Open Source Content Management

Silas wrote:
Think what Silas means is that if development is standing still on their side for more than 7 days, because they are waiting for something specific then the clause is inforced and not that the client would actually have to supply all content within 7 days.

I must say though that we have experienced very little of this type of behaviour, the moment the client signs we usually get the content and roll out the site. On our side the slow part at the moment is getting clients to commit. We've had people coming back on a quote anything from 3 to 6 months later.

I've got a pretty good idea that the way to solve this is to say the quote is valid for x-amount of days, but how many days would you guys say should a quote on a website be valid for?

Silas wrote:
I think you should probably start another topic for this so that the original post doesn't go off topic.

Ok, so if you stand still for 7 days the client has to pay up. What if they don't give you the content soon after signing up? Surely you need to bring that into your terms as well?!

That is indeed correct. They only have 7 days.

There are a couple reasons for this.

Firstly we need some serious commitment from the client to create a great website. If a client is not serious about their site we will end up receiving junk and that shows on the site.

Secondly when a serious client is looking for a new site they have already started working on content. A new website is not just an impulse decision. It usually forms part of a companies greater goals to improve/change their brand.

Thirdly we provide a full service to clients. Often they just supply us with rough content and we generate the final product for them i.e. copywriting, photography etc. If this is the case we are not waiting for content from the client as we are generating it for them.

Hi Silas,

Thank you so much for your help. Waiting for content is very frustrating.
The 7 day plan sounds like a good solution.

I guess it comes down to finding clients who take their business seriously?
Clients who rely on a website for income usually gives content very quickly. Whereas clients who just want a website for visibility take a longer time to get content/images.

I do help where I can, and also offer taking photographs as an extra service... and makes for a nice excuse to get out of the office every now and then.

Thanks again!

It is indeed a big problem we face in the industry. In 2012 there are still so many companies that just do not understand the importance of having a professionally and well designed website. The make and break factor it actually can have on a business.

I guess all we can do is try and educate clients and trust that they will eventually catch on.

Hi there

I know this thread is a bit old, but it's such a relevant question. I've had the same problem, and I stumbled on to a solution that's worked really well for me without alienating otherwise good clients.

I go ahead with as much basic development as possible, sticking to the original deadline. If content is not forthcoming, I make it up. Seriously, I populate some common sense pages with a single line of text and a stock image, and then direct the client to the development link, with a cheery note saying something like, "Your site will be live in one week, and this is what it looks like." It's not ugly - it's just empty.

Boom - content comes rolling in. Aside from the laziness factor, I think most clients just can't imagine stuff very well. That's why they hire us. Once there's a framework, they suddenly know what they do and do not want. Yes, it's a little bit of extra work, but not much, and a far better option than bullying clients who may only be intimidated by the naked page....

Yes most clients think when they pay us, we have to do everything including coming up with content and even sales. We make sure clients understand that content is their responsibility but we help them to produce content by creating questionnaires. We try not to let the questionnaires sound like an interview so we keep it informal and sometimes sit down with them to complete it. This makes them more relax and willing but you still get those difficult and impatient clients. If we need extra content we look at what other websites in the same industry offer in terms of content to come up with ideas for our content. Looking through other website in the industry helps to place content that works for that industry. If many website have the same things it's likely that it works, so you can build off work already done (don't use the some stuff just use them has ideas to create your own lol).

We need to educate our clients, it's our responsibility as website designers.

Back in the days when I was a freelance web developer, I had exactly the same problem.

Here's what I did:
I gave the project a 21 days deadline. 50% on acceptance and 50% within 21 days, content or no-content. (You could extend this to maybe 35 days. This would be that the next payment are due in the next month.)

What I did to get them going was to 'educate' them before accepting the quote. I told them that it's their responsibility to give the content - text images, everything.

Then I used what Abdurahman advised as well. I told them to browse their competition's sites for ideas.

And if they still don't show with content, you could send them a quote for copywriting.

Since I changed my business, I now require full payment up front.