10/ 27/ 2005
by Reid Goldsborough
Whether you’re doing your taxes, redoing your kitchen or redesigning your organization’s Web site, there comes a time––no matter how good you are––when it makes sense to turn things over to a specialist.
You can choose among an alphabet soup of technologies from CSS to XML, using the latest Adobe InDesign or Macromedia Dreamweaver, to improve the appearance and performance of a Web site. The risk isn’t not using the latest tools, but not using them appropriately.
“An effective Web site is easy to use,” said Leigh Weber, president of the Independent Computer Consultants Association. “It shouldn’t be too fancy, too cluttered or too noisy.”
Weber points out that when people go to a Web site, they typically take only seconds to decide whether to stay. Along with barraging visitors with flash and withholding substance, another way to ask them to leave is to design your site from your perspective, starting with your organization’s accomplishments or history, instead of the users’ perspective, which includes their needs and how you can serve them.
In looking outside your business for help, your choices include Internet service providers, graphic designers, Web consultants, Web design shops, technology consulting firms, traditional advertising, public relations agencies or interactive agencies.
Stay true to yourself
To decide which type of specialist to use, listen to Socrates: Know thyself. “You need to define what type of site you are,” Weber said. Do you want an informational site, an interactive site or an e-commerce site?
Each site demands different technical skills. A graphic designer with Web experience can put together an informational site. Interactive sites require database or instructional design skills. E-commerce sites take database skills as well as knowledge of appropriate e-commerce software packages.
You can find Web help through various ways. The ICCA’s Web site lets you search by skill keyword and geographical area. Web Design Plaza offers pull-down menus that let you choose what type of Web site you are, the consultant services you need, the features your site requires and your budget.
If you want an attention-getting, award-winning Web site, you can use an agency responsible for such sites. Interactive, advertising and design agencies behind Web sites honored in the last Webby Awards include: Biggs & Gilmore; Crispin Porter & Bogusky; Critical Mass; David Day & Associates; Xylem Interactive. The links are listed below.
Do your homework
When choosing a developer for your site, look critically at his or her site. Some go overboard on the face painting, making it difficult to get to the content. A site boasting the latest technological bells and whistles, however, might project the image you want.
When talking with prospective Web designers, don’t get snowed by buzzwords. Make sure you understand what they mean and whether the technologies behind them fit your site. Ask for a list of URLs of the Web sites the designer has worked on, along with contact information for the people responsible for these sites. Talk to them about their experience with the designer.
If you want to redesign your site, ask for a critique of it as well as examples of how the designer would improve it. But first, weed out outdated or extraneous material from your site––that can save you money on the redesign later.
Ask about the consultant’s or agency’s fees. Some charge on an hourly basis, others assess a one-time lump sum or use retainer agreements. Get an estimated time frame for completion of the project. It typically takes from several weeks to several months to build and test a site. If your designer works by the hour, request to be alerted if the project goes over budget.
Ask about arrangements for maintaining the site. A consultant can do this for you or provide the tools and training for you to do it in-house. A common mistake organizations make is focusing too much on initial development and not enough on long-term maintenance.
Most importantly, make sure that anyone you’re considering hiring listens to what you want. You don’t want to wind up with a cookie-cutter site. Your site should be carefully crafted to meet your specific needs and goals. Good Web consultants, like any good consultant, ask as many questions as they answer.
Reid Goldsborough is a syndicated columnist and author of the book Straight Talk About the Information Superhighway. He can be reached at www.members.home.net/reidgold.
