A Broken Model - Web Design Company & Client Relationship

18 Jul, 2012

What is the reason behind almost all unsuccessful websites? Something called a throw away mentality. What happens is that when a rebuild website is new, up and working, everyone works hard on it. After a while it is left to rot i.e. old outdated content, no design upgrade, no nothing. It eventually becomes an embarrassment for the company, until it is decided that a newer version should be rebuilt. And thus this cycle goes on and on!

So what is wrong in following this process?

Two things:

Waste of money
Waste of potential.

This approach also causes an organization to view the web as an expense rather than a significant tool. If you keep redesigning your site, users will see something obsolete and unrepresentative of your organization.

There’s only one solution: Move away from this broken approach and adopt continuous development.

“Don't throw away the old bucket until you know whether the new one holds water”

Continuous development

In order to have a successful website, stop periodic redesigns and embrace continual development. Start perceiving your website as an ongoing investment.

Phased development is beneficial because:

Work is being enhanced not thrown away
There are small investments instead of huge capitals at a time

A broken relationship

If you believe it is okay to not talk to your designers for months or it is good to change your web design agency every couple of years, you are on the wrong track. Read the following three reasons and you’ll know why:

It takes a lot of time to find, choose and brief agencies
Learning curve for the new agency is steep
The role of the agency is subdued as there is no opportunity for them to contribute ideas so the site fails to benefit from their expertise

A good client / designer relationship

So what should you do? Firstly you and your team need to engage for the progress of your site. Make sure that your web design company constantly suggests new ideas to you from which you can decide which of these ideas to apply to your business. Use their knowledge of being experts in the web to your advantage. Keep in mind that this kind of relationship takes time to develop because the agency will first understand your business and objectives and then make suggestions. Obviously this can’t happen if you regularly change suppliers or only talk to your agency every couple of years!

Follow these tips:

Have regular meetings with your web design agency
Tell them to share what they have been doing on other projects and what innovations they have seen online
Always encourage suggestions

Note: Whether it’s an in-house team or an external web design company, tell them to report trends that are emerging online because they are the future of your web strategy!

Now we know that a broken approach and relationship brings only harm to your website so go for continuous development and healthy client-agency relationships. Here’s a guarantee for you; once you hire 4M Designers, you won’t need to switch your web design company ever again!

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