As a consultant I’m persistent in my advice — that follows an optimized route (based on my experience and education) through the various facets of imagining and then engineering a well-made Web Presence. Once made, we teach clients how to operate those systems.

There is a logical and technical order sometimes. At other junctures there are needs that require skill building and gap filling. And further on, redesign and redevelopment based on measurements and analytics.

But excellent technical and operations advice is almost never exactly followed. Inevitably any project seems to fall back on the Client, and their ability to ingest, adapt and implement change. And!! — The ability of the Consultant to adapt to those constraints.

And so each project has a life of it’s own that follows a unique path determined by which aspects of professional counsel will be followed, which will be delayed and those that will be ignored altogether.

My point is NOT that there is fault. Instead, I’m suggesting that as part of an organic whole that is your Web Presence effort — clients who engage consultants should consider those relationships to be included within the perimeter … that the process of discussing and choosing, moving toward implementing and operating new features receive the recognition it deserves.

There are clients who, in serial fashion — hire, dispute with and dispose of consultants. I’d encourage those to look back, perhaps repair some bridges and re-imagine those relationships and how they might be leveraged over long time spans.

Knowing the particular history of a Web Development effort, prevents wasting time and effort in many simple ways. Avoid this by bringing those relationships under the umbrella of your Web Presence effort — and keep things “alive.”