Your business website: getting started
Great article here from MSN.com.au about selecting Web Design Companies:
Well over half of Australia 's adult population accesses the Internet (source: ABS) for everything from e-mail to buying the family groceries. So for businesses, it makes sense to have a website. Before launching your first website project or an update to your existing business website, here are some guidelines.
Write a website job description
The best way to attain quotes from potential developers is to clearly convey to them what you're seeking to achieve from having a website. Don't get caught up trying to explain what you need, stay focused on what you're aiming to achieve. It's your developer's job to propose a web-solution that will achieve your objectives, and they should be able to provide an associated cost to develop and implement the solution.
Set a budget for the project
Regardless of the type of project or initiative you plan to pursue for your business you should be clear on your budget. That is, the funds you have available to invest toward the project. With a budget in place you know what you can and can't do. Bear in mind your website budget should cater for the initial development costs as well as annual costs such as domain name registration, website hosting and minor changes you'll want to make as your business changes.
Typically, small businesses invest between $1000 and $15,000 on their website and then anywhere between $500 and $5000 per year on keeping it fresh — live on the Internet and available to major search engines. And like most things in life you tend to get what you pay for. However, if you choose wisely, you can get excellent value for money.
Choosing your web development provider
The best way to choose candidates to develop your web project is via referrals from your friends and colleagues. Here's a quick rundown to make it easier for you to evaluate potential web developers.
Look at other recent sites they've done and make sure they are consistently designed to a professional standard. Ideally they'll have examples of sites in similar industries to your business or sites that function in a similar manner.
Ensure the team that will be working on your project is the same team that worked on some of their other sites that you like — this is important as the design and standard of your site will only be as good as the people who actually work on it.
Review their terms of trade, particularly their terms for ownership of intellectual property (IP). You want to make sure if you part ways for whatever reason you can take all aspects of your site with you and commission other developers to make updates.
Ask them to explain the process they will follow to complete your website. You want to make sure that they have a sound process in place and it allows you to approve key phases of your site's development as it progresses.
Find out their hourly rate for changes. Be careful not to get hung up on price; instead focus on value for money. If one company charges a higher rate per hour but delivers a better result in half the time then you'll end up much better off.
Find out if they have any annual maintenance charges. Most companies will, but generally they will be optional fees applicable only if you agree to do updates and changes to your site.
Call a couple of their clients and get a reference from them directly.
Aim to get a fixed price quote for the delivery of your site rather than a ball park quote. This way you know exactly what you're up for from the start. Keep in mind that if you change your mind about what you want then chances are the price will change. Also, more complex projects costing tens of thousands of dollars are more difficult to fix-price quote so it's likely your developer will want to undertake a requirements study beforehand; however, this is generally a worthy investment for such projects.
Project management
Just because a company (or individual) can design great looking websites doesn't mean they're good project managers. In fact, there are more web projects "under construction" than there are on the Net so before you sign with a web developer make sure they've got a dedicated and experienced project manager appointed to your project. It's their job to make sure it gets finished by the deadline, meets your expectations and comes in on budget.
Use these resources to brush up on your project management skills before you get started with your website:
www.gantthead.com
www.pmblvd.com
Book: Web ReDesign: Workflow that Works by Kelly Goto, Emily Cotler
Project schedules
It's the job of your chosen developer to provide you with a "development schedule" showing when they will start your project, the key approval stages along the way and the day it's due to go live. Effectively it's a list of date-based goals, and each goal must be achieved before your site can go live to the Internet.
The other task firmly in your hands is called "provision of site content". This is where a lot of websites get held up because being the busy business owners and manager that you are, finding the time to write text and source images for your website isn't your highest priority. But you're the best and often only person for the job since few people will know your business as well as you. Some web companies provide copywriters to help you get this done.
Small business websites typically take anywhere between three weeks to three months, and poorly managed projects may take up to a year before they go live. Since you've committed to having a website make sure you put aside the time required to complete your tasks on schedule.
Paying for your website
Most web developers require a deposit upfront before they start work on your website. This is to cover the cost of the time they will be investing into your project and get a firm commitment from you that you plan to see the project through. Deposits range from 10 percent to 50 percent depending on the developer and the nature of the project.
Some developers offer finance and lease options for websites. This can be a great option for small businesses as it allows the cost of the site to be paid over the space of 12 or 24 months and in most cases (check with your accountant first) it is a fully tax deductible expense.
