Planning Your Website

You’ve decided to create a Web site, excellent, you’ve done the right thing! Next up is thinking about what kind of Web site you are going to need. Just like everything else, in order to create the best possible web presence for yourself or your business you need to ask yourself a couple of questions. Let’s take a look at some of the things you should be thinking about.

1. Deciding what you want to say

One of the most crucial concerns you want to tackle is that of stating as clearly as possible the purpose of the Web site in one sentence. You need to be as specific as possible here, something like “Creating the best looking website in the country” is not going to cut it. Focus on the real purpose of your Web site. Some excellent examples:

• To advertise music lessons offered by a collective of piano teachers in Malta
• To chronicle my trip to India working with orphan children
• To provide a showcase of all the products and services our company offers

That gives you a starting point that will lead you in the right direction for tackling the next question.

2. Targeting your audience

Defining the site’s intended audience is another determining factor in planning your Web site successfully. A site’s visual style and functionality is considerably influenced by its expected audience. When thinking about your audience, you should consider factors such as their age, experience in using the Web, sex, equipment they are using and educational background. Clearly a shopping site will have a more straightforwand and simple look and functionality compared with a technology magazine site, for example. While the shopping site has a very wide spectrum of potential users, a technology magazine website has a much narrower target audience and can probably afford to be more complex and snazzy.

3. Determining your resources

The final step is to thinkg about monetary, time and also bandwidth resources. Great websites don’t get done for free, and neither are they done in a day or two. The process of building a Web site does not only involve development resources but also the creation of materials and content, as well as ongoing maintenance.

It is also important to think about what bandwidth you can expect your users to have, if most of your users will probably have limited internet speeds it is probably not a good idea to include alot of bandwidth gobbling videos and animations, although they can be used sparingly where relevant.

Giving yourself the time to go through the ideas presented above will go a long way in ensuring that you start off your Web site venture on the right footing, with a clear idea of what the final Web site should work and how it will look like.

Advice for start ups and entrepreneurs

Here are a few lessons I’ve learnt along the way from my own experience and from experiences other entrepreneurs have shared with me. Hope you find them useful.

1. Take your time in choosing your company name, make sure it is understandable in multiple markets, and does not have negative meanings or connotations in other languages. Also work hard on creating a great looking logo that portrays the key features of your business.
2. Building a great looking website will also help you alot, preferably also include a blog which is great for attracting new visitors and engaging with your target market and peers.
3. Research and prepare contracts and questionnaires to use in the beginning stages of your relationships with clients. Although they might seem a nuisance, they help establish clear requirements and boundaries for the project. You will be thankful for doing them later on in the project. Having written agreements and spec documents are a God send when you or the client start to forget what had been said and promised earlier on.
4. Establish a clear work routine. Being your own boss gives you additional freedom but also more responsibility and a need for self-motivation and discipline. I have my working hours stuck to my wall and try to keep to them as much as possible. Avoid waking up late if possible. Somehow starting work early seems to provide some extra good vibe that will help you be more productive and satisfied at the end of the day.
5. Plan your day beforehand, set clear tasks and goals and if possible try to deal with one task at a time. It is hard to be efficient when you are thinking and worrying about 3 different jobs, as well as other distractions such as phone calls. A good idea is to take some time at the end of the day and prepare a work plan for the following day. This gives your mind the time to prepare and wake up the next day focused with clear objectives and the necessary motivation to get everything done.
6. Starting your own business brings on additional work and dedication, but it doesn’t mean you don’t have time for anything else. The important things in life are relationships and keeping yourself healthy, so make time for exercise, socialising (networking also gets new clients), and other hobbies. A good work-life balance will get you more motivated and satisfied with what you are doing.
7. Make plans. A business plan is recommended by many people, but even a simpler plan is enough to get going. It will help you focus your resources and help you make your goals clear and commit to achieving them.
8. Socialise and network, try to get to know as many people as possible, and not only from your line of work. Having a few friends in your direct line of work however is very useful as you can shoot them a quick mail/phonecall when you hit a tough problem, or need a second opinion on something.
9. Always carry around a set of professional business cards and hand them out generously, you never know who you might meet and where. Also keep in mind that although a person might not have a direct interest in your services, he might know someone who does and thus be able to recommend you.
10. Before meeting a prospective client, try to learn as much as possible about his business, his online presence and that of his online competitors. Try to anticipate what his concerns are, and try to think of a few ways he can improve his business (specifically online). Sharing these ideas during an initial meeting will naturally leave a very positive impression with the prospect. A developer who actually takes an interest in your business before he even gets the project definitely augurs well for a high level of service during the project itself.
11. Believe in yourself, and don’t let fear of things you don’t yet know hold you back from taking on challenging projects.

How to calculate Project rates

If you are working in a partnership, wherever you are in the world, it is very important to think about how you are going to price projects. Here is a straightforward way to make sure that you get a fair price for your work. In this example I will consider a one week project that two people will be working on.

1. Calculate total expenses per week

This would involved the wages paid to the partners and employees, rent, utilities, travel expenses and any other recurring expenses.

€1,250

2. Determine the number of working people on the project.

Let’s say the partnership involves a business development person, an accounts/customer relationship person, a programmer and a designer. The two persons who will be directly working on the project will be the programmer and the designer, so we have to divide the expenses per week between those two.

€1,250 / 2 = €625

4. Multipy that by the required profit and allowance for unforeseen delays and expenses.

For a company to grow it must make profit, so we have to multiply the expenses by a percentage profit we want the company to make. We must also consider unforeseen delays and expenses. We will therefore multiply the expenses by 40%

€625 * 140% = €875

There we have the final price for the project, which includes a profit for the company and an allowance for things like delays or difficulties which many IT projects have to face.

Another excellent guide for calculating day rates can be found here

Benefiting from the European Entrepreneur Exchange Programme

I have been recently selected as the first new entrepreneur to benefit from the European Entrepreneur Exchange Programme, which gives new entrepreneurs the chance to spend some time working with an established entrepreneur´s company.

I have been matched with a web development company based in Barcelona (Spain), where I have around a month to gain as much insight as possible. In my first week here I have already learnt alot, as Jordi Bufí, one of the company´s young directors, walks me through the start of Neurotic and the several challenges they have faced during the years. According to Jordi, one of the best ways to learn is to examine past mistakes that a business makes and analyse why they were made. This serves as an important lesson which helps you plan things in a better way to avoid such pitfalls. Of course mistakes are practically unavoidable in every business, and especially so when you are a new young entrepreneur with little experience. The advice and guidance of mentors at this stage of starting a new business is many times crucial for steering you in the right direction, and that is why I believe the Erasmus exchange program is very beneficial for new entrepreneurs.

Myself with the Neurotic team

Existing entrepreneurs who act as hosts for new entrepreneurs like myself, can also benefit through having someone on board who sees things from a different viewpoint. The fact that the new entrepreneur is coming from a different country with a different marketplace and way of doing things definitely acts as a spark for interesting topics and potential opportunities for collaboration and internationalisation of services. In my case I can also help the people in the company get more practice in the English language, which can serve them well when dealing with non-Spanish clients. Vice-versa I am also learning Spanish which gives me access to one of the world´s biggest markets.

I believe that the European Union is really giving an excellent opportunity to budding entrepreneurs to get up and running with the Erasmus for Young entrepreneurs programme, so I definitely encourage any young person who is thinking of opening up a business to take advantage of this programme!

Logo of Neurotic, the company where I am working

Misleading advertising? Pizza or no free pizza?!

Here is a REALLY misleading advert by a Pizza outlet in Sliema. These things really shouldn’t be happening nowadays…