“I have no clue how much web design services should cost. I’ve recieved quotes from $500 to $50,000.”

This is one of the most common statements I hear when talking to business owners and marketing directors that have never hired a digital agency. Their concern is a logical one. If freelance designer A could produce the same results as digital agency Z, then why pay 10 times as much?

It all boils down to what you need. Notice I didn’t say “…what you’re looking for” or “…what you want”. Reconciling needs vs. wants is a tough hurdle to overcome in understanding when to hire a digital agency. You want a new website? Can you articulate why? What metric are you trying to improve? If you don’t know those answers, that could be the source of your confusion.

It takes a village.

If you’ve never worked with an agency before, you may not realize the effort needed to create an effective site as part of your overall digital strategy. Sites today resemble complex software applications and intricate conversion systems, requiring “design thinking” and strategic planning as the foundation of any well executed digital strategy. The amount of work prior to the creative design part of the process can be as much as 30% of your overall project costs. Complex web applications could need more planning and strategy efforts.

Don’t paint a pig.

If you’re goals are to increase the effectiveness of your digital strategy, don’t expect low cost redesigns of your website to be the “quick fix” to success. Hire a digital agency that focuses on user research, content strategy, interaction design, competition analysis, website analytics, success metrics and more. Back when I was a freelance web designer, I recognized the need to manage all of these disciplines to create successful online digital strategies and started hiring our team of experts. I couldn’t be happier with what we’ve accomplished.

Digital agencies exist because the internet is a platform of opportunity and the way to fuel growth for your company. When you’re ready to take full advantage of the internet for your business is when you’re ready to hire a digital agency.

I meet with a lot of people ready to jump into to a website business with some good, and some not so good ideas.  If you have a “killer” website idea and are ready to act, consider 7 lessons I’ve learned from first hand experience with small online startups.

Thoroughly know your website’s subject.
You have to have the chops. Be the best in what your building your site around. If you’re not the expert, find out how you can get the experts info on your site. Content is king and the king has to rule your domain.

Plan your marketing platform.
Do you have a twitter, facebook and youtube account? Today’s marketing is driven by the social media space. Your platform is the key to connect to your audience.

Test your assumptions.
What are you assuming about your idea or the marketplace that compels you to move forward? Is it possible your market is smaller than you think or don’t value what you want to provide as much as you’re hoping? Don’t build on online business from an assumption. Build one out of passion. In the end if you don’t kill it, you’re at least doing what you love and will make a living from it.

Check your expectations.
Think you’re going to have this site built and instantly make bank? Are you hiring a web agency and think you won’t have to do any heavy lifting? Expect to work…hard. Hustle is the only way you’ll build your brand and your business. Developing a site with a web agency requires a ton of time and attention on your part.

Whatever your business is, customer service is your only business.
There’s no substitute for making every one of your customers feel special.

Iterate and update your site quickly…or die.
Version one of your site won’t be perfect. Are you always making it better? Listen to your customers. Fix problems. Focus on usability instead of just being novel.

Throw away your 5 year business plan.
I strongly believe in goals, but longterm business plans won’t work for your new web business. Be reactionary to your new customers wants and needs. Change will come quickly.

BONUS: Understand the process of building a website.
You have to understand the problem, plan the solution and execute. Your web agency is your partner, but they don’t know your business. Have your business structure in place, exploit your advantages and be ready to compete.

I’m a big fan of Seth Godin’s books and blog posts. He wrote today about rapid change, citing the newspaper industry as an example of going sixty to zero overnight.

One prediction in his blog post that stood out to me was “Prediction: 90% of your sales will come from word of mouth or digital promotion by 2011. How do you change what you’re doing today to be ready for that?”

Two years isn’t long. Businesses that are able to grab hold of digital promotion and social media are going to soar.

Seth Godin’s message: don’t try to preserve a dying way of business. Invest in your future. Here, here.

Everyone has their favorite website they like to visit, based on information it provides you, it’s easy use, it’s over all design appeal or all of the above. Websites are considered a living breathing online store front that can generate numerous amounts of traffic if they are well thought out. 

Planning and building a site that will convert it’s visitor’s into a sale or a lead or keep them coming back for more involves 4 key factors; function, information, navigation and design.

Every great website starts with a blue print or a wireframe. A wireframe helps design and implement function which makes it easy for their site visitor to use quickly and efficiently. It is also where content is developed and placed for search engines to find relevant information to pull your site up. Also the wireframe handles the navigation of the site, how many pages your site will need, the order of the pages, and the menus and interactive functions that will be built into the site.  

Once the wireframe has been completed and you have a solid blue print in place, it is time for the design. The design concept is derived from the function, information and navigation that has been put in place in the wireframe. The key is to keep the design clear, but not boring. Keep your visitor in mine, what will attract them and keep them coming back for more.

We hope you have a better understanding of what key factors to consider when building your online store front.

March 9-13

I thought this was a great post and wanted to share it with “you”, our readers. During March 9-13 small businesses are looking to band together for a small business referral stimulus package. With talk of recession and the economic stimulus package, John Jantsch, author or Duct Tape Marketing, decided it was time for small businesses to take matters into our own hands and has decleared March 9-13, 2009 “Make a Referral Week” in hopes of generating over 1000 referral leads to deserving small businesses.

Rise has decided to join the efforts to help stimulate the small business economy. Read more about “Make A Referral Week”.

We hope you will join in the efforts to keep small businesses thriving in this down economy by referring leads to other small businesses in and around our community.

We would love to get more thoughts on how to generate referrals — please leave us a comment!

Getting the right equilibrium in your search engine optimization (SEO) and a profitable user experience can be a challenge. It seems that most companies error on favoring one strategy over the other. 

