Yes, it’s hard when the person in charge of your online presence is either never available or hard to talk to. You call and don’t get a call back. You send an email and wonder if it got lost in cyberspace. And finally, when you do get in touch with him or her, the conversation is short and abrupt. Don’t worry, you are not alone.
Coding Takes Concentration
To do a good job, building a functional and attractive website (that is not built from a generic template) requires a lot of interacting parts. To make all of these parts work requires a level of concentration and a long stretch of uninterrupted time. This is usually the main reason why you don’t get a call back immediately. Once a web developer’s left brain is wrapped around a string of logical operators while his or her right brain is trying to make the site look pretty, there is very little mental capacity to hold a productive phone conversation.
“Fake It ‘Til You Make It”
Unfortunately, this is the way a lot of web developers, especially website salesmen who don’t do the coding, run their businesses. Website building has only really been around for 15 years or so, and the way to do the job properly is still a gray area. You should educate yourself on web development before you hire anyone to know exactly what you want, what technologies are available, and what the reasonable costs are. A good sign of an honest and reputable developer is an extensive portfolio of happy customers. They might cost a little more, but their experience will save you a few headaches in the long-run.
Tips for Communication
1. Know what you want before you ask for it. This is a big one. You don’t need to know the technical details, but you should be able to describe the end result of what you want in as much detail as possible.
2. If your site requires a lot of attention, don’t hire a single web developer. Instead, hire a company with a team of people who can handle both the work that needs to be done and your customer service requests.
3. Web developers have no use for anything but the truth about your business (e.g. inflated or plausible sales figures). The scientific side of web development requires that you communicate only with facts and actual numbers in the same way that a bridge or airplane should be safely built.
4. Know that a good website is built from the inside out, not the outside in. You might want it to look a certain way, but your developer wants it to work a certain way.You can have a good looking car, but if the engine doesn’t work you won’t get very far in it.
5. Computers have no emotions. Programmers work with them all day. Keep this ever-present in your mind when communicating with them.
Hopefully you are not having any issues with your website and you have a great relationship with your developer. But if not, know you are not alone.