CompMaui

So what's the deal with Maui web site design? How do I get started and ensure I don’t make the ultimate, number one, most horrific web site design mistake everyone seems to make?

Well, designing a web site for a Maui business is a unique challenge that is not to be left up to your web designer. Your Maui based company is far too important to allow someone that does not understand your business to design your web site. Write your own text; don’t leave this up to a techie for your businesses sake!

Let’s reverse roles here for a moment and imagine your web designer comes to you and asks for all the text and images he’s going to need for his “Maui Web Site Design” companies website. You don’t know or understand his business, nor do you have a vested interested in learning about what he does. You would more than likely end up with poorly written copy, irrelevant graphics, useless features and a poorly though out navigation scheme. Well unfortunately that’s how it is. A web site designer’s job is simply to build a functional web site, not to learn the inner workings of your business and apply them to the net. So what can you do to ensure your well designed Maui web site generates customers and isn’t just a brochure lost somewhere on the internet?

Prepare yourself before you even consider speaking to a Maui Web Site Designer.

Get a pencil and draw out every single web page you want on your site. Try to visualize a design that will best suite your business from your customer’s point of view. Write all of the text using your customer’s vocabulary that you want your Maui web site designer to use. Gather the pictures and graphics you want. List all of the tools and features you want. By simply gathering this information you have removed all of the guesswork on your designer’s part. This will save your web site designer time and you money.

How to find a Maui web site designer.

Step One:
Be sure to use a web site designer here on Maui. This ensures there are no time zone gaps. It can be a real hassle to update and make changes to your web site when the company you used to design your web site has closed for the day.

Step Two:
Search Google for terms like “Maui Web Site Design,” “Maui Website Design,” and “Maui Web Design” and check out the companies that are at the top of the results. Most Maui website design companies showcase the sites they created. Inspect these sites and see if they are similar to what you are looking for. What you see is most likely what you are going to get. Web site designers tend to get comfortable with a design style and use it throughout their client’s sites.

Step Three:
Call the potential website design specialists clients. This is generally easy to do because most businesses have their phone number on their website. Ask them about the reliability and speed of the designer. You don’t want someone that takes a month to make a simple change!

Step Four:
After finding a reliable Maui web site designer call them! Let them know you already have all the components for your site gathered. Ask them about their pricing and if there is a monthly maintenance fee.

Step Five:
Make sure that YOU own your website address, not your web site designer. Be clear that you wish own the site and all of its content once the project is complete.

Care and Feeding

Don’t let your site sit and gather dust once you finish, there is a lot more to owning a website than just the initial creation. From a search engine point of view you need to keep it updated with fresh content and constantly be critiquing it to best suit your niche!

If you have any questions or simply want to chat about web site design please drop me a line, I would love to chat with you!

If you're interested in building your own site, I highly recommend checking out Website Tips for ideas and help!

Be sure to contact me. I know a few good Maui Web Site Designers that may be able to help you get started.