Soooo Frustrated With Web Guys & Graphic Designers!!!

The problem with that Louise (lorra Louise's here ) is that the OP
is pretty much fed up with trying to tie in multiple contractors.

I suspect what he really needs is to be working with a good project
manager from a professional web development firm .

As somebody who runs such a firm with multi million dollar clients
I'll tell you our service levels run so much higher than the average
Odesk contractor it's not funny, you're talking about entirely
different animals.

I pay my guys nearly twice the numbers Michael talked about in some
of his descriptions, top end creative guys , native UK/American,
professionals who treat this as a job, not a sideline don't work for
$15 lousy an hour.

It wouldn't even pay the studio fees.

Well... tonight isn't your night for picking lottery numbers, so don't run down and buy a ticket unless you go for the computer generated one.

Actually you can, after many awful experiences occasionally find
somebody who is "competent" in all 4.

You can't however find somebody who is extra ordinarily skilled
in all 4, because by the very definition of the type of mind these
guys have, somebody deeply naturally skilled as an graphic artist
has little interest in debugging PHP.

We have studies now clearly showing those of a truly artistic
nature use different areas of the brain more so than those
for example of who are prone to mathematical genius.

It's not so much it couldn't be done, it more a case of how people
with different skills think , people will tend to focus on what
they find they have a natural aptitude for.

Which is why professional web development firms house a team of
the best of the best in each and assign a project manager to
each client.

The client simply gives the PM a wish list of what they want
to happen and a good PM translates that to his team and
make it all happen behind the scenes.

The reality is that most people can't afford that kind of service
level and often have never even experienced it.

When you can afford it, all your outsourcing issues evaporate.

The mark of a good web development firm is that the client
should never have a clue or need to have a clue as to
who's doing what, or how you're going to tie the programmer
into the graphic artist for that opt in that parses their
data into your miva merchant account or whatever the
solution is.

All you need to do as a client is simply say I want "xyz" to
happen and make it look cool as hell please.

All your project manager should say is " I'll make it so sir".

That's it.

That's the difference between running around like a headless
chicken on outsourcing sites with varying degrees of hassle
and inconsistency.

Once a long term relationship has been built up and you understand
your clients business model, customer demographic, ethos
and more, you're then able to add another angle to the service,
that of being proactive and even finding areas you can benefit
the firm with.

I've had clients for more than 4 years, and I've never done
ANYTHING for under $45 an hour and even that's cheap frankly,
often fees run into the hundreds per hour depending on exactly
what kind of work is being done, time frames and so on.

Low prices can often be misleading and a false economy as well,
the difference is what a guy at the top of his game in a specific
area can get done in an hour versus what some of the $15 ph
guys charge.

Well... I have been doing those... plus writing, technical writing, research, reverse-engineering, upwrites, webmaster services and a couple of other things for about 6 years...

I'm not the best at anything... but can get ANY project to completion.

My only drawback is that English is not my home language, so I use an editor to fix my messes and take care of copywriting.

Sandra