Getting the most from your Developer

sephone interactive media - P.O. Box 2357 - Bangor, ME 04402 - Phone 207-262-5040 - Fax 866-235-7497

products
- datAvenger
- Having control of your website is key to your organization's success, and datAvenger™ - sephone's own family of content management solutions — can give you the control you need.
- Learn More
- Hula Cart
- Selling online? Hula bridges the gap between the overly simplified and the overly complex; it's a powerful, full-featured eCommerce solution that is incredibly easy to manage.
- Learn More
- Broadcaster
- For Digital Media based content, Broadcaster is a Sephone built application geared specifically to deliver media based content - Priced competitively to the other solutions, and full of rich and robust features to make any station a star!
- Learn More
- RESource MLS
- terrace is the latest version of RESource MLS a highly effective, affordable solution to have currently available MLS™ properties incorporated into your real estate website, branded in your style.
- Learn More
services
- Custom Web Development
- If you need custom Web Application Development, call on sephone. We have the experience to build the tools you want.
- Learn More
- Creative Web Design
- If your marketing team doesn't have the time or if you're not working with an agency, sephone's talented design team can create a website that looks good and works great.
- Learn More
- Social Media
- People are talking about you, your business and your competition. You cannot stop that, but you can learn from it and set the record straight — be part of the conversation. Control your message.
- Learn More
- SEGenie
- No one finding your website? We can help. SEGenie™ is an affordable alternative to expensive pay-per-click advertising. It works and it comes with a warranty.
- Learn More
blog
get started
- It's Easy
- Call Us 207.262.5040
- Request a Demo
- Done

Getting the most from your Developer

February 22, 2012

As with most any business, we have highs and lows. Some projects just simply seem to go better than others. In looking at what projects go better than others, there are some very obvious trends and reasons why. I will try to explain those here.

Service

Web development at it’s core, is a service, not unlike carpentry, landscaping, car mechanic or a real estate broker. You are getting the time of skilled individuals, benefiting from their education, experience, abilities, expertise and their equipment. To get the most of any service there a handful of things that you should do.

End Goals

It’s easier for us to work backwards through the broad strokes of an idea. You would not go to a general contractor and ask for a cream tile floor on the first conversation about building a new house. Your first conversation would likely go more like, “I am looking for an 1800 square foot ranch”. After that is out of the way, then you can work backwards through the other details. Same goes for us, always try to give us the end goal up front, such as “I need a web tool to track my know rented my equipment”, “I want to be able to reach mobile customers”, “I want to move this information from a spreadsheet to the web”, etc. The more clear you are able to explain what objectives need to happen to make your a success the better.

If it’s hard for you to clearly define your idea, start with this sentence: “This site/app will help <noun> <verb> <noun> well”. Fill in with a noun, a verb, and another noun. Here are some examples, “This site will help vacationers find weekly rentals in Maine well”, “This app will help tourist find things to do around my business”, “This site will help my customers know about my specials”.

Communicate with us

Often times, we may have ideas that we can bring to the table or will have input on the methods to achieve your end goals. Be prepared to have a little discussion with us on occasion. Also through the process, we will likely have questions, comments or other suggestions. In fact, two way communication through the whole process is tantamount to success.

Alan has been creating websites since CompuServe was huge. Today he still is developing websites using technologies such as CSS3, HTML5, jQuery and CakePHP.