Don't Be Penny-Wise & Dollar-Foolish With Your Web Site!

These days everybody is a “web site designer”. Computer stores offer dozens of programs that enable “even beginners to build their own web site!” Out-of-State organizations offer one-day “seminars” that will train you to be an “Internet professional”. Internet Service Providers do web site design “on the side”. Internet Mega-sites offer “free home pages” that you build yourself using their template (and featuring their advertisements). Thousands of individuals across the country have spent a little time learning HTML coding and now proclaim themselves “web site designers”. Then there are countless relatives, neighbors, students, acquaintances, and even computer technicians dabbling around with web site design. All too often a business will make a critical error in judgement and entrust the development of its web site to one (or more) of these situations. In doing so, such businesses invariably hope to save some money. In fact, they are more likely setting themselves up to lose money. And they may also tarnish their hard-earned reputation and prestige in the process. A double whammy! Over the past four years of our involvement with web site design in the Pacific Northwest, EAGLE ISLAND INTERNET PRODUCTIONS has seen it all when it comes to design mistakes. By far the most common and costly is selecting the wrong person for the job. The dismaying stories of web site design failure are endless: The high-paid CEO who attempted (and failed after three months — at $180 per hour) to build his company’s home page. The business woman who was swindled out of $2,000 by an individual building just his third site. The financial institution that turned to its “computer department” (which had never built a web site). The B&B that acquiesced to the owner’s daughter to design its online presence. The gullible shopkeeper who entrusted the local Internet Service Provider to also be skilled at the art of web site design. The "state-of-the-art" craftsman whose all-important home page was a hack freebie. Though they may not have realized it, in all of these situations these businesses and organizations were subtly communicating to their online visitors, "Hey, we don't value you enough to spend even a few hundred dollars on a quality web page. We're going to throw up a chintzy, cheap site and hope you don't realize it." Unfortunately for the corner-cutters, more and more online visitors do recognize a lackluster web site when they see it. And they are making assumptions about a business based upon the quality of the web site. Compounding the pain in almost all of these bad deals is the fact that the victim lost not only whatever money they thought they were saving... but also precious time. Months go by — sometimes years — as inefficient and ineffective “pseudo” designers bumble and stumble along. That is time that was not spent bringing in customers from the World Wide Web. Time lost is money lost! Image lost is money lost! Certainly some of the problem stems from the fact that many businesses have yet to take the Internet seriously in their marketing strategy. Web sites — “home pages” — are considered by some businesses a novelty or plaything. This is very unwise thinking. Your web site is your “brochure to the world”. Properly designed and managed, it will go places no other advertising will ever reach. Your online presence is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week... and available to a potential audience of millions. Rather than being a novel adjunct to traditional advertising, a web site should be the very hub of your entire promotional effort. All other forms of advertising are limited in time and space (for instance, a newspaper ad is 2 inches tall and runs for one day). A web site is not limited in time and space. It can be as large as you want, and will still be working for you a year from now. For these reasons, all other advertising should point to your web site. More and more people — your customers — are seeking out business web sites... and are highly influenced by the “first impression” and overall design integrity that the site conveys. Therefore it is absolutely critical that your online presence be polished and professional. It should accurately reflect the personality of your business, prompt immediate interest and trust, and ultimately lead to a contact or sale. Few amateur web site designers are able to achieve these goals... moreover, they are unable to properly manage the site for optimum web exposure. Many “pseudo” web site designers simply do not understand how to build a web site that maximizes online efficiency. So even their best web sites remain “lost in cyberspace.” Now you see how attempting to save a few hundred dollars on web site design can end up costing thousands of dollars in wasted time and lost business. How To Avoid Selecting The Wrong Web Site Designer: First and foremost, insist on seeing a great portfolio of completed sites. If you don't like what you see, keep on looking. Be very wary of “cut-rate” prices. Politely decline the services of amateurs and part- timers. Insist on a designer with at least 2-3 years experience. Insist on a designer with legitimate marketing, advertising or communications background. Don’t assume that computer salespeople, repairmen, programmers or your ISP can build an effective web site. Don’t assume that graphic artists can build an effective web site. Ask what web “strategy” the designer recommends for your site. Ask how the designer can help you market your web site. Of course, we would love the opportunity to work with your business in designing a great online presence. Give EAGLE ISLAND a call for any additional questions you may have.