Lately I have been reconsidering much of what I know about the business of developing and supporting websites. After eleven years in the industry I feel it is a good time to take stock.
An excellent piece in the weekly Boagworld podcast really hit the nail on the head for me. Paul Boag described the frustrations of the traditional ‘pitch, estimate, panic’ model for both the client and the consultant.
A transcript is here but this is my take:
- If you reach the point where ‘the website must be sorted out’ then you have waited too long
- Rushing creates issues – deadlines are important but it is more important to plan and keep planning
- The web moves fast – leaving a site for a year can mean a hefty ‘catch-up’ period, often full of explanations as to how the competition have been able to steal a march in certain areas
- Clients should consider agencies and consultants as part of their team, and vice-versa – clients have vital inside knowledge that must be contributed and consultants must tune themselves to the ‘culture’ of the client
- The answer is continual improvement – it is important to always remember the bigger picture but also to understand this is achieved by a series of much smaller milestones, keeping morale, interest and the relationship healthy
This kind of thinking seems to be everywhere I look right now – the brutal truths outlined in the Rework book and the continued marketing zen shown by Apple.
Time for a change
Yes I know I sound like a politician. But I have scrapped the old Blue Light website (about us, contact us, services, blah blah blah) in a bid to show the world how I actually work face-to-face.
Like Paul Boag, I get the best results when I have regular client meetings and set a series of smaller goals as opposed to the old-school ‘oh god we need to scrap it all and start again’ approach. An enjoyable, productive meeting will go like this:
- Coffee (decaf for me please, something else I have learned over the years)
- What has been happening inside your business since we last met? The more I know, the more I can help (ok now I sound like Jerry Maguire). Often I’m amazed to find that news stories (celebs, charity work etc) have gone unreported and huge online publicity opportunities squandered.
- Stats! Let’s look at your recent visitors, sales figures, blog comments. I stick to only the most-vital info to avoid overload – a brain can only hold so much in one sitting.
- How can we continue to make the user experience smoother, faster, easier? Let’s look at weaknesses of the current process and see how other sites solve such issues.
- Content is King, Queen, Duke, Duchess and the corgis. It’s incredibly hard to create newsworthy articles, helpful ‘help’ pages and compelling descriptions of what you do, but I’m not leaving until we’ve thrashed out some drafts…
- How are you talking to your customers? Tone of voice and consistency across all your online ‘places’ (you are tweeting, facebooking and mailshotting right? Right?) Are you giving them compelling reasons to visit and return, to comment on your blog and forward your mailshots?
- How can we divide the to-do list amongst the team, both internal and external? Who has the time and space to get creative, and who can action the more anal, repetitive tasks?
Proof is in the pudding
I will put my money where my mouth is and take a printout of this list to my next meeting with Beads Unlimited – a long-term client with a fine history of traditional retail and mail-order beads, who I help tackle the challenges of selling online and delighting their customers.
I know that Geoff (aka The Beadman, who always tells it how it is) will let me know if I’m ticking all the boxes… oh dear more politician-speak – time to go! 
