The Diablog - it’s Diabloglical™

Let’s make a deal: I’ll let you fly the plane if you let me build the website.

11 June 2010

When planning your next website, I’m sure this question will be asked: “How long will this take.” We get that question a lot. The answer is difficult, if not impossible. Here’s why: we can only know how long it will take to do our part. When you decide to rework your site (or to build a website for the first time), you will talk with various professionals you intend to include in the process, but you will also list the part of the project that you will handle yourself. This process is ubiquitous in the process of website development.

I understand the reasons why the work gets divided between the trained, seasoned professionals and the staff of the site owner. Your site wouldn’t be yours if you were completely uninvolved. I do believe that.

The difficulty with the question “How long will this take?” is that we don’t know how you work, and because you don’t work on websites every day, you don’t know either. Here are some real-world examples:

• A site owner chose to let their agency design their website and we did the implementation. The site owner was going to do the copywriting and content entry. It was a fairly complex site, but it didn’t have tons of content - a copywriter would probably have charged a few thousand dollars to write everything. Seven months passed between the time that the site was built (ready for content entry) and go-live. It took the site owner’s staff that long to write the copy. It’s probably the first time they ever wrote a website, and they were busy doing their jobs before the website project came along.
• One site owner chose to provide HTML code to us rather than pay us for that service. The frontend (HTML) coder they used was probably cheaper that us, but what would have taken us days to complete took months.
• On a recent project, the site owner opted to do all content entry. That’s a fairly common decision because content entry is non-technical, time-consuming work. Content entry is easy in Dialogs, so it’s a great way for the site owner to keep costs down. Actually, it’s pretty rare for content entry to be included in our scope of work. It’s usually done by the copywriter or the site owner. Back to this case study, we conducted a training session to show several staffers how Dialogs works and how to do content entry. After a month, the owner of the company asked me how the website was progressing. I had to report that none of the staffers had logged in to the website after the training session. He acknowledged that they had been very busy.

None of these examples include any wrong-doing or bad decision-making. They simply show that inexperienced participants in the web development process create completely unpredictable timelines. Even if a staffer has the ability to perform a task, they may not have the time. That marketing intern may contribute an article every month to the company newsletter, but they may be overwhelmed by trying to write 50 pages of website copy.

Do what you do, and don’t do what you don’t do. Regardless of the task at hand, it will get done better by someone with training and experience.

By the way … we follow our own advice. We hired a creative agency to design Dialogs.com. We planned the site, and we implemented it. That’s what we are good at. We didn’t design it. We took the same path when we created AmberBeanCoffee.com as our sandbox site. If a customer needs an iPhone version for their Dialogs website, no problem. If they want an actual iPhone app, we bring in an expert to guide the project toward success, and we work on the app’s integration to the customer’s Dialogs content.

We all have heard that time is money. Well, you can turn that around. If a predictable go-live date is critical for your next website, money can buy you time.

Dialogs Professional Services can handle every aspect of web development. We fill the gaps in technical capabilities and available resources for you and your creative agency. Your website can be done on time.

Worst of the Web

21 May 2010

We’re feeling pretty good about how things are going right now, so we thought we’d have a little fun. We may decide to do this once in a while, just to blow off some steam.

Here are a few things I hate about the web. Hate is such a strong word. Maybe it’s more like things that annoy me. The web can’t change its heritage. It didn’t choose its parents or where it grew up. It IS trying to make something of itself, so maybe I should cut it some slack.

This is not a top ten list. It’s just a few random topics. More will come. If I didn’t mention one that really annoys you, share it with me, and I’ll share it with the world.

Websites with audio make me jump.

I keep busy, so when I’m checking out new websites, I’m probably doing other things at the same time. I may be in a video chat or a conference call, and we’re looking for inspiration, comparative content, or a solution-provider. I might just be listening to music while I look for something. I might even just be enjoying the quietness of my office. When I click on a website with audio, it disrupts everything. Just stop it! No background music. No spokesperson who walks onto the screen and starts talking. No whooshing and beeping when I hover or click on things. I don’t mind video content that allows me to choose when I want to watch - I know there will be audio, and I will watch it when the time is right. Here’s why you audio junkies should pay attention: it’s easier to find the “close window” button than it is to fish around looking for your “audio on/off” button. And that’s what I do. I end the contact.

Navigation that changes from one page to the next annoy me.

