Trying to get a census of what people/businesses would consider for their internet presence.  Would you rather have one company provide you with a robust solution that provides you all capabilities for the web, or have a bunch of solution providers.

Feel free to add your input.

 

 

My company offers every solution from development and design to hosting and SEO optimization. (not a plug) The reason I mention this is that I find most customers that purchase a design or redesign do not ask for SEO/Marketing packages.

I believe the reason for this is that when people are looking to build a website they have not thought about the future enough. When purchasing an SEO package for instance when we are doing a site design there is a significant discount. However, for some reason most customers say no thank you.

A year later I hear from them asking about how they can rank higher on search engines. A rare customer it is when they are prepared to tackle all of the hurdles in the first go through!

BTW, this is my first post and I am honored to be here and hope to lend any help I can!

I understand your potential situation Craig, but look at it this way.  What if you had a dedicated team with an assigned account manager that you have direct access with, no telephone menu that runs you around in circles.  By this you have the luxury of providing any changes you want done directly to the account manager who in turn provides your input to your dedicated team of designers, webmasters, and programmers.  The idea is to have a team that is completely focused on your project and provides you the ability to run your business.  The problem with small design firms is that what if someone quits or doesn`t show up to work, what do you do then.  To often in this business you try to get in touh with your webmaster and he/she is unable to get a hold of, what then?  You are stuck waiting around for that person to return your call and only then be able to provide them with what you needed done, yesterday. 

 

I too have come across the decision of hiring, hiring out, or fully outsourcing our IT and design needs. I help people with the business side of things- startups, marketing, networking, etc. Personally, I would love to have an economical resource that I could utilize to get our customer`s sites set up.

Before you hire a SEO, do a ton of research. You have to have a solid foundation before you can hire anyone.Without the knowledge of web placement you will be at a disadvantage.

Knowledge is power in every business endeavor.

Rich,

Your right, there is no need for middleman, all they do is tag on cost.

There is definitely an element that requires the client to provide us with content and pictures, but that is normal.  For example, if a client is in the jewelry business, is the client supposed to send me all their merchandise to photograph?  You know how expensive that would be to send, with insurance?  Not worth it.  So, as you can see there are definitely elements that the client must still be in charge of.  The idea behind this solution is let us run the business we know best, and by doing so it will allow you to run the business that you know best.  Does this make sense?

Yaron

www.Pingworx.com - check it out!

Quick aside on the survey, it`s a bit confusing - you`ve got multiple answers that say the same thing ("Rather do in-house" and "No" provide the same answer to the question posed).

With any bundle of services, it`s always going to simpler and probably more cost effective to have a single provider, the question always comes down to whether or not you have the confidence in that single provider to effectively tackle such a broad range of services.  The fact is that the component pieces of assembling an effective web presence require a variety of skills, and it`s rare to find a provider who can skillfully tackle all of them.  Developers are often oblivious to design considerations, designers often don`t want to hear about usability, marketer`s eyes glaze over when you start throwing out acronyms (asp and mysql and php, oh my).

So sure, it`s a no brainer that if you can find a `one-stop` location where you can have full confidence in their ability to tackle this wide range of skill sets, that`d be preferable to managing multiple vendor relationships - I guess the opportunity exists because the vast majority haven`t found one firm that can do that.

Chuck... There is another issue which is that the internet is like a living organism. Every month the rules change. The professionals… or top level players cannot fully anticipate what language will be used for programming next month… or year. At the same time, the best practices today are not the best tomorrow.

That means the best players today may not be the best players tomorrow. You simply cannot put the best players in a room and say, “Here is the be all, know all, group of One Stop Solution to Web Presence.” If it could be said… some 20 year old (or 40 year old) will find a way to do it better. Then what? We would have to reorganize the group. It’s a never ending battle in a free society.

Chuck,

You make a valid point.  So many people have had bad experiences in the past that they are hesitant to go with anyone these days.  Many people tend to go with designers who are referred, but that does not always guarantee that they will provide the service that is expected.  I have spoken to many people about their experiences with design firms, ssome positive others very scarred.  But, this can happen in any business.  We feel that we are very capable of taking on large projects and feel very qualified to handle and maintain what we say we can do.  The role of any design firm is to be honest about what is expcted and not just take on business, because then the end result is an unhappy customer.  Realisitc expectations that are predetermined and followed through is our approach.

Yaron

Kathy,

You said it exactly.  As a business owner we try to wear as many hats as possible, but the reality is we cannot.  There are somethings that are left for the experts to handle.  You know flag banners, that is your expertise, we know web design, hosting, and search engine optimization.  Why not leave that side of things for a company that specializes in that field to handle it.  You still have overall control of the direction you want things to go.  The difference between you and many business owners is that you can admit that there are some things that are out of your league. 

Yaron