! (And he hosts almost exclusively PERFORMERS and agents... your target market!) Their entire job is to provide a value added service and ONE of their jobs in this value added processes is to block spammers and report these nefarious ner-do wells to the authorities.

It's not an issue of 'how we feel' about doing it or not, it's not event important 'what we THINK', it's a matter of will it HELP or will it HURT.

Yes, you will get some interest and returns, but inthe long run you could very well be perceived as a spammer and get shut down at break neck speed! (I know I don't want that to happen!!)

REMEMBER: Don't kill the messenger.

I realize the YOU are NOT an evil spammer, and though I would even 'welcome' your unsolicited advances since it is an area of interest, but legally, it's still spam. Chris, what's important is that you don't get shot down before you get he chance to fly with your project. (for everyone's sake)

I hope you understand the intent and consideration my "share".

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Are their effective outreach options that will provide more hot returns like a moth attracted to a flame on a cold, dark night?

Absolutely!

Here is the GOOD news!

"If there was a way for you to be able to reach the niche market you desire, (The VERY same folks you would get booted off the net trying to reach!) and what if it require with a-TON less effort, reached waaaaay MORE people with greater impact and help your business sky-rocket into the stratos all at the same time... would you be interesting knowing how to do THAT!?" ...Well???

It's a super-effective strategy... some of you may be familiar with this little know business bullet that will kill you competition DEAD in one shot! It's a cooperative effort between other business partners... a "Joint Venture... a Synergistic Alliance of sorts" a true WIN-WIN deal!

It's so incredibly simple that I hesitate mention it as it would be dismissed as folly to be tossed aside as drivel... it is anything BUT!

MILLIONS have been made applying these exact methods.

Here is the basic secret that empires have been built on:
Find a company, site, organization to align yourself with that has a complimentary target market, business outcomes and vision as you do and "partner-up" for the sake of the promotion of your respective business solutions.

Simply put, there are business, sites and organizations that ALREADY have a client base (WELL OVER 500 in most cases!) that is complimentary to your mutual outcomes. The "secret" is in designing a complimentary association that would support BOTH your outcomes making sure EVERYONE get what they need, thus creating a true win-win, mutually satisfying outcome for all involved!

Each one of these business, organizations, sites have their own loyal and relational client base that YOU can leverage! These "List Owners" can do what is referred to as; an "Endorsed Mailing" to their respective list that is WELCOMED (even looked-forward to) MAIL from the list-owner himself... that is NOT SPAM, all touting YOU and your new site! (Reaching waaaaay more than 500... legally!)

How COOL is that!?!

Most list owners have more than 500 on EACH of their list... JV (Joint Venture) with only 2 list owners and your just doubled your reach!

But THAT is not the BEST PART...

Let me ask you a question.
What do you think would be more effective:

- A) An unsolicited e-mail from someone you don't know? (Again, no matter how targeted!) ...That could have been YOU!
or
- B) An (opt-in) ASKED-FOR, even anticipated note from a welcomed friend endorsing YOUR SITE and services?

I think the answer is obvious... and I think the 'solution' to your possible outreach are equally supported. See EVERYBODY WINS!

- You get exposure to eyeballs that are targeted with much less effort and money outlay!
- No one has to even think about (let alone worry about) illegal spam!
- You get the "endorsement" of list-owners, which is HUGE and will save you TIME, MONEY and you don't have to rely on the credibility of another new site they don't know yet!

...on and on with with all the advantages of doing EFFECTIVE outreach this way!

This is NOT the ONLY way (by a loooong shot!) to get the word out, but I just wanted to suggest a "positive solution" to a potential business-breaking problem such as spam so that WE-ALL win as you develop your service site for the performers and the folks who will use your resource down the road!

Ya' know the ol' saying: "If you NOT part of the SOLUTION, you are part of the problem!", well I wanna' be part of the SOLUTION brother!

I hope you understand my heart on this issue... I'm NOT slamming you in any way, shape or form! As a matter of fact, I really want this to GO... BIG TIME!

Hope this gives you something to at-least consider.

