Tag Archives: Justin Kitch

About 2423 days ago Setting Up a Website

Keys for Designing a Successful Site

Justin Kitch, CEO and co-founder of Homestead Technologies, Inc., runs a business providing users with website creation software. This can be both a good and a bad thing — for a business owner’s ultimate goal of creating a successful site. While the webmaster or other person designing the site can add bells and whistles at their discretion, sometimes they do go overboard. Kitch had to intervene in one client’s case. The business chose multiple add-ons, such as a plethora of twinkling lights and twirling letters – so much that it became a customer turn off. As they say in a certain fashion magazine, that was an example of a Glamour Don’t! Here’s how your business can avoid such a fate. Think elegant Just like in any well-run office or home, getting rid of clutter is key. The same applies to your website. There should be lots of white space, no background, and no sounds, says Kitch. “People aren’t going to a restaurant website to be entertained. They are going there to find out information about eating at the restaurant.” Unless you are a running a site made for entertaining viewers, leave the dazzle to Hollywood. Make sure that the design doesn’t overwhelm the content, says Andrew McLendon, chief creative officer at Web Advanced, an Irvine, Calif. website design company. The website should be clean and straightforward. Period. Why it exists It should be evident why the site exists. “If it’s not clear, then you have already failed,” says Kitch. It should have a single header. The name and simple tagline should describe exactly what you do. “Your site should reflect what your company delivers,” adds Victor Liu, CEO of Web Advanced People tend to forget that their sites have to have a purpose and a reason for visitors to go there. And, if that’s not apparent, there’s a problem. Usually, says Kitch, what users want is to be able to sign up for a newsletter, be recognized as a repeat customer and/or be given the benefits of being such, and want to be able to give feedback. Does your site let visitors accomplish this? Navigate this The site should have a navigation system that’s simple. Think about what people would want to get from your site or what they’d want to do on your site. Then have it designed so that the information or activities are easily attained or accomplished. Writes Harley Manning, vice president and research director of Forrester Research, Inc., of Cambridge. Mass. in his June, 2006 report, “Don’t Rationalize Bad Site Design”: “The acid test for any design is that it must help target users achieve their goals.” If that can’t happen, what’s the point? According to Liu, “When people are looking for information on the Internet you have about five seconds to give it to them.” Nike can get away with more flashy effects because of who they are. A lot of small and medium sized businesses aren’t Nike. They have to be more direct. “Years ago people talked about Web surfing. I think today consumers are more interested in going in and getting the info that they need,” says Paul Epstein, CEO of High Voltage Interactive, a Sausalito, Calif. online marketing firm. “Today, it’s less about surfing and more about finding right kind of information.”

