I have just completed two websites for two of the most organised customers I have ever had. I don’t quite know what’s happened to make them both come along at once – maybe I’m being more effective or maybe I was just lucky but whatever it is I thought I would compose a wee post with why they were such successful (and by that I mean fast) builds.

1) Feedback, Feedback and Feedback some more

Feedback is by far the most important gift you can give to your web designer. It lets us move forward confident that we are doing what you want. In these two cases, the sheer amount of feedback I received was fantastic, it was regular, timely and always very detailed. It let me react and make changes quickly that I knew were exactly what  they wanted and were not half-guesses.

Tips:

• Live with the design for a few days and ask around for second opinion just don’t ask for too many opinions as it can do more harm than good!
• From the inital design to the finalising of content, I much prefer feedback in an e-mail so I can work through it step-by-step and make sure I have everything covered before going back to you.

2) Content isn’t just king it’s a necessary evil

Content is the most difficult thing to get and often holds up the completion of a build. I have worked on all manner of website and no matter how big or small the site, content always seems to be the most dreaded job for clients. With these two sites the customers were given control of the site from the basic build and happily worked away on the content until it was perfect. It probably helped that the type of organisations they were meant that they  had the majority written down anyway but still, they were amazingly fast and getting the content to me or on the website.

Tips:

• Meet your web designer with a clear idea of what you want on the website and what you want it to say.
• If you are really stuck for words or just hate writing then ask the company if they can provide copywriting services for you.
• If you are having difficulty then let your web company know, they should be able to help or at the very least they will be happy to have been told they can put your project on hold for a little while (and stop calling you for content 😉 )

3) Decisive decision making

Decisive decision making is a God send……

Email confirmations of every meeting and phonecall may be tiresome but they help keep everyone informed and gives everyone something to refer back to at a later date.

Tips:

• While fast decisions are always welcome don’t feel pushed into a decision and end up regretting it later. If you aren’t sure of the design then take time to think it over – it’s the changing of things at a later stage that can cause delays, at the start your designer will just want to make sure it’s perfect for you and shouldn’t mind short delays if it is more effective in the long run.