I get a lot of inquiries about web design and development that start like this: “Well, I have this idea …” Ideas are great! The best, even. My problem with this statement is that often times, I am the first point of contact that budding business owners and entrepreneurs have about their business idea and their business goals just aren’t there yet. A lot of people think of having a website super early on in their business development. Planning ahead is great, but a website should be a tool for your business, not the place where you figure your business out. So how does this idea translate into saving you time and money, working with your developer?
Business Goals Will Make or Break Your Website
Going to a designer or developer with a fully-fleshed out business idea will make your website (and your business, obviously) much more successful. Even if your business is going to be an online shop, blog* or way to capture more clients, you need some goals. Heck, even figuring out the purpose of your website from the three points I just listed is a solid start. There is a lot of fluffer-nutter on the web these days (a term my husband loves to use to describe a business selling something intangible). To cut through it all, you have to have a clear message and a clear idea of how you’re going to make money.
I believe that websites are business tools, not a business in-and-of themselves. It’s imperative that as a budding business owner, you have a clear vision on how you’re going to get a return on the investment that you put into your website. For example, if you run a heavy duty truck repair shop like my father did for a few decades, the return on investment on your website might be that it brings you five brand new clients per year. You spend $2000 on your website because all you need is a few well designed pages, with your contact information listed, the type of work you can do and for it to work well on mobile phones — most of your drop-in customers find you while they’re on the road, right? Pretty simple! The site brings in five new customers because it’s well-coded, SEO-friendly, mobile-friendly and your web developer suggests making sure that you’re on Google Maps properly. All five new customers spend an average of $4000 on truck repairs. At $20,000 that’s a damn good return on investment, right? Now as an owner of a heavy duty truck repair shop, you might not know what your site should do exactly, but you have a clear goal in mind: Have it bring in five more customers. If you bring that clear goal to your developer, the developer with make suggestions for how that can happen, such as making it mobile-friendly, SEO-friendly and putting you on Google maps.
It’s not your job to know how to meet your website’s goals, but it is your job to know what those goals are.
* Side note on blogging: Blogging is popular and fun, but the truth is, most people don’t make a living at blogging. Most people blog as a way to establish themselves as an expert (what do you think I’m doing right now?!). This, in turn, increases their ability to get paying speaking gigs, customers and buy in to the products they sell on their websites. Wanting to be a blogger is not a business. You can blog, but don’t expect it to turn into a paying job overnight, especially without a plan for how to execute that dream.
Kate Moore Hermes 