With web technologies constantly evolving, my job is to stay on top of trends and strategies that can make our clients' websites more effective and competitive, and then filter through that pool of knowledge such that I can explain these trends to our clients in ways they can understand.

"...in ways that they can understand" is the hard part. I write a lot, to the point of it being overwhelming, and it I know it. So this year I started using short video clips using Screencast-o-Matic to explain concepts and offer visual examples of training & troubleshooting, and the feedback we've had has been along the lines of "this is exactly what we needed!"

Example of a Customer Support Video (Screencast)

Below is an example of one I did to show a client (Kate) how to update a section of her website. I've also used video to explain web design concepts such as responsive design, something that can definitely be confusing. 

Benefits to Using Screencasts

There are several benefits to incorporating video into your support mix:

• Reduced keyboard fatigue
• Video forces you to parse what you need to convey into a format that lets clients visualize and retain more, without being as overwhelming as a 5 paragraph email.
• Using video also demonstrates that your company is in-step with the latest trends, and adds credibility which strengthens your clients' reliance on us as a service provider.
• These short, quick-fix/how-to videos are easier to produce than a series of screenshots and narrative.

How "Produced" Should it Be?

One of the goals here is to streamline your own efforts, so taking hours to produce a 1-minute "quick-fix" clip isn't very practical. However, every piece of content you put out there should carry your company's voice and be representative of your brand. So, you should find a balance that works for you.

In the case of customer support videos, it's important to keep the production quality high enough (which includes the narrative) to be able to use it in your support library with other clients. You should set up some standard editing & production guidelines (titles, title screen/end screen text, video dimensions, zooming & tooltip effects, etc.). If the topic is more complex, consider a series of short tutorials covering each step (so you can send off a single video to someone stuck at a certain spot in the process). Then, spend some more time reproducing the tutorials into an in-depth video with a higher production quality (scripted narrative, overlay effects, possibly support material below the video).

If you have a physical presence for your business, you think carefully about how that office or shop looked to passers-by and to clients. You dress well, hire competent employees, keep the shop clean and well-lit, make sure the parking lot and grounds are kept up, and you spend money on the best sign for the shop that you can afford. You communicate a sense of professionalism in this way.

However, when it comes to your website, are you doing the same thing?

Your website is your virtual presence on the internet, and your clients and passers-by are making value judgements about you based on what they see there. If your website was a physical presence, would you pick a location in the bad part of town, provide a tiny sign that was faded and hard to find, keep the shop dirty and cluttered, and dress like a slob every day? Of course you wouldn't. So why do you feel it's OK to cheat your virtual presence of the same professional touches?

Many small business owners hire cheap help and congratulate themselves on the perceived "cost savings" of doing so. After all, why hire someone locally for $100/hr from a reputable web design firm when you could get a freelancer, a student, or someone from overseas for $10/hr?

As with most things in life, you get what you pay for. If you hire cheap, I-can't-believe-this-rate web design help, it's likely you'll hire help that is inexperienced. How many times have you heard something is "not possible" to implement on your website? Frequently, that's inexperienced designer-speak for "we don't know how to do that."

Look for a quality web design firm for your site. Some marks of competent help include the following:

• An initial conversation with the designer should cover a range of topics. Don't just talk about technology or features for the site. What problems are you trying to solve with your site? What audiences are you serving? Who are you trying to attract to your business? What do you want site visitors to do — pick up the phone and call, email you, buy something online, fill out a form, something else? How will you drive traffic to your site? How will you measure your site's success?
• Ask for examples of other sites they've built. A designer should have a solid portfolio of work. Ask the designer to tell the story behind the site. Don't let them rattle off technical specifications and mumbo-jumbo. Make the designer tell the story of who the site serves, what goals the client wants accomplished, and how this site is helping to achieve those goals. The designer should have a solid understanding of each organization. Don't expect the designer to have a site exactly like yours in their portfolio. If they take a consistent, thoughtful, logical approach to all sites, you should expect good results for your site — potentially even better than someone who builds sites in your industry, but from a one-size-fits-all formula instead.
• Make sure you understand what hours the designer is working. If they are local, are they working during normal business hours? If so, it's likely this is their full-time job, which adds to the designer's credibility. If the designer is working in the evenings and on weekends, they are either new to the business and holding a day job, or they are doing this work on the side. Either way, it's unlikely you'll get the same level of customer support that you will with a full-time designer, and you should pay less as a result. Remember that designers may not necessarily be in the same physical location as you, so be sure you know what time zone they're in if you need to call.
• Ask for a proposal in writing. The designer should have no hesitation in putting together a written proposal which includes rates, timelines, and a clear list of work to be accomplished.
• Sign a contract. If you are not asked to sign a contract for design services, you are not dealing with a professional. Make sure you read the contract carefully. Who owns the website? What happens if you want to change to another design firm?

