As a web help person I’ve realized what I’m selling is a service – not just a website, a product, etc. I find myself providing more than just some brief technical help, but I go for more of a continuous relationship with my clients. I don’t just update a page, but I maintain software (all those updates), make sure hosting and domains are paid for, think about what’s going on to ensure we’re covering our bases. I think they pay me for more than just a site – but for the quick response, listening to them and explaining things.
My personality is one more drawn to details, to providing continuous service and getting the details done. It also fits my life better – as I’m clear that this is a part time job for me – so it needs to fit into having a full time job and a young family. While I’ll do updates by the hour I prefer the long term monthly relationship – where my client and I don’t have to count hours – where they know they can contact me and ask question, etc. We can be flexible which each other in getting the job done.
The web has also changed in that a business often doesn’t just need a single website – but it’s becoming much more interconnected. I’m learning, and they are, that to be successful you need to work with the social networking sites that are growing like crazy. In fact, this website being re-done as a blog is part of that – as this post appears (and you may be reading) on Twitter and Facebook. Sites like craigslist are also part of the new reality.
I think the reality of our world now is that what people want is more than just a quick business transaction – but a relationship. Especially for small businesses I realize that sometimes it’s not about what they can or cannot do – but what they want to do. There’s never enough time – so if I can take a little bit of the effort of thinking about their website, of making sure it’s up, data is backed up, etc. – it helps them a lot.
