I've dealt with several clients in the past who were almost as big perfectionists as I am. Me being that meticulous is bad enough, but once you combine it with a client who is as well, you can have a problem. When do you say enough is enough and put the site online?

Simply limit the number of revisions. I prefer that my clients send me all the write-ups and graphics for the site in one email, if it's a fairly small site. If it's a little bigger, I have them send one email per page/section of the site. I tell them to not send me any revisions to those write-ups until I'm ready.

Next, upload a demo of the site to a secret location. Often I password protect the site so that only they can access it. Then take a look at the site and make a list of all the revisions. If you find something else later, make a note of it, but hold off on fixing it.

Once that first batch of revisions is done, go through the process again. After that second time, do it one last time if necessary. Since the revisions are grouped into batches, it's much easier to limit the number of revisions.

My personal limit to the number of revisions is three. Maybe a few more would work for you, maybe a little less. I don't see how you could do many less, but you also don't really want to go over five.

Do I ever do additional revisions? Well, sure, but it starts costing extra. But in getting a site that you own yourself online, just set the limit, and put it online once you've hit that limit. You can continue to revise once it's live, but the site is now out there.

Tim Priebe

Tim is the owner and senior web designer at T&S Web Design. His company has developed and maintained website for dozens of small businesses and organizations. Tim also maintains a blog with free website advice for small business owners.