When you hire the right web developer, not only should you get the new website you need for your business or organisation, but all the knowledge too that comes from working with a professional expert in a related sector. It’s free and will benefit you far into the future.
Just as you would expect to learn a little bit about putting one brick on top of another, if you have the builders round to build an extension to your house. Or maybe even why footings need to be a certain depth and why drainage and ventilation are important in a new building. So it goes, that when you commission a knowledgeable, experienced web developer to build you a website from scratch, you should get to know a thing or two about digital along the way.
Do you want to know more about digital, or do you want them to just do the job?
Maybe you don’t want to know more about digital. You just want whoever you outsource your website build to just get on with it and leave you along. That’s fine, and completely up to you. But even the busiest of business owners may see the value in learning more about the increasingly relevant digital sector.
Things you can learn from your web developer
As you work with your web developer, you get to pick their brains along the way, and know more about aspects of technology that could help you to make more informed and progressive decisions about your business.
Savvy business owners see the value in being clued-up, not just about their own industry, but emerging developments in related sectors.
- You’ll discover more about your own brand
If you’ve never really examined who your customers are, what your values are and what makes you different to your competitors, by talking through the build of a new website, your developer will talk to you about these things. You’ll start to hone your offer and possibly uncover some great collateral for branding and marketing purposes.
- You’ll understand how you can improve and refine processes
Depending on the type of web build you may potentially touch upon what you want your website to achieve in terms of servicing and communicating with customers. Talking through current admin and processes can lead to discovering new and easier ways to do things, potentially using automated systems and CMS as part of your web build.
- Get to know about new software, and ‘the cloud’
Your web developer may ask why you’re sending hundreds of emails every day instead of using a collaboration or project management app, or even just Microsoft Teams. Perhaps you already know about the possibilities of efficient cloud-based apps to enable more efficient working; if you don’t this is a great opportunity for you.
- Know about being compliant with data and security
It depends on the extent of your web build, but if your security or systems regarding how you hold customer data are lax, it will potentially be uncovered – to your advantage. Rather than seeing this as a worry, see it as a getting the knowledge you need to improve your systems, security and integrity of your operation.
- Know more about the principles of design
If you know nothing about digital design for great customer experience, you have the opportunity to pick up some useful knowledge. For instance, how browsers read a web page, how to guide them to where you want them to be on your website and what you want them to do, why white space is important, and why the brand experience is important.
All these things you can learn from your web developer that are naturally occurring from the website development experience. And they will all stand you in good stead for the future of your business development.
Instead of getting frustrated with how things are done, you will know there is the technology available to do them better, and differently. Get the most out of your web developer, that’s why they are there, to help you get the most from digital and to let you know, they are the experts in their field and you can go to them for advice.
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