If you read this article on getting a website in Zimbabwe, three amazing things will happen for you- You will have an unfair marketing advantage over 99% of people in your industry.
- You will save yourself time, money and a lot of frustration by not dealing with the wrong web design ‘experts’
- You will know the one question that 99% of website designers in Zimbabwe DO NOT want you to ask – YET it’s THE MOST IMPORTANT question they need to answer.
When it comes to getting a website designed in Zimbabwe, there are a million graphic designers and web design agencies out there. No real difference between most of them – some cheap, some expensive. The thing is though, they’re all (99.9% of them) keeping a dark secret from you – no seriously.
That secret is the question they don’t want you to ask, BEFORE you hire them, and to ensure that you don’t ask this question, here’s the very clever thing they do…
They distract you with the famous 5, MUCH lower value questions that can easily be answered – here they are…
- Can I see a few samples of other websites you’ve designed?
- How much do you charge?
- Do you provide domain registration?
- What about hosting?
- How long does it take?
I know you want to know the answers to those, but if you focus on those, you’re missing the most important thing – the POINT of a website in the first place! And there lies the secret behind the most important question…
What is the point of having a business website the first place?
• To make your business card looks more professional?
• So that your new company seems a little more established?
• To keep up with the times?
• To make your mama proud & impress your friends?
Alas, it’s none of the above!
The point of your website is the same as the point for every other MARKETING tool you ever invest in…(drum roll please) To attract, educate and covert and keep customers!
Pure and (relatively) simple.
And the NUMBER ONE question you need to ask any web designer is
“If I choose you, how will you ensure that my website attracts, educates, converts and keeps customers for me?”
When you do, you’ll hear a few ‘ummms & errrs’ and a few guesses. You’ll hear about how that’s NOT included in the web design package “but we can always try something for an extra fee” (‘try’ being the operative word. My point is this
A Website Design Project Is;
- NOT a Technical Thing so don’t focus on the technicalities so much because almost any half experienced website developer can provide you with those (hosting, domain registration) – whilst not giving you the number one thing.
- It’s NOT A Creative Thing (oh boy, here come angry emails from designers again). No matter how nice your website looks or doesn’t look – that’s NOT the point, so don’t focus on nice looking design because again – most experienced designers can do that, whilst NOT doing the most important thing.
- It’s NOT an Accountant’s Thing – So price is DEFINITELY NOT the most important factor either – although if you’re paying $1000 (in Zimbabwe) for a basic site, you’re on shaky ground!
A WEBSITE IS A MARKETING THING! Judge your website and your web designer on that criteria and not any other.
- Ask him how the site will attract prospects despite the millions of other competing Google search results.
- Ask him how the site will convince & convert clients to do business with you over your competitors.
- Ask him what he will do to ensure your website does more than just sit online, thanks to hosting and look pretty thanks to design – but how to will offer your business a real competitive advantage that affects your bottom line?
If he can answer that, you’ve got the right person on the job. If not, keep your money and find another website designer who actually knows what he’s doing.
Oh and how do you know if they can do what they say they can do? Forget samples, ask how successful their own website is as
A final thought about the cost (coincidently, what follows may be the first poem ever written about a website design)!
“If you find web design that’s cheap but doesn’t work – DON’T BUY IT.
Or else, you’ve wasted every dollar spent
But if you find one NOT cheap but it works – GET IT!
Save up, budget and negotiate!”
Okay, so I’m not that great at poetry, but we are into creating websites that work. If interested, get in touch.
Stay smart.
A really powerful write up Max. Just to add, I think its also very important that the client comes with a very clear idea of what they are looking for from a web designer, no doubt this will be coming from a boardroom somewhere. You can imagine going into a barber shop and being able to tell the barber the exact haircut you are looking for.
Really loving the new technologies and the internet boost thats in Zim right now, this blog should be read by all.
Good job!
A really powerful write up Max. Just to add, I think its also very important that the client comes with a very clear idea of what they are looking for from a web designer, no doubt this will be coming from a boardroom somewhere. You can imagine going into a barber shop and being able to tell the barber the exact haircut you are looking for.
Really loving the new technologies and the internet boost thats in Zim right now, this blog should be read by all.
Good job!
Thanks Mike, i couldn’t agree more. I just wish web experts would educate their prospects more effectively. Many times people just aren’t knowledgeable enough to know what they want. Thanks bro. I’d pout you in the 0.1% not mentioned in the post.
Maybe you should put together a conference in Zim purely for the internet and intermarketing. Would dearly love to help with something like that..
Max wrote some valid points..no actually its just one, that a website has to help take a business online (although he decided to go for a more verbose approach).
I have been a developer for just about 4 years and I have to disagree with you him (Max) on a number of issues. He’s showing a shocking lack of web development knowledge..and
FIRSTLY: a website does ALL of the reasons he dismissed! With the exception of the last point, a website will help you achieve the first three. A website will help a business in MANY ways and those three, are a definite part of the benefits. (though not ALL of them)
SECONDLY: a website is “NOT a Technical Thing”??? Just give me a break Max. It’s a perfect expression of sound, technical ideas and if you think the technical part doesn’t matter, then anyone out there is a web developer right? FOR A CLIENT TO GET THE BEST OUT OF A WEBSITE, IT HAS TO BEAT OUT COMPETITION…(and this is usually done by doing something innovative)…and TECHNICAL SKILLS ARE OF GREAT IMPORTANCE. You obviously have limited knowledge of how a website is designed.
