This is an archived blog from when I ran Conscious Public Relations Inc. from 2008-2018. Excuse the potential outdated-ness!
On collaborating consistently with your outsourced web team
While nothing beats face to face conversation, the second best way to put a good face forward is through your website. Since launching the website for Conscious PR in 2012, I’ve gone through one major overhaul. And it’s going to continue to change and evolve as the brand of the company does as well.
This past year I have been engaging with a site that has had its fair share of ups and downs. Changes in developers, changes in company goals, and financial limitations. Though it is functional, what drives me nuts is that simple corrections such as misspellings and non-working links still remain unchanged even after my bringing them to the company’s attention. Especially if a website has the purpose of converting visitors into buyers or encouraging them to take action, simple things that don’t work can drive them away — for good.
My best piece of advice – if a website will have the eventual function of being a beast of sorts – is to take baby steps. First, do the branding homework so that the goals and values set the foundation of your business. Then design, then implementation. And get to know your web team. If you’re clear on your goals, communicate that to them so they can get excited about the work. Lack of interest in a project adds fuel to the fire, if it’s not the kind of business your developer is particularly excited about.
Start with a single “splash” page, and add pages later once copy is approved. Then a blog, then all of the little add-ons, bells, and whistles in design. If writing is not your forte, for god’s sake, please outsource that. And if you are using YouTube and embedding videos, come up with a proper title and description of the video, because watching IMG_7566.mov isn’t going to light my fire. My web developer also handles my e-mail and hosting, so whenever I have site or e-mail issues I contact them and they go the extra mile to fix things or make them pretty.
Here’s a video on making a WordPress website by Essetino Connexions which helped to design Conscious PR’s website. But if you don’t want to do it all yourself, just hire them.
