sell your products and or services, provide a way for people to meet and share information, share your experiences or interests with others of like mind, share your knowledge of a certain subject and get it into the hands of people who need it, and more. The reasons for building a web site are as numerous as ever, but boil down to some basic expectations and in order to fill some basic needs. You need to make a living, you want to connect socially, you want to improve your lifestyle or situation, you want to help others with your knowledge and experience, you want to fulfill your dreams or aspirations using the web. Admittedly, a web site is not the magic cure for all your wants and desires, but it certainly can help you accomplish some of your goals.

You may not have the technical skills to create a web site, so you have another need. To find a web site designer that can help you accomplish your goals. Finding a web designer who will work with you to accomplish what you need to and be there for you to not only complete the project, but also provide support and information to help make your web site a success is important. What good is it if all the web designer does is create the graphics and pages and then just leave you on your own?

This is where good customer relations come in by providing excellent customer support, during the creation of the web site and after the web site is completed. You need to find out if they are truly going to be there once the work is completed.

My personal commitment to my customers is to create an atmosphere of trust and reliability. Good communication is important, not only to keep the project on track between designer and client, but also how the communication is conveyed. What I am saying is it’s important to communicate in such a way that you understand each other. Many web design companies speak in what I like to call “webeese”. They use web terminology and think they can impress you with all their technical language and talk. To the average consumer, it is the same as speaking in another language. It is important that the web designer have the technical knowledge and know-how, but equally important to communicate with clients in a way that the client understands, either the concepts or the terminology being used. It’s important that you the client know why a particular product or feature in, let’s say a particular piece of software, would be beneficial for your web site. I believe educated consumers, are the best consumers. So I personally strive not only to have a quality business relationship with my clients, but also teach them some things in the process. After all, it is in the client’s best interest to know what is going on. I’ve seen too many customers “get taken” because the company they are working with was not upfront with them or use language they don’t understand and they end up signing up for something they either don’t need, don’t understand what they are paying for and why or are paying too much. Unfortunately, I have seen some people be taken advantage of because they don’t understand some basic things about the web and whoever set up the web site didn’t bother to clue them in.  Admittedly, some clients really don’t want to know a lot of technical information. While it is true that a lot of technical knowledge is not necessary, there is some basic information that I feel is required and will only benefit the web site owner.

Next week's topic, Web Site Owner Basics 101. What you need to know about domains and hosting.