Establishing an agreement

A while back I wrote a long post about how to establish agreements for web design. I’ve since evolved my understanding, but the overall message is still valid. One thing that has become much clearer to me is that it’s A) hard to determine what the deliverables are and B) quite challenging to forecast how long something will take and how much it will cost. Website creators want to what they are being tasked to create, and clients want to know how much it will cost and how long it will take. In order for both parties to acquire the answers they are looking for in order to solidify the agreement, the project must clear the first hurdle that causes projects to be hard: clear definition. I can not emphasize enough how critical it is to have a clear scope for a project, and it is also the most difficult element to attain. It’s tough for clients to know exactly what they want without deep knowledge of the Internet technology and cultural trends. And, it’s impossible for a developer to quote without a clear directive from the client. The only way out of this quagmire is a lot of open conversation and trust.

Clients can help this process by figuring out what they want and how much they want to spend before contacting a firm to help them create something. The challenge is that clients are mostly undereducated about the costs associated with creating a website and what kind of solutions are available to them. To learn more about what kind of solutions are available to them, clients can do one of three things: 1) Hire an educated person internally to oversee the development and ongoing management of their website, 2) Hire an outside consultant to develop the plan for their website before contracting a firm to design and build it, or 3) Read my blog (and others like it).

As far as costs go, clients are often scared to talk about money in fear they will be overcharged. Clients should come to the table with a clear sense of their budget. If you don’t know how to determine a budget, a good rule to follow is to spend 25% of profit for the period of time for which the project will run. As an example, if a retail client makes a conservative prediction that they will sell $20,000 a year in product and they want the site to run for 2 years, they will sell $40,000 in gross sales for that period. Retail typically marks up their product double what they pay for it, so let’s assume that’s $20,000 in profit (it’s not really because that doesn’t include overhead, but go with me here). Then that company should budget $5,000 for web development, which is a quarter of their profits. This example assumes that the company is spending 100% of its marketing budget on their website, which is common for small businesses.

Now it is up to the web developer to create a solution within that price range that will work for the client. This is where a designer or programmer will demonstrate their ability to provide services professionally. Determining what they can deliver for the client within their price range is part of that equation. The other is the how smoothly that determination process goes. If you take your car to a mechanic and they don’t have a clear and logical starting point, your confidence is shaken immediately. For more about how to effectively manage projects, read project management and development process for web designers and programmers.

Creating content

First, let me define content. Content is the information a user consumes on a website. Content includes text, images, motion, and audio, but not everything is content. A graphic used to create a rounded corner for a button is not content. A photo for the main story is content. Content is everything to a website. Not only is content the magic that should drive a surfer to take the action for which the site was created, but it is also the thing that drives the organization and design of the site. Yet, content is the most overlooked part of the development of a website. I can’t tell you how many times a client has come to me for design services without any content. Web design is the practice of arranging content on a web page to achieve the goals for which the site was created. Therefore, a client must have content before a design can be created. That doesn’t mean that a client can’t hire a web design company without having content. It means that the content development must happen before any mock-ups can be created.

Ok, so, a client needs content first. Why does that make content creation a bottleneck? Developing content for a site isn’t challenging because writing good copy or taking beautiful photos is hard, rather it is challenging because it is hard to create content that clearly explains a business. I compare the process to the average person at tax time. They show up with a shoe box full of receipts and the preparer is supposed to make sense of it all and output a clean, regimented format that will move smoothly through the government’s system. Here’s a few scenarios that make content development challenging:

• The product isn’t finished, which means we can’t take photos yet.
• The client wants a “Services” page, but they don’t have a clearly defined list of services.
• The client wants to use some old photos on the history page, but they are in a storage closet that they can never find the time to access.
• The person that knows the plan for the upcoming company event is on vacation until the week before the site has to be launched.
• There are eight databases with the client’s information and they are full of conflicting information and there are six different people in the company that have to be consulted to resolve the conflicts.

Creating content is also a bit like therapy for a business. Once a business’ information all comes together in a clean format, they often find themselves wanting to clear out old information, update some information, and add things that have been in their head for some time. This kind of deep thinking can slow the content creation process down, especially if the person overseeing the process on the client side is the owner or some other really busy employee.

