Web Development - it's not like building a shed

I recently read a great blog post on sub-standard web developers and how to avoid them. If you're looking to get a website developed I'd suggest you have a quick read of this: Beware Web Developers Who Know Nada!

As a web developer myself I find it incredibly frustrating that I'm constantly losing web development work to graphic designers who know nothing about marketing on the web. Does your business really need a piece of online art or does it actually want to see some return? As I see it there are only two things that matter - 1) are people finding the site and 2) is it giving them what they came for?

My other bugbear is that web development is as its name suggests "developmental". It's not a one off bit of work - build it, take the money, next. To be really successful, a website needs to evolve to meet the needs of its users so requires an ongoing cycle of analysis, review and redevelopment. This doesn't have to mean lots of expense or contracts. It just means stopping every once in a while and thinking about what is working, what isn't working, how many enquiries are you getting, is the number going up or down?

If you're serious about making money on the web, you need to be prepared to put a lot of work in yourself, not simply farm it out, and work closely with a web developer who understands what your business needs from your site.