nice job.

Its one of the most important aspects of having a website (if not the most important). Its the reason why people come to yahoo everyday and facebook has a pagerank of 9 (in lay man terms the higher the pagerank, the greater the reputation of the page). Its the reason why so many fail and few truly succeed in the web industry.

What is it? In a word - Value.

If your website has undeniable value, people will come to you. people will trust you. people will be willing to PAY for your services, and the good old word-of-mouth on the internet will take you places. Yes, pushing such a site still requires effort, but having a solid offer a visitor cannot refuse pays out in the long run.

So I ask you, before you ask for a website, to ask yourself "What value will my website bring to it's visitors?". This will vary for many people, ranging from an online presence (Branding), to specific information that can't be found elsewhere (like news information about a region that is scarce and knowledge about such a place is in demand). the possibilities are only limited by you are willing to offer.

Part of the problem (and, depending on the type of project, the worst mistake any client can make), is expecting the developer/designer to think this out for you. This is not only wrong, but counter-productive. If you didn't bother to properly brainstorm what value you intend to add your website, why should the developer? or the visitors coming to your site?

This, however, is not to be confused with professional consultation. For instance, if you need a website to highlight the benefits of a physical product you are pushing into the market, you need to establish a clear benefit for people to come to your site (an incentive). You could consult with a developer's on how best to translate these value adding incentives to a website, in the best experience for the user. And such a thing is by no means cheap.

In such a case, examples of such incentives for using the website follow below:

- get a significant discount
- free complementary goods (that work with the product)
- referring friends before the order is completed (word of mouth via multiple channels - email, phone numbers, companies, etc)

The following incentives combined with selling the product online (assuming good quality/value) potentially yield the following:

- Visitors save more online - more traffic.
- buyers refer people who might be interested (leading to more leads and consequently, more sales)
- adds more to the bottom line (sales/profit)
- more information on the buyer profile, and how to maximise your niche (for example, database stats indicate people in managerial positions are most likely buying customer)
- good feedback (good reviews, testimonials, site popularity, etc)

In summary, contrary to popular opinion, finding value adding incentives for a website should be the CLIENT's responsibility.

If you disagree, ask yourself this question(not just as a web designer, but as someone in a profession): who would you take seriously?

a) Somebody who has no clue about what he wants? (which leads to project creep, longer hours, unnecessary changes, exploitation, and delayed payment)

OR

b) Somebody who KNOWS exactly what he wants? (proper objectives, shorter work, minor changes, and in the event you CAN'T work on it, would refer him to someone else)

in the long run, it pays to be (a).

That concludes the Project Client Series Thread. Thanks for Reading this far!!
_{Web Project Client Series (read This Before You Ask For A Website) - Provided in part by Web Jade Solutions, 2010.}

permit me to compile this into an ebook to post on googledocs

lagerwhenindoubt:

permit me to compile this into an ebook to post on googledocs

No, but I do have an eBook in the works further iterating my thoughts on web practices. This I can share, and will make available within the week.

No problem. will wait.

@smartsoft, @Afam, @WebMonk

Nice post from you guys. It shows you understand the situation. But,

content developers
developers
programmers
designers
Architects

makes up a formidable team. See, great softwares are not built by individuals. If anyone is interested, I suggest we form a group of web developers. We build a robust website for ourselves and we set the rules. With this, clients will respect our job. This is what developers in a country like US do. Running a one man show won't give us the much deserved respect and authority.

To be factual, if we go on this way (I mean just talking and suggesting individual solutions), we will never be successful as developers.

If anyone is interested in this group, please pm me(dreyemi@gmail.com).

interesting points you have raised. Yes, collaboration has its benefits, but unless under specific conditions that are very scarce in our industry, I can't help but beg to differ

Reasons being thus:

1) I was self taught, and with that alone, was able to secure a job, to which i have excelled via self perserverance, though i was inspired in due part by certain person who developed threads in this manner. This thread is in tradition of that.

2) Part of the reason for me being self taught, was because those who knew the stuff in and out where too few and too far across the board. that was the situation back then, and while it has improved, the number of people contributing meaniningfully to this board says alot about how we ready we are to "collaborate".

drecute:

See, great softwares are not built by individuals. If anyone is interested, I suggest we form a group of web developers. We build a robust website for ourselves and we set the rules. With this, clients will respect our job. This is what developers in a country like US do. Running a one man show won't give us the much deserved respect and authority.

