Don't be afraid of additional charges. (Don't be totally comfortable with them, either--see the next section.) As good as your basic site map and strategy are, they won't always be able to stand up against the various problems that occur when translating a good idea into a reality. And when those problems occur, it'll cost you and your coder both money and time in order to correct them.

Additional charges can crop up for any number of reasons, but always crop up from only one of two sources: you or your coder. You might realize at some point in the design process that there's a better way to organize your basic site map, that there's a certain angle for selling your product that you'd like to incorporate into your website, or that your original design ideas pale in comparison to what you've just come up with. Your coder, on the other hand, might build your site exactly to specifications, test it out, and find out that there's a fundamental problem with your collective solution to the three basic design problems of direct response site design. The interface might not be wholly intuitive, for example, or your commerce system might not be integrating with the page properly in order to give customers a seamless ordering experience.

You have two tasks when responding to additional charges:

• Are they necessary?
• How much are they worth?

The first task requires you to look at the website as it stands and determine whether your customers' experience will be negatively impacted by whatever problem you or your coder has come up with. This isn't just a matter of determining whether the site works or doesn't work--it's also a creative problem of figuring out if you can make the site work without requiring a great deal of additional effort on the part of your coder. If your basic site map is too complicated, is there a way to untangle it by moving around existing HTML files and changing a few links, or is it necessary to rebuild the site from scratch? If your user interface is complicated, is there a way to scale it back--from Flash to HTML, say--without requiring a great deal of additional coding and testing? If your commerce system is buggy, can you find another one to drop in without requiring a total redesign? These kinds of issues will have to be dealt with on a case-by-case basis according to your specific site and product.

Once you've determined that you have a legitimate reason to authorize additional charges, you'll have to determine just what to charge. Listen to your coder's advice, balance that against a list of standard design fees and the total cost of your project, and approve whatever your budget is capable of approving (with an eye to any more unforeseen charges that may come up.)

Whatever you decide on, make sure that you don't simply allow your coder to act like an auto mechanic--make the repairs first, bill you for it later. This is another reason why it's essential to maintain regular contact with your coder while the site is being built. Make it clear that if your coder encounters any potential problems, he or she is to report it to you first before making any changes. This limits the coder's autonomy to some extent--but it also saves you a great deal of money, which is usually worth the slight time delay that approving each change will take.