For example your company may be stuffing the same keywords into every “alt” tag navigation graphic. This detracts from the user experience by making the page slower to load or visually impaired for page viewers.

Or your company maybe maximizing usability without concern for SEO by streamlining the homepage and other relevant pages, making it as simple and non-relvent as possible. Allowing search engines nothing to sink their teeth into to identify appropriate keywords for your business. 

When SEO is used properly it can enhance the usability of the site for the user and visa versa, usability, when used properly enhances the search engines findability of the site.

Think of your internal hierarchical linking structure for both your users and search engines, you want users to link to you because the more relevant links you have the more Google see them as votes and the more votes you have search engines see you as a authority in your business, and this ultimately helps your site climb to the top of search engines which increases your ROI. 

Want to see what type of synergy you are creating on your site. Fill out our “Get A Free Quote” form and put in the comment section “free google analytics report” to start tracking your sites performance today!

Justin Delabar, Rise’s Senior Art Director found a great article from O’Reily’s InsideRIA blog on the traits of a User Experience Expert. (http://www.insideria.com/2008/12/what-makes-a-user-experience-e.html). I wanted to share some core tenants of a user experience expert according to the post that we at Rise believe in:

===Excerpts from article===

Can you predict your company’s marketing ROI (return on investment) for 2009 or the years to come from a simple ad campaign, television spot, or billboard?  It seems as though smart businesses are focusing on the highest ROI for their marketing dollars—the web. Top internet gurus think in 2009, business owners will be focusing on conversion rates supported by actual reports/statistics, something the web gives you easily.

Here’s a great video that was forwarded to me over the weekend, “You Down With ROI?… Yeah You Know Me” from renowned businessman and internet celebrity, Gary Vaynerchuk.

http://garyvaynerchuk.com/2008/10/08/you-down-with-roiyeah-you-know-me/

How do you plan to measure the ROI on your marketing this year?

Everyone knows that the foundation of your business is your company’s brand—it will be posted on everything from business cards to the corporate website, company letterhead to marketing campaigns. Without a strong foundation who will identify you over your competitors? 

Large companies like Apple and BMW know the role a solid brand plays in the attainment of business success. I have had the pleasure to work for companies like Sears and Remax, both of which put serious efforts behind their brands and subsequently found success in their respective industries. 

But I also have worked for companies that have not branded themselves or have failed to settle on one coherent brand direction. Those companies are still the same size if not smaller today. Companies that have formed a solid brand are much stronger with their customer relations and their employee foundations. Below are some objections I have heard over time and some solutions to branding your company’s foundation to reinforce your solid business plan.

1. “It cost too much”

Wow, and you want to start a company? There are costs involved in building a business, but the rewards are much greater. The brand is your first impression. It tells people if you are a trustworthy business, it is also something that your potential customers will eventually associate themselves with. 

2. “I am not creative”

This is a easy one to fix. Choose a company to help you build your brand. Here at Rise Creative Group, our team of experts will interview you and ask an assortment of questions that will help identify what you feel, think and want your brand to represent for your company.

3. “I am just going to start with this logo I created using Microsoft Word and build one when I have more money and time”

Hmmmm…. Sounds like you are procrastinating. Is this how you’re going to run your business? You might as well turn on your TV and watch everything you have been Tivo-ing lately. Business can wait. So can that vacation to Bora Bora. 

4. “I am going to build my company and then I will create a brand”

That is putting the cart before the horse isn’t it? How can you build a company? What foundation will you have to build off of? I am going to say it again, if you don’t have a solid brand  — also known as a foundation — then what will people associate you with?Don’t forget that Rise Creative Group can help you solve this problem. 

My list above can go on and on. Wouldn’t you want to be the Starbucks of your industry or the Ebay of sales? Don’t let your objections decide where the foundation of your business lies.

TALK BACK

Tell us how building your brand has helped your company succeed. 

By Orlando Business Coach, Garry Peterson.

1. Clarity of Vision Gives You a Focus for your Work Plan When you know exactly what you’re supposed to be doing, you know what your intended outcome should be. It also becomes easier to determine what you shouldn’t be working on, and how to say no to anything that doesn’t help you achieve your goals.
2. Sound Strategic Planning enables you to Take Control of your Destiny As you gain a better understanding of your business environment, you can improve the assumptions you make about your company’s future. You make better strategic choices that will sharpen your focus, and get results from monitoring your progress and adapting your plan to changes in the real world. Those how execute consistently dominate.
3. Great Organizations simply have Great People Talents Rules! Excellent leaders believe in people and in leading the key change initiatives. They surround themselves with the brightest, most talented, and unselfish and focused people they can find. Recruiting becomes a main priority-hire for attitude, train for skills. Achievements are due to team actions and results. Never mistake activity for achievement!
4. Structure and Systems will enable you to Address Important Issues, without wasting time You must create an operating plan that is concise, easy to follow, and answers the following critical questions: Where are we now? Where do we want to go? How do we get there? How much does it cost? How will we know when we arrive? Who is responsible? How do we stick to the plan and execute, execute, execute?
5. The Ability to Provide Robust Communication is the Single Most Important Leadership Skill to Develop Be as frank, open and honest as you can-almost transparent. You must have the courage and guts to deal with difficult and awkward situations. Since the only true goal of communication is mutual understanding, keep trying different approaches, styles and techniques until you achieve the desired outcome.
6. You must have a Clear Idea of exactly what Excellence means to your Customer and stay Focused on that Ideal Consistently superior over occasionally phenomenal service is the key to happy customers. As a provider, once you master the understanding of wants and needs, with fast and flexible operations, you become a valued partner to support growth initiatives with your customer.

Rise Creative Group delivers dynamic website design and internet marketing strategies for companies in need of Orlando website design.