Perhaps it's because there's so many different kinds of web
design companies out there, or because a new small business site represents
such a big expense for a lot owners, but we talk to a lot of potential clients
who end up feeling lost and confused by the process of finding someone to help
them turn their ideas into an Internet reality.
That's completely understandable; finding a creative team
for your small business site isn't really similar to anything else you would do
in the course of running your company. There is more than just pricing or
straightforward quality comparisons to make – each firm has its own style, the
range, way of doing things, etc.
To help you sort through the pack, and make the best
decision possible, here are the three biggest mistakes small business owners
make when hiring a web design firm:
Going with the
cheapest one, no matter what.
Your website is likely to be viewed by more
potential customers than any other marketing piece you'll produce. With that in
mind, it makes sense to think about getting the maximum return on your
investment, not just the lowest upfront cost.
Looking for samples
that show companies similar to yours.
It makes sense that if you run a pet
shop, for example, you'd want a web designer who's worked on lots of other pet
shops, too… right? Sometimes, but not always. That's because even if they
specialize in that type of business, quality should be a key consideration.
Explaining what your company does is usually an easy step; finding someone who
can give you a great-looking design isn't.
Thinking only about
layouts.
Speaking of great-looking designs, there's a lot more that goes
into your website beyond just the simple aesthetics. From HTML coding to custom
web apps and even search engine optimization, you want to choose a team that
can help give you everything you need to build a stronger company, not just put
up a pretty online brochure. Be sure to ask your web designer what kind of
experience and philosophy they have towards helping you market your new site –
not just put it on the Internet.
The idea of reducing your company’s carbon footprint is nothing new; in fact, “greening” started way back in the 1970s, and some would argue the movement began more than a century before that! As the world becomes more connected and informed, we understand better than ever how important it is for each and every one of us to do our part in protecting the environment. At Kinetik IT, we are passionate about our role as environmental stewards and making a difference in our environment. We want to help change the world, one client at a time.
We do this in big and small ways. First, we take care with our everyday activities – by working with our staff to create a paperless work environment, by recycling, and by controlling our waste, energy and water usage. We also commit in bigger ways – by donating a percentage of our gross revenue to eco-friendly projects and eco-supporting organizations that our clients are passionate about.
It’s a partnership. At Kinetik IT, we contribute a percentage of the gross amount paid by the client to eco-friendly projects or eco-supporting organizations chosen by the client. Clients choose from the organization we regularly donate to, or provide us another of their choosing. Organizations we’ve donated to include the following:
To learn more about services and products, and to stay up to date with Kinetik IT, visit www.Kinetik-IT.com or follow Kinetik on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter.
With cloud technology becoming an increasingly viable choice for business, questions still remain as to whether it’s the right choice for your business. Kinetik IT’s President, Josette van Stiphout, weighs in on questions and considerations when contemplating sending your business into the cloud.
- Company Size: Usually, cloud technology is the most appropriate for small to midsize businesses that do not have the talent and funding to implement in-house solutions. It also depends on the cloud application’s capacity and functionality.
- Physical Location: Does it make sense for your company if all employees are office-based rather than working from a remote office?
- Security: "Do I want to have everything in the cloud including all my company data?" The most important questions that people need to ask are really pertaining to data security.
- Space and Software Rental: A disadvantage for cloud computing is that you basically rent – it’s a lifetime rental situation. You don't own anything, and you will always pay a fee. This may be appropriate for some situations but not all.
The cloud has been available in some of fashion for 20 years or more, where it was called ASP (Application Service Providers) or SaaS (Software as a Service). Now in general terms, it's called cloud technologies. But keep in mind there are different categories of cloud computing: software, infrastructure, storage and platform hosting.
In addition to general-use questions, Josette offers considerations for the actual cloud provider. Here are some general suggestions:
- Choose a brand name cloud provider – e.g. Microsoft, Amazon, Google, NetSuite etc.
- Find out the physical location of the service provider’s data center, where the application and files are stored. Is this data center owned by the cloud provider or is it outsourced?
- Understand what kind of security controls and processes the provider has in place. Who will be administering your systems, can they see your data, and how do they avoid your data potentially being copied? Can other organizations who are using the same service potentially copy your data?
- Learn about their track record for up‑time. Planned downtime is a given – for them to perform scheduled maintenance and upgrades – and you want to know what it is.
- Know the historical length of downtime or average outage time, especially if it’s unplanned downtime, or a specific outage.
- Learn about the type of redundancies and data protection policies they have in place, in the event of loss of data, data corruption, unscheduled downtime or security breach.
- If you want to cancel your service, how easy is it to get your data and migrate to another service provider? Will they keep copies of your data after the service is cancelled?
- Get a copy of their SLA (Service Level Agreement) and support guarantees.
Located in Phoenix/Scottsdale, Arizona, Kinetik IT is a full-service information technology and internet services provider, offering a wide array of technology and internet strategy solutions, as well as sound advice. To learn more about services and products, and to stay up to date with Kinetik IT, visit www.Kinetik-IT.com or follow Kinetik on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter.