Garage Entrepreneurs

by Eric Tags: avery, building a website, marketing materials, new business, small business owners, web designer, web professionals

Jan. 19^th 2010

Recently we’ve been receiving quite a few member requests for more information on how to manage the online presence of a new business. A major component of that online presence would be building a website. To help our members, we asked expert Avery Swartz (www.AverySwartz.com) to write a TWO PART series on Website Tips for Entrepreneurs. Avery is an award-winning print and web designer. Avery works with entrepreneurs to ensure that their message is conveyed simply, clearly, and elegantly through their marketing materials. You can connect with Avery directly through her Garage Entrepreneurs profile HERE.

Click to read Part 1 first.

So you’ve decided to work with a Web Professional – excellent choice. Now, how to find one? You could go the traditional route of writing a creative brief, and putting out a Request for Proposals. Then Web Professionals will submit proposals, make presentations, and meet with you for interviews. This is a great process, but it can take a lot of time. Many small business owners want your business website up and running as soon as possible.

You can look for a Web Professional on your own, without going through the Request for Proposal process. Ask for referrals from other small business owners. When you’re online yourself, looking at other websites, if you see one you like, look for a link to the web designer. Most websites have a “site designed by XX” link. If you like the look of a particular website, get in touch with that designer and see if they’re a good fit.

Things to consider when looking for a web professional:

1. Do you like their website? Choosing a Web Professional with a bad website is like choosing a hair stylist with a bad haircut. Odds are, if you don’t like their website, you’re not going to like what they do for your site.
2. Have a look at the Web Professional’s portfolio. Do you see a range of looks, for a range of clients? Or do most of their projects look the same? This will give you a sense of what they can do for you. If you don’t find any project in their portfolio that aligns with your business’s aesthetic, then this isn’t the right fit for you.
3. Make sure the Web Professional will create an original web design for you, and not recycle their designs or work from pre-existing web templates. Your Web Professional should understand your unique business needs. You didn’t design your business from a template – so don’t accept a Web Professional who will make your website from one.
4. Ask if the Web Professional ensures that their websites are up-to-date with the latest web technologies and web standards, and if their sites validate for proper code. It’s a technical question, but it’s the best way to make sure that they know what they’re doing, and that their web creations will hold up over time. Bad code = bad website.
5. Speaking of code, make sure you choose a Web Professional who can “talk the talk” with technical detail, but can also turn off the “tech speak” and communicate with you plain and simply, in a language you understand. If you don’t understand what they’re saying, it’s not a good fit.
6. Have a discussion about ongoing website maintenance. It is common practice and widely expected that websites are current and up-to-date. You might have a simple “brochure” website now, but you might want to add increased functionality later. Websites should be built with change in mind. Who will make changes and updates to your website after you launch? At what cost? Your relationship with your Web Professional shouldn’t end when the website is launched.

You may be tempted to ask a Web Professional to do some preliminary work for you before hiring them, for example, asking them to do some “rough sketches” for you, so you can decide whether you like them or not. That’s a concept known as speculative (“spec”) work, and it’s a bad idea.

In the Design Community, spec work is widely avoided. Most Web Professionals won’t do it, and not just for financial reasons. Even though it’s tempting to “try before you buy”, spec work is bad for everyone involved. Spec work forces the Web Professional to focus on the final product, not the process, of creating work for you. If you haven’t gone through the design process, how could the Web Professional possibly know what would work for you? If you request spec work, you will likely be turned down.

Working With a Web Professional Your Site is Launched – Now What?

Communication is key to a successful working relationship with your Web Professional. The particulars of the design process are bound to be different with each individual Web Professional. But you should always feel as if there IS a clearly defined process, and you should be confident of where you are in that process.

Make sure you have a contract. It will protect you and your Web Professional, and should outline the work involved, the fee and payment schedule, copyright issues, ongoing site maintenance, etc. If you’re paying someone to build you a website without a contract, they can disappear with your website and your money, and you will not be protected. Put it on paper – it’s just good business sense, and it benefits both of you.

You’ve now invested a lot of time, energy, and money into getting your business online. You have a website, and it’s beautiful. You’ve put your new web address on your business cards. You’ve sent an email to all your family and friends encouraging them to check out your new site. And, since you chose to work with a Web Professional, you have sophisticated analytical software on your website to track web traffic.

So you’re done, right? No way. After a couple of months, you notice your web traffic starts to fall off. You’ve fallen for a common website owner trap: “if you build it, they will come”. You thought all you had to do was make a website, and then it would magically appear at the top of Google search results, and your phone would be ringing off the hook with new business. Unfortunately, that’s not the way it works. You need to promote your website.

Online advertising, blogging, Facebook, Twitter, and link sharing are just a few suggestions for website promotion. Ask your Web Professional for help – the same person who helped you get your site online should have tips on how to keep it fresh, and keep it working for you. It should be part of your ongoing relationship, and is just another example of the value of working with a Web Professional.

Avery works with small business owners to ensure that their message is conveyed simply, clearly, and elegantly through their marketing materials.

You can connect with Avery on Garage Entrepreneurs by checking out her profile HERE. You may also visit her website at www.AverySwartz.com for more information.

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