04/ 15/ 2002
It's a common experience that when small businesses decide to develop their online presence, they try to do everything themselves initially. From designing and developing the site, to the evolution of maintenance and updating the site's content, to initial and ongoing marketing -- the entire process requires expertise and can be enormously time consuming. Many companies ultimately turn to professionals who specialize in the field, working with them to design and implement the site, to market, and to handle all necessary updating of material.
The problem is that this overall process can be expensive, putting the use of a professional out of reach of many small businesses. In today's Workshop, Jeffrey Moses continues last week's discussion by describing the areas of expertise your site developer will need, and how to evaluate charges for the various activities the developer will be carrying out for you.
After you've determined which website developers you'd like to interview, write up a list of questions before contacting them. You'll need to determine how experienced the developers are in each area of activity, and what they charge. The contents of this list will vary depending on your needs and the ultimate purpose of your site, but will likely contain most of the following:
- Can they supply you with specific ideas for the development of your particular site (you'll need to provide all details of your site's purpose). You also need to determine all charges and time frames for this development. Web sites can be designed for anywhere from several hundred dollars to several hundred thousand. Many sites for first-timers cost around $1,000. This cost will be considerably more for developing E-stores -- which involve shopping carts and online price calculations -- or when sites will contain extensive catalogue information, graphics, or links to other sites.
- Can the design/development firm help you with strategic research, such as defining your target customers? Also, can the firm help you with site content, to make sure that your message is presented in the best possible way for the Internet?
- You'll need to know all technical aspects involved with your site -- does the company host the site, how fast will the site be, etc.
- How sophisticated is the graphics capability of the firm? Advanced graphics may include multimedia, video, etc. These cost more to produce, so be sure you determine all expenses during the initial meetings.
- Can the firm provide you with charge card capability so that your customers can purchase with MasterCard, Visa, Discover, etc.? What are the extra charges for providing this capability?
- Finally, how extensively can the firm help you with -- or even take over altogether -- the initial and ongoing marketing of your site? This includes designing and placing banner ads; creating links with other sites; making sure your site is highly positioned in the search engines; working with various online groups to market your site; using appropriate E-mail to market; arranging and maintaining contacts with online affiliate marketing programs; coordinating any print advertising you'll undertake to supplement your online marketing; etc.
Marketing a website presence is more than a one-time event. It requires ongoing attention, making sure that search-engine placement is high (you'll want to be in the first 2-3 pages of the search engine's results), ads are successful, links to other sites are maintained, affiliates programs are effective and profitable, etc. Because of this ongoing week-after-week and month-after-month time requirement, you'll need to allocate a monthly fee to your designer/developer to make sure that your marketing efforts are first rate. The amount of the fee should be determined before hiring, and depends on the level of activity the developer will maintain. It's not unusual to pay$250-$300 per month for such service, although the rate could be higher or lower, depending on your area of the country and the amount of marketing activity you need to maintain.
The field of website design and marketing is constantly changing. It's important to work with a firm that stays upon on the rapid innovation. A good firm will see what's coming on the horizon, purchase all the latest software required for the Internet, and understand how to keep your site looking state of the art.
Website marketing is a process that has results over time. It may take at least 2-3 months to get on many search engines -- sometimes as long as 6months. Many experts say that it may take a year or even two years to seethe full results of online marketing. So allocate enough money to give yourself time. Don't get a site up and running and expect to see immediate marketing results. You may be disappointed.
Always speak with a number of website developers before choosing one to work with. If a firm has done good work for other customers in the past, they'll likely do good work for you -- but each site has its individual considerations. Your choice of developers will determine your site's final look, feel, and ease of use. Your choice of marketer can determine your site's success or failure.
There are many fine, up-to-date books on the subject of website design and marketing. The more you know about these subjects before speaking with a website firm, the more completely and accurately you'll be able to determine their expertise and capabilities.
One final point: always work with the designer as closely as you can through every stage of the process. This is why flexibility and openness to ideas are such important traits in a designer. Make sure that you have the right to approve all graphics, text layout, sidebars, etc., before they're integrated into the site. It's far less expensive to catch mistakes or graphic inconsistencies at the initial design stages.
The design and development of a commercial website is a creative endeavor. You'll fare better by not setting too firm a deadline for completion, and by enjoying the overall process every step of the way.