About 2423 days ago Setting Up a Website

Hiring a Web Designer

Doug Hamlin, president and CEO of Torrance, Calif.’s AutoMedia Solutions, knew it was time to revamp his website. To keep up with the advertising market, he had shifted his business model from business-to-business to consumer, but his website had yet to reflect that. He needed to completely overhaul is website to advise consumers on which cars to buy and on car maintenance. He needed to implement changes like getting rid of his password-protected website and donning a more consumer-friendly look and feel — and that was just be the beginning. In the first go-round, AutoMedia had built its website internally, but the company recognized it didn’t have the needed expertise to build a more complicated site. Diverting the attention of his small staff to build the site wouldn’t be efficient. He wanted to find a service provider who would listen and understanding his company’s needs. But who would do that job? “Unless you are funded with venture capital, you need to be efficient,” says Hamlin. So an expensive design agency wouldn’t be the right fit for AutoMedia; Hamlin needed to hire a Web designer or small design firm. Here are five things experts say he should look for: Consider experience Ask to see work the Web designer has done before. There’s a reason for the cliché: “The best indication of present and future behavior is past behavior.” Other client sites will show you the designer’s credibility as well as their different styles and designs. “By the work, you know the craftsmanship,” says Harley Manning, vice president and research director at Forrester Research. Also, ask the designer to tell you who the site was designed for and what their needs are. “If they can’t describe the person, it’s a huge warning sign,” says Manning. Andrea Peiro, founder and CEO of the Small Business Technology Institute, says a Web designer should have a minimum of two years’ experience and at least two current references. The references should be checked to see if the vendor delivers on time; is responsive to client needs; provides consistent, professional service; meets or exceeds expectations; and provides solutions at an agreed upon price. Expect multi-skills Does the company or individual do design as well as development? A good one would do both. Sometimes a really creative person can only take the technical part so far. A designer may be able to design a pretty site but it could be a problem if, say, you need a shopping cart, notes Gary Chen, Yankee Group analyst for the small and medium business strategies decision service. Look for full-service firms wherever possible. It shouldn’t be surprising that great programmers don’t usually make good graphics. Beyond design and production If it’s within your budget (and it never hurts to ask), find out what else the company can do for your site. For example, can they also help you market your website? Can they help you optimize your site for search engines? Many Web designers will at least have some feel for this. Justin Kitch, CEO and co-founder of Homestead Technologies, Inc., which provides website creation software and other e-commerce solutions services, encourages users to look for new ways to improve their websites. One example: Homestead offers site analytics and metrics to look at your site and see who is filling out your forms. That way you can tailor any changes to be more effective. Process matters “What separates a bad site and a good site is how well it influences the performance of the business,” says Peiro. There should be a sign-off process and the designer should give you a creative brief as an overview. There should also be a document outlining technical specifications — a blueprint for programming. Make sure that he is building a site that fits the needs of your business and industry, says Peiro. Location, location, location AutoMedia Solutions’ Hamlin had an instinct to go local.  Being local has its benefits. For one, there’s more hands-on care. The close interaction is also appealing. “I found my new vendor by doing Internet searches for someone in the area,” Hamlin says. After a couple of conversations, Hamlin drove to nearby Irvine to meet with Victor Liu, CEO of Web Advanced, and his team. There was an immediate connection. “Like everything, business is about relationships,” says Hamlin. “And, then like most decisions, you take a leap of faith and go.”

About 2423 days ago E-Commerce

Great Free Tools for Online Business

One of the great things about the Web is the proliferation of free information and tools available. There is even a movement out there, called Open Source, which Wikipedia defines as describing “practices in production and development that promote access to the end product’s sources.” Here’s how you can take advantage of the generosity out there that’s ripe for the picking: Get set-up:Check out the website for SCORE, a non-profit which describes itself as “Counselors to America’s Small Business” and “America’s premier source of free and confidential small business advice for entrepreneurs.” The site offers loads of free tools and advice such as how to write up a business plan, build a website, and position your business. It should be one of the first stops that any small business owner should make if he hasn’t already, and even then it should be a routine click because there is often new information posted. Look around: There is help for small businesses to be found all over the Internet, says Victor Liu, co-founder of Web Advanced, a Web design firm in Irvine, Calif. One site that aggregates them for you is The Free Site, essentially an online holding pen of practically every free deal out there (hence the name).Some tools to help you ramp up your online presence include Marketing Today, which offers information about online marketing, and Any Browser, which lets you know how others see your site when it pops up on their browser. The latter also provides tools to fix things in case it turns out that the site others are seeing is indeed not what you intended. For better functioning websites, Liu highly recommends Google Analytics, which can help you find out how much of your traffic is organic versus paid. Get the message out: Blogs and podcasts can be valuable tools for companies to promote their sites. Paul Epstein, CEO of High Voltage Interactive, an online marketing firm, has suggestions of where to get started on these. For free information about blogs check out Technorati and also see Blogwise about setting up your own. For information on how to set up podcasts, check out PodBlaze. If it’s free, can it be good: Gary Chen, the small and medium business strategies analyst at the Yankee Group, a Boston research firm, also is cynical. A lot of free sites are not what they appear to be; they have hazy privacy policies. Check to see what the policies are — a quick search on the Internet to see if anything bad comes up can be a good start. “But, if you’re not sure, stay with a more reputable site,” he says. But even if it is reputable, as with anything gotten for free, especially if the service isn’t be offered by a non-profit organization, be careful. Justin Kitch, CEO and co-founder of Homestead Technologies, Inc., a website creation software company that once had a different business model involving giving away free product, knows of what he speaks. “If something is for free there’s a reason,” he says. “If you offer a free service you can’t think about the free customers. The most important person is this case isn’t the customer it’s the sponsor.”

