By: Debbie Campbell

I found this fun post about what not to do with a website on one of my mailing lists this week. Josiah hits many nails right on their respective heads here…

Here's my favorite:

6. This one is going to get me in trouble. If you are a print designer, and "do websites on the side", STOP DOING websites and providing "advice" to your print clients about web design. Print design to web design is like designing an ad for a race car, and actually building and racing that race car. Don't get me wrong, print is great and all, you make pretty pictures and wonderful messages crafted with great copy, but when it comes down to it, it's still just a picture. People cannot buy the product with a print ad (yet), they can't communicate with your business through a print ad. I can already here the grumbling coming from the print world, and look, it's not that I don't see a purpose for print advertising, just stick to print and don't nose you're way into a medium which you do not know and wouldn't understand (same goes for general "geeks" who do websites ‘on the side').

I couldn't agree more.

Earlier this week I got a call from a potential client - we were supposed to meet to discuss a site for her employer, who's building a very large and very upscale business park.

She apologized but said that her employer had decided to ‘get a personal friend' to build their site instead.

I wrote her back, thanking her for letting me know, and suggesting she contact me in six months if they need SEO help for their new site.

I can just imagine what it's going to look like - this is a huge mistake, IMO, that's going to cost them down the road.

Just because you have Dreamweaver, that doesn't make you a professional web designer, any more than having QuickBooks makes you an accountant.

Sorry, but it's too true!

Comments