Professional Website Design

One of the hardest things for me to do is to submit a web site for review. It’s a cruel world out there but it’s that cruelty that makes us better at what we do. After all, if we want to be a professional we have to listen to our peers.

Will It Succeed or Will It Fail?

As professional web designers we need to understand our craft well enough to set up a site that will pass the criticism of our peers. Rather it passes or fails is in our hands, after all we are the professionals.

I’ve heard web designer’s time and time again blame the design on the client. It’s the web designer’s job to educate the client, after all you are supposed to be the professional. Take the time to walk your potential client through the basics of web designing.

A client that understands web standards, user experience and usability is a lot easier to work with than a client that does not.

An educated client will know that colors affect our emotions and that the choice of colors used in the design was used for a reason. They will look deeper into the design and understand why the choices were made and how they will affect the end user.

The Client is the Boss

I believe in educating my clients but I do not believe in shoving a design down their throats. I’ll show a design to the client and explain why we did the things the way we did, taking them step by step giving them my reasoning behind the look and feel of the site.

At this point the client and I will figure out the best way to move forward with the website. I’ll critique the design while talking with the client, even pointing out things he might have missed that I feel could be better.

Once this is done we will move into the final stages of the web design both the client and I understanding what those stages are.

We Are A Professional Website Design Company and We Work With Professional Business People.

If a client comes to us with the attitude that he can get the same job done by a 10 year old, then we let them go find the ten year old.
We are professionals and building a website that will compete in today’s market takes time and planning. It takes a professional web designer to build a website that will yield a return on the investment.

SEO and Conversion

Under normal circumstances, I’d do my best to stay out of debates like the one currently going on over at WWS.

It’s not news that SEO’s have problems rankings sites nor that clients get upset and want their money back.

SEO’s spend years honing their skills, planting links and trying to run the perfect SEO campaign.

But what happens when all they’ve learned isn’t enough?

Should the client take the full hit due to the SEO’s inability to rank their site?

SEO is an industry that must adapt to new challenges faced each day.

As the internet grows the search engines are forced to update and change the way they rank sites. And the SEO has to tweak and make the changes they think will be the most beneficial to the end user and client.

Likewise they should target keywords that are going to convert, it’s all about usability and conversion.

There are no guarantees when it comes to SEO and I guess I can live with that but what really bothered me was this;

SEO is no different than any other type of advertising.. You pay for advertising.. If it converts to sales or not is totally irrelevant to the issue..

I guess I have a problem with that.

Many SEOs feel like their job is nothing more than position.

Conversion is a lot harder to achieve, because the conversion is a function of position, title tag, description, design, text and call to action. Position alone is only one part of a much bigger picture.

If the SEO is not responsible for the conversion of the site then he also has no obligation to target keywords that he feels are going to convert.
However, the problem comes in at the end of the day when the client wants his money back because he did not get the desired affect he was looking for.