When writing a Request for Proposal for a web development project, consider writing it with the end goal in mind: to find the most qualified vendor for your project who can work within your requirements. If you want a good response with accurate pricing and schedule, then you will need to put effort in providing the same level of detail and accuracy in your document.

An RFP can be organized into three main sections.

Information about the company requesting the proposal
The goal of …

Website development starts with intense conversations about what the site should look like and what it should do to meet the desired goals. Typically several people on the client’s end are tasked with describing what the company’s needs are from each of their perspectives and to ensure nothing critical is missed by the web developer. At the other side of the table, the web development team will ask many, many questions first to understand the company’s needs and then to make sure the site’s functions are clearly defined. After these conversations, a site specifications document is drawn. The web developer …

There are many details to think about when developing an e-commerce site. We have developed the list of questions below which help us discover what “size” e-commerce site we will be building. An important part of our job is to guide a client through these to determine what is really needed to meet goals, budget, and timeline.

Hope you find these helpful.

PRODUCT-RELATED
1. How many products will there be at launch?
2. How many product will there be 3-6 months post launch?
3. How are these products organized? How many product categories?
4. Do products have …

E-commerce websites seem straightforward, and some of them are. However, we tend to end up building the complicated ones! They are only complicated because there are many, many details to consider and test… both on our end and the client’s end. It’s best to do all of the planning at the beginning to avoid changing specifications as the site is being built. Here are a few key items to consider.

1. Focus on the Objective

• Selling your product

Every design decision on an e-commerce site should be made with this goal in …

A word of warning: If you produce blog posts regularly and without fail, this article is not for you.

This article offers approaches to writing, strategizing, using research, collaborating, and scheduling.

If you’re already on top of your blog, producing regular content on schedule and without impacting your other obligations, you will not gain anything from the suggestions it contains.
Where to Begin: Write First
Putting pen to paper is the most important part of any writing project. Without that crucial step, you will never generate any content.

First you must write.

Don’t worry about style.

Don’t worry about substance.

…

Talking with a colleague the other day, I was startled to learn that he does not write down the project details when he takes on a new client project. No written contract.

Yikes.

“Spell it out” is my advice, and I guarantee it will save you time, money and headaches.

I have written Agreements with all my customers to spell out at the least what I will do for them, how long it will take, and what it will cost.

My Agreements evolve out of my proposal to the client. Having discussed the essentials with a client, I put together a proposal using my …

When writing for a business, there is a temptation to turn writing into a solo affair. Why take time from several people when one is clearly an expert with all the knowledge you might ever need to include?

Unfortunately, it is also an approach that invites problems, from missed deadlines to reams of techno-babble, or worse still, it’s converse: a treatise so bland and accessible it seems to lack any genuine insight.

Injecting a second actor into the writing process speeds content generation, creates a more dynamic voice, and ensures the resulting text has both depth and breadth.

We have started using …

This is the million dollar question — well, maybe not a million dollars, but quality video isn’t cheap. So making a good decision about whether to pursue a video production project or not is important because the stakes are high. In my experience, creating video content for a client’s website often costs more than 25% of the total cost of producing the website in the first place. Logically speaking, the video content should account for a great deal of the overall impact and effectiveness of the site.

Let’s take, for instance, a website that is built around marketing a single product. …

We’ve all been to websites that offend our senses. It might be the copy, the color, too much flashing or that “something” you just can’t put your mouse on that sends you packing. In working with businesses in all industries and sizes the one common denominator is they all have a website. Unfortunately, not all of them are good and some are flat out annoying. Here are a few easy thought processes you can work through to help provide your visitors with a positive visit to your online office.
Be Clear About It’s Goal
I’m stupefied by the number of clients that …

Well, we finally made it to Facebook. Just like any other small business, we struggled with the decision of whether or not to have a presence in Facebook. It’s free to start; it’s simple to use… but the reality is that it’s an investment of internal resources—mostly time. But given the staggering statistics of how much Facebook is used, we decided to give it a shot. Here’s how we did it.
1. We decided on content
We took this as an opportunity to have a balance of work-related posts and fun/personal ones with the goal of showing the world who we are …