Launching a new small business website is often a long and painstaking process. And for most small businesses,
endeavor rarely ends in success. The terrain is mapped with freelancers, firms, and consultants that don’t offer same services and most certainly don’t charge same prices. Projects are often riddled with unclear expectations, missed deadlines, and ridiculous hourly rates. What’s worse is that many developers have audacity to ask for even more money halfway through project. Even after all of hard work is complete, most companies don’t even see a return on investment. If you haven’t been there, you probably know someone who has. IT outsourcing and procurement is often times so traumatizing that many of us vow never to deal with it again. But whole process need not be so difficult and fruitless. The purpose of this article is to aid you in launching a successful website with minimal pain and effort. Who knows, if you play your cards right, it may even be within budget and on time!
The Don’ts
Don’t spend too much on web hosting. If you are a small business that is just beginning to define your online presence, you don’t need a whole lot! You most certainly don’t need 10,000MB (10GB) of web space and 100,000MB (100GB) of bandwidth each month. So don’t pay for it! You might be thinking, “Well, if it’s relatively cheap and I may need it in future, why don’t I just spring for it now?” That kind of reasoning paves road to overspending. Besides, web hosts making such offers are hoping that you won’t really use massive set of features. Expert web developers and power users will use that kind of space and bandwidth, however, and end result is a bogged down and slow web host. Go with something economical and reliable; it’s probably even faster.
Don’t mold your website to a pre-defined package. Although your local newspaper advertisement for development of a “5-page website with logo design for only $995” may be tempting, don’t fall for it. Any company that sells you pre-set web site packages (or charges based on number of pages) has wrong idea. Web development should be a custom-fitting job. Your website is a business tool, and should be developed to exact specifications that enable it to complement rest of your business. If you compromise your website’s functionality, you compromise its ability to help you make money.
Don’t start project until you are fully prepared. The easiest way to ruin a web development project is to get started before you are ready. Everything does not need to be in perfect order when you are shopping around for development; however, once you select a developer and begin work, being unprepared will only slow your project down greatly and drive up costs. Avoid this by purchasing your domain and web hosting, writing out all content, and deciding on general layout you desire, all before project begins.
Don’t compare apples to oranges. Not all web developers are created equal, so it is unfruitful and unwise to compare them on a single benchmark (such as price). While some “full-service” firms will create your website, upload it to your domain, and maintain site to make sure it’s up-to-date, others will simply e-mail you a folder full of files and expect you to know what to do from there. Similarly, some firms will revise finished product over and over until you’re satisfied while others believe you are paying them for one draft of work and no more. Be mindful of these differences and understand what is built into different prices of each provider.
Don’t focus too much on eye-candy. Remember what your website is for. Unless you are exception to rule, purpose of your site is either to a) give information about your product/service or company, b) allow users to buy directly from site or c) both. In all cases, site must be easy to understand, navigate, and operate. If your site is so new-age and graphic intensive that users have no idea how to get around it, or worse—it takes too long to load, you’ve defeated purpose of its creation.
