She Owns It
Portraits of women entrepreneurs.
In previous posts, we focused on the Web site for the Megawatt Hour, an energy-related start-up co-founded by She Owns It business group member Deirdre Lord. This week, we take a look at the Web site for YogaFit, which is owned by Beth Shaw.
YogaFit is on its fifth Web site. The first was introduced in 1998. The current site got a “facelift” in 2011, Ms. Shaw said. The facelift, which an independent contractor handled for about $3,000, changed the site’s look, including its graphics. Ms. Shaw was happy with the job at the time but said the site now needs a major overhaul. Her top priorities are making it more current, streamlined, and easy to navigate.
Suzanne DeChillo/The New York Times Beth Shaw, owner of YogaFit
“We’ve got so many moving parts — clothing, conferences and trainings, and content, but it needs to be much more simple,” she said. She wants a modern look and said the Web site for fitness program Zumba exemplifies what she likes. She also appreciates the simplicity of the Web site for Flywheel, a company that offers indoor cycling classes and other fitness programs. But finding a Web design and development firm has been a challenge.
Earlier this fall, she thought the search was over. But the company, which designs and develops Web sites for many yoga industry clients, wanted YogaFit to switch to its back-end system. YogaFit now uses Orderwave to handle back-end tasks like processing payments and managing orders and inventory, and Ms. Shaw said it spent at least $100,000 to customize code for the system. On top of that, the system the Web designer and developer proposed was incompatible with QuickBooks. For Ms. Shaw, the last straw was the $50,000 price tag that YogaFit was quoted for a new site.
Upon reflection, Ms. Shaw is glad she didn’t go with that firm for another reason. She thinks that choosing a company that specializes in building yoga-related sites would have been a big mistake. Although the previous Web developer did not have clients that directly competed with YogaFit, Ms. Shaw wondered about its allegiances. Additionally, she said she wants the “creativity and freshness” that come from embracing what companies in other industries are doing.
Ms. Shaw said she believed she recently found a better option. YogaFit is in the final stages of negotiating a contract with New Possibilities Group, a Web development and design firm and expects to have its new site up and running by January 1. Ms. Shaw said an “online fishing expedition” led her to this firm — but she is optimistic. The new firm can work with YogaFit’s backend system and will charge about $23,000 to change the site’s look and navigation. Ms. Shaw said she is especially encouraged that New Possibilities told her it takes on just one project at a time and will place 10 people on YogaFit’s account.
As she begins the process, Ms. Shaw would appreciate readers suggestions on how she can create a Web site that is accessible to yoga professionals and to more casual enthusiasts, both of which are consumers of YogaFit’s trainings and products. She sometimes wonders whether she needs two separate sites.
Also, if you have tips on how to work with a Web design firm, please share them.
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Article source: http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/27/yogafit-decides-its-web-site-needs-to-shape-up/?partner=rss&emc=rss