3 Reasons Not to Hire a Web Designer When Your Business is Brand New
Seth Godin had a blog post today that answered the question
“Why aren’t you (really) good at graphic design?“
It’s short and to the point and I encourage you to jump over there for a minute now to read what he said. It’ll help you better understand my list.
1. Because until you’ve tried it yourself, you’ll have very little idea of (and appreciation for) what’s involved.
2. Because until you’ve studied it yourself and have a clue of what’s involved, you won’t have any basis on which to evaluate a design or a designer.
3. Because when you’re first starting out, it simply doesn’t make sense to invest hundreds or thousands of dollars in something like web site design before you have a clue whether or not your new product, service, or market niche stands a chance of success.
You can easily get a basic web site and blog on-line for under $10. This free guide shows you how. Use your web site and blog to find out what your target market wants (and what they’re willing to pay for it) before you commit a lot of time and money to something you think is a good idea but nobody is willing to buy.
Like a lot of small business owners, I’ve learned this lesson the hard way. But you don’t have to.
As Seth said, “Getting pretty good at things is merely a first step, but one that you need to take in order to be ready to spend the money to get great.”
April 1st, 2009 at 2:17 am
Don’t agree. I think the statement is simplistic.
When and what kind of website a business needs really depends on many factors.
- Will the business have a physical address or just online?
- Do your competitors have web sties and not having one would be noticeable.
- Do potential cusotmers want to download product information?
- how will they reach their target customers?
The list goes on. When and what kind of web site should be part of the marketing plan. Just like other parts of a business build out.
What I see that too often is businesses spending too much on a web site with out determining before hand what is needed. Web site should be viewed like other collateral content, it should grow and change over time in response to the target market.
I encourage businesses not to build a website until they can state their USP and key market solutions.
Blogging is a good idea if the business owner is willing to make the commitment.
April 3rd, 2009 at 6:47 am
I agree with John. It all depends what the company wants to accomplish. Simply saying that all startups don’t need a well thought out website, is crazy talk. It’s gunna be real tough to be competitive at all with a $10 website when your primary source of new visitors/customers comes through your site.
It’s the job of the designer/developer to help assist those clients and in letting them know the benefits and drawbacks for each section of a new site. They need to be educated enough to let the client know if some things aren’t worth the investment in the early stages, and what they should be focusing their attention on.
April 3rd, 2009 at 6:49 am
I don’t agree with it either. I think that it’s a great investment for any business because it shows that you’re willing to take the risks involved in getting your product out there. I’m a student studying the music business and I think this can be implied to many other areas, and that is that you NEED to have that “WOW” factor so it works to your benefit. You want people to recommend you, and that’s the problem with simple sites using templates. If you don’t have an identity, there’s no way for someone to distinguish you from everyone else. Templates have become the source of laziness and should only be used for personal blogs, not commercial/company ventures.
April 6th, 2009 at 3:55 am
Why would a potential client spend money on a product or service that the seller is unwilling to invest in. “No risks no rewards”