How do you maximize your budget when hiring a
web-design agency to design and develop a website for you so
that your web team can focus on high-value tasks activities like design
and development?
Ideally, a web project will require 15-20% of the time on client
communication and project management, while the 80-85% goes to strategy,
design, copywriting, coding, search engine optimization (SEO), and
quality assurance (QA). Unfortunately, many web project budgets get lost
when client communication and project management creeps into the 30-40% range,
squeezing out other tasks from the main picture.
Unending website projects or those that incur bloated price tags up to
10 times the size of the original estimate are some of the horror stories. Here
are a few tips on how to assure your project succeeds:
1) "Absent-Minded-Professor" Syndrome
Missed meetings, unanswered emails, or uncompleted tasks lead web
design agencies to spend more time reminding clients instead of doing your
website. Do not get too busy such that you get overwhelmed and become
unresponsive to your agency.
Solution: Before committing to a website redesign project, be clear on what your
web company needs from you to do the project, how much time you can dedicate,
and how responsive you need to be to prevent bottlenecks. Set your schedule to
spend twice more time than they expect!
2) Being Wishy-washy
Changing direction often makes your web company to spend redoing work or
re-communicating plans to the development group. If you are starting up or you
are growing rapidly, your marketing needs may change daily, making it hard to undergo
a design, message, or site restructuring.
Solution: Be decisive to avoid costly redesign and redevelopment work.
3) Lack of Direction or Team Alignment
Letting a web company settle issues with business partners or marketing employees
as to the direction of a website (or company!) reduces production and design
time. Work on these issues outside of your project meeting time and come to the
table with a clear direction.
Solution: Before
the project begins, engage your agency in a strategy phase
first to clear up the direction, business goals, ideal customer, buyer
personas, messaging, content, and site architecture!
4) Inviting Too Many Cooks into the Kitchen
Involving relatives and other people at every step of a website process
can overwhelm with conflicting views. Asking for validation can come after site
launching and when you have the data!
Solution: Keep a small and focused website
project group and use your budget well. Assign a point-person to avoid sending inconsistent
messages to your web design team.
5) Getting Stuck on Content
Entrepreneurs often think they can do everything themselves! Be
realistic about how much time you and your team can commit to work on content without
professional help.
Solution: Start working on the content early -- calendar
your regular writing work. Ask your web
company to provide a professional writer to keep things moving when
needed.
6) Perfectionism
A useful website need not be perfect. Updating content is quite easy,
especially under a web-based content management system. Launch first
and keep improving instead of waiting for months working on an unfinished
website.
Solution: Try a phased strategy to your project
- Launch the “minimum viable website” you need to serve your prospects and
customers, collect data on how they use your site, and then provide new
features and content in time.
7) Paying Invoices Late, or Not at All
Don’t believe the rumor that web agencies are like bounty hunters chasing
clients down or withholding the release of websites prior to payment. Web
projects can be costly, and cash flow can be a big hurdle for small or rapidly
growing businesses.
Solution: Pay promptly as stated in the
contract, or set a payment plan so your web design company will be there for
you in the future!
Achieving website project success requires both parties (client and web
design firm) to understand each other well. Like a marriage, the relationship must
have the same vision of success and abide by the same rules of communication.
The desire to serve with commitment is vital on both the web design
company and the client. Living happily ever after must nurture that
desire!
Original article was published from HubSpot.
In the off chance that you don't have a website
yet (I know, shucks), it's never too late to have one. Just get the web hosting
and the domain registration and we'll handle the whole shebang. LogicGateOne
Corp. will build your website from the ground up. And because we understand how
SEO works wonders in the popularity of a website, we'll throw in that extra on your HTML coding.
0 comments:
Post a Comment