Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

I want to make some design changes to my website, add a shopping cart/ecommerce, make it easy for me to do minor updates and make it SEO friendly.  I designed my website myself (basically just told the web designer what to do), but I need a bit more direction. 

There are so many designers out there its hard to choose.

What type of questions should I ask?

What pitfalls should I look out for?

I took a look at your site and I like the landing page, although there`s lots of room for improvement. Well, some of the questions you should ask are:
1. What type of services do you offer?
2. Are you a registered business? Do you have a license or DBA (incase he doesn`t follow through with his "I will do this, I will do that".
3. Ask him for a feasible time-frame (How long will it take to develop the site)
4. What would be his solution to implement a shopping cart into your system? would it be custom made or would it be out of the box solution like Oscommerce, Zen Cart or something similar.
5. What is his experience in Search Engine Optimization? What is his track record.
6. Does he have any examples of work?

Well the only pitfalls that I see are: if he charges you somewhere around 300.00 to 500.00 for a shopping cart system and design, most likely he is what I called a "starving designer" or a "newbie" that wants to code to add you to his portfolio. I`ve seen people charging $99.99 for a fully developed web site, but then again you get what you pay for.
Other things to watch out for are: Don`t let them register any domain names, SSL certificates, or anything under their name. As a business owner you should do all that.




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Edgar Monroy
Web Developer / Owner / Consultant
When starting your own business the need to "know-how" is greater than money!
http://www.nuevolution.net

One of the questions centered on choosing the design for their house.

They revealed that they looked at hundreds of plans and model homes. They took photographs of elements in one house design and elements from another. They looked at tons of stone tile floors, wood floors, bamboo floors, etc..., before finally picking out their favorite.

After they pieced their dream home together, they went to an architect who helped them put their ideas onto a plan. The husband said it took them 3 years from the time they decided they would build their home, just to get the blue prints drafted/created from the architect.

That took 3 years… thousands of hours of planning and preparation… mind you, the first brick hasn’t been laid yet… it took 3 years of research and planning to get their “plans” created… their blueprints.

Now… the opposite happens when most business owners decide they want a website. What typically happens is that a business owner wakes up one day and decides he or she needs or wants a web site. Once that decision is made, he or she begins looking for a web designer. They may get a referral from a friend, or they may research one out for themselves.

Once they find a designer, they’ll typically call him or her up (or email them) and say I need a website, how much do you charge? How many pages do I get? Can I make changes on my own? How do I take credit card payments? I hear paypal is free to get, I want to use that? Can I see some of your work? Oh… those sites look great! Can you make me one like that? Content? What content??? I thought you all provided the content? Can you help me with the content?

Unlike the homeowner who custom builds their house, many business owners are unwilling to take a proactive role in building their site. Web designers design… that’s what they do. They are contractors you hire to take your vision and make it a reality. The problem is that most business owners don’t have a vision, nor a purpose for what their web site is suppose to do.

If you don’t know the purpose, how do you expect the designer to know? Keep in mind; these are designers who build websites from many different industries every single day. Today they’re building websites for a dentist, and tomorrow they may be building a web site for a mortician. It’s impossible for these designers to be an expert in your industry. That’s why it’s extremely important you take a proactive role in how your website should be built, laid out, designed, and written. YOU are the EXPERT in your chosen field of business – not the designer.

A builder can only build a house if he has solid plans… not an idea, or a hunch, but solid plans, or in this case, a blueprint.

I’m not saying that a web designer can’t help you… but you should have the bulk of this stuff (research, planning, and content) done before you even talk with the first designer.

Once you‘ve laid out your plans, an experienced designer should be able to offer some advice and suggestions, or some alternatives as to what can, and can’t be done. But a designer shouldn’t be creating your website for you… he/she should be building what YOU specify.

In my opinion, the ultimate success, or failure, of a website falls squarely on the business owner, not the designer. Why? Because the only thing a designer should do is build what you want them too… and if the site fails, it’s because of something you did or didn’t do. Remember, you’re the expert in your chosen field… the designer isn’t an accountant trying to sell their accounting services online… a designer isn’t a quilter trying to sell a line of quilts online. A designer isn’t an expert on jewelry, nor is he/she an expert on herbal treatments… so he/she can’t adequately draft your marketing message for you… they can’t because they don’t know your prospects/customers like YOU do.

