Nver underestimate the importance of smart relationships with clients

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Every time people expect me to design websites, I buckle my belt and steady myself for what may possibly turn into a very rough ride.

Odd? Not really.

A few years back, a pal needed to setup a web site. I was a newbie at that time, a freshman in the site design trade. I was excited as well as raring to go. They say looking back, you always have 20-20 vision, boy, do I see clearly now! The first problem was, my friend was in an industry I was only hazily familiar with, he was just starting out in the tourism field, and was himself, not yet wholly grounded...he too was a bit of a newbie, but a website was a vital slice of his strategy. As a friend and a good quality artist it made sense that he asked me, plus, I needed the cash!

Here was his brief: "I need a nice site".

That's it. There was nothing after that period!

I actually scrolled down the correspondence, just in case I had missed more detail, but there really was nothing else. I called him back asked for details, and all he had for me was, "I want the site to be good-looking, and cover tourism". I explained to him that I needed prepared articles, business profiles, catalogues, promotional material as well as other allied matter to give me a good idea what I might put in the web site and also to keep a standard look and feel across print and web. Long story short: I ended up making things up, solely to get the site finished in what I thought was "nice" and "attractive".

It took 6 weeks to get the material done because even if I made up the majority of the copy, it nevertheless had to be based on truth, and on what my friend offered. You know that sensation you have when you are finished with a tough project? I had that the day I presented my final version of his web site. I was done. Being a Zen-inspired artist, I had made a light, plain, but, admittedly beautiful site. But 'attractive' is relative, as I discovered then. In reaction to my presentation, my buddy went "So you are going to add more images, right?". There is a sinking feeling you get when you realize you still have more work to do on a development you are geared up to place in the 'done' bin. I had that feeling right then.

GET TO KNOW EACH OTHER
Generally customers do not appreciate that design is not a straightforward cut, copy and paste practice. It is actually spinning ideas into concepts, and concepts into pixels, and those pixels into well structured XHTML, CSS and other critical problems. It's not a walk in the park, and its far from doing a quick MS Word page layout! These days, I make sure I not only safeguard myself with an airtight agreement, but also make sure I fully educate my customer as regards what is involved in the process. We are a team getting into a relationship, and thus, a mutual understanding is vital and critical to success.

So, next time you sit down with a first time client, even if they have worked with other designers elsewhere..make sure you go through all the main steps so you are both...on the same page!

Article Source: http://depositarticles.com/

{3Way marketing is a South African website based in Gauteng

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