Too Photoshop or Not Too Photoshop that is the question! Do you feel your skills in Photoshop are good enough to offer this service to your clients? These days everyone says they are able to make a website but is this true?

We're a hosting company. If someone wants design we can recommend them someone.

I use to use Paint Shop Pro but switched to Photoshop and have never looked back. Love PhotoShop and I would say that my skills are above average.

I am working on getting better, designing sites for me is still dificult, but as the time progresses, I learn new things, get faster with the product, and turn out a good design.

So I would say, I love photoshop, and couldnt use any other program.

The easiest ways to get customers is to over a total solution. Infact the majority of my shared accounts come from my own webdesign clients.

I agree completely. When prospects come to me, the first thing they ask is if you CAN do everything for me, buy the name, design the site (yes, I use PhotoShop) and host my site. I believe they like the one-stop-shopping.
Susan

I started out as a designer and moved into hosting. They are very different services although from a customer stand point they go together. I would recommend if you have a hosting company learn to design or have a good reference for your customers to go to.

Krinken
Arcion, Inc.
www.arcionwebdesign.com
www.arcionhosting.com

I can provide web-based design to a certain extent and based on the scope of the project (in addition to coding and hosting). If there is a need for a full package, corporate identity, offline marketing materials, and anything that might be considered more of an "agency" level task I have a few different contacts waiting in the wings.

One-stop-shopping is key and if your company can provide it then you can increase your profit base. Don't let your customer go elsewhere, try to get as many addons with them as possible.

If this helps I have created a simple excel spreadsheet that organizes my monthly client base and keeps track of their addons such as IPs, Extra BW, etc... When I say addons I am referring to additions that are placed upon base prices.

Column names:

Activated | Name | Hosting Revenue | Addons | Addon Type | Hosting Costs
| Addons Cost | Profit

I realize there are several accounting tools out there but this was strictly done to show everything in a graphical format. It makes me realize where I need to focus on more with my customers. Hope this helps! Hope I did not divert from the topic too much!

Ive been using photoshop for over a year now. With a little bit of creativity and some skills Ive done quite alot of logos/templates that customers liked..
I also use photoshop at school..

I came from the Graphic Design world first, then into the web and now hosting. The hosting came as a result of realizing I should host my clients sites, instead of finding them places to host their sites. I just realized I have been using Photoshop from the time it pretty much came out back then. Funny how it has changed over the years.

It's great to be able to offer all parts of the package to a client. If you have someone going to another place for other things, that other place might persuade them to use their services instead of yours and your out a client.

You can alway outsource things you can't or don't feel comfortable doing. Being a jack of all trades is nice, but there are times when you need to call in someone who is more of an expert.

So to answer the question that started this post, I know my skills are way up there to do some great Photoshop work as needed. I had a roommate in college that always said he would never want to make me made, because I could Photoshop him doing something bad. Not that I would do that. :p

There's some much that can be done with Photoshop to make life so much easier when designing. Always try to do Non-destructive things to images. What I mean, don't erase the background, learn how to mask and hide it. You may want that background later on.