17 June 2009
Often times when a project falls apart, it's not that there isn't a good idea or quality skill there, but a break down in communication.

Setup and Background:
Although this article may be helpful to anyone, you should know that I am a freelancer so my opinions may greatly be different from lets say a firm although I've tried to be relevant to all scenarios. All caps statements are important, not yelling.

Working with Professionals

First, you need to find the appropriate professional(s) to work with:
The WWDC (http://www.whichwebdesigncompany.com/) is quickly becoming a reputable source for that. Other places that I would recommend are craigslist (http://www.craigslist.org/) and Guru (http://www.guru.com/). No matter where you find your professional(s) there are a few things you want to put high standards on for picking the right candidates:

Introduction: Whether they are directly applying for your project or if you find them their presentation must be clean and professional from the look and feel of their website to how they communicate. If you receive a 5-page long email then very likely they are not a good candidate. If a "Professional" can't understand that you have 60 applicants to go over and that you don't want to read an essay for everyone of them then they are probably not that professional or efficient where you need them to be. A good professional will get to the point quick, their price and a link to their portfolio and certainly NO ATTACHMENTS.

Payments: Once you've found your professional(s) you need to get an accurate quote. This may involve a little work on your end. You need to outline the project as best as you can; amount of pages, colors scheme, graphics, wording, functionality (what you'll need your website to do) and so on. This will work both to your benefit in that you'll get a more accurate quote and you'll see better results faster. Partial payment upfront is standard, you must of course make sure you're completely comfortable first. A good professional should be able to gain your trust and accommodate your needs. For example, say your website was a small informational 5-page website and you're quoted $300; $100 upfront and $200 upon completion is completely reasonable.

Working With Them: They need to provide communication to your preference, whether it's email, IM or over the phone. Keep in mind that the majority of a project's time is spent on communication and feedback. So the quickness of a projects completion is also in your court, you must be able to provide quick and clear feedback throughout the whole project until completion. Although a good professional can fill in a lot of blanks and "get the job done", there are some blanks they cannot fill in.

Working with Clients

First, you need to find the appropriate client to work with:
This means that you should be fully confident that you or someone on your team can fully fulfill all the needs of the client with the quality expected. Here are some important factors to keep in mind when working with clients:

Introduction: First, you of course need to be completely honest about your abilities, don't call yourself and expert in SEO because you know how to submit URL's to the major search engines. When applying for a project to need to be extremely clear and simplicity is key. DO NOT STYLE YOUR EMAILS - Short plain text emails will go much further. When I receive emails with all caps or a hideous red font color I delete it right away, potential clients will delete much quicker. You need to be quick to the point; here's what I can do, here's how much and here is a link to my portfolio NEVER SEND ATTACHMENTS WHEN FIRST CONTACTING A POTENTIAL CLIENT. This method is proven, several of the clients I've acquired have said something along the lines of: "I just got done going through about 60 emails and yours was the only one I could even comprehend."

Payments: I know we're all sick of hearing it, but you need to hear it once more, THE ECONOMY IS BAD - Most clients to not have a huge budget, whether you're a freelancer or a big firm you MUST accommodate. You should give fair deals already and leave a little margin that you may be able to go a little lower. For some it may be working out to stick to your guns, but many of us wouldn't be working at all if we weren't reasonable with clients. NEVER ASK FOR MORE THAN HALF UPFRONT.

Working With Them: You need to be patient and communicate in a clear way that clients can understand. For a lot of clients this stuff is Japanese to them, if it wasn't why would they be hiring you. Although telling a client that CSS and XHTML is the standard may be enough, I recommend educating your clients. Why not be their ongoing go-to guy/gal for all things technology and web. If a client asks "What do you think of Twitter? Do you think you can help me setup an account?" why not let them know what you think and help them out, don't tell them "Sorry, I'm designing your website, that's not in my job description." Do you think that they'll hire you again? Always be honest and LOYALTY IS KEY to ongoing business relationships.

Good luck with all your endeavors.

Thanks, Bryan