You Have Hired a Website Designer and SEO….Now What?
August 29th, 2007 by Pat
Participate! It is your product, your website - invest the time to participate to ensure you receive the type and quality of website you expect.
All too often I see companies select a designer and SEO, then disappear, leaving design teams, strategists and marketers in the lurch. The end result is all too often a client with a product different from what they had envisioned….and no one to blame.
Why can’t the contract be signed and project handed off?
Easy, the primary stakeholder knows the product best, and must provide direction and the materials (logo, content, photos) necessary to complete the project.
There are a number of different tools available to help keep the project on course, and to keep clients and production team members in constant contact throughout the process.
A simple, and useful, online project management tool is available at BaseCampHQ which allows communication, file sharing and project tracking. The web based application allows you to access project information from anywhere in which you have an Internet connection. Share files, to-do lists, chat and send messages to team members involved in the project. Ideal for production team members, the software allows stakeholders to track the progress of the project using simple visual cues such as strikethrough text indicated a task has been completed.
Another useful tool, for brainstorming and mapping out site architecture, is MindJet - Mind Manager Software. This product allows you to layout thoughts, or content sections, and map them to the central theme and dependents. The maps can be easily customized, and shared via exporting to different formats.
The point of this post, however, is that as the client, your role is not over upon signing the contract. If you want the highest quality product provided, you must make the effort to provide your production staff with the direction and information they need to complete the job.
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