Grant Diggles

How To Build A Great Website For Less Money

// March 16th, 2010 // No Comments » // Business, Insights, Technology

The Cummings Group, Home Page Snapshot

Recently, we finished our website for The Cummings Group (VIEW IT HERE). My design ideas were clear and I knew what I wanted, but I just needed a very talented designer or design firm to bring my concepts to life. I began the process of gathering referrals from others that I trusted who I felt knew what was hip and current, and I decided on a boutique web design group in Portland, Oregon. I met with the owners, discussed my vision and we were off.

Now it should be said, I was prepared to spend a goodly amount of money to get my company website done. We were unrolling new products and I wanted to deliver a content rich site that bolstered a clean, uncomplicated design for potential clients. Although I was not necessarily interested in saving money for the build of my site, I did learn some very valuable lessons about how to build this site again and save a ton of money in the future. Let me fill you in on how I would’ve done things differently in building a great website for less money.

1. Hire A Talented Designer or Design Firm

Let’s face it, you get what you pay for. When it comes to the design of your site, this is the one place you don’t want to try to skimp or save. If you don’t have a designer in mind, I recommend looking for sites that you like, as typically you can find the logo of the design firm in the footer (bottom) of the page. If you already have a designer, then finding website examples you like will help explain to the designer what you’re looking for.

I know what you’re thinking, “How am I going to save money hiring a high end design firm to craft my site?”. That’s a great question… keep reading.

2. Content, content, content…

The biggest hold up to any great website is the content. What do you want to say? What pictures are going to be included? How will people navigate you site? These are all questions that are entirely dependent on your content. I believe that the content is the most difficult piece of the puzzle because it requires a clear, well thought out strategy that includes who your target audience is, what you want to say to that target audience and how you will use the content to accomplish your goals. The last thing you want to do is decide to create a website and then figure out what your content is going to be afterward. I guarantee that this approach will blow up your budget and possibly ruin relationships with your design firm.

Once you have your design firm create the wire-framing/design and you have your content ready for population…

3. Finish ONLY the basic framework and infrastructure of the site with your spendy design firm.

Once the initial home page and basic content framework (content) page are designed, stop paying your design firm! You pay them to design, not build out basic pages. By allowing design firms to stay in their area of expertise (designing), you avoid spending a boatload of money on basic content population at expensive design firm prices. Adding more pages and populating them with content is very simple and basic and can be done by an experienced web tech at a much cheaper price. I recommend finding those types of people at places like FREELANCER.COM . My personal Web Tech group is Consulnet, based in Pakistan (or some place like that). You can reach my contact person if you’d like, her name is Shamim Rajani and her email is: shamim.rajani@consulnet.net

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That’s basically it. Of course there are little nuances that go along with this process. If you find that you are still confused or need a little help, feel free to contact me. If you’re question is simple, I can fire back a quick answer. If its really in-depth, I recommend you check out our company site. For a small fee, we can help you with all of the details.

Hope this was helpful!!!

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Who You Intend To Be Is Not Who You Are

// March 1st, 2010 // No Comments » // Insights, Personal Views

An excerpt from Grant’s upcoming book “What I’ve Learned About Real Business, Confessions Of An Entrepreneur.”

People of good intention are the most frustrating kind of people. I say this because they are the type of people who live a life full of intention, resulting in little action. Seemingly, the real concern is that regardless of the fact that these individuals don’t actually do anything about what they intend to do, they still give themselves credit for doing it. “I intended on taking out the garbage” or “I was planning on telling you I loved you” or “I really wanted to have that business report to you by Friday” are types of comments that individuals with good intentions commonly make. Of course when you approach them on these types of issues, they tend to stare at you in disbelief for your ungratefulness at their good intentions. They really wanted to but situations “out of their control” prevented it. The victim card then comes into play and you become the bad guy.

