Should You Hire a Pro to Build Your Business Website?

The most upending event in recent history has been the pandemic. Its devastation ravaged lives, livelihoods, and businesses. That’s why it’s not surprising that small businesses are still scrambling to set up websites to help keep them afloat. In many ways it’s gone from a task that has been perpetually put-off, to one of desperation to complete.

However, haste makes waste. Have a think before you hitch your wagon to a big name website development company. Yes, they will churn out a site for you. But do they really take the time to know you, and know your business?

What Has Your Website Done for You?

Of course, the big dogs in the website architecture and design space are doing just fine. Their ‘plug-and-play’ and ‘do-it-yourself’ for a seemingly affordable monthly fee is more than appealing to most – especially first-timers trying to figure out how to be a player in the online arena without assistance. The DIY world has convinced us that we can do anything, do it better, and do it cheaper.

But ask yourself how frustrating building a website is. How many hours and phone calls, and emails to support does it takes get something to look right. Are those hours wasted time you should have been focusing your your business niche? So, what often happens? The project is forgotten, abandoned, ignored. But now, landing business face to face is not always an option. Business is often won based on one’s online presence.

For those that have a site they set up, ask yourself: what has my website done for me?

Cheap? Sure. Drop, drag, and click? Yep. The danger? Forgoing the opportunity to partner with a firm that will commit to your efforts personally could cost you in the end: stagnant sales, low-traffic, and ineffective presence in your respective industries. Perhaps it’s time to think long-term and not short-term.

Working with a developer who takes the time to know you, your business, and your goals has a much greater possibility creating a site that will help you execute. Even small nuances to a site can mean dramatic improvements in “bounce,” “time on site,” and “conversion rates.”

“From the beginning of the project, Preston was very attentive. He always listened, and worked to make sure what we wanted was always the focus,” said Mary Ann Hale, Owner of Lords Valley Builders, in Lords Valley, Pennsylvania.

Build Your Business Website – To Hire a Pro or Not to Hire a Pro

Pivoting to the “new normal” of commercial transactions hasn’t been as smooth for American small business owners as it has for larger entities. Those who’ve stayed afloat have been drinking from the firehose of reality: websites are how to make the donuts, even more now than before.

Would You Tune Your Ferrari?

Here’s the thing: our clients always vent about why they hemmed and hawed before finally working with a professional. By the end of their Webvantix experience, they exhale with relief and now appreciate why tailored, personal collaborations with dedicated experts produce the best results. And we’ve heard time and time again, how happy clients have been that a pro helped them through the process.

“I knew I needed help and needed it fast. I could not understand why my developer was taking so long just to get back to me. Weeks. I was desperate. Preston stepped in, took hold of the process, quickly got things on track, and built out a beautiful site, that has literally saved my business. I get emails requesting riding packages almost daily,” said Jessica Beyer-Harrell, from the California Riding Academy.

Love the Web Design Process

It’s highly doubtful that you threw together a business plan, borrowed a bunch of money for start-up costs, and took a que sera sera approach when you launched your business. More than likely, you followed the tried and true blueprint for starting your own business.

Well, that’s how Webvantix works, too.

We employ a step-by-step process when working with clients – starting with building a trusting partnership.

First, we’re in the trenches with clients, and take the time to listen to their visions. By doing so, we develop the kind of utility, navigation, functionality, and platform interactions we need to consider.

Second, we teach clients about the subtle yet nuanced purposes for exercising deliberation when crafting their site.

Third, we keep up with marketing trends, which means we will identify the best technology platforms for your business’ lead generation and growth.

Our mission is to build a website that – literally – works for you.

Building a New Website – It’s Actually Kind of Fun

By teaching clients that they’re not expected to know coding, hosting, or get an advanced degree in website development and design, they are able to relax and participate with our team without distraction or worry.

“From the beginning of the project, Preston was very attentive. He always listened, and worked to make sure what we wanted was always the focus,” said Mary Ann Hale, Owner of Lords Valley Builders, in Lords Valley, Pennsylvania.

“He explained things we did not understand, and was always available to answer our questions. We dreaded having a website built so much that we put it off for years. We were always going to do it, but never did.

“Preston just made it easy and fun, and here’s the thing, since the launch we’ve already closed on building a $600,000 home, specifically because of the website, and have several other leads totaling over $1,000,000. Because of the process, we get leads all the time, right in the middle of the pandemic.”

Should We Talk?

After the rollercoaster that was 2020, there’s no excuse for you to enter 2021 without seeking and establishing relationships with website designers who care as much about your success as you do.

And that’s Webvantix.

We will teach and explain the value propositions, returns on investment, and brainstorm with you to find creative approaches to generate new business by designing a stellar website.

Take that First Step

To learn more about how Webvantix works with clients, just click the button below.

