Choosing a Website Developer - Make the Right Decision When Choosing Your Website Developer
Choosing a website developer can be one of the most important decisions a company makes regarding how it markets itself to the world at large. When all the implications of this decision and the potential opportunities the Internet offers are considered it is surprising that many companies don't approach it as they would any other critical decision.
As with all key projects
- developing a website and choosing a provider should
be approached with the fundamentals of business decision-making
at the forefront of the company's concerns. It is often
useful to apply the 'SMART' principle to
making any decision.
S = specific
M = measurable
A = achievable
R = realistic
T = timed
The decision that is made needs to contain specific objectives, which are measurable, achievable, realistic and set against timed milestones. Without such criteria
in place the project may over-run or go over-budget but you will never know unless SMART goals have been assigned to it.
There are various skills that a web developer, or any person or group of people that are responsible for creating your website, should have in their toolkit. Unless all these skills are in place the website will not achieve its full potential. At the end of the day regardless of the exact objective of the website if it is related to a business then its focus must be on adding benefit. Whether this benefit be increased sales, improved customer communication or heightened brand awareness.
The four skills that those responsible for creating your website should have are as follows:
Business experience
Graphic design skills
Technical competency
Online marketing expertise
Business Experience
They must have worked with different sizes of client, different sectors etc. they need to be asking you about your business justification for getting the website rather than asking about the design or colour scheme.
Graphic Design Skills
They need to have graphic design capability to create a site that makes you proud, not embarrassed. The end product needs to match your other corporate
literature not look like a 'homer' done by your best friend's son.
Technical Competency
They must be technically proficient and be able to create websites that are quick to download, search engine friendly, accessible to user regardless of
PC / browser and they need to be error-free.
Online Marketing Expertise
Finally they need to have online marketing expertise. Without this they could have 100% skill level in the other areas but it wouldn't matter as the website wouldn't get found online. They need to know how to get you top rankings in the search engines, the best places to register online and essentially know all the components required to give your website a high profile online.
So, think SMART, remember the 4 core skills and choose wisely.
Michael Cheney
www.magnet4web.com
You can get free access to lots more of Michael Cheney's website marketing articles
plus a FREE Special Report "How To Turn Your Website Into A Customer Magnet"
worth a value of £47 ($85) here: Internet marketing articles and report
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