The best thing to speed up the creation of content is for a client to do some initial information architecture before hiring a firm to build and design a website. Information architecture is still fairly new a largely misunderstood. It can cover a range of meanings from the discipline, to the job title, to the deliverables. The IA I’m referring to is the organization of a company’s stories. This means pulling together the following information:

• History
• Product and service data, including: prices, descriptions, and specifications.
• Contact information, including: sales, customer support, and more.
• Legal, including: terms of use, privacy policy, and copyright.
• Promotional message, including: sales, campaigns, and USPs.

Securing approvals

I was talking with my friend Kyra the other day about what factors that influence the time and money required to develop a site. I shared that building websites usually takes several months and that most of that time is spent waiting on both sides of the project. If I were to redesign my own website, for example, it would only take me a couple of days because I don’t need to secure approvals or gather content from another person or team. There is not a lot of wisdom that I can offer here, but it is important to note that the majority of time spent on developing a website is not spent by fingers on a keyboard, but rather thumbs twiddling in eager anticipation for an approval. Approvals are slowed due to a few reasons:

• Someone is on vacation.
• Someone is busy for a few days.
• Multiple people are involved in the approval process.
• One person is the approver, but needs to ask several people about specific details.
• The client wants to change something, but doesn’t have the headspace to think about it for a few days.
• The client doesn’t like the design, but doesn’t know how to express their concerns.
• The requested change is a big one and the developer is already committed to another deadline.

The best thing a client can do is appoint one person they trust to be the approver and go with their decisions. My friend Jason told me that the last year they made the Camaro, it was handled by a committee, which is why it is was so lame. The hot new Camaro was designed by a small team and look how sweet it turned out! Some people may hate it, but a ton more love it. A great website will not please everyone, in fact, a small group should vehemently dislike it. Select a decision maker, and don’t reduce everything down to the safest choice and you will speed the approval process along and ensure a more effective website.

Conclusion

This is by no means an exhaustive list of the challenges that make web development projects difficult. I didn’t cover all of the challenges that go into developing web applications, ecommerce, community building, etc. However, the above three cuplrits seem to plague all projects. Hopefully discussing these challenges and some potential solutions can help all of us overcome them on future projects.

What challenges do you face when developing a project (clients and/or service providers)?

The first thing every client wants to know is how much will the site cost, how long will it take, and what will they receive. Most of them want to know that so badly that they will glaze over the work of defining for themselves what they really need. I use the following qualifying questionnaire to gather project requirements in the beginning. The purpose of this questionnaire is to uncover all of the associated work that must be done before starting a website. Often times less experienced clients expect things like a new logo design or photography to be done as part of the design process. While it is certainly reasonable to have those things developed as part of the project, it’s helpful to both you and the client to identify them as projects in and of themselves that require time and budget to complete.

For each of the following questions, I have a set of discovery questions that go along with it that draw out the juicy details that help me understand the scope of their need. I don’t ask all of them, only the ones that pertain to the given conversation. You too should come up with some exploratory questions to have in your repertoire.

Do we have business together?

This question explores a question not often broached by many web developers: whether or not you want to work with this client. I ask about them about who they are and what they do. I listen for red flags that might indicate they are not my ideal client. I ask them about their goals, budget, and timeline. If they are not upfront and at least somewhat clear about these things, they tend to turn into problem clients.

If they are a Yes

Then I a proceed on to the next question.

If they are a No

Then I either tell them thanks for the their time, but I don’t think I’m the right person for their job, or I refer them to who I think might be a better fit for them (sometimes that is because I can’t provide what they need, but they seem like a good client).

Do you have a strategy?

Having a strategy presumes you have goals. I ask questions around this topic to learn how far along they are in their process. If you have these things, I want to know. If you don’t you’ll need them before creating a website.

If they are a Yes

Then I proceed on to the next question.

If they are a No

I let them know they’ll need to go through the goal identification and strategy development process before they can start on the website. Actually, I still ask the remaining questions and then tell them all of the conclusive information at the end.

Do you have an ID?

I want to know how much design work will be required, so I ask if they have an identity system. Some clients have nothing. Some have only a logo. Some have a visual center with colors, fonts, and an asset library.

If they are a Yes

Then I proceed on to the next question.