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Avoid the Lawsuit: Make Your Website ADA Compliant Now

Your Website and The American’s With Disabilities Act

One of the hot button issues these days in website design, as well as website ownership, is ADA compliance. Yes, the Americans with Disabilities Act which was signed into law by President Bush in 1990, that was put into place to protect the rights of individuals with disabilities, has been interpreted at different levels to apply to websites as well.

ADA Website Compliance

According to the Bureau of Internet Accessibility, “Titles II and III of the ADA prohibit discriminatory lack of access for individuals with disabilities to goods and services of public services and public accommodations, respectively. Title II extends a prohibition on discrimination to the activities of state and local governments regardless of whether such entities receive federal financial assistance. Title III prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in places of public accommodation.

“The Department of Justice (DOJ), the agency charged with implementing the provisions of Titles II and III has stated in lawsuits and structured settlements that ‘no individual shall be discriminated against on the basis of disabilities in the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, or accommodations of any place of public accommodation.’

“The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) of the Worldwide Web Consortium (W3C) has created recognized international guidelines for website accessibility. These guidelines, which are set out in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), detail how to make websites accessible to all individuals with disabilities. The DOJ uses WCAG 2.0 Level AA as the accepted standards in which to judge a website’s accessibility.”

What does that mean for you as a website owner? Candidly, it means that, at the very least, certain customizations must be put into place to assure you follow the law, regardless of its interpretation by various courts, so that your website can be accessed by everyone.

Make Your Website ADA Compliant

As the aforementioned interpretation of the ADA is believed to apply to all websites, it not only has become incumbent upon business owners in certain verticals that have physical locations, but as it seems to have become a cottage industry for certain attorneys as a mode of leverage for litigation against businesses, all businesses should now take steps toward ADA compliance. Further, many states require websites that are built specifically for municipalities and public institutions to be in compliance.

According to Washington D.C. based attorney Jason P. Brown, from Hunton Andrews Kurth, LLC, who has written extensively on the subject of ADA website compliance in The Muddy Waters of ADA Website Compliance May Become Less Murky in 2019 in a recent conversation with Webvantix, indicated that, “plaintiffs’ counsel are becoming relentless on this issue and are starting to target smaller businesses.”

Brown added, one of the issues regarding compliance is that when the ADA was made the law of the land, the technology of the internet, and websites was still in its infancy, and “focused on discrimination based on disability that occurred in person or through personal interactions.” Yet, more recent attempts to clarify the law as it pertains to the internet have stalled or been met with outright failure, leading to a legal never-never land, open to interpretation by various courts.

This lack of detail has led to what Brown calls a “glut of litigation.”

For example, in 2018 Winn-Dixie was ordered to pay $250,000 (Gil v. Winn-Dixie), when it was found that its website was not ADA compliant.

Therefore, working to ensure your site is the most compliant it can be is now of paramount importance.

Legal Expert Speaks on Website ADA Compliance

In a statement forwarded exclusively to Webvantix, Brown offered some succinct advice:

“The courts, the Congress, and the Department of Justice continue to grapple with the scope of Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act as it relates to the accessibility of private businesses’ websites for disabled people. This uncertainty can be frustrating for businesses that are attempting, in earnest, to analyze litigation risk and/or take proactive steps toward making their websites accessible. For businesses that have the financial ability to do so, the best course of action is to consult with a competent web developer who is familiar with the latest developments in web accessibility design, especially the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines established by the World Wide Web Consortium (the “gold standard” adopted by some courts), or consult with an employment lawyer if they are already facing litigation or want an acute analysis of their litigation risk.”

Okay, Now What?

While we at Webvantix are not lawyers, and we recommend that to ensure your best protection that you seek professional counsel to work with your website developer, there are steps you can take to begin the process of making your website ADA compliant to the best of your ability.

Therefore, taking those initial steps to move the needle toward compliance is critical, and can be done via WordPress plugins that allow for, among other customizations, the ability to alter text size, and color or monochrome, along with keyboard-only, or mouse-less browsing. Additionally, adding an Accessibility Statement to your website, which highlights that your site is indeed efforting accessibility, highlighting what you’ve put into place, as well as the aspects that have not been customized.

It has come to the point where all website owners must undertake the responsibility to ensure that their websites are accessible, regardless of the interpretation of the law by various courts. It’s the right thing to do, and it can protect you from what can be expensive litigation.

Be sure and review the tools below. While by no means an exhaustive list, they will provide a strong jumping-off point for business owners and developers.

Information Provided is Not Legal Advice

This website (the “Website”) is a service made available by Webvantix, LLC (“Provider”). This blog post provides general information related to the law and lawyers designed to help users safely cope with their own legal needs. This website does not provide legal advice and Provider is not a law firm. None of our representatives are lawyers and they also do not provide legal advice. Although we have gone to great lengths to ensure this information is accurate and useful, federal and state and local laws may have chanced since publication date; we recommend you consult a lawyer if you want legal advice. No attorney-client or confidential relationship exists or will be formed between you and Provider.

