Web design companies like TCRM face the same problem that any other type of business faces- that we are so busy looking after our customers that we have no time to take care of matters closer to home. In our case we have been trying to update our website for about six months, but other sites always came first. Well finally last week we launched the new look TCRM site (take a look here), but it was not a smooth process. From a technical standpoint it was straight forward, as we have the process of building a website down to a fine art, but this time we were also responsible for deciding what content to include in the site. This is something that the customer normally decides upon but it fell on us this time. The time taken arguing over which pictures to include and the wording of every piece of text on every page was quite amazing. Just the way the websites were arranged in the collage image on the web design page tested a few nerves to their limits. I was just glad there were no heavy objects around. It’s hard to tweet with both your arms broken.
What the site refresh highlighted was the amount of time taken over the content of a page, compared to putting the structure of the page together. Yet this step is out of our hands as the customer provides the text and images. But much can be done to help your customers. Try and provide as many examples and possible and don’t be afraid to ask if they would like any advice. Putting a website together can be a daunting process, especially if you don’t have much IT experience, so it would be a painless a process as possible. We are experienced developers and we were getting quite fired up about the content involved. It could be down to the fact that you look at the coding and structure of a site in a very calm, logical and methodical way, yet can’t approach the content in the same way. It’s always a good exercise to put yourself in the shoes of the customer and we hope we’re able to offer a better service because of it. Please let us know if you have any questions or queries about the way websites are put together.
