Posts Tagged ‘web design’

Web developers are a little like mechanics; we deal in an area which most of our clients have no idea about.  When I take my car to the mechanic and he tells me the ‘dif and rear axle need replacing’ and the ‘inside rotator cuff is wearing’ I have no idea what he is talking about.  So when he says it will be $3000 to fix, I really have no idea if he is taking me for a ride or he is genuine with his diagnosis and pricing.  So how can you make sure your web developer does not charge you too much or skimp on web 2.0 quality?

1. Know what you want your website to achieve

It might sound simple enough but you would be surprised how many people and business don’t know what they want out of their website.  If you go to a developer and say I don’t really know what I want out of my website then straight away they know you are inexperienced and can charge you more than what you could get somewhere else.

Before you start to talk to web developers, have an understanding of what your website should aim to achieve and what features it should contain.  Is your website a way for people to find you (similar to an online yellow pages directory) or do you want to generate income directly from your website?  The more you know what your website should aim to achieve, the less likely you are to get taken to the cleaners when you get receive a quote.

2. What features do you need so your website functions as you want it to?

A good website these days is rarely static.  What I mean by static is that it has content on it but nothing that moves or calculates.  Functions can be as simple as a contact form which when filled out and submitted sends the message to a specified email address or as complicated as a online quote system which trawls through thousands of data entries to provide your website users with an answer (an quote amount).

Any good web developer should suggest some functions that would suit your business and can be used on your website but if you come to your developer with a few ideas already then your website will be up and running much quicker than it would otherwise.  Some common functions include: Contact Forms, advanced photo and image display, rotating advertising, automatic SEO, blog, social media integration and security and anti hacking features.

The functions you can add to your website are literally endless.  Having an idea of the functions you want can save time and time is money.

3. Use a Content Management System (CMS)

It is not often that I say to a client that they don’t need a CMS for their website.  The only time I would suggest it is if a website will never or basically never be upgraded.  A CMS such as Drupal, Joomla and Wordpress make it easy to update and manage a website without paying +$50 an hour for a developer to do it for you.  A CMS makes it easy to make changes to your website and add new content and even add new features.  It literally lets your website grow as your business does without needing to resort to expensive upgrades.