Trust professionals or control every step of the developer from the very beginning
Indeed, you are familiar with the saying, “The stingy pay twice.” In this article, we will talk about not falling into the trap of false savings and not coming to the need to pay for corrections repeatedly or even order a new site. Of course, you may immediately hire professionals – a well-known company with a sustainable reputation and a rich history of success, for example, SECL. In that case, such a danger disappears by itself. However, suppose the company you have contracted to develop a site has to establish a reputation yet. In that case, you should already pay attention to several points at the start to avoid disappointment and unnecessary expenses already in the near future.
Decide on the task of your site and target audience
If, finally, it turns out that the product made for you by the contractor does not correspond to your expectations, this doesn’t always mean that you came across a bad performer. No one except you know what picture you put in your head regarding the appearance of the site, its functionality, and the audience for which it is designed. If you, at the start, tell the developer something like: “Well, it should be men and women of medium and high income from 18 to 70 years old,” it can hardly be called accurate targeting. Therefore, take the time to discuss the tiniest nuances with the creators of your future resource. Although, you, for sure, already put by shelves a bunch of details in your mind when you’ve pondered how your Internet representation should look.
So who will make your site, and who will pay the real price for the results?
If you are starting your business or the website is not the central platform where your activity goes on, you may have a seduction to minimize your investment in this project. Suppose you are the city library director and want to additionally attract an audience that prefers digital media to paper ones.
Experience shows that in this case, the situation often develops according to one of the following scenarios:
- We will ask the son of an employee who recently made a page on the Internet to make a website for us (“This is only for the first time, yeah? And then, when free money appears, we can afford something better”). Of course, this is pure amateurism, but grandparents are delighted, especially since it will not cost us anything.
- We will not bother with the design. Take a free template and photos from free hosting (“After all, our visitors come here for information, and not for beautiful pictures”).
- We will place the site on free hosting. (“It doesn’t matter that it loads for half an hour, but it costs us nothing!”).
- We will not pay attention to the confusing structure of the site and the absence of the UI/UX approach (“who really needs it – they will figure it out”).
If these stories and arguments seem absurd to you, do not rush to blame the article’s authors for perverted fantasy. Both approaches and quotes are taken from life. Surely you will remember such conversations with managers when it was a speech concerning the budget for a new project.
It is hardly worth predicting the consequences of such an attitude to the case. If you are a leader, think that your customers (already existing and potential), once stumbling upon such “creativity” on the Internet, can forever forget your email address and even the way to your office. If the authorities instructed you to engage in this project but at the same time demonstrate something similar to the one described above, find a way to refuse. Otherwise, you will be appointed responsible for predictably catastrophic results.
Why are poor-quality sites not working and damaging your reputation?
Customers who meet a sloppily designed and poorly working site consciously or subconsciously transfer their impression to your company as a whole. The longer such a site remains accessible, the more damage your reputation gets and the more clients you lose.
These losses are expressed in specific numbers:
- Bad first impression. 94% of users make up their first impressions of the company, getting acquainted with the design of its website.
- Loss of users. After one unsuccessful experience, 88% of visitors will never visit this site.
- The fall in the company’s authority. For 50% of users, the lack of visual and content harmony on the site means an imbalance of values in the company.
What does a user expect from your site?
Of course, no one enters any web resource with a detailed list in the hands or memory to put checks near some points and cross others. However, numerous sites made at a high professional level and considering users’ expectations taught people to reach for good and reject the bad subconsciously. Ultimately, because the choice is so great, why commit violence over your feeling of beauty?
Here are some signs of user-friendly usability:
- The site is not overloaded with elements and is as functional as possible;
- The general design of the website echoes the proprietary style of your company;
- The texts are convenient to read and easy to understand;
- Important information is accompanied by appropriate illustrations, in particular, clear infographic;
- The site is instantly loaded;
- Buttons with a call to action differ from each other;
- Navigation is intuitive;
- Interactive forms do not require much time to fill out and exclude possible user mistakes;
- The feedback works promptly, and your customer service is always ready to help the user solve any problem.
Summing up
So, how to get a good site and not spend the extra money? Just carefully consider everything you want to get as a result, and either contact recognized professionals or control the work process at each stage. Otherwise, you will inevitably have to spend money on numerous site’s corrections, or for the entirely new one.
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