It annoys me when I go to a new site, click on a nav link, and the next page I see has a completely different nav system than the last page I was on. Certainly there’s room for creativity in nav, and not every nav system needs to be the same. But consistency prevents frustration. I want accessibility to all pages from any page. I want to understand the nav system quickly and then not think about it again. Every time a new site visitor comes to a site, they have to learn the system for navigating the presentation. That learning takes valuable time. Respect your site visitors.

Intro pages are so second millennium.

If I wanted to watch commercials, I would have turned on the TV. When I go to a website, I want to get to the information. Back in the ‘90s, the first person to put an intro in front of a website was clever. The second person who did was a copycat. Now it’s just a stale idea. An intro that inserts itself in front of site content violates the site owner/site visitor pact - the site owner makes content available, and the site visitor accesses that content in any order they choose. That is the medium. The web is not Powerpoint. Keep this in mind if you’re considering a Flash intro: one popular SEO theory says that Google likes home page content more than sub-page content. That means it is important that the home page has indexable HTML text, not just a Flash movie. From an SEO perspective, the worst decision of all is to embed the “enter the site” link inside Flash. Google won’t see it, and, therefore, won’t index any of the site. If you can tell your whole story in a 30-second spot, put it on your home page (not set to auto-play) alongside textual content, and let your site visitors choose how they learn about you.

When Dialogs Professional Services works with customers to plan information architecture, we help steer the project away from choices that may annoy site visitors. Ask us to walk through your site with you. We promise we won’t be annoying.

Why are so many web developers flaky, shady, or worse?

14 May 2010

I was inspired to write this article because a prospect recently asked us this question. To our faces! That’s like asking your attorney why are all lawyers shysters. (Seriously - I would run into a burning building to save my attorney - I consider him a dear friend.)

This topic has come up in conversations with other customers as well, with a more positive spin. Site owners commonly tell us, “This project has gone much smoother than I expected.” After the first project with a new creative agency, we commonly hear, “That went smoother than any web project we have ever done.”

They are really saying the same thing as the less tactful, “Why are all developers unscrupulous?” They are describing their own experiences dealing with developers that have disappointed them in some way.

The idea that all web developers are, at least, a slim bit shady is an undeserved stereotype. Overall, web developers, as a group, have as much diversity as any other group of the population. However, I do think there are some aspects to the business of web development that have contributed to this misconception.

One contributing factor is the low cost of entry into web development. A $500 PC laptop and an interest in the field is all you need to hang out a shingle. It doesn’t take talent or experience or business acumen to claim to be a developer.

I’m not being harsh. It’s true. It’s just like the guy with a beat-up pick-up truck and a single push lawn mower isn’t a landscaping company. Low cost of entry allows people in many fields, not just web development, to start a business. Owning a computer does not make you a good web developer. It certainly isn’t enough to be a results-driven internet business consultant.

The second contributing factor falls on the shoulders of agencies and site owners. The guy with no sense of business or urgency or scruples shouldn’t be able to find work. Their own flakiness, shadiness, or worse, should put them out of business. So how does the bad web developer continue to find work?

I think this may be partly due to the newness of internet business. I know the web has been around for a while, but people have been buying commercial offset printing since Ira Rubel invented paper offset printing in 1903. That’s over 100 years. The marketing communications manager who hires an agency to design a brochure could have grown up around printing, learning from a parent, who learned from their parent. This mar-com manager might spec a brochure like this: 4-color process + 2 spot PMS on uncoated 80# text (B or better; house sheet acceptable, with approval), 8-page self cover with capacity pocket on IBC. That same mar-com manager then hires someone to build a new website, and their spec looks like: we need a new website.

The more you know about something, the easier it is to hire a good vendor in that area. You understand the vendor’s sales presentation, you are able to ask significant questions, you can learn meaningful insight from the vendor’s references, etc. If you don’t understand the vendor’s business, you are left with trusting them to do a good job. If they aren’t trustworthy, you will find out the hard way: with missed deadlines, budget overages, or poor customer service.

It is not true that all web developers are flaky, shady, or unscrupulous, but some are. Do your homework before committing to a technical partner for your web business.

Dialogs Professional Services has been providing technical implementation for web business since 1995. We have great experience, service, processes, and references. We aren’t flaky or shady, and we can prove it! Call us today to see how painless web business can be.