If you’re like the majority of small business owners you have been surprised by the horrible ugly beast named “Project Creep” at some point in your career. You start a project and anticipate $2000 budget. You have a vague idea of what you want and get to work.

Before you know it the project has grown into a massive $10,000 hairy beast that overtakes a whole cubicle of its own, and even starts attacking poor unsuspecting employees in the hallway as they stroll to the water cooler. Ok maybe not… but project creep is a serious problem that needs to be addressed and actively fought against.

IT Hands has the solution to defeat project creep in each and every battle (or project) you face.

Wikipedia says that Project Creep is when “the initial objectives of the project are jeopardized by a gradual increase in overall objectives as the project progresses.” Basically, your project grows and grows and grows without you expecting it (like Bowser on the final level of Mario World).

There are many suggestions of how to fight project creep (I’ll save the tips for defeating Bowser for another blog), but in this blog we are going to focus on fighting project creep in web design.

Our Quick Tip: Built-in Web Consultation

Many companies follow the SCRUM methodology in which upfront estimation takes more time because it is thorough. Some companies claim to have ‘instant quote’ abilities, but this is as accurate as shooting at a target blindfolded and unless you have ex-ray vision, this method doesn’t work well. Any quality web design company does not quote instantly especially since custom professional websites can range anywhere from $2000- $50,000.

Web Design Consulting Milestones

IT Hands takes you through this process with one on one consultations with experienced web design consultants. We ask you questions like:

What’s your site’s purpose?

• Your website has several purposes all of which are important. We will review with you the main purposes of your website and build the website to meet such purposes. We keep the focus of your site in mind at all times to ensure that the purpose of your site is achieved

Who is your competition?

• We will provide you with resources in order to do an analysis of your competitions’ websites (or websites that are in a similar industry). This exercise is very useful in helping bring clarity to your ideas about your own website and also for distinguishing you from the competition.

What brand image do you want to convey?

• How does your customer perceive you? Make a good impression with quality branding elements in your design that will stand above the competition. How will your site be used?

How will people use your site?

• Users expect to be able to find info they are looking for quickly and easily. We will review your navigational structure and make suggestions on how to make it user friendly.

How important is SEO?

• Do you have an idea, but don’t have time to research it? Will your business plan work? We have people dedicated to finding the answers to your questions.

We also walk through:

1. Webdesign questionnaire
2. Competitive analysis questionnaire
3. Extensive Content Consultation (text and photo)

Common Concerns for Content Creation

We’ve helped dozens of customers go through the content creation process and we’ve found a few common concerns.
“Writing content takes too much time.”

• This is why IT Hands offers content writing as a service. We will review your content and make recommendations in order to create the most positive user experience. Let us do it for you.

” I’m not a writer.”

• You need to spend your time building your business. If you’re not sure how to get your point across in a clear and organized manner? We will assist you in creating content that articulates your message clearly.

“But I don’t have pictures and I don’t have time to hire a photographer”

• After helping you discover your likes and disllikes, we will search for and recommend quality stock photography that helps communicate your message.

Through thorough planning and directed purposeful questions, IT Hands will help you define the scope of your website project so there are no surprises. Because we don’t like the big ugly ugly Project Creep monster either.

For more on content creation see our content creation process or contact us for a free one on one consultation.