A web site is essential in today’s business world – whether you are a small retail business, a large manufacturing company, or an online merchant. A web site, if developed, hosted and maintained properly, is a great investment and a good “bang for the buck” as compared to other more traditional marketing avenues. A quality web site can bring new customers to your door over and over with a relatively small initial investment, minimal ongoing cost and limited amount of ongoing work.
When shopping for a web site development company, keep these helpful tips in mind…
#1 – WORK WITH AN ESTABLISHED BUSINESS
Always ask for client references — and check them! There are a vast number of “garage” shops out there today that offer less than stellar services and less the quality code. These are folks who speak “techno-ese”, but don’t often have the experience of working with a vast array of businesses – or have a vast amount of development experience. They might know all the lingo and the development tools, but aren’t real business or marketing savvy – or overly concerned with your specific needs. Always remember to ask who their customers are – and then ask around for opinions of their abilities and services. Does this web development company understand what you need your web site to do? Ask about their design skills and request samples? Do they understand your business – are they willing to learn about it? Ask them about quality design, code and search engine friendliness – and what these things mean to them. And, most importantly, will this web development company be there six months from now? You want someone you can rely upon today – and tomorrow. You want a quality product for your development dollar. At Worry Free Web Sites, we have been in the Internet business for over seven years, in the marketing business (through our parent company Catalyst Marketing Innovations) for over 17 years, and have served hundreds of happy customers over that time.
#2 – HIRE A COMPANY THAT BUILDS SEARCH ENGINE FRIENDLY WEB SITES
Any web developer you interview should ask you questions – lots of questions – before providing a project proposal. They should want to know how important it is for your site to be found by the major search engines. You may think that’s important for every business, but a regional grocery chain not selling online isn’t looking for customers from across the country. The degree to which you need your site found regionally or nationally by search engines dictates the type of copywriting, content and structure of a site you really need. Your chosen web developer should understand the concepts of a search-engine friendly site – and how to build your site to be search engine friendly. At Worry Free Web Sites, we understand the importance of having a professional looking web site that is seen by the search engines.
#3 – MAINTAIN YOUR SITE!
The best thing about a web site is that it can be updated – quickly and relatively easily. Make sure that the company you choose to work with urges you to make regular updates and changes to your site. This can be accomplished by way of various monthly maintenance packages, on-demand web site updates, or some other on-call type procedure. Maintenance of your web site is of course dependent upon the volatility of your products and your business, but regular updates are important to keep your site looking fresh, current and up-to-date. Your web site visitors like this – and the search engines demand it. Keep it fresh! At Worry Free Web Sites, we embrace the concept of regular web site maintenance and work with each of our clients to ensure their sites are updated as frequently as possible. Most of our web site packages include a predetermined number of web site maintenance hours, making your monthly budgeting easier without the worry of added monthly web site expenditures.
Look for more useful information in our blog soon!