I have heard horror stories from many clients about dealing with $10/hr designers. They get bad advice, have badly implemented sites, and they sometimes wait a long time for their site to be built. When they finally decide to hire someone who "knows what they are doing," frequently they are told that the site they have is not salvageable, and they must rebuild from scratch to get what they want. The client does not respond well to this advice, and they may waste more money trying to salvage a bad site.

Get a quality designer to build you a solid site from the ground up, and you should have a site that grows with you, expands gracefully, and will last you much longer than something slapped together in a hurry for a cheap price. Choose your designer carefully, build a solid relationship, and your site will accomplish the goals you set for it, bringing you new business and new income.

Lets face it, nobody likes calling their help desk (or support team, IT guy, or whatever you call it at your company). You're already in a bad mood because something isn't working right (hence the reason for the call).

These people tend to speak a weird language and expect you to understand it as well. But there's hope...the purpose of a help desk is to, well, help. So here are some tips to work through that geek speak and frustration, and get yourself some Grade A support.

Explain the Situation as Thoroughly as Possible

When you contact support, you're looking for a remedy, which means you need to get a diagnosis. An accurate diagnosis comes from as complete information about the symptoms as possible. Think about it: When was the last time you walked into a doctor's office and got a prescription for your ear infection by only saying "I don't feel well" or took your car to mechanic and got your engine fixed with the phrase, "my car doesn't work." Never, right?  Because the doctor and the mechanic both need more complete information to diagnose and fix the problem. Why should it be any different with a support technician?

Don't Generalize

Consider the following scenario: You try to go to your website and can't pull it up. You then, in a panic, call the help desk with the news that "my website is down, nobody can get to it." Which couldn't be farther from the truth because the reality is you forgot the password to your CMS panel and got locked out. But by generalizing, you put your support people into DEFCON-5 mode, and have them all looking in places to solve the issue of a down website...none of which are necessary because the site is up, just not on your computer because your router is offline. What a waste of time, and possibly money.

Don't Jump to Conclusions

Without a full understanding of the problem, you're in no position to offer a diagnosis. It's much better to lead off the help desk call with "My Outlook keeps asking me for my password" than "Your mail server seems to have taken the day off." Oh, and this is a good time to remind you to keep the sarcasm and Dennis Miller-esque color commentary to yourself.

Learn Some Geek Speak

Being somewhat familiar with your computer and applications (including web-based ones) can cut the time needed to troubleshoot an issue in half, and put you on the technician's "people who make my job easy" list...always a good thing. They will no doubt take your basic knowledge of if/else loops for granted and start spewing their geek-speak the next time you call, but a polite remider that you're still no pro will bring them back to the English-speaking world (this PDF might help).

Don't Lay Blame

People respond better to pleas for help than to accusations. Starting off the call or request with "you broke it" will put the technician's guard up. Who really cares who's at fault anyway (what is this, grade school)? Get the problem fixed and go back to work!

Understand Their Process 

Step 1 of tech support is isolating the problem so it can be replicated on the technician's end. Once you can do that, the problem can be fixed. Let your technician walk through their process so they can help you. Remember, they want to (and are hired to) help you.

Treat Support People with Respect

This should go without saying, but I'm adding the reminder that the people you're contacting for support will be far more helpful if you don't take out your frustrations on them. Read into that a little deeper if you like. I'm not saying that support pricing or performance has an "annoying client multiplier" built in. Nope, not saying that at all.

Follow these guidelines, and you'll be on your support team's "Most Wanted" list, as in "Most wanted to work with!"

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