If they are a No

At the end of the intake meeting, I’ll let them know they’ll need to develop an ID and visual center before developing the website.

Do you need promotion?

It is a common mistake that the web is the Field of Dreams—if you build it, they will come. Therefore, I probe to find out what they are doing for marketing, advertising, PR, and other efforts to drive traffic to the site.

If they are a Yes

We’ll have a conversation at the end about their promotional needs. Often promo campaigns require landing pages and other features that impact site design, so it’s a good idea to have these things considered upfront. It’s also a good idea to set expectations early that building the site and building traffic are different projects.

If they are a No

Then I proceed on to the next question.

Do you need ecommerce?

Many businesses (and web developers) think an ecomm project is just another website project. The reality is that it an extension of the business that requires business processes for things like order processing, fulfillment, shipping, customer service, and more. If we’re embarking on an ecommerce project I want to know if they are prepared for the associated work involved maintaining that kind of a site.

If they are a Yes

Then I’ll discuss their ecomm needs at the end of the meeting. I’ll ask them about their organizational needs to handle ecomm site management. I’ll also find out if they have the six things required to do proper ecommerce: domain name, hosting, secure certificate (SSL), payment gateway, merchant account, and an OMS (commonly a shopping cart).

If they are a No

Then I proceed on to the next question.

Do you need a custom web application?

Many sites contain complicated functionality such as a CMS, EMS, or OMS. My questions seek to identify what their application development needs are in order to know what kind of project management processes will need to be included for development.

If they are a Yes

Then I’ll make sure to include application development process in the website project plan.

If they are a No

Then I proceed on to the next question.

Do you have content?

Many clients I have dealt with think they have their content already. It’s a good idea to not only ask if they have copy, photos, videos, and other assets, but also to see them before checking this off as handled.

If they are a Yes

Then I proceed on to the next question.

If they are a No

Then we’ll determine what their content needs are and scope those projects accordingly, such as photo shoots.

What are your business requirements for your website?

We are finally ready to start talking about their website! Now I gather as much information as I can about what they want from their website. I don’t expect them to know everything they need, but I do want to know what they do know already.

Additional tips for scoping projects and handling intake meetings

These questions may need to be broken up over a few conversations depending how much information there is that pertains to your client’s project. You may also find clients with small websites annoyed that they need to answer these questions. Be watchful for these situations because skipping over the details is exactly what leads to problematic misunderstandings and scope creep.

Along with a scoping projects, you may also be interested in:

• Business development tips for web designers and programmers
• Establishing agreements and writing proposals
• Project management and development process for web designers and programmers

Was this helpful? Do you have any advice you’d offer for handling the intake and scoping process? Do you have any horror stories that could have been avoided had you asked some of these questions up front?

Trick 1 – Instant links

Did you know that your can permanently redirect various versions of a page to a single address to increase your number of links to a page? That means if you redirect http://www.yoursite.com to http://yoursite.com and http://www.yoursite.com has 10 links to it and http://yoursite.com has 5 links to it, then by creating a 301 redirect, the home page now has 15 links to it, which increases Google PR and the volume of search engine traffic.

Trick 2 – Instant page views

Page views are the holy grail of current web advertising. You get paid based on the number of times a page loads because a new ad is displayed. A quick way to increase you page views is to show shortened versions of an article with a read more link. Have you ever wondered why large name publications split articles into 3 to 10 pages? It’s because they can serve more ads on a single article. When a blogs reaches 50,000 page views per month, which is a widely accepted point at which it is profitable to display ads on a site, you can get double or more page views by making viewers click to read a full version of a post.

Trick 3 – Geo targeting with Google’s AdWords

Keywords are cheaper if you buy them separately in individual geographic markets. And, messages that work in one area don’t necessarily work in all areas. Targeted messages increase effectiveness and save money. Take the time to geographically target your ad spend.

Trick 4 – Converting volume AdWords buys into AdSense revenue

Sometimes larger volume, generic keywords are cheaper, like “music” compared to “mp3 blog”. You can create websites about “mp3 blogs”, buy high volume keywords at a low cost then feature Google AdSense ads in close proximity to the copy that talks about “mp3 blogs” in order to attract higher payout clicks on those ads.

I hope you are inspired by these kinds of marketing tactics. I’m interested to hear other innovative ideas from y’all in the comments!

