Meeting with a web designer...

[joey895]

I've got an appointment with a local web designer Thursday morning and I want to go in prepared.

I need help with what questions I need to ask to help me decide if I should hire him or not.

I need some nice sites ( not necessarily in this industry) to show him to give ideas of what I'm looking for in a design.

I need to know what features would be good for a website. Like online scheduling, spotting guide, estimate request forms, review links, etc.

Any other tips to make this thing actually convert clicks to jobs before I spend this money that I don't have.

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[Bob Foster]

Be prepared. It will save you and your web designer a lot of frustration.

Have specific goals for your business that you want your designer to focus the website to achieve. Write them down and track every understanding you make with him by email. He and you will only remember 1/3 of what is discussed.

He might be a good marketing/advertising guy too but realize this for many of the techie types is not their strength it's coding web pages.

Your forte should be what you want to achieve so let the website designer do his and you yours.

Make a point list of basic services and benefits you feel are important to your customers . The more points the better. Don't design! Think like your customer is and not like a carpet cleaner.

you
your company
your services

This is where to spend the time. Don't be too concerned about looks just yet - concentrate on building your points of interest to your customer.

Maintain control of ownership of content and the domain. If possible have him code it with Word Press.

SEO work as required is usually an additional cost and leave it as a separate item other than make sure he makes the site SEO friendly (Use Word Press)

Ask for references and set a clear expectation of how much and when. The first person who will stretch your budget and put back your timeline will likely be you and not the designer. Whatever he says for price and timeline - double both of them.

 

[Bjorn]

g]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyTpzgAW5NAg]

g]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_SkY9pbvEMg]

 

[joey895]

Interesting you think I should have him use WordPress. In my initial conversation with him he said he could use WordPress but he doesn't recommend it and it would cost slightly more. Also my wife is pushing me to use this guy because of the three I've spoke to he's the only one that doesn't use WordPress, she says the WordPress sites are too cookie cutter, boring, etc. Of course o was thinking I preferred WordPress because I like the idea of being able to easily edit it myself.

My purpose for paying someone to build the site is because I don't have a creative bone in my body so I'm hoping this guy is creative and not just techie.

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[Bob Foster]

WordPress sites do not have to look cookie cutter. WordPress sites are relatively easy for non-technical people to do slight editing on them. WordPress is one of, if not the most, SEO friendly websites available. Help for them is everywhere and as a consequence the costs are very competitive. Most SEO experts and people who are doing any kind of content management themselves will completely agree with these remarks.

"Flashy" -Adobe stuff is really not nontechnical friendly for revision and as a consequence more expensive to manage.

Joomla website software would be an interesting more powerful alternative to WordPress although access to talent to work on it would be less easy to find than Wordpress coders.

 

[floorguy]

Let me know how it goes....i am in that same boat....

Bob showed me how to use and set up word press....so i can dink around with it for a while before i ask for it to be "viral"

with that said, i have been swamped and to damn tired to fart around with it at night

 

[juniorc82]

better make sure this web designer is brian robinson approved

 

[Becker]

ask for samples of his work, and then google the key words of the business to test his SEO

 

[Brian R]

better make sure this web designer is brian robinson approved

Not to mention Brian RobiSon approved. !gotcha!


Word press is easy and SEO friendly. You can make it pretty or not...that's up to the guy doing it.

All my sites are Yahoo but that's because I don't care to get involved with wordpress just yet.

Cermak will tell you that because wordpress is so popular it gets Hacked more often as well.




When you meet with the guy....YOu need to see HIS sites...samples, working sites.
You should have already seen some...what does HIS site look like?

If his site looks like crap....guess what.


Only take advice from someone you would trade places with.....same goes for having your website done.



As far as the technical part...that can be an ongoing thing.
Schedulers
spotting guides
etc.

Just make the thing look pretty for the female homeowner, not to cluttered, well organized and zabing....you're golden.


PS. Don't forget to put your phone number on the front page and make it stand out a bit....Don't get all in your face with it....just make it stand out somewhat.


