Website Misconceptions

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Website design client misconceptions and reality of owning and developing a website project.

Sanity LLC has worked on hundreds of projects over the years and have accumulated insight that clients might find beneficial.

Website design involves both the client and the website design team working together to satisfy the needs of the website project. Both parties have very important rolls which need to be understood to help the web design process to progress as smooth and quickly as possible. Please take a few minutes and read over the following topics.

Misconception: Clients may mistake their willingness to do as much of their projects as they can with it being cheaper.

Client technical ability and preparation is proportionate to cost, not a willingness to do it themselves. The majority of web design professionals have processes for quickly importing data into a site - if the client is using a format which readily serves this purpose. Discussing the available methods to import data should occur at the beginning of a website design. Clients can usually save additional fees and greatly reduce their amount of effort and time. Over the years we have rescued many clients from very expensive money-pits set by competitors or the client’s attempts of importing information into their site. An automated process can do in seconds what it may take weeks or months to do – if comparable data types can be established.

Misconception: Many people have a misguided concept of web design as being the simple act of shoving text and images into a page.

Building a successful website is actually considered an art form and combines multiple technologies to create each design.

Misconception: Getting on the web to become rich or get noticed is a fallacy.

There is vast difference between what a client wants and want their visitors need. If the focus of the project is adjusted to discover, define, and deliver content the visitor needs, then the site visitor will typically feel as if the exchange was a success and will spread the word. Search engines will notice the trend and follow suit.

Misconception: Well designed websites are immediately successful.

June 2014 saw the one-billionth website launched. Trillions of web pages exist on the web, and even the best website design can take months to find a solid footing in search engines and with people. These two groups are inseparable, as search engines tend to like what people value and if people have not found the site, then search engines will typically think a site is unimportant - regardless of how well it was built.

The level of success enjoyed by a website can only be measured against its original purpose. If the site is an online store, is it selling product? If the site is to establish an information hub concerning a topic, are people finding the information they seek?

Misconception: A graphic designer can best build a website, because they can force the web page to look the same everywhere.

Graphics are only a single component of a website design and are intended to enhance the presentation and should never be used to replace the content. A human can read the text in an image, but a search engine can not, which means people can not search for the text contained in an image and find it in the client's site unless it appears somewhere else.

Recent years has shown a massive move towards "responsive sites" which are the same page being shown to all devices. Using this site as an example, feel free to view it with your Android phone, iPhone, iPad, tablet, laptop, computer, television. Each of those devices have a pleasing presentation catered to the device for which is being used.

We pride ourselves in our ability to create responsive websites.

Misconception: Anyone can build and operate a website.

A single web page can combine as many as half a dozen technologies and programming languages - sometimes even more. Often web design companies have an entire team of people, each specializing in only a small area of the over all site design. Sanity LLC partners with clients to facilitate the client's involvement in their project. In some instances clients will not directly interact with their website design, while other clients take on the role which best match their needs.

We have built online store for retirees who enjoy running their websites with very little interaction from us. They process orders, add products, update items, and handle payments. We have also created corporate websites for clients in Hong Kong where we handled all the activity on the site for a monthly retainer.

Misconception: This web stuff is too technical for me.

Our web professionals can take your descriptions and concepts and turn them into reality. Regardless of background, clients hold the key to their web projects. The issue comes with how the clients communicate and visualize their website design project. For many clients, a web project becomes a series of revelations, which can enhance or completely change the purpose of the website design. Clients with greater experience are better equipped to limit this phenomenon, known as scope creep, and keep their costs down. Clients new to the world of website design may experience additional costs as designs and concepts are updated to match the new goals and expectations.

Misconception: I can do it myself.

Technically you could. In May 2021, Google began taking web page speed into consideration for web page ranking for mobile devices. In short, the slower your website the lower in the list your page will appear. In May 2022 desktops and laptops were added to the algorithm. Many WordPress, Wix (ranked 25th and 26th) and other sites are now being pushed to the bottom of the list as they are the slowest platforms.

Security is another issue. Popular blog software, WordPress, has been kludged into a content management system and not built from the ground up for that purpose. The result? More security notices than any other platform. Some may argue that is due to its popularity, but those of who actually build applications understand it to be a structural issue.

Misconception: I do not need a website. I can use social networking sites.

All social networks have the same purpose: their profit.

Social media should never be used as the primary source to interact with client traffic. Rather, these platforms should attract visitors to your website.

Social media will likely recommend competitors and other products on their site as they receive advertisement revenue for every impression. It is in the best interest of the Social Network to keep visitors on their platform so more advertisements can be pushed to them.

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