The Confident Web Designer

09/13/2024

https://mackenziegraham.ca/blog/how-to-streamline-content-collection-for-web-designers-and-save-time

Tired of chasing clients for content? Learn how to streamline content collection for web designers with clear expectations, templates, and automation. Discover how the Content Collection Library can help you save time and keep projects on track.

09/10/2024

What To Do When You Get Crap Website Content From Clients (Because Yes, It Happens... a lot 😬)

I still remember the first time opened a client's website content and thought, "What the hell am I supposed to do with this?" (to give you an idea, it included photos of photos 🤦‍♀️)

We’ve all been there. You're staring at a mess of disjointed, unclear, or downright unhelpful content, and you're not sure whether to scream or sigh.

Here’s how to turn that mess into a masterpiece (or at least something useable):

Don’t Panic! Take a breath and remember, you're the expert. This is why your clients hired you—to help them get clear, concise, and compelling content.

Schedule a Friendly Check-In : Gently let your client know that some of the content needs improvement. Suggest a call to clarify their message and goals. People are more receptive when they feel supported, not criticized.

Give Clear Feedback: Be specific about what’s missing or needs reworking. Use examples. "This section could be clearer by explaining how your service benefits the client" is way more helpful than "This isn’t great."

Provide a Template or Guide: A good template works wonders. Offer a content guide that helps them organize their ideas better. Bonus? It cuts down back-and-forth edits!

Offer Content Services (Upsell Opportunity!): If they're struggling to write it themselves, offer to step in or recommend a professional copywriter. This can be an excellent upsell for your services and helps the project run smoother. Win-win!

Remember: Bad content doesn't mean a bad client—it’s often just a sign they need a little more guidance. And that’s where you shine!

How do you handle bad client content? Share your tips in the comments.

09/06/2024

The latest blog post is up.

Learn how to create a clear, effective project scope document that sets expectations and prevents scope creep. Download my free, customizable project scope template to simplify your web design projects and streamline client communication.

09/04/2024

I'm back! And big changes are on the way!!

10/14/2021

I wrote this post in October of 2020. I still think a lot of these are relevant, so if you are struggling to find a niche, here's a high level list to check out...

________________________________________________________________

Picking a niche -
Here are some niches that have potential for a lot of work for the rest of 2020 and into 2021. I won’t bore you with the statistics, and these are high level so you may want to niche down even further, but here’s the lists (in no particular order):
1. Personal well being (like fitness, meditation, exercise)
2. Online education
3. E-commerce
4. Restaurants
5. Medical + health
6. CBD or Cannabis
7. SaaS or on demand software
8. Fintech
9. Health snacks/vegan foods
10. Pets
11. Sexual wellness/femtech/sextech
12. Subscription boxes

09/29/2021

Finding your ideal client

I've talked with a lot of web designers & developers and something I see/hear often is a fear of picking a niche or defining an ideal client.

This fear can come from a few places:
The fear of missing out on work. If you're not open to working with anyone, what if you miss out on a project? (this one creeps up A LOT when you are first starting your biz)

The fear of going against what everyone else is doing. This is a biggie and I see it a lot - people are afraid to define their ideal client because it is different from what everyone else is doing. Doesn't it seem like everyone and their dog wants to work with coaches or course creators and small business owners... (and there is absolutely nothing wrong with serving these folks - as long as they are who you want to work with).

When I started my business, I went completely against the grain. I knew I wanted to work with large organizations, designing and developing their intranets. (FYI, I had several people tell me I was crazy).

So how do you define your ideal client?

If you google it, you will find A TON of activities that you can do to help you. I definitely encourage you to do those activities. But there are a few activities I like to do that are a bit different.

1. Define my mission, my vision and my values. I want to work with people who's values align with my own. They don't have to be the same, but they do have to align.

2. Figure out what I like to talk about (and can comfortably talk about). Here's the thing. Successful sales is all about making connections. Nobody wants to feel sold to all the time. But you do need to be able to reach out and make connections. What's a great way to make connections? A shared interest. Love talking about art? Awesome. Target artists. Love talking about video games? Great. Target streamers. I can talk about employee engagement and internal communications all day everyday, which is why I targeted large organizations that would have an intranet.

3. Decide how much money do I want/need to make. Look, I am all for working with whomever you want, but if you envision building a multi-million dollar business, targeting small mom and pop shops might not be the right choice.

So, with all of that in mind, tell me about your ideal client.

07/23/2021

Let's talk about change budget. It really is the easiest thing you can implement in your business to help eliminate scope creep.

Every project you do should have a change budget. Changes to scope (even small changes) can be project killers. Every little change the client requests has an impact of a project timeline and budget.

Don't use a change budget? No worries. Here are three easy steps to help you implement one.

1. Pick your price
You decide how much a change budget should be. New to projects? Pick a flat rate. (Between $250 and $500 are popular rates for new designers)

Been in business for a while? Make it a percentage of the total project cost. (5% - 7% is a good range)

2. Build your process
You want to make sure you have your systems and processes in place for handling a change budget.

Decide on things like - When will you collect the change budget? How do clients request changes to a project (and have it come out of the budget)? What constitutes a change? What happens if they go over the change budget? What happens to any unused money from the change budget?

3. Communicate it
Hidden fees are the worst and your change budget should come as no surprise to your clients.

The change budget should be discussed before they become clients, it should be outlined in your welcome package (and your contract*), and it should be covered during the kick off meeting.
(*I'm not a lawyer so this isn't legal advice.)

So tell me - do you have a change budget? If not, are you going to start implementing one? Let me know in the comments below. 😃

07/22/2021

How many times have you heard that confidence and mindset go hand in hand? You need the right mindset in order to be confident. Your mindset dictates your confidence, etc...etc...etc.

You know what - I get it. There is a connection between your mindset and your confidence. But there is also something else. Something that helps both your mindset and your confidence. And that is the confidence you get from feeling prepared. Prepared for that meeting. Prepared for that new client. Prepared for that sales call.

Having systems in place for your business is a surefire way to give you a boost of confidence. Knowing you're prepared feels good.

And when you feel prepared you feel more confident. And when you are feeling more confident your mindset grows and improves.

It's a magical cycle of awesomeness.