Source: http://smallbusiness.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=55119
Well over half of Australia 's adult population accesses the Internet (source: ABS) for everything from e-mail to buying the family groceries. So for businesses, it makes sense to have a website. Before launching your first website project or an update to your existing business website, here are some guidelines.
Write a website job description
The best way to attain quotes from potential developers is to clearly convey to them what you're seeking to achieve from having a website. Don't get caught up trying to explain what you need, stay focused on what you're aiming to achieve. It's your developer's job to propose a web-solution that will achieve your objectives, and they should be able to provide an associated cost to develop and implement the solution.
Set a budget for the project
Regardless of the type of project or initiative you plan to pursue for your business you should be clear on your budget. That is, the funds you have available to invest toward the project. With a budget in place you know what you can and can't do. Bear in mind your website budget should cater for the initial development costs as well as annual costs such as domain name registration, website hosting and minor changes you'll want to make as your business changes.
Typically, small businesses invest between $1000 and $15,000 on their website and then anywhere between $500 and $5000 per year on keeping it fresh — live on the Internet and available to major search engines. And like most things in life you tend to get what you pay for. However, if you choose wisely, you can get excellent value for money.
Choosing your web development provider
The best way to choose candidates to develop your web project is via referrals from your friends and colleagues. Here's a quick rundown to make it easier for you to evaluate potential web developers.
Look at other recent sites they've done and make sure they are consistently designed to a professional standard. Ideally they'll have examples of sites in similar industries to your business or sites that function in a similar manner.
Ensure the team that will be working on your project is the same team that worked on some of their other sites that you like — this is important as the design and standard of your site will only be as good as the people who actually work on it.
Review their terms of trade, particularly their terms for ownership of intellectual property (IP). You want to make sure if you part ways for whatever reason you can take all aspects of your site with you and commission other developers to make updates.
Ask them to explain the process they will follow to complete your website. You want to make sure that they have a sound process in place and it allows you to approve key phases of your site's development as it progresses.
Find out their hourly rate for changes. Be careful not to get hung up on price; instead focus on value for money. If one company charges a higher rate per hour but delivers a better result in half the time then you'll end up much better off.
Find out if they have any annual maintenance charges. Most companies will, but generally they will be optional fees applicable only if you agree to do updates and changes to your site.
Call a couple of their clients and get a reference from them directly.
Aim to get a fixed price quote for the delivery of your site rather than a ball park quote. This way you know exactly what you're up for from the start. Keep in mind that if you change your mind about what you want then chances are the price will change. Also, more complex projects costing tens of thousands of dollars are more difficult to fix-price quote so it's likely your developer will want to undertake a requirements study beforehand; however, this is generally a worthy investment for such projects.
Project management
Just because a company (or individual) can design great looking websites doesn't mean they're good project managers. In fact, there are more web projects "under construction" than there are on the Net so before you sign with a web developer make sure they've got a dedicated and experienced project manager appointed to your project. It's their job to make sure it gets finished by the deadline, meets your expectations and comes in on budget.
Use these resources to brush up on your project management skills before you get started with your website:
www.gantthead.com
www.pmblvd.com
Book: Web ReDesign: Workflow that Works by Kelly Goto, Emily Cotler
Project schedules
It's the job of your chosen developer to provide you with a "development schedule" showing when they will start your project, the key approval stages along the way and the day it's due to go live. Effectively it's a list of date-based goals, and each goal must be achieved before your site can go live to the Internet.
The other task firmly in your hands is called "provision of site content". This is where a lot of websites get held up because being the busy business owners and manager that you are, finding the time to write text and source images for your website isn't your highest priority. But you're the best and often only person for the job since few people will know your business as well as you. Some web companies provide copywriters to help you get this done.
Small business websites typically take anywhere between three weeks to three months, and poorly managed projects may take up to a year before they go live. Since you've committed to having a website make sure you put aside the time required to complete your tasks on schedule.
Paying for your website
Most web developers require a deposit upfront before they start work on your website. This is to cover the cost of the time they will be investing into your project and get a firm commitment from you that you plan to see the project through. Deposits range from 10 percent to 50 percent depending on the developer and the nature of the project.
Some developers offer finance and lease options for websites. This can be a great option for small businesses as it allows the cost of the site to be paid over the space of 12 or 24 months and in most cases (check with your accountant first) it is a fully tax deductible expense.
Source: http://smallbusiness.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=55119
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