Here are some things you should do before you hire a designer:

Define the purpose of your website. But before we discuss that, let’s define what a website is. A website is simply another piece of media that allows you to get your marketing message out. There are a variety of media that businesses use every day to get their marketing message out… for example, we have radio commercials, tv commercials, newspaper ads, magazine ads, billboards, fliers, postcards, direct mail, custom pens with company names on them, business cards, etc…

Radio ads are a great example of what businesses use to get their marketing message out… the ads typically directs you to call a phone number (or go to a website). Same with val-pak and money mailer ads – they may have you clip out a coupon to take advantage of a great carpet cleaning deal or whatever.

The same applies to a website… it’s just a different type of media. This type of media gives you the opportunity to get your best marketing message out about your product or service. The beauty of a website in comparison to the other media is that it has an interactive component to it. In other words, you can get your best marketing message out now, and provide additional information (by clicking here or downloading this or that). Once your case has been made, you now have the ability to instantly charge them for your products and services online (and in real-time).

With this media, you can test different components of your marketing message in just a whim, versus other media where you may have to wait months (like magazine ads) before you can tweak, change and get the results back.

A website allows you to instantly get targeted traffic coming to your website. If you know who your prospects are, you can instantly start routing those targeted prospects straight to your marketing message (website)…

Sorry for carrying-on… Sometimes I get side-tracked and get off course, but now I’m back… as I was saying, before you hire your designer, figure out what the purpose of your web site is.

 Is the purpose of your website to generate leads? Is the purpose to provide information? Is the purpose to sell products/services? What’s the purpose? Once you know this, it makes the content piece much easier to write because you’ll be writing with that “purpose” in mind.

Once you figure out your purpose, then you should start to define your market. Who is your customer or prospect? How can you get your marketing message in front of them; where do they hang out at? Where do they hang out at on-line (forums, websites, communities, video sharing sites, blogs, podcasts, newsletters, etc…) Where do they hang out at off-line (clubs, local associations, tradeshows, etc.) How can you get your message delivered to them (newspapers, magazines, trade journals, direct mail, website, etc.)

Now that you have a purpose and know who your market is, start working on the content. I know it’s more easily said than done. But keep in mind that chances are, you know more about the subject matter than your designer would ever know. The content is one of the major components of the website. If you fail here, you’re pretty much done. I’ve seen poorly designed websites make a fortune because the site did a great job in communicating with their prospects.

There are billions of websites online and only a small percentage of them actually make any money. I’m sure many of you heard stories where people paid $15K-$30K for a website and haven’t made the first dime. This happens all the time. It happens every day. Will you be the next victim, or will you take charge of your business?

I have no problems with web designers just so you know. They’re needed just like builders are needed to build houses. But the difference here is that builders follow a blue print.  They are guided by a plan, and web designers should be following your blueprint, not their own.

You wouldn’t let a builder browse through a book and pick out a house with all the features and perks he and his wife likes would you? Then why do the same thing with a web designer?

I’ve ranted on long enough so I’ll go now J
Cartess Ross

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Website Startup Coach: Step-by-Step Coaching to Help You Build a Profitable Business Online!

thanks for the advice Cartess Ross!

Yes, remember you get what you pay for and if they are charging you $300-500. Most likely they are learning and want to get some experience through your site.

I am a big supporter of giving people and new companies a chance at growth, but when it comes to your web site, you should take it very serious. When you hire a designer/ developer you should hire a professional instead of someone that is "just learning", and thats where most people that charge $300.-500 fall into.
The least you want to do is hire a newbie that is just learning and might not pay attention to your design. His careless mistakes, might cost you thousands on the long run. Which is why I always tell my customers that web design should have to be costly if it`s done right the first time. There shouldn`t have to be a need for redesigning your web site every year. [aside from updates] if its done correctly and effectively the first time.
Just something to think about




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Edgar Monroy
Web Developer / Owner / Consultant
When starting your own business the need to "know-how" is greater than money!
http://www.nuevolution.net