If you’d like to pull in some Google traffic, this tip is for you. Google bait is a post that a blogger intentionally writes to pull in Google traffic. The basic idea is that certain topics have a high volume of interest and a low volume of competition. The only real trick to this promotional technique is determining what to write about. You could go through the tedious task of looking up search terms in the Overture inventory and then searching the various engines to guage competition (my former business offered a tool called Scout to do just that). Personally, I prefer to look through my traffic logs for keyphrase trends and then pick a few concepts that I suspect might be of mass interest. I prefer this technique because I’ve learned that people type hundreds of variations of similar keyphrases and the volume of one iteration doesn’t reveal the true volume of interest. Also, if a keyphrase is appearing to be popular in my blog’s stats, it means Google already values my site for this phrase and is likely to push related traffic my way.

I’ll walk through an example of Google bait I created for this blog. I was looking through my web stats one day and I noticed that my #1 keyword occurance across all of my keyphrases was MySpace. It wasn’t much of a surprise given that MySpace is one of the largest sites in the world. I decided to write an article about how to hack a MySpace account. I chose this angle for capturing traffic around the MySpace keyword because I knew it was something people would be searching for and I had just recently read an article about phishing MySpace login info that I knew I could link to. I wrote the article on December 6th, which is more than 2 months ago. It is by far my #1 volume post receiving 6 times the page views as my #2 volume post, and 18 times more volume than my #4 post. All of my top ten most popular keyphrases are variations on “how to hack a myspace account”.

This was a great experiment for me because I am now going to start offering MySpace nuggets more regularly that are not my main posts. I don’t want my blog to become known as a MySpace resource blog, but I do want draw in potential readers by baiting Google. If the readers like me, they’ll come back or better yet subscribe to my feed.

It’s a similar concept to why blogger would cover the release of Vista or the iPhone, which is that many people will be searching for this info so the subject is bait for Google.

Have you ever written a post to bait Google for traffic? What do you think about the manipulative implications of the technique?

Now, I thought having figured this out during my first installation that I would have no problem with my second. Well, it turns out that I got a little confused because my second installation was for an add on domain. So, in order to make it work, I had to use the full server path plus the directory that contained my add on domain for the ‘SERVERPATH’. I had installed ZenPhoto in the root of the add on domain, so I thought I would set “/” as the ‘WEBPATH’, but then I learned I needed to leave it blank between the quotes.

Hopefully my learning lessons published here will help someone else Googling for answers about why the images show up broken after installing ZenPhoto.

My question is how important is custom blog design to being taken seriously? I’d say that the importance of a custom design depends on the topics covered by the blog, but what do you think?

1. Sharing a Corporate Personality
2. Widget Marketing
3. Social Media Optimization
4. AutoTagging and AutoSorting
5. Human Filtered Search
6. Contentcasting
7. Online Identity Shifting

In the spirit of things, I wanted to offer one more trend of 2006.

• Viral Buttons. These include all of the little buttons and badges to encourage your visitors to bookmark, share, or subscribe to your posts. The bookmark options got so out of control that Dave Shea felt they’ve jumped the shark.

At first I tried placing my images and the unordered list into a div. I thought if I set the list’s margins to zero and made the div the same width as the images, then the images should sit on top and bottom of the list. The code looked like this:

I tried deleting the line returns between my code to see if they were causing spaces, but that didn’t help. I tried setting the margins of the image to be 0. I thought maybe my images were inheriting some margins from somewhere else in the stylesheet, so I tried using just the HTML and CSS for my giftcard on their own document, but that didn’t help either. I tried putting the images in the unordered list itself, but that didn’t help. I tried setting the height of the <li> for the top and bottom image to be the same height as the image itself, which worked for the top image, but not the bottom one. I even resorted to tables placing the graphics in their own cells with their height set at the same as the images’, which I was quite surprised didn’t work. I triple checked my images in Photoshop to see if I had cropped the image properly, and it was. Finally, my coworker suggested making the div’s position relative and then position the images absolutely, and holy sweet relief that worked!

I still don’t know why the spaces were in there in the first place and it was happening consistently across browsers and platforms. If anyone has any answers, I would love to know them. But in the mean time, if you are frustrated with gaps above and below your images, positioning worked for me.