Back in February I posted a article with 5 Unfair Facts About Web Design. Guess what? Nothing has changed *shocker*. This time I am going to focus more on clients, and what you should expect (if not already). Now don't get me wrong. Not all clients will have some of the tendencies that I am going to list. The good will out-weigh the bad I promise!

Most of my clients are new, or small business owners from the States and Canada. Some of them have an idea of what they are looking for their website to do, and some don't. 99.9% of them don't know anything about designing a website. Which is fine, this is why they came to you! Before I go any further keep in mind I am not trying to bash anyone or anything here. I am simply trying to give you an idea of what you should prepare your business for.

1.)  Advice is great, and it's free right?

One of the most frustrating things is being asked via email and phone for advice without any contract being signed.

I find that most clients like this are either not even going to hire you and just want free professional info, or are going to be very high maintenance with a million emails and phone calls a day.

No matter how many times you hear "I think we are going to go ahead and give you the contract" don't believe it!

2.)  Budget, what budget?

I learned this the hard way. Find out the clients budget before you start meeting with them.

I am not saying only do well paying work, the price is totally up to you. I am just saying you must find a way to figure out a clients budget before you invest too much time on them. You will be shocked at how many times someone sounds serious about hiring you and they have little to no budget at all!  Younger guys always do this, wonder why?

A really easy way to ask without it being weird (which it shouldn't anyways but is for some people) is having a simple form like this one. With this you will get a budget out of them, and more useful information as well.

3.)  Wire frame anyone?

Wire frames are totally under-rated! 

Clients that don't have any clue of what a good website is, or what they want out of their website is no fun. Sometimes you have to be a mind reader I think...

But this is a great place to use your skills as a seasoned web designer. Give them your ideas. Teach them what to do and what not to.

4.)  Cut the cord

Know when to say no. For some clients (more than not) once the content changes start they just don't stop. It's even better when you do one simple change and it is small so you do it for free. Then they somehow get the idea that they can send even more changes and these will be free of charge as well.

Remember charge your full rate, if not more for adding large amounts of content. This ties in with the original budget talk.

My suggestion to get around this is offer training for the CMS you use for your clients. This will give them the power to change as much of and anything they want. Sounds scary doesn't it?

5.)  Please the un-please-able

Does Design by committee ring a bell for anyone?

Trying to design a website for a committee can be impossible and the outcome is never good. But designing for one person can be just as harsh when they have no idea what they want or what white space, or user experience is. Sometimes you would just love to say "hey it doesn't really matter if you like the look of your website, it's does the user like it?" But you can't say that!

Conclusion

I know this article sounds bad and negative and well maybe it is...But I love web design! These are just a few somewhat bad things about it that can be very easily overlooked. Come on, what else would you rather be doing...

So how do you deal with issues like the ones listed here? Have a experience different then the ones listed? Then please share it with us. We'd love to hear from you...

About the Author

Adrian Balkwill is a web designer and a user interface designer for a software/web design company located in Canada, he is also the founder of Blogfullbliss. It is his goal to make Blogfullbliss the best source on the web for design/technology related articles and tutorials. 

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