What to expect when you're expecting...a website

A guide for companies thinking about creating a website.
By John Rossitter of www.rossitterconsulting.com, a Shreveport webdesign company

Part 1 |  Part 2 |  Part 3 |  Part 4 |  Part 5 |  Part 6 |  Part 7 |  Part 8 |  Part 9 |  Part 10 |  Glossary

Part 7

Words of Wisdom |  Think Local |  Regional Boundaries |  Know when to listen |  Pay Your Bills! |  Do Your Part |  Tell Your Friends |  What Not to Do

Words of wisdom

Here are some words of wisdom to help you on your way with your website. This list has been compiled over years of experience with projects and if followed will greatly reduce the stress that comes with making a website.

Work with a local company

When it comes time to pick a web design company to work with, there are a lot of choices to weed though. It seems you can't swing a cat and not hit someone who knows something about websites. I recommend that find someone local to work with. There are a few reasons for this. The best reason is because it makes communications easier. There is nothing like the ability to walk into your web designer's office and talk with them face to face about your website. Another important reason to work with someone in your region is cost of living differences. A web programmer in a smaller community is likely to charge significantly less for your project than one located in New York City where the hourly rate for projects is higher because the cost of living is just higher there.

Understand regional boundaries

If you are a making a website to sell widgets all over the country, you need to be careful not to make yourself appear to be too local of a company. Don't litter your page with links to local institutions like the local Chamber of Commerce, or B.B.B. Instead show a list of testimonials from all over the country.

Know when to listen to your web designer and when to take over

When you decide to place the fate of your website in the hands of a professional web designer, you need to trust their instincts. If they tell you that a graphic is too gaudy, chances are that it is. If they tell you that you are trying to put too much information into a space that just will not hold it, you need to listen. They spend all day looking at web pages with a critical eye, and know what makes for good web design. A good designer will work with your ideas and meld them into something sleek and professional.

If the design just isn't going the way you want it to, and you have gotten a 2nd and 3rd opinion on it, you may need to intervene on the project. Don't be afraid to express your opinions, after all you are the boss.

Pay your bills on time

Nothing will derail your project quicker than not paying the web developer what you agreed to pay when you agreed to pay it. Let's not kid ourselves here, websites can get expensive and you may not realize the amount of time that web designers put into creating your website. If you can't afford to make a payment on time for your website, let your web developer know A.S.A.P. Chances are they will meet you half way and work it out. Or if you have some other professional service you can barter with, you may want to offer to trade out the remaining balance. It never hurts to ask. The important thing to keep in mind is, be open and honest about your payments. If you take the route of not answering your phone, returning emails, making payments, or just dodging the issue of payments in general, there is a good chance your web designer will take out a mechanic's lien on your website. Or worse report you to a collections agency.

Do your part to get materials and copy turned in as fast as you can

Don't become the reason your website is taking so long to finish. If you are responsible for getting materials like graphics, or copy material over to your web designer, get it done as soon as you can. If you have an executive assistant, this is a great opportunity to let them assist.

Tell your friends and other professional acquaintances

If your website designer does a great job with your website, reward them by spreading the word. Sometimes you may get an unexpected referral bonus.

Don't use Microsoft Word, Publisher or FrontPage

While programs like Word, Publisher and FrontPage will let you create and save web pages, you need to be very careful of using them when you publish your pages online. The applications have a nasty habit of inserting and embedding invalid HTML code into your web pages. This will cause you major heartache later down the road when you find out that your website does not work with the latest version of FireFox or Safari. On a technical note, they also rely heavily on the use of HTML tables for formatting, which has been an outdated way of creating HTML for over 5 years. If you need an application to create web pages with, look into a free program that Microsoft offers called Visual Web Developer. This is a free professional grade application that Microsoft provides to web developers. It will help you create valid web standard based XHTML.

And if you do decide to work with a professional web deigner down the line, the work you did in FrontPage will most likely be unable to be re-used as it would take more time to undo all of the junk code embeddedded.

Part 1 |  Part 2 |  Part 3 |  Part 4 |  Part 5 |  Part 6 |  Part 7 |  Part 8 |  Part 9 |  Part 10 |  Glossary

-Rossitter Consulting is a Shreveport-Bossier City web design firm that offers affordable web design and hosting. Click HERE to read more