2009 In Review And Our Goals For 2010
2009 was an interesting year for Virtuosi Media, not without its ups and downs. Before going into what to expect from us in 2010, let me give you a brief overview of our year.
The Year In Review
We incorporated in July and officially launched our redesigned website on July 28th. We began offering our web design services right away, but didn’t begin receiving client work until a few months later. We’ve designed several new websites this past year which you can now see in our portfolio. Now we’re busy working away on multiple websites and projects, the next batch of which you will see in the coming weeks.
Since we launched, we’ve written 22 new articles, tutorials, and resources which have combined to bring in over 124,000 visitors to our website from July 28th to year end, not quite 25,000 people per month. Those numbers aren’t astronomical by any means, but they represent a good start and we would like to continue building our traffic this year.
What We Learned
We learned so many different lessons this past year, especially in the areas of business and marketing. When we launched, we certainly didn’t expect an onslaught of client work, but we were disappointed that it took as long as it did to get our first clients. In retrospect, we launched without any sort of portfolio at all and that probably didn’t do us any favors.
We still haven’t done any sort of marketing by advertising in papers, magazines, or online and I’m not completely sure that we will for the foreseeable future. The costs associated with any sort of print media seem wasteful in comparison to the benefits of online advertising, especially when you can track your return on investment (ROI) so exactly online. We’ve considered advertising online using Google AdWords, but to this point we haven’t had the budget to do so (our niche is well-saturated, driving the cost-per-click up to $4-$5). When we began gaining clients without using AdWords, we decided that we’ll hold off advertising until we absolutely need to do so.
Business cards have been an exception to our aversion to printing costs. There have been few networking events or client meetings that have gone by where someone hasn’t asked for a business card or where we wished we had one with us. No matter how often someone tells you that business cards are becoming obsolete, don’t buy into it. They’re still very much a factor in business, especially when you stray from the bleeding-edge of the tech industry.
Legal fees are also something that I feel I should mention. We paid to incorporate and we’ll soon be having lawyers look at various types of contracts and licenses. While it’s an enormous cost up-front, it’s a very necessary form of risk management. I’d rather pay a relatively small fee in the beginning than have to deal with the cost and stress of a lawsuit later on.
Goals For 2010
We have some big goals for Virtuosi Media, Inc. in 2010. Some of them have been in the works for a while and others are a response to some of the things we learned in 2009.
Scaling Our Services
It didn’t take too many client jobs before we discovered that we’re going to need help to scale our business beyond just carving out jobs for Johanna and myself. Johanna handles the bookkeeping and much of the admin work and I handle all of the design, coding, and client communication. We both contribute writing to our site and I have a number of other projects that I’d like to move forward. In short, we realized we’re going to need help.
One of our goals for 2010 is to create a network of contractors that includes designers, programmers, testers, and copywriters. We’re going to spend a lot of January working on the legal and technical setup to make it possible to begin using contractors. Eventually we hope to take on full-time employees, but it simply isn’t an option just yet. If you are or know of graphic designers, web programmers, testers or copywriters, feel free to send us a link to a relevant portfolio.
One important thing to note is that even though we’re going to begin using contractors, our quality and services will continue to be top-notch. We’re seeking only the best contractors who do excellent work and deliver on-time. In addition, each and every piece of content, design, or programming will be given a thorough examination and, if necessary, changes will be made to it before it is presented to the client.
Website Redesign
Our website has been around for several years and it seems as if each year, it’s gotten a fresh coat of paint. 2010 will be no exception. Our current design is serviceable and useable, but it is fast approaching the limit of its capabilities. We use content management systems in our client work, but we have yet to install a CMS on our own website.
In the first half of the year, look for VirtuosiMedia.com to become far more interactive as we implement a new design and begin using a CMS. Our goal for the site is to make it a destination site for internet businesses and the redesign will reflect an increased focus on community interaction, tools, resources, products, and services. We won’t tell all our secrets, but if you’re interested in graphic design, web development, SEO, marketing, ecommerce, social media, or business, we’ll have something for you.
Expanding Our Network
We’ve had some great response to the content that we’ve put out over the last year, but we want to take several giant leaps forward in 2010 in terms of building a community of professionals. Look for us to step our efforts on Twitter and Facebook, as well other social networks. We want to be where you are, communicating in the way that you find most comfortable.
Writers Will Be Wanted
One of the biggest keys in becoming a vital community resource is providing great content that you can’t find elsewhere. Once our redesign has gone through, look for us to put out a call to guest authors for articles, tutorials, resource lists, and other pieces of content. By the end of this year, we want to be publishing something every weekday. If you’re interested, send us an email.
MooTools Scripts Galore
We love using the MooTools JavaScript framework and we’ve been sitting on a number of MooTools scripts and tools that we will be releasing in 2010. We have over 30 releases planned over the course of the year, so stay tuned.
VM Framework
In addition to developing MooTools scripts, we’ve also been working on a PHP framework, which we’re tentatively calling VM Framework. The project is currently in an alpha stage and I’ll let loose a few juicy details. VM Framework will be open-source (MIT license) and is being developed for PHP 5.2+. The guiding principle of the framework has been an easy-to-use API. Look for a public beta release sometime this summer.
Project X
A PHP framework isn’t much fun unless you build something with it, right? We’re working on a special project, slated for late in 2010 or early in 2011. It falls in the content management genre and we’re hoping to turn more than a few heads with it. We’ll call it Project X for now, but we’ll be releasing more details as the year goes on.
And Finally...
If you can’t tell, we’re going to have a busy year, especially now that we’ve told you what we’re planning (which means that we’re now officially committed). We’d like to thank you for your readership and we encourage you to write to us with any ideas, comments, suggestions, or questions you might have. Don’t forget that we’re also on Twitter and Facebook.