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Re: How can one start a web design business?

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In Reply to: How can one start a web design business? posted by T.J. Maher on May 28, 1997 at 15:45:34:

Hi T.J.,

Your plan and much of the other material on your site clearly shows you have done your home work on the tools, skills and information resources and the basic plumbing of the business.

Since I am a consumer of graphics products, not a developer, I doubt I could add much on that side. As someone who may want to purchase your services in the future, I can offer some suggestions on your site, if your intent is to break into the corporate market.

The average corporate consumer has very little time, so you need to make your point quickly, generally on the home page. At first glance I would assume your company catered to the artistic world and not the corporate world and would move on. (We are the windmills in some cases, so you may want to re-think the opening quote :)

As a business person I want to see your work, the opening page should grab my attention. Since I am shopping for graphics, it should be a killer use of graphics.

Now that you have my attention...I'll want to see more, a portfolio with examples by line of business. ie. Finance, Retail, Service Center...If I like what I see, next I'll look for the services you offer, that should be very easy to find, maybe even a services button on a tool bar that goes on every page.

The services section should tell me what you offer, graphics, HTML pages, programming, integration, site building, hardware/software installation and configuration... We rarely contract graphic artists that don't specialize in Internet/Intranet graphics development, are well versed in HTML at minimum, and that can work with development teams on integrating their graphics into applications. Conversely, we rarely contract a graphic artist to design or develop complex applications, we are more likely to team the graphic artist with an in-house app development team or other contractors.

The next thing is that I need a good idea of what it will cost and your phone number. If cost is on a case by case basis, say that and give your phone number. The phone number is important, my next step will be to want to call to discuss my project, your potential fit, and ball park cost.

Once we are on the phone it's a pure sales job...I can personally suggest Dale Carnegie Sales course but there are a lot out there, you have to become effective in negotiating and closing the deal. It is a good idea to have a standard contract/agreement, but since it will never be approved by our lawyers anyway, it's more or less a formality. Most big companies will have a standard contractor and/or services agreement, get used to working with them and doing business with the corporate worlds can be easy and profitable.

Good Luck, Bill

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