A Distributed Work Force Saves Money

The Internet breaks down geographic barriers on the sales side. We've talked about this in previous chapters, and it's not a new idea. But what is new or at least not yet widespread is using the Internet to hire and manage employees and freelancers in remote locations.

Consider a magazine editorial and production staff as an example. More often than not, reporters and editors in offices a few feet away from each other now communicate by email, and layout and graphics people send graphics files back and forth to each other over the company's computer network. The next stage is to ask, "If these people use the company's own network as their primary means of communication, why not take that one step further, and stop caring whether everyone is in the same building or even in the same city?" "Cracking the whip" to make sure a graphics artist is at his or her desk is not necessary; they're logged and working or not no matter where they are. The same is true of programmers, and writers and editors have been working with each other long-distance for many years. (In fact, this book is being written in Florida and edited in Texas, even though the publisher is located in New Jersey. This book is not only about the Internet, but is being created over the Internet.)

Web site design work is a natural for outsourcing from high-cost areas to low-cost areas. Most of the actual labor involved in putting together a large Web site is tedious coding that requires no personal contact between the person doing it and the client whose site is being worked on. As long as they have a way to communicate, and the client has a way to rapidly view and approve design work, and an easy way to note desired changes and transmit them back to the designer, distance doesn't matter.

Email, with page proofs sent as attachments, can serve as the communications medium for a project in its early stages, when site architecture and page layouts are still being determined. A bit later, when these basics have been handled, it is simple to put the site on a server that requires password access so that the site's navigation scheme and other functions can be tested and changed as needed. (Any competent Web designer can easily set up a private server; you should be suspicious of one who can't.)

This pattern of communication is already common in the Web design industry, even when everyone involved in making a new site is in the same building. Why shouldn't an innovative, cost-cutting Internet maven like you take it to the next step, and use the Internet to find a talented designer in Kentucky or Scotland or some other place where costs are lower than in major business centers? It's probably wise to stay within your own culture and country for Web design and copywriting, since it is easy to make unintentional mistakes about another culture's likes and dislikes even without bringing language barriers into the mix. But within your country, there is no reason not to work with people who are in areas where business costs are low and competition for jobs is high.

Hiring programmers from far away is another matter. Here it may pay to go international, although language and time-zone problems can easily eat up any savings in hourly costs. Many U.S. firms have taken to subcontracting routine programming tasks to Indian companies that charge as little as one-fifth as much as their U.S. competitors. This pattern has worked for some and has not worked for others. The problem with both design and programming work is that they are essentially creative endeavors, not assembly-line work, so there must be a certain amount of "meeting of the minds" between you and the person or persons you hire to perform these tasks for you.

The question, "How do I find these people if they're not near me?" has an easy answer: "Use the Internet." On the simplest and most basic level, while you are looking at other sites, deciding what features you do and don't like before you build your own, you are going to run across at least a few that trigger a nearly instinctive, "Hey, I really like the way this looks" reaction. Almost all freelance Web designers sign their work with a small link to their company's URL at the bottom of each client's main page. If you see a site you like, make a note of the designer and contact him or her. If you don't see a way to contact the designer, it takes only a second to dash off a, "Nice site who made it? I'm making my own site soon and might like to hire them!" email to [e-mail] or any another contact email you see on the site you admire. Even if the designer is a staff employee of the company that owns the site you like, as is often the case, he or she may be willing to work for you freelance on the side. There's no harm in asking, certainly, and if the answer is "No," you have still given out a well-deserved compliment. And since Web designers rarely live or work in a vacuum (they have professional associations like almost everyone else), a Web designer whose work you admire probably can point you to others with similar levels of skill and talent.

Selecting programmers is trickier if you are not a programmer yourself. If you are, you can (and should) ask for code samples and review them, and make your decision based on what you see. Otherwise, you are probably better off leaving the choice of a programmer up to the designer. He or she almost certainly has a working relationship with at least one programmer, and once again that intangible meeting of the minds factor comes into play; if you hire a designer who turns to a programmer of his or her choice (and whose work you can view online and, even as a "mere user," determine if all the links and other basic functions work correctly), you are getting a team that is likely to work together more smoothly and be more productive than if you throw two strangers together and hope their end product is to your liking.

Again, where the parties live and work is not important. Across town, across the country, it's all really the same at least on the Internet. By expanding the geographic range of your search you suddenly increase your options many-fold. Not only that and this is true especially if you live in a "tech center" region you cut down your chance of getting a site that looks similar to those designed by other locals. Web designers, like members of all other trades and professions, tend to form groups and meet, and often copy each other's style even if they do it subconsciously.