Problem: You know piles of "Web-Developers" and they're keen on building your website - For a fee. But you don't know who's over charging from who legitimately has the ability to build you a beautifully designed website that delivers you business profits
What do web-developers do?
Typically, web-developers (or web designers) will be programming, editing images, setting up and managing the email accounts attached to your domain name (i.e. your website). They do allot of the technical work, but here's the catch, a "Web-Developer" doesn't deliver customers to your site, nor do they market you website. Driving customers to your site and ultimately to making purchases is in the realm of "Web Marketing" and straight out "web-developers" are not trained in this area. In practice this means, a web-developer can build you an amazing website but unless you're marketing it hardcore yourself, it will get very little traffic if any at all!
And this happens allot. Business owners will "scratch their itch" when they see their competitors websites and fork out $4,000 to a web-developer and leave it online, idly either through laziness or in the false belief it is doing good for their business. Both are expensive outcomes that don’t yield allot of profits.
I want you to be the person that is informed about websites, web-marketing, web-developers and demolishes their competition's online presence by using your competitors' inherant laziness against them. Be knowledgeable.
What are the different types of "web-people"?
Typically there are four generic categories of web "people", often though, any one person may have skills in more than one area or they may be specialists of a specific area.
- Web-Designers - Web designers craft pleasant designs and layouts and are often involved in logo creation or photography.
- Web-Marketers - Marketers are all about delivering traffic to your website and then converting that traffic to dollars with persuasive words and compelling pictures. They use all kinds of tools like Google AdWords and business directories to get you traffic.
- Web-Animators/multimedia people - Closely linked with 'Web-Designers', Animators and Multimedia-people are pros at Flash animations and manipulating/editing audio and video files.
- Web-Developers/Programmers - Often the most overlooked (and sometimes expensive of all web-people) You need these guys for eCommerce website. However, they are great for building complex systems to manage users.
What are the common pit-falls I should be on the lookout for when hiring a web-developer?
Half of my clients have come from destructive relationships with previous web-developers. This is to the extent that one of my clients described his previous developers as "people" who had "found his wallet on the side of the road". He later discovered the two web-developers he had paid upwards of $12,000 to build his eCommerce website we're completely unqualified for the work and had been working out of their bedrooms. The website was never launched.
Common problems with hiring a web-developer:
- Amateur web-developers have a bad habit of "disappearing" or "changing jobs"
- Web-Developer may not have the technical skills or experience to do what you've asked, but they will claim they do.
- Your domain name may be held for ransom when you try to change developers or you can be locked into a dependant relationship with your web-developer.
However, if you choose carefully and are educated about how to web-world work, you can make intelligent decisions and your partnership with your web-developer will be mutually beneficial - lasting a lifetime.
Tip #1: Know what you need
If I could give you only one piece of advice when building a website it would be this: Building a website, builds a website. Marketing a website, makes money. That means, if the reason you are getting a web-site is to deliver new customers to your business and increase repeat purchases. Make sure it does just that!
95% of business owners stop at Step 1: Build website. Money is being flushed down the toilet due to a lack of understanding. You may have an amazing site, but it has no-one going to it. You MUST market your website!
Successful business websites are far too often made by chance and not by design. A successful website is in my definition; a website that drives customers to call your phone number and dramatically increases buying-confidence/reduces purchase resistance and increase repeat purchases.
Often when a website does get customers, it is by happy accident and not through good design. Know why you want a website in the first place and make sure it does just that.
Tip #2: Don't hire any chump to build your site.
Pay for expertise or you will end up paying to fix the wreck of an amateur. Web-development is as much a specialty as accounting or law. That means, inexperienced web-developers will likely become a liability. "How do they become a liability?" you ask, they design you a poor site, (often with a palm tree or other completely unrelated images in the background) then "change industries" 6 months after they upload your website.
Amateur web-developers also have a bad habit of finishing a website 2-3 months after you've paid them and they are known to hold your domain name for ransom when you try to change developers. The important thing to understand is jumping between developers can be a bad idea at the best of times and comes with economic penalties.
This is one of those times when paying extra for someone with greater experience is certainly worth it.
Tip #3: Walk the Walk
The truth is, anyone can be trained to do what you do in your business; installing cables, tax returns and even extremely personal services like coaching. The real trick is not being the best in the entire world at what you do (great if you are of course), but being able to run a business and deliver profits. That's where the money is at.
Too many of people in the dance industry have marketing problems (and it's not just limited to unqualified professions, I know doctors are notoriously good doctors but poor marketers), they are amazing dancers (and often make great teachers) but they are lousy marketers and business people and it costs them students.
Here's what you need to do; read books (I'm less a fan of magazines or ezines for quality reasons), watch videos, go to seminars and talk to people about marketing and their websites. If you don't, you will get taken apart by your competition.
All my clients, friends and family with websites (and businesses) I push to learn how to get customers. I produce marketing audio lessons, videos and I write business development articles for my clients and friends all for FREE.
Summary
The people who build your website can either be a thorn-in-your-side or they can be a godsend to your business and make your business more profitable and a more pleasant experience. However, the biggest factor in your ultimate success or failure will be experience but more so; knowledge. The internet (and even your business) will ultimately be dominate not by who was lucky and got the contract, who inherited what or what networks they have but by the person with the most knowledge and experience. Propel yourself to the top through superior understanding. At the end of the day knowledge is power.
P.S. I suggest signing up for the "Site Review" articles on the left as I'm likely to give you a 1-2 hour consultation on how to improve your website (if it exists). If you don't have one, even better; in the articles I'm going to break apart different websites and point out what they've done right and what they've done wrong. Sign up is to the top left.
