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Q:
Should I
build and maintain my business's Web site myself or pay someone
else to do the work for me?
A:
When you
say "pay someone else to do the work" for you, I am going to
assume that you are talking about hiring a professional Web site
designer to do the work and not your next-door neighbor's
teenage son. If my assumption is correct, then read on. If not,
go ahead and flip over to the comics section. You will get no
good out of the advice I'm about to give, so you might as well
consult Dilbert for your hot business tips.
Should you
build and maintain your business Web site yourself or pay
someone to do it for you? Let me answer your question with a
couple of my own. Number one: Is building and maintaining Web
sites the key focus of your business? Number two: Could your
time be better spent doing more important things like, oh I
don't know, running your business? If your answers were no and
yes, respectively, then you have no business building and
maintaining a Web site.
Remember
this: Every minute you spend on tasks that are not related to
the key focus of your business is time spent to the detriment of
your business. In other words, every minute you spend focusing
on tasks that do not contribute to the growth of your business
and thereby increase your bottom line is time wasted.
If you want
to be a Web designer, be a Web designer. However, if the key
focus of your business is building widgets, it doesn't take a
rocket scientist to figure out that your time would be better
spent building widgets, not Web sites.
Case in
point: I once had a very wealthy dentist ask if I could teach
him how to maintain his Web site so he wouldn't have to pay me
to do it. Now my teeth had helped put this guy's kids through
college, but that didn't seem to matter. At that moment he was
more concerned about having to pay for changes to his Web site
than my personal oral hygiene. "Sure," I said, "I'll be glad to
teach you how to update your Web site, just as soon as you teach
me how to clean my own teeth so I don't have to pay you to do
it." He got the point. And he charged me enough for the cleaning
to keep his site updated for months. Smart man.
Many business
owners think they can't afford a professionally designed Web
site, and that simply is not true. While the old adage "You get
what you pay for" is never more true than when applied to Web
site design, having a professional Web designer do the work for
you is money well spent. A well-designed Web site can bring you
a many-fold return on your investment. You can't say that about
too many other collaterals.
While it is
best to leave Web site design and maintenance to the experts, it
is up to you (or someone considered a subject matter expert
within your company) to provide the designer with the content
(text and photographs) that best conveys your company's message
to your customers. A Web site, no matter how well-designed, is
meaningless if it lacks the content required to interest
customers in the products you sell or the services you provide.
Here are a
few questions that, once answered, will help ensure that your
Web site's message is as appealing as its design. Go over these
points with the designer before the design process begins, as
the answers will help determine the direction your Web site's
design should take.
What is
the purpose of your Web site?
Most business Web sites have two purposes: (1) to educate the
consumer and (2) to sell them products or services. If you sell
shoes, for example, the purpose of your Web site is to educate
potential customers on the quality and durability of your shoes
and, as a result, to sell them shoes. If you paint houses, the
purpose of your Web site is to educate homeowners on why your
services are superior to other painters and sell them on hiring
you to paint their house. By defining the purpose of your Web
site, you will give the designer the information required to
create a Web site that best conveys that purpose to your target
audience.
Who is my
target audience?
Your target audience consists of those folks you want to attract
to your Web site: potential and current customers, future and
current employees, possible investors and so on. Anyone who
might be interested in your company and its products or services
is a member of your target audience. Correctly identifying your
target audience is vital, since your Web site should be designed
specifically to appeal to your target audience.
Put yourself
in their shoes (or in front of their computers). Imagine your
Web site through their eyes. If you were visiting a Web site
such as yours, what would you expect to find and what would you
be disappointed not to find? Identify your target audience, then
have your Web site designed to fulfill their needs and surpass
their expectations.
What
content should my Web site feature?
Your Web site content should be driven by the nature of your
business. If you're a real estate agent, your site should
feature photographs of homes you have for sale and information
on buying and selling a home. If you own an auto body shop, your
site might feature before and after photographs of cars that you
have repaired. Remember to determine the purpose of your site,
then develop the content to serve that purpose.
What's my
competition doing?
The last question you should ask is one of the most important:
What is your competition doing on the Web? Do a Google search
for similar businesses and click around their Web sites. How are
their Web sites designed? What message are they trying to
convey? Are they doing a good job of conveying that message and,
as a result, selling products? What do you like about their Web
sites? What don't you like? Make note of the things you like and
the things you hate, then share your findings with your site
designer.
Remember,
you're not stealing trade secrets here. You're just borrowing
ideas.
Article
provided by Tim W. Knox |
