Fast, Cheap, Good – Pick Two. This old adage relates to most project based businesses and website projects are no different. A great website won’t be built with all three of those attributes.
A successful website’s project span can be broken down to the following stages:
- Discovery and planning
- Design
- Development
- Launch and training
That can seem like “only 4 steps” and that may be where people get confused and think that fast, cheap and good can be achieved in a website project. The problem with that thought process is that each of those steps contain many steps. But, since every web project is inherently different, web developers tend to condense them in the interest of simplicity. This has created the misinterpretation that the “pick two” adage doesn’t hold true for website projects.
Well it does!
And here are some examples:
– You have your tech friend who ‘builds websites’ on the side help you build your site. In this case you’re going for the cheap route and assuming your friend is skilled, good. But since your friend will be doing this in their free time, don’t expect to get the project completed quickly, if ever.
– You want a site and you want it fast but you have a small budget. In the interest of speed you believe working with a web development company is the best option. They’ll be able to build you a site quickly; but it won’t be well thought out, will probably have a lack luster design and may not even perform the functions that you require and thus will be no good.
– Your budget is low but you have time. This is somewhat misleading as the reason the site will be cheap and good is that you will be handling the discovery and planning stages. The developer will expect you to have a rock solid design plan, the functionality specifically mapped out and the content already generated before the project begins. All of that takes time and since the project needs to be cheap, it’s going to be yours.
Are you seeing the trend?
Like most things in life, you can’t have your cake and eat it too. However, you can have a great website that looks amazing, informs your customers and drives sales. You just have to decide which two to pick – Fast, Cheap, Good!
