Don’t be discouraged. The potential rewards are worth the risk, and this article should help you stay as far away from some of the nastier goblins as you possibly can.

Don’t drop the ball

Business owners have this awkward tendency to think about websites like phone book listings back in the day. You have to have one, but it doesn’t really need to be anything spectacular, right? Even if it’s bad, at least it’s there? This kind of mindset is bad news. Your website isn’t your phone book listing, it’s a virtual addendum to your storefront. A mediocre ad in a phone book might not hurt your business too much, but running a shop that looks like a run down shack abandoned sometime in the early 90s certainly will.

With that on the table, repeat after me: Having an awful site is a sure-fire way to obliterate consumer confidence.

Let’s say I’m looking for an A/C repair service. If I google “A/C repair Orlando” and I click on 5 links, the first thing I’m going to see is how good or bad the site is. All else being equal, I’m going to go with the company that has the better website because it says to me that they are serious. It might not be fair, but judging books by their cover seems like a pretty good strategy if you don’t know how to read and I certainly don’t know anything about A/C repair.

Don’t hide the communication tubes

If you’re not selling your products directly through your site (and perhaps even if you are), you need to have all of your contact information out there as easily accessible as possible. I see sites all the time that have just a contact form or just a phone number. Don’t make your customers think. If for whatever reason they’ve decided they need to call you, they better not have to reformulate their strategy because your phone number is hidden or not there at all. Similarly, if they expect to contact you with an e-mail or contact form, that better be there too. Otherwise, you’re creating a completely unnecessary barrier for your customer.

Furthermore, you should consider that some people don’t like to speak to strangers on the phone and some people might even be frightened by the prospect. Your willingness to put your phone number or address out there is admirable, but that doesn’t excuse you from also putting up that shiny contact form and/or e-mail address. If you try to skip it, your customers will go somewhere that’s willing to communicate with them on their terms.

Don’t let them leave without a reason to come back

If you managed to get a customer to go to your site, you’re doing great. Maybe they even bought something from you or they contacted you to inquire about some service you offer. It’s time to relax, sip some warm tea, and eat crumpets, right? Wrong!

You need to give that customer some reason to come back. Six months from now when they need more of whatever you’re pushing, they might not even remember who you are. Ultimately though, it’s easier said than done. Here’s three ideas for free:

1. Offer your customers a discount if they friend / follow you on Facebook or Twitter
2. provide an RSS feed and/or e-mail subscription for coupons
3. blog about information relevant to your customers (that’s what we do! subscribe!)

Don’t hire that ‘IT guy,’ ‘webmaster,’ or your cousin’s friend’s nephew

When Match Strike works on a client’s site, we put together a team that fills the following roles: a back-end developer (someone that specializes in dealing with our preferred ORM and databases as well as whatever libraries we’re using), a graphic designer / UI developer (Design, XHTML, CSS, accessibility, templating), and a sweeper (someone that knows enough about both of the aforementioned roles to act as a go-between). Sitting on the sidelines, they have a systems administrator and a project manager waiting with cool Gatorade.

When you post that hiring ad that says you’re looking for a ‘webmaster’ to design, develop, and launch your site or application, what you’re really saying is that you want a jack-of-all-trades. That’s dangerous. There are people out there that can fill all of the roles I specified, but trust me on this: they probably don’t want to work in a one person development shop. It’s likely that they developed all of those skills by surrounding themselves with people that are smarter than they are and they’re probably going to continue to do that.

So, why does anyone ever respond to those ads if they’re not qualified to fill all of those roles? Every developer thinks they’re a jack-of-all-trades. Even I think of myself that way even though Rex reminds me of my utter design ineptitude every time I see him open Photoshop. That’s just the way people in this industry roll.

If you’re absolutely set on hiring that web guy, that’s fine. Clients sometimes outgrow what can be provided via a maintenance contract and we get that. But you really shouldn’t start there. Go with a firm that has all the expertise you need to get you off the ground, then dump their maintenance contract and hire your guy. At Match Strike, we’ll even help you select our replacement if you play your cards right.

At Match Strike, we follow a simple rule to prevent our company from ever becoming one of the bad apples in our industry: We say ‘No!’ to our clients and we say it loud.

The Can-do Attitude

At a recent BarCamp event that Rex and I attended, a CEO from a local development firm gave a presentation about how he runs his company. He talked at length about presenting yourself to clients as an authority on as many technical matters as possible to increase the likelihood of additional contract leads in the future. He went on to say that developers should do whatever it takes to satisfy the client’s needs, even if it means learning new technologies. Based on the examples of success and profit that the CEO cited, it seemed obvious that he wasn’t recommending disclosing to the client a lack of experience in anything, ever.

This is exactly the wrong approach and it’s unethical to boot. Every time you do what the well-intentioned CEO suggested, you’re gambling with your client’s time and money. If you’re going to employ this strategy, you should, at the very least, fully disclose to your clients that you’d be using their contract as a learning opportunity. At Match Strike, if we’ve determined a strategic need to learn the technology in question and we have a strong relationship with the client, we’ll fully disclose the extent of our related experience and we’ll offer a discount to make it worth their while to give us the contract anyway. Otherwise, we’ll say ‘No!’

Say ‘No!’ and Say it Loud

Every time you swallow your pride and admit to a client that you’re not capable of fulfilling a need, you’ve demonstrated that you’re looking out for their best interests, that you’re not just saying whatever it takes to get them to sign a contract, and that you’re not willing to take their needs lightly. This is how you build trust.

Of course, saying ‘No!’ still leaves the client with an unfulfilled need. Match Strike maintains a decent sized network of sub-contractors that are way smarter than us when it comes to certain technologies. When we can’t get something done internally, we’ll explain that to our client and then we’ll try to find the right person or company and bring them into the fold. Not only does this provide us with opportunities to learn from experts, but we can take solace in the fact that adequately meeting our client’s need is much less of a gamble.

Admittedly, building a network of contractors is easier said than done. In my case, I was fortunate enough to spend years hand-picking and training the best new talent in the central Florida area, allowing me to build a long list of developers I can trust to get a job done. If you haven’t had similar opportunities, it’s time to start networking. Go to meet-ups, BarCamps, and engage people online. If you’re not surrounding yourself with people that are smarter than you, then you’re probably in trouble.

Our methodology may seem less lucrative because of how much it typically costs to out-source work, but generally speaking, it’s the right thing to do. In addition, we significantly reduce the risk of client dissatisfaction, allowing us to establish longer lasting, stronger relationships with our customers. The possibility of recurring payoffs and referrals in the future is potentially much more lucrative than risking a client relationship for a little bonus income in the short-term. That’s a gamble we can live with.