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1. Don’t go to a friend of a friend and don’t take one of your family members as your web designer. Today’s internet world offers many so called experts. But you wouldn’t have your neighbor calculating the engineering numbers for your new house only because he uses a shovel in his garden. Staying with this nice example: “Your builder has not only an engineer; he has a framer, a plumber, a roofer, an electrician and more... To get a professional website up and running requires a team of experts and not just a one man show.
2. Ask how long the company has been in business and how many employees they have. Like we said before: “It requires a full team of specialists to create and maintain a professional web site.” You will not believe how many so called webmasters are out there on the gold Klondike train to nowhere. You should be sure that the guy will finish the web site he starts to make for you. Ask for a portfolio of other completed sites.
3. Ask if the website is a “canned solution” and if the website is transferable to other web hosting companies. The cheaper the website the more likely your website will be either a copy or a website generated with a tool. A lot of times websites run only when the tools still exist. Often, moving your site to another provider will not be possible. You will end up paying way too much in the end for the web hosting and have no flexibility in adding on additional features.
4. Ask if the website is programmed and designed in the US. We know that a lot of offerings for cheap and affordable websites are coming from around the world. At the end of the day the service is inefficient and there is nobody you can bring to court here in the US. Even a cheap website not presenting your business in the proper way in the US is not worth the money.
5. Does your website have a content management system? I know, you want to know what a content management system is. Content management is nothing more than being able to go to your website and make changes on your own without screwing up the whole site and without the need of a programmer or web designer. Some websites have very nice toys around something they call often “back office”.
6. Ask if your website design company offers web hosting service on their own servers. Sometimes they just rent space on shared servers. If someone on the server creates spam or other not so nice activity, the server can be blacklisted and emails from your company will be filtered out by spam filters or access to your website can be limited. Also, don’t forget the risks if something happens to the server located in India or Poland.
7. Can your website grow with your internet needs? Starting with a normal website adding a store front or a newsletter or a marketing questionnaire. You will hear: “No problem!” But as soon as you are their customer the prices for those additions will sky rocket. Find out at the beginning if your provider offers a modular system with fixed rates for additions. Sometimes it is cheaper starting with higher base prices who offer this kind of technology then to start cheap and paying a lot of money for your expansions.
8. Is your website flexible and adjustable for the search engines? You are not buying a website just for you. Your website should be able to be found. Some experts will tell you many things about META tags and more. You don’t want to know details about all of this. You don’t want to hear from your mechanic about ignition timing and valve opening ratio you just want your car working. The same responsibility belongs to your website designer. You can not buy a car from one company and your engine from another one. Your website designer should have proven knowledge in handling all the search engine needs. The search engines are analyzing your complete website not only some META tags. The search engines are looking at your website permanently and not only when you put it live. This has to be a permanent job and it should be affordable. So just ask your designer if he understands the process of using landing pages, keyword domains and search engine optimization. You will find out very easy if he does. When he is capable to explain the procedure to you in terms and with examples you can understand than the knowledge should be there.
9. Does your web designer offer website maintenance packages for the program coding itself? A lot of times they are very fast in offering maintenance packages for your content and occasionally updating some graphics and data. This is covered by a professional website through your content management. But what about the rest? We know from the past that the internet is changing so fast. Websites designed 2 years ago ~ already look old. Why? The hardware is changing permanently the browser versions are changing too. Older commands are not supported within newer browser versions. You want to secure your investment into the future. Only if the website is updated regularly in the code used will your website be attractive for users coming in the long run.
10. Does your web designer have knowledge in marketing a website with modern online marketing tools and agencies? Your designer should be able to let you know what effect your marketing campaign has on your website, sales or user viewings. Your website is only getting better if you start to understand why the visitors are there and what they really do want. It is a complete process from steering visitors to your website to closing a lead or a sale. |