Tackling your web site design project

You have been saying for a while that you need to do something about your website. Finally, you are ready to get the project started, to hire someone to design your website. Great!

But why are you not feeling that great? And what does it really mean - "website design"? What is it that you want, specifically?

If you are like most people, what you want is to have a great website that does not take up a lot of your time and dominate the online market share in your field. That sounds reasonable. Is it any clearer to you what to do? Probably not.

If you still not sure where to start, let's start at the beginning - let's start with your goals. Do you know what your website goals are? Do you have your targets defined? How will you measure your website success?

Let's dissect the website design to understand it better.

Your website goals

Many websites have no goals. You are not alone if you never got around to defining them. However, if you do not know where you are going, then any road will get you there. Good news for you - no matter what you do, who you hire, you will get somewhere. The bad news is you are not likely to have a good website or dominate your market. You are ready to design your website right, so we are moving on and setting goals.

Let me help you with your first goal. Here is a goal that we would set for you: "I want to increase my website leads by 15% by September 1st." Sounds like a plan. Normally, you would consult your marketing plan and work from there, but this is a good achievable goal. You have to figure out how to achieve it. What do you need to do to get your website going?

Website design process

Website design process consists of multiple tasks. Graphic designer creates the look, web developer writes the code and installs it on the server, web copywriter creates content and web usability expert organizes it all on the pages. But wait, you also might want to bring more visitors through online advertising and optimize pages for search engines to appear on first pages of searches. And that social media people are talking about - you want that too. And newspaper ads should have a link...

See, how fast the project is growing in scope and complexity?

So, let me ask you a question. Why do you think it costs $300 to accomplish all that? Why have you budgeted almost no money to plan and execute a project that would increase your leads by 15 percent? How much is your lead worth to you?

Picking suitable web design services

You came to the realization that you have to outsource web design services. Be realistic about what you are outsourcing. If you want to outsource just the design and installation of your web site, make sure you have internal resources to create content, your site architecture, and navigation.

Additionally, you will need to find an expert who could come up with search engine optimization plan, link all your pages together effectively and announce your website to the world. You will need a home-grown analyst who should stand by to start diving into the website statistics at the appropriate moment to give you valuable insights on what you should do to achieve your goal.

All that expertise is not free. Most likely, you will have to train your internal resources. Isn't it easier to hire a consultant who would work with your internal resources or find the right people to outsource tasks to? And you will not need to deal with any of this. Isn't it worth additional investment?

It is up to you, of course, which road to take and whether to know your destination or make it a complete surprise. It is up to you to put a serious effort into your online presence or deal with website issues as they come. But in the end, know what it takes to achieve website zen and if it is in your future.

Do you struggle with your website design project? What are your most frustrating issues?

We will be happy to evaluate your website and help you with the strategy to achieve success.