This has been a moment with Brian. 8)

 

[Brian R]

Oh, I also wrote an article for Cleanfax online that will help you with the conversion part of it.

It's a 2 parter


Your Website as a Store Front Part 1

Your Website as a Store Front Part 2


Let me know what you think.

 

[Bob Foster]

WordPress

 

[floorguy]

hey why dont you smile in them pics Bob???

look like you maybe like cleaning a little

 

[Brian R]

Yeah Bob, You look like you have a pickle up your ass. :mrgreen:

 

[Bob Foster]

Actually it was an English cucumber.... The pictures are changing.

 

[joey895]

WordPress

Hey Bob your site is down right now.

I've looked at a ton of sites over the last few days including yours and I really like yours but it is exactly what I'm talking about when I say cookie cutter, even the cute little baby you have a picture of is on several of the carpet cleaning sites that I've looked at. In reality maybe it doesn't matter if a site is cookie cutter I mean after all most potential customers aren't going to visit more that a couple of carpet cleaning sites any way so they probably will never know that it is cookie cutter.

Here are links to some sites that the guy I'm meeting with tomorrow has done.

http://seabreezewinery.com/

http://tommyhammconstruction.net/

http://servproshb.com/

http://clements-construction.com/

http://guardianraingutters.com/

http://trinkzortreatz.com/

 

[Bob Foster]

That's a screenshot on the development site. It's not live yet.

 

[Bob Foster]

His stuff is nice. The distinquishing thing about them are the backgrounds. That requies alot of coding and gets expensive. Similar backgounds can be done in WordPress.

Check these WordPress backgrounds out
http://www.webdesignlessons.com/demo/

http://www.templatelite.com/livedemo/?id=8




The look and feel of my site will change when I put the real pictures up over the next couple of weeks. The current pictures are temporary.

 

[Mikey P]

your site is looking real good Bob.

 

[joey895]

His stuff is nice. The distinquishing thing about them are the backgrounds. That requies alot of coding and gets expensive. Similar backgounds can be done in WordPress.

http://www.webdesignlessons.com/demo/




The look and feel of my site will change when I put the real pictures up over the next couple of weeks. The current pictures are temporary.

He quoted me a little under $1500. Which is the highest of the prices I've gotten but he's the only one I've talked to who is not just a carpet cleaner who happens to do websites, his only business is websites.

It seems most of the other local strictly website designers start their pricing around $2500 and go up from there.

 

[Bob Foster]

His stuff is nice. The distinquishing thing about them are the backgrounds. That requies alot of coding and gets expensive. Similar backgounds can be done in WordPress.

http://www.webdesignlessons.com/demo/




The look and feel of my site will change when I put the real pictures up over the next couple of weeks. The current pictures are temporary.

He quoted me a little under $1500. Which is the highest of the prices I've gotten but he's the only one I've talked to who is not just a carpet cleaner who happens to do websites, his only business is websites.

It seems most of the other local strictly website designers start their pricing around $2500 and go up from there.

Remember that I said that you can count on doubling that. For the price offered it looks very good quality. That is only my own opinion.

 

[Steve Toburen]

I love Wordpress. Our www.SFS.JonDon.com site is done in Wordpress and even a dummy like me can do editing and new posts. (I leave the photo insertions, etc to our webmaster.) I don't think the site is 'boring" but then that's not for me to say.

Steve Toburen
www.SFS.JonDon.com

PS Andres Tobar recently posted on the Top 5 Things Your Web Site Should Have:

http://sfs.jondon.com/7343/blog/the-top ... ld-include

Here is a video Andres did on how to make sure your SEO company is doing their job:

http://sfs.jondon.com/8519/blog/video-w ... ng-its-job

 

[J Scott W]

Good web designers who also understand carpet cleaning are rare, Before you decide on a local guy, be sure to have a chat with Andrechelle Cermak and Tre Allen. (I know that will get boos.) They know our industry and have repeatedly demonstrated their ability for cleaners.

I know ther are a few other designers that post here but I haven't seen their work.

 

[joey895]

Well I decided Togo with the local guy. We are in the very early stages but one the is pretty certain, for better or for worse I think my site will be original.

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