Unless you're in the business of designing websites, or your business is primarily e-commerce in nature, chances are you hate dealing with your website altogether. You're not alone, and there are plenty of good reasons. However, lots of business websites are bringing value to the businesses they to support, minus the frustrations. First, let's take a look at what those frustration points are then examine ways of avoiding them.
One of the key premises all business success is built upon is clear access to accurate information. With the web, however, everything seems shrouded in mystery. Endless technical barriers and other considerations act as barriers to keep the site owner from making clear decisions.
Some designers even use industry lingo and vague references as a smokescreen keep the business owner from engaging too directly. It's a dependency thing. If the web designer can keep the website owner convinced that any meaningful input should be left to "experts," the result is a measure of job security for the designer.
For you, the business owner insists that everything your web designer does can be justified in business terms that make sense. Our approach is to put in writing everything we do, and explain it in normal speaking language. We go further by empowering our clients to take control of their own websites, blogs, etc. We even provide a "nerd to human" decoder ring! Well, okay, I made that up, but we do make sure our website owners have the tools necessary to ensure their own success online.
This one's tough, even for us. Certain things take longer than expected. It's just one of the struggles, we as web developers must deal with. However, when you, the business website owner builds a strategy with the expectation that something will be finished on a certain date, that date is vitally important.
In our firm, we do two things. First, we track every minute spent on every task performed by every member of every project. As a result, we know how long things take. On top of that, we're so confident in our ability to estimate, that we offer our clients a no-risk guarantee. In other words, if we miss a deadline, you don't pay. So, when we say it'll be ready on Friday, you can be sure you'll have it on Friday, whatever "it" is.
The internet is a technical world, and only getting more so. It's just reality. As technologies evolve, business demands on how to best put the web to work evolve too. We love it. We love the challenges. We love the newness, and we love the idea that we're breaking through boundaries with each new project. But, when you're busy running a company, technical challenges can be very frustrating.
Our solution is to be as full service as our clients need. Often this means that we do it all. We are a team of strategists, analysts, engineers and artists. It is our job to keep you from having to deal with technical issues that take you away from running your business.
Perhaps the worst thing business owners have to put up with regarding their business websites, are snotty, condescending web designers. You know you just want to punch the little twerp, but you can't because next thing you know, your website will be promoting some unmentionable and it's only then that you learn he's holding your domain name for ransom.
While we confess a certain level of nerd-dom, we send the snotty geeks to seek employment elsewhere. The truth is, we don't like them either.
