How One Small Firm Replaced Its AWOL Site Designer -- Fast A stationery boutique owner had to do some serious bargain-hunting when she needed a web designer to add a 'shop online' element to her company's website.
By Jennifer Wang •
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It should have been simple: Ola Morin-Muhammed, founder of custom stationery boutique Ijorere The Invitation, wanted to add a small "shop online" component to her existing website, Ijorere.com. "I wanted to introduce something called "Love Letters' for Valentine's Day. I realized it would hurt my sales if I couldn't accept payments online," she says. But things got complicated, fast.
The site's original designer was no longer in business. The replacement designers recommended by friends were out of Morin-Muhammed's budget or didn't have the creative and programming chops to make the site really sing. "I stumbled a few times along the way," she says, admitting to a loss of about $600, a product launch delayed by several months and a dysfunctional shop-online experience that gave her website an "unfinished presence."
