7 secrets the web industry doesn't want you to know
Thursday, 6 March 2008
Last Updated: Thursday, 6 March 2008
By Craig Reardon
What web developers won’t tell you – but you need to know – when you want to build a website.
We all owe a huge debt of gratitude to the world’s technical community. Where would we be without Facebook, Google, eBay, YouTube, Microsoft and the others?
I have enormous respect for the talents and capabilities of these wizards – but they are probably the worst people to talk to when it comes to creating a world class website for your business.
Why? Well, here’s a selection of seven reasons for starters.
1. They won’t tell you that there’s a brilliant off-the-shelf solution available for a fraction of their price
Like anyone who has been made redundant by new technology, most are not going to tell you that there are now amazing off-the-shelf website and emarketing solutions that they can’t possibly compete against without starting with a five figure sum. This is their bread and butter, after all.
But the truth is that for up to 90% of smaller organisations, an off-the-shelf solution will contain all the features and presentation quality they are ever likely to need, which means that the expensive technical component is already taken care of.
I always compare it to bookkeeping software. Why would you pay a developer into five figures to build you a state-of-the-art customised system when MYOB and Quicken can look after the vast majority of a smaller organisation’s requirements.
Custom built can be useful for new functionality, that the off-the-shelf products don’t have. But for most organisations, it is rare to need extra functionality.
2. They will build for the past rather than the future
We all love repeat business, and web developers are no different. Many aren’t going to tell you that you are likely to very quickly outgrow the web solution they are building for you, and that you will need to pay another significant sum as soon as you want to upgrade or grow any part of the solution.
This is again where you will find that most common functionality such as databases, extranets, survey builders are built as standard into off-the-shelf solutions.
3. They know nothing about marketing
One of the key reasons you need a website is as a marketing tool for your organisation. The “tool” bit developers understand; the “marketing” bit – not so much.
Their background means that they are much more at home with codecs, calculus and commands that with the conversions, creative and correct spelling that you really need to promote your wares.
Again the result can be a well-performing website that looks terrible and does nothing to create the upsell, cross sell and customer retention and service you need.
4. They are likely to be aligned to a particular technical school of thought
I’ve come across some doozies when it comes to a developer’s preferred programming languages and platforms. Think, for example, of a site built completely in Flash (essentially animation software) that Google can’t (as a rule) read and hence can’t promote your business in its search results.
Think as well of the developer who refused to support anything to do with Bill Gates and hence locked himself out of the platform (Windows) that the vast majority of smaller organisations commonly use.
Think also of the Macintosh aficionado who didn’t even have a PC (or PC replicating software) to check whether his impressive Mac-created works actually operated correctly on the 95%-installed base PC platform.
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