I strongly disagree. There are many people who have done "one-man-shows" that have been the success delight of the IT world,

Examples are:

- Tap Tap Revenge, a game for the iphone developed by Nate True, which July 31, 2008, 20 days after its initial release,approached 1 million downloads, compared to the installed iPhone OS 2.0 user base of 5-6 million at that same time.

- Twitter announced that it acquired Tweetie, the very popular and highly polished Twitter application for the iPhone, developed by developer Loren Brichter (who makes up the one-man startup Atebits). He also joins the Twitter mobile team, and will be involved in launching Twitter for the iPad

Amir Wald, a 29-year old Israeli entrepreneur with a vast experience in the IT industry, Won the 2009 European Web2.0 Startup Competition, Overcoming 160 Startups, without funding. His startup is colnect.com, which easily manage one's Personal Collection.

In summary, Truth be told, the industry is still young, and has to carve nails from diamonds to earn that level of respect from skeptical customers, who are:
- either bombared with web design for the price of a recharge card
- "conned" with websites that don't add value
- still think that "branding" is a buzz word, and enlightening the client about the project is sometimes seen as only a way to collect money
- is over saturated with people with only a DIY book, and people who STILL think that setting up an SMF counts as web developement


In such a situation, one has no choice but to be "a very good JACK of TRADES, and a MASTER at SOME". It is when the industry grows into something more tangible for the masses that one can afford seperate services such as the ones you so listed.

other than that, how you define a "successful developer" (I believe) is a matter of personal perspective.

Lovely thread. Thought I was alone in this.

This is an interestn topic. You see what i do is in this format: 1. I listened to clients on what he wants. 2. I suggest categories d website can have. 3. I request for contents to fil these categories. 4. If he wants m to source content, i ll charge extra. This is to make him know it is not a free service. 5. I showed him content b4 i start work nd informed him that any change afterwards wil cost a fee after i have uploaded d first time. You see it is all about how u present ur service or self. Most of all i have stated here wil b in a written agreement. I have also collected over half of d total cost of project b4 i start anything.

can someone teach me how to create and upload bulk mailers and phpmailers?

@WebJade, U are one inna million. Ur concepts, ur knowledge, both of the clients and the developers, i wonder where u got all diz. Anywayz, i'll be waiting ur ebook shortly.

Bros Seme. ur too much.

I've been looking at the numbers, and it shows how seriously people take the issue discussed.

So in response to suggestions, I have written an ebook highlighting common pitfalls in the web developement process and how to avoid them. In addition, I give my opinion on the reason behind the sometimes erratic behavior of clients that can make a project sour, and how to avoid them. I also give pointers on what solution is best to tackle a problem.


You can download the ebook here

And lastly, There's a treat at the end of the book.

I hope you enjoy it.

brov,  gr8 book,  just downloaded and goin tru d ebook now,  now that reminds me,  we're likely gon discuss biz tomorow,  depends on ma mitin outcome,  u knw hw we do it brov. 

HMMMM, this our own JOOMLA !!!

great work brov

Hi Webmonk,
My name is Shola, I work for a DM company base in the US, lagos and Abuja. Am actually lookinng out for an experienced wed developer also good in the area of Java scripts, asp.net, VB. Am contacting you base on your diverse knowledge and experience in Webdesign which I have seen so far on this thread and others. We have an existing website, which is hosted in the US, which we want to improve upon urgently. Presently, its kinda plain and we want it more dynamic and interative if you know what I mean. If you are interested, send you number or call me say nextweek monday 2nd August to schedule a meeting with you and my Directors to discussed a way forward. I would also like to have some of your recent work/jobs (webdesign) you've done and published for your past clients. My num is 08136615551 or 08020841588. My email is sholalademo@yahoo.com.
Hope to hear from you asap.

I must have been living under Olumo Rock cos I don't recall seeing this post. All the same, nice post. I downloaded the ebook and have even reviewed Kolejo and I am impressed! Especially considering the post immediately before mine, I hope you get many more like this. Webmonk has definitely put the web dev world in Nigeria on notice with this project.

Kudos! Dis one don pass "more grease to your elbows". This one is more like, "more palm oil to your soup"

Good luck!

nice one bro.

yawa-ti-de:


Kudos! Dis one don pass "more grease to your elbows". This one is more like, "more palm oil to your soup"

Good luck!

I concur.


