Client: Nice As New Resale Shops

Location: Wausau, WI

Project Scope: Design a new, easily updated look.  Art direction of photoshoot and consignment video.  This was a joint project with PC Portal of Wausau.

Site: www.niceasnew.com

Client: Align

Location: Wausau, WI

Project Scope: Develop an sales tool for the company’s main software product Engage.

Site: www.align30.com

Client: Dr. William Skarie Dental Offices

Location: Weston, WI

Project Scope: Develop an easily maintained, blog site that interfaces with social media.

Site: www.skariedental.com

Client: Law Offices of Richard Bawden

Location: Redlands, CA

Project Scope: Develop an easily maintained, blog and resource for clients of family law practice.  Provided social media engagement plan for Facebook and assisted with blog topics and strategy.

Site: www.richardbawdenlaw.com

Client: New Hope Community Church

Location: Weston, WI

Project Scope: Develop an easily maintained, fresh look for communicating event, ministry and spiritual growth information to church members and visitors.

Site: www.newhopewausau.org

Client: Immanuel Baptist Church

Location: Wausau, WI

Project Scope: Develop an easily maintained, fresh look for communicating event, ministry and spiritual growth information to church members and visitors.

Client: Divepoint Scuba & Paddle

Location: Wausau, WI and Stevens Point, WI

Project Scope: Develop a new website that was easily editable and incorporated product and event information for both locations.  This was a joint project with PC Portal of Wausau.

Well, let’s start by asking: why hire a professional builder for your home construction? Most of us would hire a professional builder because of his or her skill, expertise and track record.  I’d probably also hire a professional because the outcome would be guaranteed on some level.  The ability of the builder to take all the raw materials, the vision, the blueprint…and make it into a piece of architecture that meets my specifications is worth the money.

Web designers are kind of like builders.  We use our skills in technology and marketing to build a site that meets the specifications of our clients.  We have developed skills (like craftsmen or women) that ensure our websites succeed in communicating the vision of our clients…ultimately increasing sales, members or readership.

A professional web designer is worth the money if you value your brand, your marketing and your time.

1. You value your time.

Often, small businesses try to keep every project in-house so keep costs down.  We get that.  We are a small business!  But, what often happens is DIY projects end up costing the small business owner money in time lost on selling their own products and services (writing from experience here.)   If you’ve ever pulled an all-nighter on your 3rd pot of coffee (or liter of Mountain Dew), reading the upteenth forum article on how to insert “xyz” into your “widgetized area”, only to find that your absolute perfect execution of the tutorial did not produce the result you wanted, you know how difficult it can be to try and master professional web development as an amatuer.  It’s frustrating to spend time making mistakes and learning a whole new industry when you could be doing what you do best: selling your products, services and running your business!

Professionals in any trade have a wealth of knowledge that makes their work time more efficient and effective.   That’s part of what you are paying for when you hire a professional.  You are also paying them, so you can have your own time back!  Give yourself the chance to pull the all-nighter on developing your next book idea, or product upgrade, or sales presentation.  Don’t pull it on web development.

2. You value your marketing.

Aside from mastering the technical side of web design (understanding how to create a web page, upload files, install WordPress, etc.) a person needs to know how to package content…or market.  A professional web designer knows how to organize content so it will make sense to the user.  It’s important to have a professional help you package your message, products and services.  Site navigation, section headings, images, videos, etc. all need to be placed in a meaningful order, so your site is user-friendly.  Words and images are powerful when communicating online.  We often say, “Your website is talking about you.”  You want to make sure it’s saying what you want to hear.

3. You value your brand.

Professional web designers know how to make a website stand out.  They know all the ways to visually and textually communicate the personality of your company.  In today’s marketplace, you have to have a niche or you’ll be passed by.  Often, this kind of brand identity requires customization…and customization (just like in home remodeling) requires an expert.  Branding is more than just putting your logo up in the website header!  It’s woven through everything: fonts, images, content placement, layout, verbiage.  A templated website DIY site cannot always provide the flexibility you need to clearly communicate who you are and what you do. By “saving money” doing it yourself, you may loose your market niche in the end…which would result in a lot more financial loss than the upfront cost of a professional website.

So, if you value your time, your marketing and your brand, we think a professional web designer would be worth the cost.  Get a free estimate!  You might be surprised how little it costs to pay someone else to design your website.  If you are still unsure about whether or not you need a professional, stay tuned for our next post, where we’ll provide 5 questions to ask yourself to help answer that question.

Unlike some companies, we didn’t make our intern a servant – at our beck-and-call to do the grunt work. Instead, we looked at the time as a way to invest in the future of a young professional. We couldn’t afford to pay her for all the hours she spent training or working on pro bono projects, but maybe we gave her something more valuable: we took the time to teach her what we knew about our industry, and capitalized on the skills she’d already developed as a communicator – at least that was our goal. (We also gave her a small stipend at the end.)

I’m sure the experience would have been a nightmare if Gina hadn’t been self-motivated and independent. But, we hired her knowing she’d fit with our small-company culture. Although having an intern can be work, having the “right” intern definitely makes a difference. Here are three surprise benefits we discovered after hiring Gina:

1. It made us see our business in a new light.

As consultants, we are often the ones giving the “outsider perspective.” With Gina, we had the fresh eyes of our intern to ask interesting questions, point us in new directions, and give us a new look at how we run things.

2. It forced us to organize the inside of our business.

As a (very) small business, it’s easy to just go about your work day after day, week after week, without giving any thought to official company process or policy. If, like us, you have only a handful of staff members, writing down “policy or process” can seem almost ludicrous! But, it’s so helpful. With Gina on board, we actually had to clarify the internal steps of getting a website completed, and we had to make some templates and forms for her to use with clients. Creating that internal process and library of templates was something I had wanted to do for two years…but never found the time to do it! Having her here finally made that task urgent and important.

3. It reminded us where we started.

Having an intern reminded me (Heidi) of my summer internship as a Public Relations Specialist. I remembered one of my first mentors, Wendy Hinrichs Sanders, and how she taught me things about running her own business. Some things were intentional. Others were just caught by example or through experience. It was good to think back and remember where I came from, and it feels good to know I finally have something to pass on to someone else. On those difficult days when I felt like I was taking two steps forward and three steps back, it was helpful to have this view of the past in relation to the future.

Although we have only listed three reasons, there are certainly many other good reasons for hiring an intern. Have you hired an intern? If not, what has been holding you back?

Client: The Vine

Location: Grapevine, TX

Site: www.heisthevine.org