I have had several conversations recently with small business owners who have spent several thousand dollars on fancy new websites and are wondering why they aren’t getting any traffic or new customers.

They didn’t understand that a website is the FIRST, not the ONLY step of an internet marketing strategy and the web designers never seemed interested in understanding what their clients were trying to accomplish.

Should they have? Should we consider ourselves part of a clients team or just a service provider looking to extract as much $ as possible? Should we look to nurture our clients and help them achieve their goals, thereby needing more of our services/products in the future? 

My thoughts are here

Interested in hearing everyone’s comments and thoughts…

@michaelpingree   I see this everyday!!!! Beautiful websites with no call to action above the fold, no contact information or link above the fold, no newsletter subscription form or links to social media above the fold, no keywords built into the site and the site owner doesn’t even know what his keywords are. And then I hear the panic in the voices of the site owners because they are not getting any leads from their website. And then when I go into the back end of the site the functionality of the WordPress site has been striped out of the site because a web designer only knows html and doesn’t understand the beauty and simplicity of a dynamic site. It breaks my heart for the site owners, because they threw away good money to get a site that is just an internet chotchkie.

@michaelpingree I agree with  @amyhallbiz . The problem here is most small business owners are not sure what to look for when selecting a website designer. It’s not their fault they are not experts at website design only at their own businesses. The key here is to do your homework, ask for references and call them. Look online for social proof and consult with others like on this forum.

The more you research the better your decisions will be when its time to select a designer. The industry of website design is scary… about 70% are fly by nights, 20% are fairly good and learning to be better and 10% are the best. Most of the time i spend redoing other designers work, about 75% of our workflow so i feel your pain. 

@michaelpingree… most of my current business is in webdesign and most people come through the door with “I just want a website, I have all the materials, I don’t need anything else” … when they leave they understand that a website is the end result, not the beginning. We sit and talk strategy, updating, using the website as a communications tool.
I am amazed (remember I come from a small town) that I am the only one doing this! Other web designers are taking notice and are not always pleased. (to the point of verbally abusive emails)
The facts of business are that people search for a website before they think about buying, leaving small business at the mercy of (some) web designers. For me, the website replaces things like a brochure and without a plan and strategy it isn’t worth having someone else do, you may as well try a build it yourself – the results will be the same (poor) and you aren’t out as much money.
I truly felt that web designers were doing small businesses a disservice, taking hard earned money and were difficult to deal with and decided to change the perception.
I also decided to tackle the high fees. There isn’t a need for me to charge hourly rates of $85-$120 (local website fees) – I keep my expenses down and pay myself a reasonable rate and pass the savings along to other sb’s. I may not be making all the money I can, but helping others and making a bit of money is far more rewarding.
My clients leave with more services than they thought about and all are happy with my services as we develop a true partnership for their business needs.
   

Great thread! It was an interesting take on modern day web design. I agree,  @michaelpingree , it is definitely part of an overall marketing strategy. It is definitely the core of the strategy, but should be complemented by email and social media marketing strategies. 

These days I wonder why most small businesses even go the custom, HTML design route. CMS is so easy to use, has SEO built in, and has so many plugins to perform almost any function you could possibly want plus it’s way more cost effective  Are there veritable benefits to having a site designed in HTML for your average small business?

@michaelpingree

Like Amy and others, I hear the same stories every day and have for years.  Many companies that only work in web design or development don’t always have the necessary education it takes to make a website “visible”.  It would be nice if those companies would put a disclaimer on their sites explaining they can only design a website and it may not be functional or convert but it will look pretty.  It’s why I started my own business and provide a ton of free education and services when I can see they’ve clearly been taken advantage of.