Getting a website designed and developed can be a very frustrating experience for many people. But did you know that if you employed some simple tactics to your relationship with the web company, you are more likely to have a better experience and overall websites success?

Freshblood website consultants have spent years working with clients on their websites, and we know first-hand how stressful the experience can be for a customer if the project goes wrong or not as expected. One of the easiest and most important steps you can take to help your web project succeed, is to set up a good relationship with the web designers from the very start. This way, if your project runs into any problems, you won’t have a massive battle on your hands dealing with the web company trying to make them understand how important your deadline is for example, or trying to push them everyday to make those changes you requested 2 weeks ago.

Website projects can serve up quite a testing and often challenging time for the client. This is why we have put a list of 10 things to do and not to do in order to get website success with your chosen web company/designer.

So how do you make sure you set up a relationship thats going to help your web project?

Here are a few tips, taken from our own experience.

Do:

1. Meet face to face with the web company or speak to them, at least oncebefore ‘signing on the dotted line’. It is so much easier to build a rapport if you can put a face to a name. If telephone is a preferred option then we suggest having a phone call with them so you get a feel for whether you will get on with them, whether you find them approachable or hard to talk to. Use the phone call or meeting to quiz them on how they work with clients and what you can expect from the process. There is no reason why you can’t ask for references and if anything, their immediate response will give you a clue to how confident they are about their service!

2. Establish a main point of contact: one from your own company and one from the web design agency, for the project so that you aren’t passed from pillar to post. Getting too many people involved can create a mess through mis-communication occurring – so always ask who your contact is and clarify whether you will need to communicate with others and for what purpose. This will help you ensure emails get to the correct person instead of being passed around and sometimes escaping the system. The other reason for establishing a contact is so that you can build an ongoing rapport with the person dealing with your website.

3. Establish a set of website priorities and tell the agency what these are, and more importantly, why they are priorities. For example, if you want to get the website launched by December 1st so you can catch the Christmas market, explain this at the beginning so it can be planned for. If your priorities change, again, tell your web company immediately and don’t feel bad for this! They would prefer to know sooner rather than later.

4. Plan the frequency and format of communication you need, and do this right at the start. If you need a weekly conference call with them, just ask if its possible. If you prefer progress reports every week, again, just let them know. Find out what their usual procedure is and negotiate if they don’t suit you. Whatever you do though, do not agree to be updated weekly but then email everyday asking for progress just because you are really curious and enthusiastic. Stick to what is agreed or make new agreements so that expectations can be managed and appropriately met.

5. Be upfront and honest about your expectations. There is nothing wrong about having high standards, but its important you are clear on what you expect. You cannot blame the web designer for not meeting expectations which you kept to yourself.Make sure you know a senior contact at the agency to escalate any problems to, but use them sparingly and as a last resort. Try as best you can to sort out issues with your main point of contact.

   Don’t:

6. Ring up every five minutes asking if something has been done. Establish a method for receiving confirmation once a piece of work is complete and ready for you to look at.

7. Leave things to the last minute. If you know you might need a new company logo on your homepage in a few months time, give the agency as much notice as you can. If you know you will need to add another page to the website within a few months of the website going live, tell them in advance so that they can include this in the price or plan the website around the near future requirements.

8. Assume the agency automatically knows what you are after. Write down in as much detail as possible everything you want, and make sure the agency reviews this. Talk through your points with the web company so that there are no misunderstandings. Don’t just assume that they will figure out what you want just because you gave them a list of your website business objectives and perhaps a list of websites you like the look of, for design inspiration.

9. Be un-prepared. If it has been agreed that you will provide images and text for certain web pages by a certain week or date, then stick to it, and if you can’t, let the web agency know well in advance. Most designers work on several projects during the week and have set aside specific slots to work on your website based on expectations of receiving certain things from you. So don’t be un-prepared, get on top of things and be realistic.

10. Be afraid to ask questions. So many clients will refrain from asking questions because they think the questions might sound stupid or they think they may get a jargon filled response. If you spend your entire project wondering whether its ok to ask this that or the other, you may as well surrender to the fact that there is a strong chance you won’t be pleased with the end result and for this, you cannot really blame the web designer unless of course they were completely unapproachable and intimidating!

So, by putting together a few ground rules at the beginning, and making sure you have good, clear communication, you can set the ball rolling for a great relationship and achieve a much higher chance of success with your project. You want to be able to shout about your new website when its done, you don’t want to sit there feeling you made a bad investment with the wrong web company. The success of your website therefore lies in your hands as much as in the hands of a good web design company.

If you need or are looking for reliable and recommended web design companies in the UK for your website project, whatever your budget or requirements, we can help. Freshblood Websites can do the hard work for you as we work with the best web designers in the business – thoroughly evaluating each one before considering them for our network of approved webdesign companies. We know what makes a project successful, and how to get the most out of the process. We can match you up to the most appropriate web designer for your needs and get several quotes for you to consider. These is no catch to this service and we can also hand match you to the suitable, trustworthy SEO companies as well as web design companies.

http://freshbloodwebsites.co.uk/

Author: Honey Chanam
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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