THIRDLY (and last): It’s “not a creative thing??” How the heck does it capture attention then?? I’ve met guys like you everywhere, just throwing out whatever comes to mind when you haven’t proved your skills to anyone. If you lack the creative edge, sorry buddie but every business out there needs to be creative.
NEW IDEAS, NEW WAYS OF DOING STUFF HELP HUMANITY AS A WHOLE!! YOU JUST CRACKED A JOKE RIGHT THERE MAN!! HOW DARE YOU SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT??
You don’t sound like someone I’d contract to design a site, SORRY, your approach sucks.
Hey cool matrix kid! Thanks for the detailed comments, it gives good opportunity for debate.
Firstly let me clarify a few points i think you misunderstood
1) When i said a website isn’t a technical thing what i meant is that the technical aspects of a website (html 5 vs 4, tables, hosting, wordpress vs joomla and all the hundreds of things developers love to debate and brag about) are not the point of a site. In fact if a client focuses on that primarily it becomes a mere distraction from the purpose of a website – which is marketing, not anything technical.
2) Same goes for creativity. Sure you want a great graphic look – but that’s not the point. Creativity for it’s own sake it useless in business. It’s useful in only so much as it can affect your bottom line. Some of the most beautifully designed sites are nothing more than nice to look at – but they don’t help the business
See, although you’ve been a developer for a while, you’re going to have to look at this from the perspective of a client, not a developer. A client isn’t paying for ground breaking design or developing. They’re paying for a business solution that affects their bank account. That’s marketing. And that’s the point of the site.
Just to add Cool Matrix kid, you might want to revisit Max’s points on this:
* Ask him how the site will attract prospects despite the millions of other competing Google search results.
* Ask him how the site will convince & convert clients to do business with you over your competitors.
* Ask him what he will do to ensure your website does more than just sit online, thanks to hosting and look pretty thanks to design – but how to will offer your business a real competitive advantage that affects your bottom line?
In today’s internet marketing environment if you don’t actively design a website to be search engine friendly then you are infact wasting your great design design to the scrap heap of wasted sites online. Take a deep breathe and think about it one more time. This is valuable information and advise from Max..
Great debate on both sides.
But!
Max is right – from a purely business perspective and considering we are talking about designing sites for “companies”/ “businesses”. Attracting, Educating, Converting and Keeping of customers is the sole purpose of a website. Designs like ideas come in the gazillions so they sort of come 2nd – 3rd in my pecking order of needs if I were a business person – that together with tech aspects too. With the speed of internet in Zim a heavy, flash ridden site with state of the art multimedia and graphics won’t do you much good will it if old school Sam Levy – a heavy weight entrepreneur can’t open it, let alone understand whats going on?
I must say though @Max, that you forgot one thing I personally learn’t. In addition to being a marketing tool. Your website is literally your company profile: investors, potential partners etc will look at it and determine whether they want to do business with you. In some countries there is actually certain info like you company number and SIRC classification that are a legal requirements.
Check out this site: http://www.alghurair.com/ tell me its the coolest thing you’ve ever seen and that its better than the competition’s – ITS NOT, but this is one of the most powerful conglomerates in the UAE? better yet http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/ – Warren Buffet needs no intro does he?
So from an entrepreneurs perspective, who must spend hard to come by capital, a website MUST translate into $$$$/ Revenue/ Turnover/ Profit at the end of the day. Be it Marketing (Max’s theory) 0r Getting Investment of signing on new partners. A designer MUST justify how his design will help achieve that?!? The large design firms over here will do exactly that!
Now I respect designers – they have amazing talent. I haven’t seen your work Cool_ Matrix but you probably have done some amazing sites. I also have a great business partner – Walter – in our creative solutions agency who runs totally wild and gets absorbed in the whole creative process. One thing Walter will have to justify to me is the “business side” of his work. Does it translate to $$$ for a client, that are measurable.
Hey Max,
Very good write-up! I agree 100%, most people don’t know what they want in a website, it tends to be a hit and miss type scenario.
Certainly a must read for all!
Keep it coming…
Very Good write up Max!! You brought up some very valid points and some issues that we encounter on a daily basis. However, Zimbabwe is indeed introducing new technologies resulting in a boost in internet technology. As a result, this has presented a lot of intrigue from the Zimbabwe market space.
From what we have seen, here at Icono Global Zimbabwe, an increasing number of Zimbabwean businesses are beginning to believe in internet technology, in this case, website design & internet marketing and the possibilities it presents for Zimbabwe businesses.
Whether they are small sized businesses or large corporations, we address the issues Max outlined. We educate our clients on advantages of having a business website and how it will attract their best customers and more so, promote and create their brand awareness through internet marketing. We create an online presence for these businesses, allowing them to multiply their customer base nationally and internationally, through targeted, catchy & appealing internet marketing campaigns.
For more information on how Icono Global Zimbabwe can help Zimbabwe businesses market their business on the internet, please visit our website at http://www.iconoglobal.com
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