Chapter 1 Choosing a Supplier

WebForging · 03-01-2005, 08:58 AM

The following from Chapter 1 - Choosing a Supplier - of my book, WebForging at http://www.WebForging.com

If you like this post, I'll do more from the book. Reputation appreciated.

WebForging is written for Company Owners, VPs of Sales & Marketing, and for IT people who've been given responsibility for the Company web presence, but don't know marketing 101. This first chapter helps them determine who to work with.

Chapter 1 Choosing a Supplier

There are three essential ingredients you should look for in a web presence provider. This is true whether you plan to design and produce your website internally - you want to be your own web presence provider - or you wish to find a partner to help with your web presence development.
????: NamePros.com http://www.namepros.com/webmaster-tutorials/72702-chapter-1-choosing-a-supplier.html

The first ingredient is technology. Look for the technical ability to go beyond producing a simple web presence. You want a supplier who can provide you with the technology you may want down the road, if not immediately. Whether it's secure credit card transactions, real-time inventory, streaming video, threaded messaging or interactive, forms-based quotations and calculations, look for a supplier you won't have to change mid-stream.

The second ingredient you want is graphics. Your supplier should have the ability to make you look like the kind of company people want to deal with. Graphics, in this context, includes the ability to make it easy for web users to find what they're looking for. You want someone who makes your site intuitive to navigate, within an attractive package.

The third - and, in our view, most important - ingredient, is marketing. You can have a site that works perfectly and looks great, but if no one goes there it is just an expense.

All web production shops have the first and second capabilities, to one extent or another. They have to have these capabilities to be in the business. However, shops of fewer than twenty or twenty-five people (the vast majority) are generally stronger in either technology or graphics. Usually that strength is in the area of the expertise of the owner of the shop. As one client put it, if the president or owner is a 'propeller-head', the shop will be stronger in technology. Often, if the principal comes from a desktop publishing or other creative background, the shop will be stronger in graphics. These shops can lead you to a web site, respectively, with lots of technical bells and whistles (that may not do a thing to sell your products and services - or get you closer to a transaction) or to a site with killer graphics (that may simply slow the site down too much, or that may lack some of the technical strengths beneficial to your web presence).

You want a well-rounded supplier with depth in all three capabilities, technical, graphics and marketing. If you are a company owner or sales and marketing executive who will be able to devote considerable time and resources to the marketing aspects of your site, and you have significant creative, graphics and marketing resources on staff, you may be able to have your IT (Information Technology) department handle the technical aspects of the job. However, too often IT departments are charged with the ultimate responsibility for a company web presence without the creative, and especially marketing, capabilities to properly handle the job.

We believe marketing should ultimately direct and be responsible for your web presence. Marketing should be responsible, whether the project is in the hands of a web developer or in-house team. The marketing responsibity is, of course, for the substance, the look and feel of the site. Marketing must delegate the responsibility for uptime and functionality to the technical team (of the web presence provider or inside the company).

The mindset of each team member on a web development project is different. The technical people are concerned with making it work in a functional sense, whatever 'it' is. The graphics people are concerned with making it beautiful (and, hopefully, easy to use). To my mind, it is up to marketing to provide leadership for both other facets, defining what 'it' is for technicians and distilling the most important elements for artists, along with the most intuitive way to get there.

It is most important for the marketer to approach the project by putting herself in the shoes of the buyer (see Introduction). The marketer should guide technicians and artists to deliver what the buyer wants in a functional and attractive package.
????: NamePros.com http://www.namepros.com/showthread.php?t=72702

Additional content covered in the print edition of Webforging includes a paragraph to a page or more on each of the following:

* Other ingredients to look for in a supplier include:
o Work Load
o Commitment
o Rapport
o Depth
o Experience

See Also Appendix A

Pre-order now! Your order Now gets your name in the acknowledgements and an autographed copy.

(c) 2005 Keith Klein
All rights reserved.

Reputation Appreciated

majinbuu1023 · 03-05-2005, 04:05 PM

thanks! man why are giving us all this free info?

WebForging · 03-06-2005, 10:29 PM

Originally Posted by majinbuu1023

thanks! man why are giving us all this free info?

You're welcome.

A few reasons for sharing:

- What goes around, comes around. I've picked up a lot of good info here and hope I can give some back, and keep it all going around.

-Really got a lot of good critique work on the Domain Name chapter from NPers.

- Planning a vBulleting site at http://www.WebForging.com and want to model it on this one (look and feel and functionality). Been building up NP$ to entice folks from here to post there as soon as site is up.

- I might sell some books. (Have pre-sold about 100 outside of NamePros.) They're for sale before printing. Site update is coming along, but the skinny is, $40 for 256 page book with your name printed in the acknowledgements if you purchase before printing.
????: NamePros.com http://www.namepros.com/showthread.php?t=72702

-It is fun to do.

