Web from scratch – part I.

What could I say? I have some friends with small businesses without IT knowledge and I like them. It is happiness to see them succeed. They are mostly struggling with online services. Maybe their social networks are working OK. We are all living second life on instagram, facebook or TikTok. Some of them tried WP but honestly? It is not only nice theme in WordPress. For example it could be GDPR thing or flexible design (phone/tablet/ntbook). They have no more money to pay for online services. I used to give them a hand with web thing.

I met some very  “smart “ guys telling me  “WP is the easiest thing for web..just put data in“. OMG they were so so wrong. The truth is NO, ITS NOT 😉

Let’s start with the client:
1. Empathy! Empathy! Empathy! They probably do not know anything about web design and development. It is the reason you are there with them. Be nice and professional.
2. Have a coffee with them. Give them your time. Know your client better = less problems to solve in the future.
3. Be prepared with task lists. You should inform client about next steps. I am not thinking about deep code details.
4. Suggest time frames / dates.
5. Bad unprofessional clients are not good clients. No matter how much money they gonna pay. Sometimes is better say no to that work.

Task lists:
1. business email – free gmail account (better for 2. and 3.)
2. business registration – free on google.com, seznam.cz (CR)
3. google maps – free
4. business social networks – instagram/Facebook/tiktok – do client have some of them?
note: socials networks are not included in web design/development
5. domain – is it free to use? do client have some?
note: domain is not free and client could need help with buying this service
6. webhosting – is it free to use? do client have some?
note: webhosting is not free and client could need help with buying this service
7. business logo – do client have some?
note: logo is not included in web design/development, circle/square is good for online, less is more 🙂
8. photos – do client have some?
note: photos are not included in web design/development and it is better to do some professional photo shoot (bad photos are bad photos..)

Tips:
1. Check websites with similar business. Some draft/vision could help understand clients needs.
2. Talk about color palette. Again some draft/vision could help understand clients needs.
3. I prefer to do minimalistic design (business online card does not need to be cover with glitters).
4. Mobile device is priority. People use mobile to googling more than other devices. If you make them sad with web on mobile, you will lose them.