oryanstudios.com

Here are a few things to think about before diving into a new web site venture.
Ask and ask again
A web site can be an important and very effective means of advertising your business. If a designer is vague with their answers, push for clarification. If you don’t get a clear explanation, look elsewhere for a designer. Lack of detail in the early stages could be costly later.

Be realistic!
No one designer is a whizz at everything, therefore, if they can do the things YOUR site specifically needs, and the price is right, give them the job. Likewise, if your site doesn’t need Flash animations, why pay for a designer who specializes in this? The costs will probably be higher.

Value for money.
Be realistic in your budgets. The tighter the quote, the less flexible to change the designer will be. Pay a realistic rate for the job, and if you can, hold a small amount in reserve for contingencies.

Who’s designing this?
Let the designers do their jobs. If they’ve spent years learning the required skills, why do you think you can do better? If the first paragraph, on a page you supplied, has been re-written by the designer, there’s a very good reason why.. (It will be to get visitors to your site via better search engine rankings).
Let the designers design, then sit back and enjoy the fruits of their labour..

Be confident
This new knowledge will do wonders for your negotiating skills, and allow you to lead discussions rather than follow them.

D.I.Y
There are some things you can do for yourself, so don’t feel obliged to accept everything that you’re told ‘you need’. For sites on a low budget, basic online promotion of a well constructed, engine friendly site, can easily be done by the client. It’s just time consuming, so would you want to do it, or would you prefer to farm it out?

Transparency
We try to be transparent in our dealings with clients, and have excellent relationships with the companies we work for. With any designer, you should know exactly what’s happening and what’s expected of you. If this isn’t the case with your designer, you can take your business to someone else.

Don’t forget the obvious..
We could design the best looking, fastest loading, easiest to use e-commerce site on the internet, but without ALL of the following in place, your e-commerce venture will probably struggle!

Stock!
It’s so obvious, I almost forgot it! If you don’t hold stock, make sure your supplier does, and can cope with your delivery promises.

Finance!
What would happen if you were inundated with orders? Can your cashflow cope with additional, stock, staff, warehousing and distribution costs?

Customer support!
It’s obvious, but your online reputation is extremely fragile, and can be trashed in numerous places by the disgruntled. If you ‘go e-commerce’, look after your customers. They will look after you.