I can understand why fitness professionals baulk at the idea of outsourcing their web work to someone who is NOT your brothers best mate, or NOT a local company that charges the earth for something that never gets finished.

I for one have spent (read wasted) more than my fair share of time and money on web site development and design work that has not met my expectations! I have outsourced locally, and internationally and found that both routes are fraught with danger, deception and a lot of frustration.

Dealing with geeks is not an easy task at the best of times, but over the last few years I have developed tactics to get what I want, when I want.

What follows is my 15 reasons why we, as fitness professionals, are scared of geeks, and what we can do to get over it.
1. The geeks think they are in charge – This is based upon the fact they have the knowledge you don’t. to counter this remember you are employing them for a fee, if they do not deliver they should not get paid.

2. You know nothing about web development - Worry not, you simply need to know what kind of website you want, write this down and ask for it!

3. You don’t know how much it should cost - This is an easy one, you’ll find that most websites can be built for much less than you think. A 3 page site should be less than 250 dollars, a fully featured personal trainer site can be designed and coded for less than 600 dollars! Often MUCH much less!

4. I don’t know where to find a developer - Another easy one, Elance.com, Guru.com, ScriptLance.com, RentaCoder.com, Guru.com, Odesk.com. Probably the easiest one to start with is Elance.com it is where most of my projects are based, and I have found some fantastic companies through this.

5. Web developer or Designer? - Your best bet is to find a web DESIGNER who can also code, if you want a pretty professional looking site. If you need more function find a DEVELOPER. Many of the companies I deal with have both designers and developers in their team. The one man operations are cheaper but probably limited in ability.

6. What if they ask a question I don’t understand? – The problem with geeks is they possess the ability to talk down to non geeks with their “Borg style” language. Ask them to explain difficult technical questions, remember you are in charge.

7. What if they don’t deliver? - I operate, like other experienced Elance users, a 2 strikes rule… If they miss a deadline, mess with your original ideas, don’t deliver good enough products then ditch them… this may mean losing a couple of dollars on the outlay but it’ll save you headaches.

8. They try to tell you what you REALLY want? – Do not be swayed by someone telling you what you want. Write a strong, detailed specification and ask your web guy not to deviate from it.

9. How do I know if I have chosen the right geek? – Whilst it is tempting to go for the cheapest bid on your project, DON’T! Pick someone who has reacted to your project, asked you questions, shown an active interest in what you are doing, and communicates well to your questions… All this can be done during the bidding process.

10. How many bids do I need? - When using Elance or another site, fix the bidding time to just 3 days, any longer and you’ll spend hours sifting through bids. You want to select those that react quickly and fulfil the criteria in number 9.

11. How long should it take? - It has almost been programmed in to us that web site stuff takes a long time. In fact this is WRONG! I have companies who can deliver a site with 2-3 days once the specification is agreed.

12. They want me to take some hosting package with the site what is this? – My suggestion would be not to take the developers hosting package. Your site will always be with them, even when you fall out with them and you’ll never have access to the site to transfer or ask a different developer to do the work on it. Hosting packages start from a couple of bucks a month… I can recommend a few that are more expensive but offer all you’ll ever need from a host.

13. What if I just need to make a small change? - I always suggest that fitness professionals get a site built using HTML/CSS, this is a coding langauage you could learn in a few hours, and I can show you how to edit in less than 20 minutes! Geeks always want to use the latest technology and coding language, DO NOT let them, otherwise you’ll never have any control over your site.

14. How can I ensure my site gets done quickly? - Make sure you have typed up EVERYTHING you want on each page of your site, gather all the images, logos, videos, audio together before you start the bidding process. Ensure you also have the login details for aweber, paypal, clickbank or other services you want included on the site. When you find the developer, give it all to them at the start.

15. How can I explain what it should look like? - Gather a list of ALL the websites you like, and they fit with the kind of design you like… Also useful to gather a list of sites you hate and the reasons why you hate them. Give your geek all this information right at the start.

Hopefully these pointers should set you off in the right direction with your website project. I strongly recommend that once you have got all the information you want to relay on your site, get on Elance immediately and post your project.

Don’t be scared of these guys, they are almost human ;o)

Tim

PS. Please comment on this post with your biggest fears of outsourcing your web site stuff… If you liked the post please DIGG and Stumble and all that stuff.