Many great online ideas are started out by people with limited funds yet abundant amounts of dedication and commitment to the concept.
Working within the Web Design industry for the last 15 years designing and developing unique online businesses for individuals and blue chip clients alike we have a few tips to help protect you and your business.
The below points if followed will help protect you and your business idea without spending all your savings before you even start.
Non Disclosure
You'll probably need to speak to a number of web design companies before you'll find one who can delivery what you need and more importantly one you can work with.
To protect you at this stage find a free non-disclosure agreement online and ensure you get everyone you discuss your business idea to sign it prior to disclosing anything. If a number of people are present in a meeting ensure all parties sign one, so make sure you have multiple copies just in case.
This is really important as it's cheap and easy and gives you quite a bit of protection and also makes anyone your dealing with know you're serious about protecting your idea.
Web Design Copyright
When asking for any web design company to quote on the development ensure that the payment is for complete release of copyright to yourself.
If the finished development is reliant upon any third-party code ensure you will be able to get the relevant licenses in your name and not the design company.
By default many companies will charge you for developing the site but never actually release the copyright to you, this can lead to severe problems down the road should your business become successful and you look to move suppliers as you may have out grown them.
Don't rely on verbal confirmation of the above, make sure it is in writing on any quotation / specification.
Specification
A critical part of any development is the specification, ensure that the development company you choose creates a detailed specification prior to commencing development and if possible prior to agreeing to use them (a specification should form part of the quotation as changes in the specification will affect the price).
The development companies specification is a good indication of how well they have understood your requirements. If the specification has missed the point it may be worth looking for another company as good communication between you and the company is essential.
The specification document will act as a reference for both parties, basically if it isn't in the document it will not get built and thus if it needs adding later it will cost extra.
Staged Payments
If the development required for the site is considerable you may need to pay staged payments, at these stages request a backup of the work undertaken to protect your investment should any disputes arise at a later stage.
Domain Names
It is highly possible that your business is going to depend on a domain name.
A domain name can be extremely important, for more information on domain names please read our guide on buying a uk domain name.
Also make sure you purchase any domain names yourself, for more information on protecting your domain name please read our guide Protect your domain names or loose out.
Small Budget
Depending on your available budget, it may be worthwhile finding a developer who is open to the idea of becoming part of the business by providing development services at a reduced cost.
If your idea is good and the web designer / company buys into the idea you can make sure you get the best development now and the future, however you need to make sure the developer is capable. It may be worth speaking with existing clients yourself.
The Bigger Budget
Finally - make sure you don't just budget for building the website, you need to think just as much about how you are going to market it either through pay-per-click, organic search engines or other means. In many cases the marketing of the web site may actually cost more than the initial development.
A full service web consultancy such as Living Websites will be able to provide the costs for both the development and the marketing of the web site in the initial quotation, this makes sure you have a sufficient budget.
If you have a business idea and what to know what it will cost to make it a reality please give Living Websites a call on 01226 698 556 or contact us through our contact form.
