“There needs to be more entry-level options for these situations, where somebody can get a little help setting up a basic site that doesn’t look terrible.”

Most just say, “I’m sorry we can’t help you”. What they need to say is, “I understand you have a tight budget. Lets sit down and talk about setting up a web strategy. A strategy to move you online in phases.”

What that strategy is made of depends on the client, but giving direction is very important. In fact, this is good for design companies as well. They can grow with the business.

Now, I’m not saying no client is too small, only that we need to have a game plan for small business if they are our clients. This is why I say to find a good consultant.

A good consultant can move any business in the right direction. If they say it means a WordPress blog, thats what it means. If it means building a few landing pages with an ad campaign, thats the solution they should shoot for. Not every strategy requires a big budget up front.

Its all about having a strategy, not a single solution. It’s all about knowing your goals and crafting a hand made plan to reach them. Web design is not a business solution, it’s part of a marketing strategy.

I think this is a key point and is a good best practice. Ideally one would run through the technical aspects of what need to be done first, and then simplify. Jumping straight to the simplify gives a “that’s so easy” impression – it’s the same reason people complain about other specialists, from plumbers to doctors.

The other problem with small businesses though is that I don’t think it’s uncommon for them to just not have the funds to hire professionals. There needs to be more entry-level options for these situations, where somebody can get a little help setting up a basic site that doesn’t look terrible. It’s an opportunity to expose them to what professionals are able to do so that later, when they do have the funds, they’ll be more willing to pay for quality work.

However, the problem is most small business are not web experts. They don’t know were to start, they don’t know how much a site should cost. All they see is art and content. So naturally a broadcast website seems perfect, because that is what they see.

We need to help clients see the web in a new light. We need to teach them about the guerrilla marketing aspects of web design and move them away form the traditional model that doesn’t work. We need need to get our clients laser beans not torches.

We also need to inform them about the technical things without overwhelming them. A lot of people say, “don’t tell them how you do it, tell them what you will do.” I disagree.

If clients don’t know the how and why, then how will they know they need us. Because we avoid the how they don’t know how technical and long it takes to actually get a good site up and running.

We need to inform them about browser comparability, web strategies, integrated solutions, and the difference between landing pages and web pages.

So, the real problem here is us! We need to educate clients on the important parts of our work. Those are the parts clients don’t know about, the ones that drive value in our work.

Than once they value our work, they will know why they need to pay; because its valuable. But, you have to let them know why its valuable.

This is why most clients don’t want to pay. They don’t understand the value of our work, they don’t know about the market online, they don’t know how to discover (not draw in) new customer online. That is our job, and we need to start doing it.

I know I have not really answered your question here… more of a tangent. I get a little passionate some times I guess. But yes, generic is better than terrible.

Sometimes free is first base for small businesses. We need to help them discover that; and we don’t need to be afraid to turn away designing. What we need to be afraid of is turning away clients empty handed.

We need to be strategic.