Strike a Happy Balance

Many times we have clients approach us with great ideas, but they do not have the budget to match. In a service industry, we always strive to make the client happy - but how do you strike a happy balance?
How do you create or convey their great idea, within their proposed budget?
Here are a few options:
1.) Free Tools - you could look at using free tools and integrate them into your design. For example if you are looking for:

• A Photo Gallery - consider linking to a Flickr account, which you can manage yourself.
• News or Updates - Facebook and Twitter can be used for latest updates, which you can also manage for free.
• Video - consider using and posting your videos on YouTube or Vimeo.

You can put the appropriate links on the site or you could go one step further, by using plug-ins that actually pull the correct information into your site.

Potential Pit Falls - If you use this approach, remember that visitors will be leaving your website to review these other resources which may not have the same styling (look and feel) as your site.
This offers a good Band-Aid solution and as your business/marketing budget grows you can divert more funds into fully integrating these types of functions to produce a more polished and consistent website experience.

2.) The Phased Approach - Sometimes you can roll out your development project in phases. This can help with cash flows and spread the project budget into multiple budget years.

Potential Pit Falls - You really need to make sure the expectations and deliverables within the phases are clearly outlined and documented. Come up with a well laid out plan.
You wouldn’t start to build a house without creating blueprints first would you?
Whether you are using either of these methods, make sure that you take time to discuss with your web developer, what these options entail so that you are both on the same page. You might need to adjust your expectations and draw the line in the sand as far as what features you truly need.
Turn to your web developer for advice, as you are paying for their experience and expertise!
Therefore ...
Take some time to determine your budget and look at what you are trying to achieve online. Review your goals with your web development professional and CLEARLY outline the features and deliverables BEFORE you start your web development project.
It is much easier to change things in the planning stage than once your site is launched!