![\"92d21a572172b3ff5eae8a3cf37b4a79\"](\"https:\/\/2013.portland.wordcamp.org\/files\/2013\/06\/92d21a572172b3ff5eae8a3cf37b4a79-150x150.jpeg\")
Andy Hayes is a creative web producer based right here in sunny Portland, Oregon. While his background is in IT, he\u2019s owned a hospitality company, published two books, and has bought & sold a variety of travel and tourism websites. He joins us this year to talk through some website critiques, what works, and what doesn’t.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s the best way for me to come prepared for the session?<\/strong> If I wanted to hire someone to make a website for me, what should I look for? How do I judge someone to see if they\u2019ll produce what I want? <\/strong> What work managing my website should I take on myself, and what should I hire out for?<\/strong> How should I consider my business\u2019 web presence when running the business is a full-time job in itself?<\/strong> Andy Hayes is a creative web producer based right here in sunny Portland, Oregon. While his background is in IT, he\u2019s owned a hospitality company, published two books, and has bought & sold a variety of travel and tourism websites. He joins us this year to talk through some website critiques, what works, and what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5733040,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-121074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-speakers"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pheW5A-vuO","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/portland.wordcamp.org\/2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/portland.wordcamp.org\/2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/portland.wordcamp.org\/2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/portland.wordcamp.org\/2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5733040"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/portland.wordcamp.org\/2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121074"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/portland.wordcamp.org\/2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121074\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":130362,"href":"https:\/\/portland.wordcamp.org\/2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121074\/revisions\/130362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/portland.wordcamp.org\/2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/portland.wordcamp.org\/2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/portland.wordcamp.org\/2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nI can\u2019t critique everyone\u2019s website in this session, so regardless, I encourage you to come to this session knowing two things: what parts of your site you think are the best, or most popular, and what parts of your site you think could be better. You\u2019ll find this useful info as we go through the critiques.<\/p>\n
\nWeb design involves a lot of personal preferences – it\u2019s like interior design, if you don\u2019t like pink, it\u2019s not because pink is bad or wrong, you just don\u2019t like it. So while it\u2019s important to look at a web designer\u2019s portfolio and ask for relevant examples & testimonials, the most important thing to look for in a web designer is communication skills. You want someone that understands your comfort level with technology and is able to communicate with you in a style that works for you – some of us are phone people; some of us are email people. Maybe you like using drawings and pictures, or maybe you only work via smoke signal. If you have a designer that you can communicate with effectively, all things can be conquered.<\/p>\n
\nFor tasks and activities core to the business and change regularly \u2013 for example, updating your restaurant menu or posting a weekly sales special \u2013 I think business owners should be empowered to be able to make these changes; whether you choose to do them or choose to outsource them is a business decision, but you need to be able to get by if your contractor goes out of business. For bigger projects and technical work, if you aren\u2019t a web designer, you shouldn\u2019t be doing that work – bring in help to do the heavy lifting.<\/p>\n
\nIn today\u2019s marketplace, this question is like asking \u201chow should I consider managing my voicemail and phone calls when running the business is a full-time job.\u201d It\u2019s non-negotiable – if you want to be competitive and relevant, you need a website. Having said that, you need to get clarity on what\u2019s important for your customers, provide that, and everything else is a bonus. The magic is finding out that sweet spot, which is different for every business. For example, you have a restaurant? You need hours and location, reservations info, and specials\/menus. That\u2019s what potential and current customers expect. However, a motivational speaker will be more focused on videos of his\/her previous work, testimonials, and pricing guidelines. The customers have totally different expectations. What are your customers\u2019 expectations?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"