Pay upfront and services shall be received. This is most common for offline services supplied to individuals. And this would probably be the best possible result for anyone who is providing the services. But online it’s a different situation. People are increasingly distrustful of paying upfront online for services. There is no guarantee that the services will be provided and it is also very difficult to chase money where there is no physical location. Where trust and confidence is everything upfront payment may just scare off some potential customers.

The other option is to provide the services then request payment. However the shoe is now on the other foot. There is no guarantee that payment will be received after the work has been completed. Whilst the service provider may receive more customers it doesn’t help if none of them end up paying you.

So is there are way that is fair for both parties? Short answer is not really but here are a few ways to help resolve the issue:

• If possible remove the services. Generally I will provide services upfront to create a better client transaction. However I have access to the hosting and domain of sites I build and whilst it has never been necessary I can remove the services I have provided. I still lose but hopefully the added incentive may persuade the client to pay
• Half now, half later. Many Designers use this method. Essentially it reduces the risk to 50% but now both parties are at risk and you have still created a barrier for a potential customer to use your services.
• Escrow Payment. Escrow.com provide escrow payments at a nominal fee. Essentially the buyer will place the cost of services in a third party account. The buyer cannot cancel payment without sellers permission and seller cant receive funds until buyer is satisfied. If a dispute occurs a third party will decide where the funds go.
• Stages – Another preferred method for web designers. Essentially a contract (or agreement) is made before a project begins. When the service provider reaches agreed upon stages of completion funds are then transferred. If a contract is involved there are legal cost otherwise it is just risk management as buyer and seller can pull out anytime leaving one stage unfulfilled.

Hopefully I provided a few extra options for your next project. In the end there is no easy, sure-fire way to make a safe transaction. But as they say “life is a gamble” and at least you can minimize risk.

1. Great Design

Your website is showcasing your business. How the website looks portrays what the business is like. You may want to portray your business as vibrant, customer orientated and successful and you website should reflect this with lots of colour, images, testimonials and a catchy logo or header.

2. Offline Promotion

Just because your online don’t forget about the real world too. Depending on the function of your website, you will want to direct potential customers and customers alike to your website to inform, remind, persuade or market to maximize your websites value to your business. After all it’s a 24/7 customer service representative of your business.

Some very successful websites heavily promote offline and you should too. Here are a few offline promotion tips:

• Put your website address on everything (business cards, flyers, pamphlets, signage)
• Put the website address as a sticker on your car
• Create stationary with the website address and hand out to local businesses or people in your potential market
• Promote your website is trade publications, newspapers, print media.
• Sponsor local community groups prominently displaying your website address.
• Let all your customers know of your website and its great features.

3. SEO

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation. It is an incredibly powerful marketing tool when done correctly. Essentially SEO allows your website to rank on the first page of search engines (such as Google) for your keywords. This becomes all the more important when you know that 75% of all web traffic comes from search engines. So it seems like an obvious choice, right? Well there are a few issues with SEO especially for small businesses. The cost is substantial usually more than the website itself and this cost is recurring as ranking well requires constant work. The other is finding a company who can actually deliver. As SEO is more art than science results are difficult to guarantee. Having said that if you have the budget for it I would definitely recommend it as from my experience it is without doubt the best investment for any website.

4. Simple Navigation

Ever heard of the KISS principle? Keep It Simple Stupid. Well this applies to your website particularly the navigation. If you have information that is difficult to find or even worse your site is FRUSTRATING to use. You will lose customers faster than the Poms lose the ashes. All great websites have simple navigation that is easy to use and a structure that makes sense.

5. Effective Web Copy

Web Copy is a term referring to how you write the content on your page. More specifically it refers to content relating to making a sale. Great Web Copy is hard to do and even harder to find. The bottom line of any business is either sell or go bankrupt. Great web copy can increase sales or leads from a website as much as 10 times. I would recommend anyone unsure to hire an expert to write their content on their behalf. The money is well worth it.

6. Create Relationships

If you exclude automated sales no person purchases from a business and no business purchases from another business. Somewhere within the transaction there will be a person to person interaction. And people buy off people they like, know or trust. So use your website to create relationships with all your visitors. Have an about me page with images of your self and write the content as if you were talking to someone directly (which is a good web copy technique). Make sure you let the visitors know they are appreciated and that you will look after them.

7. Take it Offline

So if you have created some form of relationship with the visitor you should actively try to take the relationship offline. Doing so will further the relationship, allow you to close the sale, and provide a real customer friendly experience for the customer. Offer to call the potential customer or try to get their phone details and at the very least display prominently your contact details.

