[Lnc-business] website motion

Kevin Ludlow ludlow at gmail.com
Tue Feb 16 15:42:47 EST 2016


Dr. Feldman and LNC:

I apologize in advance for writing with such length.  I don't know how to
convey this in short terms.  Please do me the favor and read it.  I think
it's important.

While I appreciate you putting together a campaign website, truly I do, it
is a **very** long way from being the kind of professional, clean, and
effective website that I am envisioning for our party.  It is not even
fractionally the quality of a site that should be representing our
organization.  As Dr. Lieberman wrote, please DO take a look at the gop.org
and dnc.org websites.  They're nice, clean, well-branded, etc.; imagine if
they had a good message too.

I want to share some knowledge with this group about what modern web
development requires.  I remain very surprised at the attitude that so many
in this club have on the topic.  I honestly cannot tell if that attitude is
an unusually high degree of cheapness or just sheer ignorance of the
market.  I am really hoping for the latter and therefore hope to shed some
light on the realities of this market so we can have a realistic
conversation.

The Libertarian Party above all other groups uses money as our vantage into
a market.  We allegedly base virtually all decisions on "how the market
responds".  What I have found is that we preach this a hell of a lot more
than we practice it, but that's another point altogether.  For this
discussion, let's assume we really DO care about markets and base our
decisions on them.  Professions and tasks that require more skills to
accomplish cost more.  Professions that require less skills cost less.
It's often not a matter of how hard one needs to work, but rather how many
variables have to be managed in order to be successful.  I can get a fence
built relatively cheap because while I might not want to do the work, I can
do it - it's just tiring.  Important to the conversation is that fence
building is low skill and low risk.  You're a medical doctor, Dr. Feldman,
no?  Medical care, surgery, good legal representation, etc. are relatively
high dollar items.  They are high-skill, higher risk, and generally require
a lot of consideration.  Meaning, one can not just get started with a
surgery or with a lawsuit; both require days, weeks, sometimes months of
prep work.

So while it's true that you can find a cheap doctor, a cheap attorney, etc.
you absolutely get what you pay for.  This is important to remember and not
just some platitude.

This is why I am hoping the group is just ignorant of the web market,
because if the group IS knowledgeable about it, then we can't even begin a
discussion since I could only conclude we're cheap and unapologetically
obstinate.  Some facts: I employ a 24 year old kid who is an absolute
badass at his job.  I pay him about $110,000 annually.  He's 24.  By the
time he is 30 he'll easily be getting just over $200k.  I pay my designers
between $80 and $125 per hour depending on the job scope (that's $160k ->
$250k annually at full time).  People at the higher level of what I do for
a living get paid many hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.
Following the market, they get paid this because the work is very high
skill, very high risk (loss of clients), and requires years of training to
be done correctly.  Not to mention that much like being a doctor or an
attorney, it requires constant involvement in the market given it is always
evolving.  Fence building, by stark contrast, has followed the same general
methods for a pretty long time :)

So having written that, why on Earth would anyone in this group insist they
can develop a professional website for us?  They cannot.  Why would anyone
insist it can be done for free?  It absolutely cannot be.  Why would
anybody think that our website should be an afterthought?  It should not
be.  Having a proper website is one of, if not THE most important aspect of
a professional organization in this day in age.  To suggest that it can
just be tossed together on a shoestring budget is laughable if not plain
arrogant and ignorant.  The only reason I say it can be done for as little
as $20k is because I am personally willing to manage the top level of it
and make sure all of the pieces are connected - for free mind you.  If the
LP randomly came to my firm and asked us to take on this project (in a
world where I don't already work with the LP), I would easily quote in
excess of $50k.  ...and even that would be considered extremely cheap given
the scope here.  In fact I very routinely quote and bill clients between
$50,000 and $150,000 for their projects.  Please understand I'm not talking
about Dr. Feldman's campaign page.  I'm talking about when Exxon needs a
new philanthropy organization of theirs brought online, or when an online
market with tens or even hundreds of millions in annual sales wants to
expand into the European market, or when a record label is trying to
capture millions of new leads.  My firm takes on projects like that and
does the work right.  You can always half-ass your way through something
and as I started by saying, you will get what you pay for.  Those companies
will not half-ass their way through something because they're not
half-assed companies.

Those company sites I'm referring to are real sites, generating real leads,
connecting with real people and they cost REAL money to build them
properly.  They're not some random personal blog.  If you believe that the
Libertarian Party should not be competing in the real world, then we just
disagree - rather strongly.  But if you believe that we SHOULD be competing
in the market, then I would strongly encourage you to wake up to the
realities of this market place and help me get something done about it.
Unfortunately our current "best foot forward" looks absolutely ridiculous.
I have a lot of years of experience with this and get paid very handsomely
to do what I do (not unlike some of you).  I'm not saying that to be
boastful. I'm saying it because I would hope this body could trust a person
who has devoted his life's work to that market.  Professionally speaking,
lp.org is atrocious.   I would be happy to go out and get testimonials if
you'd like.  You'll find I'm speaking very kindly about it.  We can fix
this, but in order to do so, this body has to wake up to what it costs.  Or
maybe next time one of you needs a doctor I'll just suggest I can probably
wing it "in house" using a few youtube tutorials, because why would I
listen to the expertise of real doctors that we have around us?

