The Business Side of the Website Designer
and Webmaster
Complete the Final Design
Create a page template for each of the site areas you have outlined
through the prototype process. Then use the templates to complete
the final site. As long as you have maintained contact with your
customer, sent them the prototype, and ironed out any differences
in opinions, then your site should fly without a hitch. Your customer
will also be happy and will hopefully recommend you to others.
Attracting New Clients - Website Designers and Webmasters Marketing
Efforts
And here we go, right back to the beginning again. Notice how this
is a cycle? It’s a never-ending cycle for businesses. The cycle
starts each time we find a new customer, and repeats each time we
end with the production of a site. So how do you find clients? You
find clients by marketing. They don’t come to you; you have to go
to them. In addition, how do you convince them to be your customers?
You don’t have to convince them you are the best designer on the
planet. All you have to convince them of is that you understand
their needs, and you can fulfill their needs.
When trying to position your marketing efforts, you have to think
about the potential customer. Where do they go? What do they read?
Whom do they talk to? What do they like to do? What interests do
they have? Where are they likely to hear or see your promotions?
The key is defining the marketing possibilities that maximize your
return on investment. There is no point in flooding the advertisement
market in places your potential customers will never see you. It
also makes no sense to place ads where your customers never look
or listen. That’s just spinning your wheels and wasting your time.
Target only mediums that allow for maximum exposure to your potential
customer audience. Focus your advertising efforts on your potential
customer’s needs.
Ever notice how people tend to like people who listen? When you
are working on attracting new clients, do so by listening to their
needs. Build a relationship with them while you listen. In the end,
you will be able to help them by offering your services to solve
their problems. It’s all about trust and relationship building.
We talk about that in our marketing section.
Dealing with Clients - Ways Website Designers and Webmasters Deal
with Clients
There are basically three types of clients you will deal with.
You will have nice clients. You will have non-responsive clients.
You will also have demanding clients. Each requires a different
way of dealing with them. The nice ones are the easiest to deal
with. Keep the communication lines open, keep them updated, and
give them reasons why you make your suggestions. Most times they
will go along with it, and are pleasant to deal with.
The non-responsive are a bit trickier. These are the types that
will hire you to do a job, sign a contract, pay money up front,
but are not available when you need direction or information to
finish the job. Calling this type is the most direct approach, and
will yield the best results when you can finally get them on the
phone. Once you accomplish that, they will usually talk to you,
and provide you with the direction you need. This might also be
the only way that you will get information from this type.
The demanding client has all the answers and will be more than
happy to tell you how to do your job. It will make you wonder why
they didn’t design the site themselves in the first place :o). They
rarely listen to what you try to tell them, and usually want it
done their way. After all, they are paying you to do the work; it’s
up to you to do what they have hired you to do. And what they have
hired you to do is build the site the way they want it. With these
people, you have to document everything. Cover your bases so that
should they decide to bring a lawsuit to you, you can provide documentation
to show that you tried to develop a working site, but they refused
to listen to your suggestions. Better yet, learn to identify these
types in the interview process and avoid working for them.
Website Designers and Webmasters Proposals
The first step is the proposal. Someone will contact you about
site design, and decide they want to move forward. During the interview,
you will discuss what they want, features they want on the site,
and who will provide the content and graphical images. You will
take all this information, review it, decide what you will charge
for your services, and the projected time constraints for the project.
You will want to include a statement of the work proposed from
start to finish. You should also include basis for your cost estimate
with exclusions, a sitemap, schedule, and fees. You can save some
time by covering as much information as possible in the proposal.
The proposal can then be used as a means to develop the contract.
Back
to Table of Contents
Contracts (Article
Continues)
Other Legal Articles:
Related E-Book Downloads
By James R. Sanders
February 3, 2004
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About the Author
James R. Sanders is the owner of Sanders
Consultation Group Plus. He has been a webmaster and website designer since
1997. He has also been involved in self employment ventures since 1992. He is
presently a contributing author of NewbieHangout,
and has been published through WebProNews
and 4Rankings.com.
His writing is targeted to webmasters, would be webmasters, website designers,
would be website designers, self employed, or those researching information
looking for solutions to questions associated with design, business operations,
and promotion today. His goal is to provide practical information based upon
his years of experience to help webmasters, website designers, and self employed
people achieve their goals in today's competitive global market. You can subscribe
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