I am at your service and in HIS Service,
Deano

==============
Sorry for the edits... I'm a lousy typer, speller and all round grammar host! Hehehehe
==============

[ 03-15-2003: Message edited by: TheDean ]

**Mr. Powers** · Mar-16-2003, 11:29 PM

Hey Dean

I'm really glad to have you on my side. I don't want to get off on the wrong foot here and what you've said makes sense. You say I should partner up with similiarly targeted business entities and leverage their audience to get the word out. This makes sense to me, however, how do I contact these types of entities? You must realize that this is a one-man show here with very limited resources. I can make the site beautiful and customize the software to really cater to the type of people on the site. That's what I'm good at. I have little experience in marketing or promotion. Perhaps I should create a set of collateral materials and have them printed and mail them out to a few of the types of organizations you speak of?...

I love your advice but always have more questions after! [img]smile.gif[/img]

Thanks so much...

FYI... Haven't had much time the past few days to work on the site but I still feel confident that I can have it 100% completed and ready for an official launch in the next two weeks

In the meantime, I appreciate all the performers that have stopped by for a sneak peak at what's there so far. I will be expanding categores so if anyone felt that there wasn't a place for them on the site let me know!

Chris
mailto:c.powers@performingjobs.comc.powers@performingjobs.com</a>
www.performingjobs.com

**Guest** · Mar-22-2003, 11:58 AM

[quote]"...how do I contact these types of entities?"<hr></blockquote>

Hey Chris,

YES you ARE gifted ad a site developer... it's true! (As he says this with ENVY... Hehehehe!) No need to make this any more difficult than it has to be... Just as you have 'surfed' around and found the original 500 names, so you will simply find list-owners and ask for their support of your efforts. (Some may even be hidden in your original 500)

- Some will, some won't... but all it takes is a few.

A few with a built-in list of loyal members/subscribers/visitors/online family.

I would send a "personal", one-time note to each possible list-owner asking for their interest and support. Remember you are NOT "selling" anything except he idea that yours might be a useful alliance, and the BENEFITS (NOT Features) of the mutually advancing association.

You want to be friendly, persuasive and have something that they WOULD genuinely be of value to the list-owner. It HAS to be a "WIN" for the list/site owner.

You may have to do a bit of 'recon' at first.

Find-out what spins their fan... what THEY are looking for in this sort of synergistic relationship and give it to them if you can. It may not be a "match" with every list/site, but keep tryin... remember, all you need is a few at first.

Once you get things cookin and in a more completed stage, I will personally support your project and send friends and family from our site: "The Dean's List; Your University of Success!" Since 1987, The single oldest and most respected Marketing Solutions Forum on the Net for the Independent Professional Performer! There you will also find a "Study-Hall" with links and other "linking-sites" that will take you to over 35,000 performing and related information all-over the net. (THIS site has been listed since it's inception... as an example)

www.TheDean.net ... Have a peek. (It's TOTALLY FREE!)

Click-around and build genuine relationships with people and begin to form these synergistic alliances and your site will explode! Not overnight... but if you provide and create value and solutions, you WILL grow beyond your wildest dreams! Just help enough other people get what THEY need and you will prosper my friend... trust me on this one!

Also, CONTRIBUTE and post with "real" value on boards like this-one. (There are a TON of Killer Performing-Arts Boards!) Again, solve, support and assist others with their pressing considerations based on your experience and expertise, and your site will grow as well. it's that value exchange this that I was referring to earlier.

HERE is the bottom line:

Help More People Get More Of What THEY Need, and YOU Will Get What YOU Need... it's just the law of compensation.

I am at your service and in HIS Service,
Deano

HELP-ME, I'm Typographically Impaired! (Hehehehe)

[ 03-22-2003: Message edited by: TheDean ]

**Mr. Powers** · Mar-22-2003, 09:57 PM

Thanks Dean...

Managed to get a bit done today. I finally finished up the profile templates so that it's a bit more in tune to performing artists. I think that my categories of performers could probably still use some tweaking. If anyone has any suggestions let me know.

Dean - I began posting a few messages to some of the other different forums out there. I'll have to keep looking for the list owners as I haven't found too much yet. I know they're out there.

Chris

http://www.performingjobs.com

c.powers@performingjobs.com

**Mr. Powers** · Apr-02-2003, 08:59 AM

FYI... I should have picture uploading enabled in the next day or so... so that performers can post some pics to go with they're profiles [img]smile.gif[/img]

Chris

New Performing Careers Website

New Performing Careers Website

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