GenerousArt is an Austin-based non-profit I've sat on the board of for
years (though I just stepped down two months ago to increase my time in the
LP).  We spent about $12,500 on this website and had it built in about 8
weeks.  I did not take on the project; I merely managed it - for free - as
a member of the board.  ...in fact this board actually requires a
give-or-get and so you might even say I paid just to manage this project.
A lot of cost was with the online shopping it required:
http://www.generousart.org

The Rude Mechanicals are an Austin-based theater company I've sat on the
board of for years.  We spent about $15,000 to have this website built.  It
took about 6 weeks to build.  Again, I only managed it, but did not
personally do any of the work (on purpose):  http://rudemechs.com/

Both of these websites are now generating way more leads and revenue than
they previously could.  Customers are very happy with them.  The local
papers and media groups have praised them.  Most importantly, the
information we want people to have is easily accessible.  Other information
is buried - as it should be - as lp.org also does not comprehend.

One last note on cost: the National Convention App that I designed and am
having built by my own firm is costing me about $6,000.  For an app.  That
has ONE purpose.  It's super clean, super nice, and will do its job
perfectly.  I am paying that bill myself so it gets done.

Proper programming is NOT cheap.  Lots of people claim to work in the
field.  A very low percentage of those claimants are actually good at what
they do.  Please understand that difference.  I couldn't charge what I do
if I didn't know how to do it.  That's a market response for you.

Anyway, that's my spiel.  Please consider this matter very seriously.  I
don't care how it gets done.  I don't care if I have a part in it or not.
But I do care about conveying the importance of it to you guys because it
seems that nobody understands how serious of a problem this is for our
brand (or strong lack there of one).

As always, call, email, text, or use any other mechanism you want to reach
me.  Day, night, holidays, whenever it's convenient for you.  Literally no
time window is off limits.  I make myself very available 512-773-3968.

Thanks for your time.  I will answer any questions you have.

-Kevin Ludlow

=

On Tuesday, February 16, 2016, Marc Allan Feldman <marc at openivo.com> wrote:

> Here is another experiment.  On your computer, go to
> www.votesnotforsale.com, my campaign site.  Then go there on your
> phone.
> This site I made myself using a NationBuilder template.  Website
> design cost:  Zero.
> I am not a "you should do it this way" Libertarian.
> I am a "this is the way I do it" Libertarian.
>
> On Tue, Feb 16, 2016 at 11:42 AM, Scott L. <scott73 at earthlink.net> wrote:
> >
> > Regarding the part I made red below:  Here is a very simple experiment.
> > Look at    www.LP.org   on your cell phone.  Then look at gop.com   and
> > democrats.org  on your cell phone.
> >
> > Before you say "so what", here is a factoid from
> >
> https://litmus.com/blog/53-of-emails-opened-on-mobile-outlook-opens-decrease-33
> >
> >
> > Even back in 2014, "nearly half of emails are opened on smartphones and
> > tablets".  I could not find the exact breakdown of phones vs. tablets,
> but
> > on that same page it says 28% of all e-mails were opened on an i-phone.
> In
> > other words - unless looking at e-mails has a very different device
> > distribution than web browsing, a very large percentage of web views are
> > done on cell phones.
> >
> >     Scott Lieberman
> >
> >
> > GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Roland Riemers
> > Sent: Feb 16, 2016 8:22 AM
> > To: "lnc-business at hq.lp.org" , lnc-business
> > Subject: Re: [Lnc-business] website motion
> >
> > Kevin, you make the general statement that our current web site is
> horrible
> > bad,  and I would assume, can not be improved and repaired.   If so:
> >
> > 1.      State your specific objections to the current web site
> >
> > 2.       State why you feel it can not be updated or repaired to meet its
> > defects?
> >
> > 3.        State why you feel it is urgent we expend the $20,000 now,
> instead
> > of in the next budget year
> >
> > 4.         And if we do it now,  could this be a project funded by
> > contributions for this project and not out of our current budget?
> >
> > 5.         If this has been a long term concern,  why was it not asked
> to be
> > included into our current budget instead of being brought up at this late
> > date?
> >
> > While I also think of national and state web sites are poor in compared
> to
> > the majors,   I am not sure an update would help as much as an
> improvement
> > of the information we provide on our sites.   I am hoping Nation Builder
> > gives us some promise?   But I am concerned about spending $20,000 out of
> > the budget for a site that looks like the future, but still gives the
> same
> > limited information.
> >
> > Sincerely,  Roland Riemers ND    Reg. 6
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Lnc-business mailing list
> > Lnc-business at hq.lp.org
> > http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org
> >
>
>
>
> --
> Marc Allan Feldman
> CEO
> OpenIVO, Inc.
> Beachwood, OH
> marc at openivo.com
> http://about.me/marcallanfeldman
> 216-312-4169 (direct)
>
> _______________________________________________
> Lnc-business mailing list
> Lnc-business at hq.lp.org
> http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://hq.lp.org/pipermail/lnc-business/attachments/20160216/965f3263/attachment.html>


More information about the Lnc-business mailing list