8. Don’t Advertise

Some small business owners think a website is a great way to generate extra revenue. Which it is depending on the size of your site, the popularity of your site and also how you make money from it. If however you think you can place a few adds and maybe some Google adsense I am telling you not to. The are several reasons to avoid this common trap:

• You don’t make any money. Generally a few dollars a month isn’t worth the time, space or hassle. You probably cant even withdraw the money you made until you have a minimum amount.
• You are telling your customers that your goods/services are not good enough that you need to advertise other peoples (sometimes competing) goods/services
• You can ruin your design with advertisements that don’t seem to fit.

9. Online Promotion

Whilst SEO is usually the number one source for more visitors some online promotion never hurts. Here are some of the simple and easy ways to promote your site online:

• Google Adwords. Pay for targeted visitors to your site
• Add a link in your signature and participate at relevant forums
• Add your link on comment on relevant blogs
• Purchase banners or advertising space at related sites
• Join affiliate programs
• Contact suppliers websites and ask for a promotion
• Contact non competing but relevant websites and ask if they will promote your site as it may be useful to their visitors.

This is just a simple list of promotion ideas. There are thousands of other ways to promote online just do a google search for more information.

10. Customer, Customer, Customer

It may be your website and it may be your business. But the most important person is the customer. So when designing the site, adding content you must remember who you are doing it for and it is not you. Everything must be aimed at the customer so don’t assume anything. You should explain industry terms that you may understand but the customer may not. You should clearly explain to the customer the steps they need to take to make a purchase. Your contact details should be easily accessible. Where appropriate you should explain the services or products you provide and the processes that occur. This may be common knowledge to yourself but don’t forget your customer may not know anything and a confident customer is more likely to buy.

These steps may not be appropriate to very business type. They are however a good guide and a positive way of thinking about your website and what may be required to be successful.

The end result

The most important information to be provided is an overview of what you want of and from your website. Web design is like any other specialized service. It needs direction and a goal but not a step by step instructional for the designer. If you can clearly convey how you want your website to look and operate the designer can find the best way to achieve your goal.

Telling them what you want and exactly how to get there is akin to giving an artist a paint by numbers. Yeah you know how it will turn out but you are not utilizing valuable skills and talents that a web designer may possess.

Business information

For a designer to properly capture your business they need to know something about it. I would recommend having a discussion with the designer about YOUR business, its operations, people, market, strengths, weaknesses etc. This can help simplify the design and create a more accurate reflection of the positive aspects of your business.

Content

Many people don’t understand the difference between web design and web content. In a simplistic sense design is the structure, functionality and overall look of a website whereas the content is the text and images that “fill” the pages. Whilst a designer can and usually will add the content on your behalf they do not know your business, do not know your customers and therefore could never properly sell your business online. That’s why it is important for you the businesses owner to create the content that will be used to sell to your customers or at least pay a professional to create it for you.

Images

Similar to content the onus is on the business owner to provide images for the website to achieve the best results. Obviously there are exceptions to this but images of the actual business, staff and equipment create a whole heap more rapport with visitors than generic images. Also most businesses are unique and finding high quality suitable images is an extremely difficult task at times.

Color themes/logos before designing

Disclaimer: A color theme and logo is close to the most unimportant yet overated component of a business. How many times have you heard of someone not using a product or service because the sign out the front is red but their website is prominently green.

That being said the most successful companies generally have very powerful and recognizable colors and logos. If your business has a great logo and color theme then advise the web designer before work takes place. If however you are yet to create one please let the designer know of your plans. Do not turn around just before completion and say “I had a guy design a logo for me can I change the website to match” as depending on what kind of site it is, this could mean a total redesign which is basically like building a new site. In any case a website cost more than a logo so it would be financially responsible to change the logo to suit the website.

Brochures/Pamphlets

If you have brochures or pamphlets for your business that you like you should pass them onto the designer. After most websites for small businesses are electronic brochures selling your business. In fact any advertising material both physical and digital should be passed on to help understanding and generate a few ideas of what you want for the designer.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

If you want your website to show up in search engine results (like Google & Yahoo) you will need to tell your web designer. Whilst they might not provide SEO services any good designer can set up your pages to be as search engine friendly as possible. However you will need to follow this up by hiring an SEO professional.

Competitors and Examples

Have you seen a great design that you really like? Do you have a competitor that your design needs to compete with? Let your designer know. It can be very hard to communicate ideas in your head but if you can take certain elements or entire looks from other websites to give your designer an idea it usually means an end result close to what you were visualizing.

Domains, Hosts, Scripts and more

If you have any related technical information you should let the designer know. If you have a planned domain name let the designer know early so that they can organize registering it before anyone else does or so they can let you know if it is available. Again this information can save time and money because several designers like myself will register the domain and organize hosting on your behalf. Obviously you won’t want to double up.

There is no such thing as too much information when it comes to designing. There is nothing worse for a designer than a client who adds, subtracts or modifies during construction when it could have been avoided if the client lets them know upfront. More importantly however is this information will give the necessary tools to the designer to create the best possible website for you and your business.