August 2008 Archives

The Internet allows us to collaborate with people all around the globe, and this has permanently transformed business. Web development, being digital in nature, certainly lends itself to long distance project work. It's not unusual for American companies and entrepreneurs to have their Web sites and blogs built by out of state or foreign firms, no matter how far flung. Expertise seems to have trumped physical proximity once and for all.

Still, there are cases when selecting a local Web development firm makes sense.

• Consider your own style of doing business, and that of members of your internal team. Do you or they prefer face to face meetings over conducting business over the phone or through email? Be honest - it's not a sin to feel that way. Complex projects, in particular, require a lot of back and forth discussion. If you want the ability to deal with some of that live, factor it into your selection decision.

• Along the same lines, make sure you understand how a remote Web development firm handles project management, file transfers, and the like. Are you and your team comfortable with their project management software? Are you ready, willing, and able to adapt to unfamiliar Web-based communication tools? It may seem like a minor consideration during the selection process, but is exactly the sort of thing that drives a project team crazy once the project is underway.

• For large scale, big budget projects, a local firm, if you can find the right one, will give you a better sense of security. If a project extends over many months, the need for face to face meetings will be inevitable. If a crucial deadline is threatened, or a crisis rears its head, you will want to see someone NOW. If your Web development firm is halfway across the globe, budget and time restrictions may prevent them from responding quickly enough, no matter how well intended they may be.
  

 

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• New Project Management Tools

Having hired and worked closely with Web developers for many years, I thought I could share some of the important factors that ought to go into your decision making process as you evaluate outside firms for your various projects. I've worked with great developers, poor ones, and everything in between -- hopefully by reading this series you can avoid mistakes I made and build great relationships with the right Web development firms.

Chemistry is King

The relationship with your Web developer is going to be intimate, and in many cases, ongoing for a considerable length of time. It's easy to be dazzled by technical proficiency (real or assumed). However, even if your developer is the most brilliant in the field, your project will still bomb if every conversation turns into a battle, every small problem escalates into a major breakdown, response time drags out over days, information is incomplete, your contacts make you feel like an idiot every time you ask a question, and whenever you do get an answer, you don't understand it.

Look for outstanding communication competence. A good developer should be able to talk to you in both technical and layman's terms. You'll need both languages, because there will be interactions with your IT staff, executive management, and staffers with widely varying technical proficiency. You don't want any of those groups to become frustrated or confused. Not only will those attitudes undermine your project, they'll burden you with draining and distracting internal issues at exactly the time you don't need them - in the midst of a software transition.

Again, it is very easy to undervalue relationship issues during the selection process. Naturally, the focus is on technical expertise. And while many firms have technical expertise, it takes enormous patience to keep searching if relationship concerns are a slight worry with the first firm that comes your way that looks like a perfect technical match.

Pay attention to those slight worries. If you sense communication and business style problems now, they're probably going to get worse as the project progresses. That's why it's a good idea to expose potential developer partners to all the key members of your team. It'll save numerous headaches down the road.

Whoast has been doing Web site design from the beginning, but recently we launched an entire site dedicated to our Web design services. You can see examples of our design work and our five price packages.

We spent a lot of time developing our price/service packages, in order to take the vagueness and guesswork out of the Web development process. Many times, companies are not quite sure what they are getting for their money, especially when they do not have in-house technical and/or Web marketing personnel on staff.

By stairstepping our five packages, we're also trying to make it easier for clients to figure out how much (or how little) design and SEO sophistication they need. Sure, we would love to sell Package 5 to everyone, but obviously, that's going to be overkill for many firms. On the other hand, companies with a high profile Web presence or that expect to scale their business rapidly can make an enormous strategic error by underdeveloping their new sites. Again, our goal is to provide as much clarity as we can so our clients can make choices that are right for them.

Online or offline, it is extremely difficult to market effectively to everyone. To appeal to a mass audience, a firm must dilute its message to the point it barely appeals to anyone. A more effective approach, especially for Web-based marketing, is to find a niche (or series of niches), develop products and services that respond to the important needs of that niche, and then market with laser beam focus to the niche.

