Daniel Titus Shares How to Get the Most Out of Your Website Design
Monday, November 26th, 2012
I’m going to let you in on a few tricks of the trade. Granted, there might be some website developers or graphic designers out there who won’t want me to share this information. Odds are you don’t want to use them anyway. There is a simple truth that underlies all real professionalism: What’s best for my client is what’s best for my business. With this truth in mind, I’m going to tell you how to get the most out of your website or graphic design.
Step 1: Trust Your Designer
This first point presumes that you have chosen a professional designer who wants the best for your business. If you haven’t done this, fire your current designer, give me a call and start over with Step 1. Good, professional designers are masters at their trade. They know the industry standards as well as the faux pas. They can foresee problems that the clients often cannot. They know what idea works for with what concepts and which colors convey the right feel.
You’ve hired your designer. He’s going to end up with your money whether you are happy or not. You might as well let the person who knows the way drive the car.
Step 2: Pick a Point Person
I could go on and on about the importance of this step. I will be as succinct as I can, though. Having a point person to be the final say on the project will add both clarity and speed to your project. In the long run, it will often save you money. The point person doesn’t have to be the business owner. The point person doesn’t have to work inhouse. It can be an outside marketer or the head sales representative.
The point person just needs to be able and empowered to take in various opinions and output meaningful decisions on behalf of the company.
Step 3: Minimize Your Messages
For clarification, I’m not suggesting to make your message light or to use few words while conveying it. On the contrary, I believe a message with gravitas is quite impactful and that content is king! When I say to minimize your messages I mean to have just a few (preferably just one) overall message that you want to convey. Your point person and designer should help you narrow down your messages to the single most important and inclusive concept.
This message is what ties the entire website together because it is convey in not only the words but the pictures, colors, design, layout and even functionality as well.
Step 4: Decide on a Direction
Now that you know what you want to say, make a decision on how you want to say it. Keep your target audience in mind when deciding on a direction. You want to take the message to them, not away from them. Here your point person might start to feel overwhelmed. Not to worry, this is where we graphic designers and web developers live. We like to be give clear direction and start running.
The trick is that once we know the message and the intended recipients, the right direction becomes pretty clear to us. (See step 1.)
Step 5: Stick to the Plan
I am always surprised at how long it takes my client to give me the few things I need for their sites. Even when it is nothing more than a site redesign, I spend more time waiting on them than they spend waiting on me. I think this is because clients can’t always visualize the end result and get bogged down under the onus of the task at hand. At these times, a plan or schedule is vital. Know what you need to do and when you need to do it.
But, how do you get stuff done in a timely fashion? Well, what I do is I treat all of my tasks like D.I.R.T. Whenever you know you have to do something Do It Right Then!
With these 5 simple step you will get the most out of your website design, and your designer will love you for it!