I included this chapter in my book because I used to be one of these people and I’ve known many others since.  Don’t force people to base their opinions of you primarily on your intentions because that’s all you’ve got. Become a person that is personally and professionally dependable.

Quick Tips

• Create accountability for yourself.
• If you fail to follow through, be quick to apologize, make it right, and follow through the next time.  Most people are willing to give second chances if it’s accompanied by humility.
• Know your limits! You can’t do everything so don’t try.  When your focus is quality and not quantity, opportunities you really want will become more available over time.

It’s Amazing How Much You Really Don’t Know

// February 13th, 2010 // No Comments » // Business, Insights

An excerpt from Grant’s upcoming book “What I’ve Learned About Real Business, Confessions Of An Entrepreneur.”

Through personal experience over the years in my business, I have found the following statement to be true: if you are really honest with yourself, it is amazing how much you really don’t know.  What’s even more amazing than that, are the slew of people out there who think they know everything, have all the answers and are never wrong.  They are unteachable.  The type of people that look you in the eye, smile and nod their head in agreement while on the inside take mental notes on all the fallacies of your point of view.

As I’ve continued to gain experience and excel in my business, it has become increasingly clear to me that I don’t know as much as I once thought.  I have strong insights and clarity in specific topics where I do consider myself highly competent.  Yet, it can be likened to Swiss cheese; however competent I am in my understanding, there will always be holes to fill.  This mentality is the catalyst in my life for continued growth and understanding.

Since real life always seems to speak to me so much more clearly than anything else let me give a personal example.  Several years ago I was sitting in a board meeting with ten surgeons.  I was there representing the anesthesia company I own.  First, it should be said that I was very new to the medical word and am not a clinician.  Normally I bring a clinical staff member with me but a family emergency had unexpectedly come up and my clinical colleague was unable to attend.  I sat in my chair anxiously as the meeting began.  It was going along fine when a surgeon looked at me,

Grant, what do you think about the NPO protocol in your company’s Policy and Procedure Manual?  How strongly do you feel that patients should be NPO for a full twelve hours?  For the types of procedures we are performing here, I feel that patients only need ot be NPO for eight hours.  Can we make some adjustments?

I stared blankly at the surgeon.  He was extremely mart, I respected him greatly and I did not want to disappoint him.  I was so new to the company, I had no idea what NPO meant, let alone had a strong argument or opinion about it.  I replied,

I don’t know Dr. Smith, but we are here to provide a service that works for you.  Why don’t I take it to our clinicians this Thursday at our General Meeting and I’ll get that information for you.

It was all I could think of to say at the moment.  Dr. Smith looked at me, nodded his head, and we moved on with the meeting.  At the conclusion of which, Dr. Smith gestured to me from across the room.  “I wanted to let you know that you did a great job today,” he said as he moved in to shake my hand.  “I knew you didn’t know the answer to the question I asked you during the meeting.”  I smiled.  “I appreciate that you didn’t try to answer it without your clinician here.  We all know you aren’t a clinician and we don’t expeect you to have the experience or answers yet.  I just wanted to encourage you by letting you know that.”  I looked at him, relieved that I hadn’t shaken his confidence in me or the company.

In times of uncertainty, speak the truth.  Your lack of knowledge may not be as detrimental as you think, so long as you are willing to find the answer.

To go along with my personal thoughts on how little you really know when looking at one’s life honestly, I have a few quick tips:

1. If you don’t know something, be honest and offer a solution.  People seem to be okay with an, “I don’t know, but I will find out,” answer.
2. If you offer a solution, follow through.  People don’t care how much you know if they can’t count on you.
3. It is important to have a network around you that knows different than you.
4. If you don’t have an answer, ask another question.
5. If you don’t have an answer or a question, delegate it to someone more qualified.

I’ve also recognized that most of the decisions I’ve made in business have been based more on my character and personal moral compass than education or theory.  Many venues can offer us knowledge, but what you do with that knowledge is the differentiating factor between the mediocre and the truly exceptional people in this world.