-I feel strongly about the way a web presence ought to be done.

-Something to do in spare time between midnite and 3am.

Thanks for asking.

Regards,
Keith

03-01-2005, 08:58 AM	THREAD STARTER #1 (permalink)
WebForging Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Sussex, Wisconsin - The Badger State - Home of http://www.theBubbler.com with Free Classifieds for Wisconsinites Posts: 2,378	Chapter 1 Choosing a Supplier The following from Chapter 1 - Choosing a Supplier - of my book, WebForging at http://www.WebForging.com If you like this post, I'll do more from the book. Reputation appreciated. WebForging is written for Company Owners, VPs of Sales & Marketing, and for IT people who've been given responsibility for the Company web presence, but don't know marketing 101. This first chapter helps them determine who to work with. Chapter 1 Choosing a Supplier There are three essential ingredients you should look for in a web presence provider. This is true whether you plan to design and produce your website internally - you want to be your own web presence provider - or you wish to find a partner to help with your web presence development. ????: NamePros.com http://www.namepros.com/webmaster-tutorials/72702-chapter-1-choosing-a-supplier.html The first ingredient is technology. Look for the technical ability to go beyond producing a simple web presence. You want a supplier who can provide you with the technology you may want down the road, if not immediately. Whether it's secure credit card transactions, real-time inventory, streaming video, threaded messaging or interactive, forms-based quotations and calculations, look for a supplier you won't have to change mid-stream. The second ingredient you want is graphics. Your supplier should have the ability to make you look like the kind of company people want to deal with. Graphics, in this context, includes the ability to make it easy for web users to find what they're looking for. You want someone who makes your site intuitive to navigate, within an attractive package. The third - and, in our view, most important - ingredient, is marketing. You can have a site that works perfectly and looks great, but if no one goes there it is just an expense. All web production shops have the first and second capabilities, to one extent or another. They have to have these capabilities to be in the business. However, shops of fewer than twenty or twenty-five people (the vast majority) are generally stronger in either technology or graphics. Usually that strength is in the area of the expertise of the owner of the shop. As one client put it, if the president or owner is a 'propeller-head', the shop will be stronger in technology. Often, if the principal comes from a desktop publishing or other creative background, the shop will be stronger in graphics. These shops can lead you to a web site, respectively, with lots of technical bells and whistles (that may not do a thing to sell your products and services - or get you closer to a transaction) or to a site with killer graphics (that may simply slow the site down too much, or that may lack some of the technical strengths beneficial to your web presence). You want a well-rounded supplier with depth in all three capabilities, technical, graphics and marketing. If you are a company owner or sales and marketing executive who will be able to devote considerable time and resources to the marketing aspects of your site, and you have significant creative, graphics and marketing resources on staff, you may be able to have your IT (Information Technology) department handle the technical aspects of the job. However, too often IT departments are charged with the ultimate responsibility for a company web presence without the creative, and especially marketing, capabilities to properly handle the job. We believe marketing should ultimately direct and be responsible for your web presence. Marketing should be responsible, whether the project is in the hands of a web developer or in-house team. The marketing responsibity is, of course, for the substance, the look and feel of the site. Marketing must delegate the responsibility for uptime and functionality to the technical team (of the web presence provider or inside the company). The mindset of each team member on a web development project is different. The technical people are concerned with making it work in a functional sense, whatever 'it' is. The graphics people are concerned with making it beautiful (and, hopefully, easy to use). To my mind, it is up to marketing to provide leadership for both other facets, defining what 'it' is for technicians and distilling the most important elements for artists, along with the most intuitive way to get there. It is most important for the marketer to approach the project by putting herself in the shoes of the buyer (see Introduction). The marketer should guide technicians and artists to deliver what the buyer wants in a functional and attractive package. ????: NamePros.com http://www.namepros.com/showthread.php?t=72702 Additional content covered in the print edition of Webforging includes a paragraph to a page or more on each of the following: * Other ingredients to look for in a supplier include: o Work Load o Commitment o Rapport o Depth o Experience See Also Appendix A Pre-order now! Your order Now gets your name in the acknowledgements and an autographed copy. (c) 2005 Keith Klein All rights reserved. Reputation Appreciated __________________ Your link stays 21 days or till you get out-posted at WebLoggers.ORG, a forum for, by and about bloggers and their blogs - revenue info, blog reviews, free resources, etc. - WebLoggers.ORG - YOUR LINK at the very top of WebLoggers.ORG - automatic, (like 'WebLoggers' link there now) Top 8 posters with min. 5 posts. 1,800 uniques/month, rising fast.

03-05-2005, 04:05 PM	#2 (permalink)
majinbuu1023 Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: New Zealand Posts: 3,746	thanks! man why are giving us all this free info? __________________ WowHumor.net - Funny World of Warcraft Pictures

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Chapter 1 Choosing a Supplier

You're welcome...