Reading Recommendations

• For an overview of niche marketing on the Web, The Long Tail, by Chris Anderson
• To learn why you must develop the offering first, then the marketing, Meatball Sundae, by Seth Godin

So what are some good niches to explore? You may find you have natural segments of the market right in front of you, that already fit into your current offering.

The green market is growing stronger in numbers and enthusiasm by the day. If your products and services have real environmental benefit, people in this group are ready to listen.

Single parents and recently divorced couples are underserved. They need help across a wide range of services - legal, financial, estate planning, real estate, insurance, and perhaps a service you offer.

Seniors are another underserved market, and one that is growing rapidly as the Baby Boomers go gray. Can your product or service be adapted for senior appeal? Something as simple as a smaller serving, larger print, or lighter weight could be enough.

Senior women, a subset of the above group, are not only underserved, they are not necessarily thought of as a niche outside the not-for-profit world. This is surprising, because in the U.S., this group controls an enormous - and growing - amount of purchasing power. If you are in the travel industry, operate a resort, or manufacture a luxury product, do you have special appeal for senior women?

Technophobes, folks who are overwhelmed by the pace and complexity of the Web and technology in general,  seem to be growing in number as the pace of innovation accelerates. How do your products and services make life simpler, easier, quieter? These people desperately want to know.

Technophiles are the technophobes' opposite number. They'll take the latest, greatest, coolest, fastest, and loudest, and ask questions later. "New and improved" means something to them - but only if it's really, truly new and improved.

When in Doubt, Ask

One good way to find out if your offering has niche appeal is to get to know your current customers, as well as people who inquired but did not buy. A simple telephone or online survey can reveal unexpected buying motivations. For instance you may assume your product is being purchased because it is inexpensive, whereas in reality people are buying it because it can be recycled.
 

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• Hear Seth Godin and David Meerman Scott at the Inbound Marketing Summit
• How to Be Interesting
• Has "The Long Tail" been refuted?

Andy Komack delivers 7 Search Marketing Strategies for Manufacturers and Distributors. Good to see attention being paid to these underserved groups that are underutilizing SEM.

Hurray - more! Erik-Jan Bulthuis offers a careful analysis of B2B Content SEO, where keyword selection has its own set of issues and traps.

From Ken Jones, a truly comprehensive guide to making Google love you.

Suffering from abandoned shopping cart syndrome? Natalie Hart gives us outstanding tips for ecommerce Web site design.

From George Ajazi, a quick heads-up on an important deep link enhancement from Yahoo.

And finally, a tidbit from Brian Ussery, on a topic I've often wondered about - how does the use of TinyURL affect SEO?

It's a big search world out there, and if you are in a business with broad market appeal, you may find it hard to stand out from the crowd on Google and other major search engines. You're not alone. Getting on the first page of Google SERPs is exceedingly difficult, and if paid search is your strategy, bring your checkbook - bidding on popular, general search terms can get very expensive.

On the other hand, if you have a niche in the market you can capitalize on it to raise your search profile and make paid search affordable.

Suppose your company provides personal financial services. You will have a hard time standing out in organic or paid search on a term like, "financial services" (107 million returns on Google). "financial services chicago" is better, but still returns more than 25,000 matches.

But by narrowing your focus to a part of the market you especially cater to, you'll see a dramatic difference.

• "financial planners chicago" - 4,700 matches
• "financial planners divorce" - 428 matches
• "financial planners retirement" -5,100 matches
• "financial planners generation x" - 2 matches

A careful keyword analysis (which Whoast can provide) may alert you to wonderful marketing opportunities that are there for the taking. Whatever your total search marketing budget is, you may find it more productive to split it up across a few niches, rather than spend it all on one broad campaign.

In an upcoming post I'll offer a few ideas on niches you may find attractive and/or have not fully considered.

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