What to Do If Your Website Developer Disappears

Why Do So Many Web Developers Disappear?

California Riding Academy in Pacifica, California had a big problem that needed to be addressed immediately. After relocating to Pacifica, the company’s owner realized their site was failing to load properly. Part of the site would load, and then the site would spin and spin, as if something was preventing the main content from fully loading. For a company that had just moved its physical location, it was important to fix it fast.

The problem: Their web developer had disappeared.

The Non-Responsive Web Developer

If you own a home, and have ever had a contractor do some work for you, doesn’t it seems= like they always get part of the way into your remodel, and then they land a plumb job, and pull their whole crew from your house to the new piece of business? If this hasn’t happened to you, count yourself as lucky.

In many ways web developers are just the same: contractors for your website. And so many of them start a job and then vanish. Poof. Other times a website may be completed, but when additional work needs to be done, they’re not to be found.

“My developer ignored my emails for a year.”

– Adriane Wendell, The Harrington House Bed and Breakfast, Milford, Pennsylvania.

What Do You Do When Your Web Developer Disappears on You?

Sadly, the only thing you can do is hire another developer. I had cases where the client had even given the old developer funds toward a job, only to be abandoned.

But here’s the key: When you go to find a new developer, make sure to do this one thing: Speak directly to at least one of their customers. No, I’m not talking about the testimonials we all add to our site, I mean literally have a conversation with one of their clients.

Why go this far?

Because if a web developer has a professional process in place, and existing customers can speak highly of that process, you know you’ve got a greater chance of hiring a quality professional, instead of a fly-by-night, guy working in his parent’s basement type of developer.

A developer that does not stay in touch with their clients is going to be reticent when it comes to giving out their contact information.

Next Step

Make sure, providing you have control of your site, that you contact your website’s host and get all your passwords changed.  Also, make sure that you are the one with the master passwords going forward.  Never be without the ability to lock-out people you don’t want accessing your site.  It’s your site, make sure you always have control of it.

Next Blog Post

In my next post, I’ll discuss three things you MUST do when setting up a new website, or rebuilding an existing website that are key to avoiding headaches down the line.

Do You Really Know Who is Building Your Website?

A Little About Me

I’ve been working since I graduated college in 1989. Lucky for me I was accepted into a prestigious Wall Street training program where I became a broker who specialized in working with truly high net worth clients, many of whom were holders of large blocks shares of publicly traded companies. This type of job is known as “Concentrated Stock Management.” Doing this at, then, three of the most prestigious firms in the world: Merrill Lynch, Bear Stearns, and Salomon Smith Barney gave me an interesting perspective into how wealthy business people managed their lives and their financial affairs. Here’s what made them different from everyone else:

The first question they asked was never about price.

Why not?

Because it was about working with trusted advisors who leveraged the correct tools for the job, and were able to deploy a strong suite of services that not only helped the client achieve very specific goals, but who were also professional in their delivery.

So, what did they ask?

They wanted to know how what we were doing could help them. Then they wanted to know the high points, and if they liked what they heard, they would move on to review the details.  And often, price was never in brought into the discussion.

Don’t Ask This One Question

After starting my own media company that built websites for businesses across the country, I noticed that, initially, instead of seeking to understand the totality of services and professionalism that were brought to bear by our company, most business owners we spoke to asked the same question: “how much do you charge?”

And while this is understandable, margins are thinner than ever before and people don’t want to throw away revenue, here’s one piece of advice that I can offer:  don’t ask “how much” first.

It’s a Trap!

Why?

Because it will trap you. Every professional I know, lawyer, broker, or web developer will not engage in a “race to the bottom.” There will always be a lower quote, a lower price, or friend who says, I got my website built for free!  Even as we pull away from the “everything is free” marketplace of the last decade, what is so important to remember is that free, is never free.

And what happens when you pick the lowest price? Usually you’re building a website again within a year, because:

  1. Your site is unfinished.
  2. Your site and its look is not representative of your company
  3. Your developer has disappeared.

Sound familiar? Almost each one of the sites I’ve built recently has been because the business owner can no longer reach their developer, or their developer just does not return their emails or calls.

How Important is Your Business to You?

As I continue to work closely with business owners not only to build them websites that often turn around their businesses, but to council them as a trusted advisor, what becomes evident is that once they get past the question of price, they quickly realize that growing their business is the key, and that by investing in a product or service that can help them do that is priceless.

To a smart business owner, a “cost” is expected to yield less than the price, an investment is something that will yield a higher reward than its price.

The question is, was your website a cost or an investment? And what has it done for you lately?

What Does Webvantix Do?

Simple: We build websites that help business grow their bottom lines by capturing more leads through strategically placed Calls to Action.

And we’ve never abandoned a customer. Ever.