Unfortunately, we will not be able to make you a site ...

The article is dedicated to people working not for money, but for the result. In fairness, I note that they usually have everything in order with money.

In this article I will not write about how to develop sites correctly and how to convince the customer that you are right. This is experience + full documentation of the project at each stage + the ability to competently conduct dialogue.

I just want to give examples and arguments so that the right developer with a light heart rejects an unnecessary client.

I think no one will argue that content is king. And it is with him that the site usually begins, as an information medium.

Based on this, we can conclude that not a single web studio will be able to make a really good site without very dense client participation, because nobody knows their consumers and market features better than the customer.

Oh ... this must be written!

Often, before the start of dancing with a tambourine, a competent developer will find out as much as possible from the client about the target audience and what will be done with the site after launch to help do with a minimum of additional improvements in the future and save the customer time and money.

This allows you to determine the structure of the site, its main sections.

At the same time, the developer asks for materials to fill them out, indicating that in general the site should show the advantages of the company, its products and services and confirm this with figures and facts. Otherwise, why should the buyer choose company X from thousands of similar ones? Web surfers no longer call the first office they come across and believe only in facts.

Materials are generally not ready. This is the first bell for you. If at this moment it turns out that the customer does not want / is not ready / will not do it, even if together with you (and we often sat at the table with clients and wrote materials ... with a pen on leaflets, additionally describing which photographs and illustrations need to do), nothing will come of your joint venture.

Why? Read on.

And here I want a red transparent line ...

Web design is an exact science. It is sometimes difficult to convey this to the client. Although much depends on who the designer is and who the customer is.

At this stage, everyone is trying to be creative. Even the cleaning lady, who accidentally looked into the office. After all, they have a liberal company and all opinions are taken into account!

In the event that the materials from the previous paragraph have not been prepared, it is very difficult to justify one or another type of pages, and you can never guess how in the end what your design used to look like. You will definitely be dissatisfied with the project, and the customer - you.

The design will have to be redone. Usually from scratch and with a new developer.

And it will be engaged in filling the site ... well, at least he!

He has a system administrator (marketer / advertiser).
I understand that there are system administrators who can write - you’ll download, and marketers who have studied html up and down.

But here, as a rule, those who are poked with a finger and who have their problems in bulk deal with sites. As a result, new materials spoil everything or are simply absent, although in the structure space is allocated for them. There is no one to cook them. Therefore, the site will either have empty sections, or you will be constantly pulled to help you. Not because they cannot, but because they are too lazy to understand.

And who made this crap?

These are the words of the director, who nevertheless decided to look at the site once a year. He generously signed accounts “for the Internet”, said that at last the company would become the most advanced, but there was somehow no time to look at the site.

The director usually has the correct understanding of how the company should develop, and the site has a special place in this strategy. That's just in a year you have done so much work, a lot of information has been shoveled, and the director will never see the work of this.

And you will be extreme. After all, money is “paid” to you?

Better a titmouse in the sky ...

I think that the result of the above is unlikely to decorate your portfolio, but ...
It’s not necessary to give up the client at all. I’m sure that normal developers have no competitors, but there are a lot of colleagues who will be ready to “pick up” your non-good client.

In this case, you can simply conclude a commission agreement and officially receive a reward. After all, any studio has sales managers who receive a percentage for the customer’s drive. In your case, the bonus will not be received by the manager, but by you. That's all.

It will also help to maintain uniform prices for customers who come from you, and for customers who themselves turned to your colleagues.

By the way, such agreements can significantly expand the list of your services, and communication of such clients with your colleagues can lead to an understanding of what they tried to convey to them ...

So who is our client, friends? Can someone like that?

1. Small business where you can directly reach the owner. He will understand you perfectly, if you, of course, are a specialist and understand the goals of the enterprise.
2. In the company, everyone who provides office work should use the Internet constantly to understand “how everything works there.”
3. Most likely, the company does not produce industrial goods and is used to communicate more with people, not with glands.
4. To work with the studio, a person should be allocated who reports and reports directly to the owner, and if necessary organizes a meeting with him for the performer.
5. Your partner from paragraph 4 should really love your company and work, i.e. one that simply cannot do its part of the work (preparation of materials) is bad. And it will constantly monitor you too, so that you don’t screw it up (not because you work badly, but because you are people too).
6. Your client must be able to listen (and you too) in order to find solutions to emerging problems together. The ability to cope with them is the key to success.
7. ...?

PS I believe that sites are a piece of product, and therefore only large companies can earn (a lot) on the development of other people's sites, where everything is put on stream (usually at the expense of quality), or well-known enterprises that can afford to work on one resource for a long time.