About 4736 days ago E-Commerce

Almost Free E-commerce

CEO’s Start-Up Toolkit: E-commerce Becoming an E-business is cheaper and easier than it used to be — if you’ve got the time to do it yourself There was nothing “dot-com” about Dr. Beex Birdkakes. When Jeff Clemmer bought the Skippack, Pa., specialty-bird-food business in 1995, he began taking orders from loyal customers around the country on a toll-free phone line. In 1998 customers suggested he sell his Birdkakes online. Until then Clemmer had used his computer primarily for making labels and storing files, and he had yet to experience the World Wide Web. But he flipped open the phone book and found a Web developer. The programmers at AB Internet, in nearby West Norriton, created a clean-looking custom Web page that accepts credit-card orders. The project took two months and cost $800. Clemmer is comfortable with the way AB Internet walked him through every step of the process. And though his modest site isn’t going to be the next Amazon.com, “it’s exactly what I wanted,” he says. Experiences like Jeff Clemmer’s are about to go the way of the dodo bird. As easy and inexpensive as Dr. Beex’s site was to create, setting up E-commerce has gotten even faster and cheaper, at least in terms of up-front costs. Last fall, about a year after Dr. Beex went online, dozens of dot-coms flocked to the Web offering E-commerce services that were either free or cost a few hundred bucks. Companies like Freemerchant.com, Bigstep.com, eCongo.com, and others are giving small businesses the ability to register their own domain name, create a site, list an unlimited number of catalog items, and — most important — sell their goods and services securely. Analysts say free or cheap online E-commerce services will grab a major chunk of the small-business market. For one thing, many consultants are unwilling to take on jobs as small as Clemmer’s Dr. Beex site. And the new services provide more flexibility — and offer more help in setting up and marketing the site — than your typical shrink-wrapped E-commerce software does. “Small businesses have little time, little money, and little technical expertise,” says Jack Staff, chief economist for IntelliQuest’s Zona Research, in Redwood City, Calif. “Clearly, these services are a chief value-add for small businesses.” Just one caveat: “free” E-commerce bears an eerie resemblance to that other mythical beast, the free lunch. Take the case of John Watts, who with partner Doug Puls founded Coast to Coast, an online harmonica store in Ellicott City, Md. Their Web site was basically a company brochure at first. Some of the company’s customers wanted to shop electronically but worried about putting their credit-card numbers online. Despite the growing popularity of the Web, 72% of small businesses don’t yet sell goods and services online. With the new “almost free” e-commerce tools, you can join the 28% of companies that do. So last December, Watts signed up with service provider Freemerchant and created a secure page for collecting credit-card numbers on the company’s existing site. Watts processed the transactions off-line with the dirt-world merchant account he already had. Coast to Coast’s sales rose from $3,500 in December 1999 to $11,000 in February, and Watts didn’t have to pay Freemerchant a dime. In fact, Freemerchant, which proudly claims to have no billing department, makes money when its customers avail themselves of optional services offered by its business partners, including an online bank, an office-supply store, and an E-mail newsletter service. Look a little closer at Coast to Coast, however, and hidden costs emerge. Watts has spent about 40 hours entering product information and tweaking the site with extra Java-script programming to give it the look he wanted. Because Freemerchant does not yet offer a search function for perusing sales data, Watts also has to scroll through page after page of sales records when he’s looking for a particular invoice. Watts says he doesn’t mind. “What I’m getting from Freemerchant seems perfectly adequate for what I need it to do,” he says. But he does plan to let Freemerchant know what it could be doing better. “I’ve got a whole list of suggestions,” he says, including more flexible design options and a search function for the back-office side. Many entrepreneurs need more guidance than Watts did. Watts at least had a Web site before he became an E-merchant. According to a report from online business researcher eMarketer, only 28% of small businesses currently sell goods and services online. Until recently, the founders of Treadmill Doctor were among the uninitiated. In late 1998 brothers and fitness enthusiasts Clark and Jon Stevenson started the Memphis-based treadmill-repair shop, which took in revenues of $120,000 in 1999. The brothers thought a Web site that posted answers to frequently asked questions about treadmills would free them from the phones and give customers the information they sought, plus it would give the company a new sales channel for the treadmill lubricant the founders had invented. So the Stevensons built a site from a template available on Bigstep.com. “In terms of programming, you need no experience — absolutely none,” says Clark Stevenson. The brothers pay $14.95 a month plus 20¢ per transaction for a merchant account through Bigstep business partner