Money Saving Tips

In our work with dozens of clients and thousands of web pages, we have found that there are certain strategies you can use to help reduce the cost of preparing your website. Following these simple guidelines can help your designer prepare your site faster - with fewer errors - and save you money in the process.Here are our moneysaving tips for your website:

1. Who are you talking to? - Your visitor is coming to your site for one reason only - "What's in it for me?" He will not care about your personal information, your family, your business, or your logo until he finds what he is looking for. Target your audience with a website that gives the visitor what he wants immediately. After you have captured his interest, he may stay awhile and find out more about you and your company. Spend most of your website budget on pages which are important to your visitor.
2. Get it together! - Working on your website may seem overwhelming at times. Try to begin with a clear outline of the information you want to present. Then work on only one section at a time. This will make the whole job seem easier and keep the process clear.
3. Explain yourself! - Do not assume that your designer knows anything about your business or product. Always give more information than you think is necessary. The better the designer understands your product, the better he will present your product on the web.
4. All computers were not created equal. - Remember that colors will vary wildly from computer to computer. There is no way to control the exact appearance of colors across the web. Therefore, don't spend a lot of time trying to match your letterhead or logo.
5. Get your money's worth! - Listen to your professional designer - After all, that is what you are paying for! If you have chosen your design firm well, then they will know their business - just as you know yours. Too many cooks spoil the broth - and the website, too! Of course you should be involved in guiding the direction of your new website, but let your designer give you the benefit of his expertise in the field.
6. The written word - Create your text files in a regular text program such as Microsoft Word, Works, or Wordpad. Text written by hand, created in graphics programs, or scanned cannot be copied directly into the web page. Everything has to be retyped, which not only takes more valuable design time, but also increases the opportunity for errors in your text. Whenever possible, create your website text in a text program and save it in digital form for your designer.
7. Digital is better! - Images and text cannot be scanned from a fax or photo directly into a web page. Everything must be retyped and reformatted for the web. Always try to send your designer images or text through e-mail, on diskette or CD. These digital formats reduce the amount of formatting necessary and saves you money and reduces the number of errors in your content pages.
8. Watch your weight! - Watch the size of those weighty graphic files. When sending materials by e-mail to your designer, you should consider the amount of time it will take to download the file. Large graphics files can take quite a bit of download time and some servers will even cut the download on large files, thus causing the file to arrive in damaged condition. If large files cannot be compacted by a program such as WinZip, then consider sending the file on CD instead.
9. The web is not print. - This may seem like an obvious statement, but it is important to remember that printed materials cannot just be scanned and placed on your website. Printed materials must be reformatted for use on the web. It is not always practical to try to reproduce your existing printed materials for website use. Let your designer guide you to find the right balance between good web design and consistent image for your business materials.
10. Spell check everything. - Errors and typos always seem to find their way into websites. You can reduce the number of errors on your site and the time necessary to correct them by using the spell check function for any text files you send.
11. NEVER USE ALL CAPS! - Always use mixed type in your files. On the Internet using all caps is the equivalent of shouting. Any text files you send in all caps will have to be retyped - using up precious design time and costing you money.
12. Photos too fat? - If you are sending photos from your digital camera or scanner for your website, you can use any graphic program to help prepare them. By reducing the resolution to 100dpi for photos which will not be used in print and saving as a .jpg before you send the photo, you can save your designer time in formatting the photos for the web. Ask your designer for more details on formatting your electronic photos.
13. What's in a name? - Help your designer know exactly what you are sending by naming your files clearly. It is much clearer to receive a file labeled "text_for_newletter_page_three" than "txtnewsp3". By naming the files precisely, you can save both time and errors in your updating.