Forum Moderators: skibum
No matter how well constructed an Internet site is, it cannot thrive without a well-planned and executed marketing plan.
Just as a shop on a dead end street cannot count on traffic that passes by its doors, an Interent site must ATTRACT its customers. No one just passes by and stops in.
You would be surprised at how many people just have a vague notion about how they are going to get business to their new site.
Generally I try to pin down their startup advertising approach and budget before accepting development assignments. I always feel that I have a long-term investment (or opportunity in my clients. Failed clients don't make good referrences and recurring business with them isn't possible.
I really try to get them to have realistic expectations. I think I lose about 20% of my possible clients but I seldom have billing and collection issues.
Do others take this approach or do they see this as outside of their business role?
Great topic, Cyril, what's realistic for some might not be for others, and they might not know. Some products and services lend themselves better than others, which might only do well with a web site as an additional brochure.
>Do others take this approach or do they see this as outside of their business role?
I've thought about it a lot, especially lately. Some products can have a site right on top of rankings and still not reflect with a lot of traffic because people might not search for that particular thing a whole lot.
And to raise an additional related question, what about taking on promoting a site you know can't convert because of how it's done or how it looks? Some can be very unpleasant (i.e. some home made ones), which happens a lot when dealing with certain markets. To say so might seem like trying to up-sell services, yet we might know they're wasting their money and won't see a return on promotion dollars spent.
Then, with designing sites, we can know they need promoting, but people generally buy into the "we promote by submitting" that goes with most design, and those are priced differently because of the time optimization takes - and often not designed to rank, and won't. Still, it presents competitive issues.
Ethically, do we take it on anyway, or tell the people the truth?
These 3 clients had 3 different reasons for a website.
Client 1 simply wanted to say "why yes we have a website, here's the address". (No promotion other than SE submissions)
Client 2 wanted his clientele to get info and complete his contract on line, instead of bothering with with constant emails. (Some promotion + SE submissions)
Client 3 wanted not to have to attend so many trade shows.(Add'l promotion + SE submissions)
We advise the clients as to the benefits and pitfals to promotion and we let them decide their destiny.
By abiding by their wishes we've built a relationship, which has brought them back each year.
In my opinion you might be passing up future opportunities with those clients you turn away.
tbear, that's where the competitive issue lies at root. Designer-A might charge bargain rates for designing a site and include submissions to promote it, and the client might end up with a site they love, in frames with Javascript navigation. Or a graphically intense site with no text. That client's expectations are that they'll have a nice site, which they will get from Designer-A, and also expect to get search engine rankings by the submissions, which they won't.
>We advise the clients as to the benefits and pitfals to promotion and we let them decide their destiny.
In that case it's probaby wisest to separate the services, and/or set them up with a different structure altogether. And as Cyril said, try to pinpoint their goals to begin with, before suggesting anything further than what they originally inquired about, just letting them know there are different options available.
>passing up future opportunities with those clients you turn away
That's very true. It might be that it's best to not give them information they didn't ask for and not be a meddler. ;)
He he, so that if they go for the frames, etc, they still don't know what went wrong...
Comments in guest book of '2 hits a week competitor's website, "beautiful design", "state of the art, well done designer, you are an artist"
I wouldn't tell them a thing until they fired the old designer and paid me in full for my work.... LOL
They kept the designer......:(