- SAFE

)HEY Shocked GUYZ I AM ABOUT TO REVEAL TO YOU THE MOST EASIEST WAY TO HACK Grin A CYBER CLOCK WITHOUT THE SUSPECT OF THE STAFF OR SERVER KEEPER, THIS IS WHAT I WOULD HAVE CONVERTED TO EBOOK AND CHARGE YOU BUT WE ARE IN A WORLD OF FREE THING SO I DECIDED TO SHARE THIS KNOWLEDGE WITH YOU FREELY BUT IN RETURN YOU HAVE TO DO ME FAVOR. DON'T GET CONFUSED Huh I MEAN THERE IS ANOTHER WAY YOU CAN PAY BACK WITHOUT SPENDING A DIME SO READ ON:


This hack is invented by me and you have to abide with the deal or I expose you to the cafes keeper, don't fear Shocked you know I won't do it if you do as I say.

HERE IS THE TRICK:


1. Go to any nearest cafe and buy their time, type in the ticket password and open firefox go to any site of ya choice, open new tab and goto www.pchackings..com (HEY NOT SPAM BUT FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTION).


2. Open internet explore and also goto www.pchackings..com (Note, This is my blog). The site will hang and pause the cafes time. DO NOT CLOSE THE INTERNET EXPLORE UNLESS YOU WANT THE TIME TO START READING AGAIN.

3. HERE COMES WHAT YOU PAY ME Wink, GO TO THE FIREFOX WHERE YOU OPENED WWW.PCHACKINGS..COM AND START CLICKING IN THE GOOGLE ADVERTS THERE THIS WILL EARN ME MORE CLICKS AND MONEY WHILE I HUMBLY PROVIDE YOUR INTEREST FREELY, DO IT ANYTIME YOU USE MY BLOG TO HACK ANY CAFE OR I EXPOSE YOU TO THE SERVER'S KEEPER. THE MORE YOU CLICK THE MORE REVENUE YOU GENERATE FOR ME AND THE MORE YOU IN ANY CAFE.

HOPE THIS HELP, OR ARE YOU CONFUSED?
EMAIL ME KINGJADON4LIFE@GMAIL.COM OR PCHACKINGS@GMAIL.COM
Find me on facebook: Kingjadon4life@yahoo.com


VISIT http://pchackings..com FOR ALL YOUR COMPUTER AND INTERNET TIP

[img]http://s05.flagcounter.com/count/1Jx/bg=FFFFFF/txt=000000/border=CCCCCC/columns=1/maxflags=1/viewers=3/labels=0/[/img] [img]http://s07.flagcounter.com/count/DymW/bg=FFFFFF/txt=000000/border=CCCCCC/columns=1/maxflags=1/viewers=3/labels=0/[/img]

Online Naira is here particularly for webmasters who use the internet and internet services very often - https://onlinenaira.com. There are over 1000 webmasters already using this new way to make payments online.

thanks for the info

hello. i'm new to nairaland. pls. i want to know what the difference is between web developing and web managing. pls. i also want to learn web design from someone who does not operate a computer institution because of the heavy financial involvement.

Things i need to know before going to developer/webmaster:

1. Will i be able to update the website myself without being a developer?
2. can i buy up the URL/address (www.whatever.com) and them wait untill i'm able to pay a developer? This is to avoid my prefered URL name being taking by another person.
3. How can i claim ownership of the website to avoid being reaped off by the developer, who might demand more money or else i loose the website?
4. Can another developer/company manage it for me?
5. How much does it cost for annual hosting?
6. In the event of the web being hacked/stolen(forgive my words), would it ever be recovered?
7. In a sitation whereby up to 5 more ppl have to take charge in updates and maintainance, how do you prevent one person from stealing the website?
8. Can i trash an unprofessional job and still retain the domain name/web address?
9. What will be the average cost of developing and maintaining websites like- 234next.com or sunnewsonline.com cost?
10. Will adverts on the web be able to pay for the cost of maintenance and updates? If yes, how?
Please forgive my choice of word. Not used to webmaster words.
Would want to have a website for my NGO/company but i need to be away of all the question above. Thanks.
Waiting,

Hi Quadrillio. i want be knowledgeable on webdesign pls. do u personally  have a platform 4 that?

This is an informative thread for web developers and designers.
Keep it up guys.

here it is


50mb - trial
8GB -    N900
18gb -   N1500


go to my link  below  to setup up 50mb trial account