Cardservice International Inc. Like Freemerchant, Bigstep doesn’t place banner ads on customers’ sites, which Clark Stevenson appreciates. He also likes being able to update the site whenever he has the time; many traditional hosting services limit how often a site can be changed. But once again, hidden costs can emerge, in this case on the marketing front. The brothers quickly found that their site wasn’t getting much business from people using Web search engines. So they spent $1,000 to register the site with three different services, ensuring that potential customers who enter treadmill-related keywords will encounter their site. At this early stage, says Zona Research’s Jack Staff, E-commerce service providers are concentrating on attracting a solid customer base of small businesses, the Internet-commerce mother lode. Next the providers plan to roll out additional premium services, like more aggressive search-engine indexing and custom banner ads. Meanwhile, any business, from a treadmill tinkerer to a music maker, can go ahead and add that e to its commerce. Best of Breed Even in a category as new as E-commerce service providers, the cream has already started to rise to the top. Researchers at Cahners In-Stat Group, in San Jose, Calif., recently evaluated and ranked 15 of the new providers. “The small-business market used to be a neglected segment,” says industry analyst Leslie Shattuck, who coauthored the report. “Now small businesses are beginning to see wide-open opportunities for getting on the Net. With all these companies trying to serve them, they don’t have to step out into a black hole.” Here are In-Stat Group’s top nine companies that provide mass-customization services. The evaluators based their ranking on the quality of each company’s site setup, back-office-management capabilities, variety of marketing services, and value-added services. Freemerchant.com OhGolly.com eCongo.com SmartAge.com Bigstep.com Hostway.com bCentral.com Zanova.com Convey.com Source: eBusiness service provider ranking: Small Business Q1 2000, Cahners In-Stat Group Free-for-all? Don’t get carried away with elaborate fantasies of free E-commerce. “The bottom line is, you’re going to pay for it one way or the other,” says Ken Burke, CEO of Multimedia Live, a Web-development company in Petaluma, Calif., that serves big-name clients like eBay and General Motors. Burke has conducted hundreds of E-commerce seminars for small businesses. He suggests that companies ask the following important questions before signing up with a service provider — “free” or otherwise. Do you have toll-free, 24-hour tech support? Can I register my own domain name? Can I take my domain name with me when I move on? Will you register my site with multiple search engines? Will you put banner ads on my site? Will I have any control over those banner ads? How many templates do you have? How often can I make changes to my site? Is there a limit to how big the site can be? Do you collect transaction fees? What’s your cut? Will you charge me additional fees if I add more items to my catalog? Will credit-card orders be secure on my site? How will I retrieve orders? Do you handle tax and shipping? Do you handle order fulfillment? Under Construction In journalism school I took a course called “Multimedia Publishing,” in which I learned clunky programs for building Web sites. That was three years ago, and since then my father-in-law, Jim Maxwell, has been asking me to build a site for his heavy-construction business, Hub Foundation Co., in Harvard, Mass. Various distractions (such as attempting to make a living as a journalist) forced me to keep putting him off. Creating a Web site would take too long, I told him. It would probably be ugly, and I wouldn’t know how to mount it on the “real” Web, as opposed to a university server. Then I heard about Homestead.com. Getting over the guilt: Inc. writer turned Web designer finally comes through on her promise. I tuned my browser to Homestead’s very flexible design page, typed in some text, dragged and dropped some clip art, and in five minutes Hub Foundation had a working home on the Web. For a few more hours that evening at Jim’s home computer, we fine-tuned it. On it contractors can read about Hub’s projects and fill out forms to request bids for future work. They can E-mail Jim for more information. I even pasted on a hit counter, which Jim had always wanted. The Homestead site editor takes a couple minutes to download, and saving changes to a page takes a while. But when I E-mailed Homestead about a linking problem I was having, a tech-support person responded with a solution within half a day. Although many sites don’t charge more than the standard $70 to register a domain name for two years, Homestead charged Jim $139.95 for the name www.hubfoundation.com. Homestead also collects a transaction fee from merchants selling products. CEO Justin Kitch says the company, which hosts personal sites as well, plans to offer more services, like E-mail marketing, to small businesses in the future. Right now the important thing is that Jim finally has a site to work with. And I feel no Hub-related guilt for the first time in years. –Jill Hecht Maxwell For more on the gear you really need to start and grow your small business, see our CEO’s Start-Up Toolkit. Please e-mail your comments to editors@inc.com.