Since the trends involving pretty much everything in our lives are moving towards being environmentally friendly and conserving our natural resources, I wondered if we could apply some of these green lessons to web design˳ Ask any project manager and they’ll tell you any web design, programming or application development project has a finite amount of resources behind it (unless, of course, you have an infinite amount of funds $)˳ So I thought I could extend some green ideas towards either saving those resources, or at the least, using them more wisely˳
Use Less Fossil Fuel: This is a simple one for any developer involved with your project˳ Work virtually from home more often and spend less gas˳
Use Less Paper: Who even needs a printer anymore? I don’t even have one on my desk˳
Hire Local Resources Only: Here’s a no-brainer for anyone who’s tried it before – don’t use offshore outsourcing! I can’t tell you how many clients come ask me to fix their development project after they’ve spent thousands on some developer in India or China˳ By using programmers and developers who work locally, you don’t have to worry about language problems or redundant development cycles˳ Let’s face it – there simply is no pride in ownership from application code coming out of these emerging economies˳ It’s bad, it’s buggy, and it just doesn’t work˳ Local developers are here to stand behind their code, so you benefit by getting a product which both they and you can be proud of and promote˳ Using local resources also stimulates your own local economy, which of course represents the very same people to which you are trying to sell or market your business!
Sustainable Resources: In terms of green construction, this usually means implementing a renewable energy source such as solar power to sustain your energy˳ By why not develop websites which can also self-sustain? By using a Content Management System, or CMS, there is no need to continually hire coders or developers to maintain and sustain your website˳ A CMS will allow you to update your own website content any time you want, on your own schedule˳
Recycle: Unless you hire a developer who started working yesterday, every programmer has an arsenal of code which he or she re-uses˳ Any good ASP˳NET or PHP programmer already has a good library of applications which they’ve worked on in the past˳ Ask your web developer for a discount on a recycled application; if they’re already programmed it before, there’s a very good chance they will extend a discount for re-using a pre-built application which simply has to be customized for your use˳
Lifecycle Planning: If you build a green home, you have to make sure it’s not going to fall apart and contaminate the environment in 10 years, so you plan for the inevitable deconstruction of your home˳ Why not also build the marketing strategy of your website behind a long term goal? Many customers get together a few bucks $, hire a web designer, and put out a website˳ And then that’s it˳ There’s no promotion behind it, no SEO, no marketing˳ So they just sit and wait and inside of two years they have this horribly outdated and obsolete website which no one visits˳ By working with a web design and marketing team which know how to plan the lifecycle of your efforts, you can extend the life and productivity of your marketing plan – even the eventual deconstruction of it (i˳e˳, re-design)˳
Innovation in Design: When building green, the LEED system applies points for innovative design˳ Why shouldn’t you expect the same from your website designer? So many cheap and offshore web developers today simply rip off a template-based design or just change the colors and re-use old websites to sell clients what they call a “new” web design˳ This is one case where recycling is not desirable – you should always demand a new, original and unique web design, especially if you are paying for a custom web design˳ Web developers should constantly be striving to innovate design for greater usability and effectiveness; you don’t want someone else’s stale old design˳
Incentives: Building developers designing eco-friendly construction now receive up to a 20% bonus for achieving a certification level higher than that required˳ Why not extend the same incentive to your web design or marketing team? Merit-based pay has an awesome power to motivate˳ Offer your SEO professional a certain bonus rate if they meet and exceed your expectations˳ Offer your web marketer an incentive bonus if your site meets and exceeds x amount of $ in sales˳ By making an incentive partner out of your developer you foster and build a profitable relationship for both of you˳
Positive Economic Impact: There are two ways to measure economic impact; direct and indirect˳ Obviously, whatever it is you are marketing on the internet, you want it to have a positive direct economic impact on you own wallet˳ Don’t budget $10,000 for a new massive web application to sell $100 sneakers, and then forget to budget for promotion and marketing˳ In the downstream, this is going to have a negative impact on your sales since you didn’t plan for the eventual marketing expense˳ And what about indirect impact? Techniques such as linkbaiting and viral marketing can yield amazing rewards, even though they employ indirect marketing techniques˳
Social Impact: In green terms, this equates to culture and quality of life; contributing to a positive quality of life for current and future generations˳ But in the end, isn’t this exactly what you want your web presence to achieve? You want to make an economic AND a social impact˳ One of the best ways to drive traffic and sales to your website is to offer something of value to your public, preferably free˳ By improving their lives in some way, you generate a social buzz, and people begin talking about your service and emailing your URL to others˳ You don’t have to think about social impact just in terms of MySpace and Facebook; a good marketing team can assist you in dreaming up bigger and even better ways to impact online social networking to promote your business˳
Just in case you’re wondering where I got these green building guidelines from, they came from either the Federal Green Construction Guide for Specifiers or The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System˳
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