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Every man and his dog will tell you that a website is pretty much an essential part of any successful business these days. They’ll also tell you a whole bunch of stories about what a terrible experience they’ve had at the hands of their web design team and they might even tell you they could have done it better themselves. I’m sure that a lot of those stories have an element of truth in them but there’s almost certainly more to it than that.
Commissioning a new website isn’t something you’re going to be doing every day of the week. It’s really easy to head off down the wrong route so that the end result is something you’re not bought into or you come out of the whole process feeling bruised, battered and considerably poorer.
So, why do many people feel that they aren’t getting value from the web design process or that the whole experience was pretty traumatic?
Well, to be honest, some of it is almost certainly because there are a number of poor web designers and agencies who are happy to just take the money and run, leaving you with a shoddy and useless website. However, in my experience, that’s not the norm. Most people working in the web design industry are talented and dedicated and often put far more effort into developing a website than they receive in reward. And yet, clients are still not happy; so, why is that?
The other side of that coin is that the industry is rife with agencies moaning about their clients – essentially, biting the hand that feeds them. That’s just not acceptable and it really boils down to getting the fundamentals right, straight from the first contact. There’s a responsibility on both sides to really make the whole process work smoothly – it’s a collaboration after all so we all need to understand each other a lot more to make it work for everyone’s benefit.
In my experience a lot of projects could have been immeasurably improved if the clients invested a bit more time in planning and decision making before they even go anywhere near a web designer. The difficulty is that if this is something you undertake only once every three or four years then where do you start?
In all the time I’ve run a successful web design agency I can’t think of more than a handful of occasions when a new client has come to us with all the information we need to provide them with a realistic quote and to initiate a successful project for them. But that’s not really a surprise – your job is running your business, not specifying websites and it’s no surprise that you just don’t know what your web designer needs to know.
And that is pretty much what this series of blogs is about. I’m going to try and demystify what it is that web designers need to know, what you need to think about and do before embarking on an expensive exercise and helping to make sure you get the best possible return on your investment.
There’s an awful lot more to consider than you probably thought and some of it is pretty challenging, as it cuts to the heart of your business – what makes it tick and where you want it to go. One thing it definitely isn’t – it’s not a coding or technical exercise. It’s about improving your business and if it doesn’t do that then you’re probably going to waste your money.
We’re going to look at all of the aspects of commissioning and running a successful website so that you’ll be in a much stronger position the next time you want a new website.
Of course, a website is a pretty broad description – it could stretch from a simple blog through to a completely bespoke site with business application integration or a full-blown app. This blog aims to cover as broad a range of websites as possible so not all of it will necessarily apply to every project but, hopefully, you’ll be able to dip in and out to find information relevant to your needs.