$200 Website = Disaster for an online business
When you are about to chose your website design company, especially when it comes to business, you don't want to take the cheap road. There are a lot of design firms out there that may be able to give you the most unbelievabe looking website, but what do they do for you to actually create a stream of income for your business online?
The only exception to this rule is if you are creating a site that is just about information only and doesn't sell a product or service online. If you are giving away information freely...then so be it. Although if you are strategically setting up a second or third stream of income for your business, this is a BIG, NO NO!
These are the questions you should be asking your design firm before you make a decision on who to contract through. The more informed you are, the better decision you can make for your business.
1) Do you submit my site to more than the top 3 search engines?
This is a trick question so to speak. A lot of firms will tell you that they will submit your site to over 100 search engines. Why? It's pointless really. They load your site into a program that submits your URL to over 100 sites. Some of those sites have less than 1% market share. As a business, you want to gain market share through the search engines that grab the the attention of the most people right? Basically, do you want to stand on a soap box and talk with 200 to 300 people, or do you want stage presence with 100,000 people or more? The top 3 search engines: Google, Yahoo, MSN (Live), are the only three you need to be concerned with. Yes, if you want you can throw AOL in there too, but the top three are your target. Go with someone who knows what they need to do to maniupuate the top 3 search engines.
2) Do you include a Sitemap for the search engines?
This is very important, and if they don't know what a sitemap is and that there are different versions for the top 3 search engines...RUN, or hang up the phone. The sitemap is the roadmap for the search engines. It gives them a guide on what to look at and more importantly...what not to look at. Those maps need to be submitted to the actual search engines so they are aware of your site and can index them faster. What this means is that you start moving up the list and start to get ranked for some of the keywords that are integrated in your site. Just having a website doesn't do anything for you. If no one can find you...what is the point.
3) Keywords
Ask your site designer if they include a certain number of strategically chosen keywords in your site, rather than just your company name and the obvious words that go with your business. Being strategic with keywords means doing the research and knowing exactly what people are searching for in order for you to key in on the right terms at the right time. It's all about gaining market share. If general keywords are used, especially competitive ones, it will take you months, if not years for you to start ranking high for those keywords. Plus, if you have more than 5 keywords in your meta tags per page, you are wasting keywords. Key in on 5, then write the content for those words.
4) Copywriting Techniques
Do they adjust the content or copy on your site to the keywords that have been strategically picked? If not, this doesn't do you any good. Your keywords give the search engine crawlers an idea of what your content is about. If those keywords are not found in the content, your ranking goes down. If you don't have relevant content, your ranking suffers as well. Copywritting is a lost art, so when chosing a site design company make sure they have experience writting the copy for business related sites. If not, it's time to move to the next design company on the list.
5)Padding Services for Value
When you pay for the design on the site you should get all the pieces that make that site function. For instance, when you go to a car dealership and you are looking for a new car do you ask if the engine is included? The salesman isn't going to add on 4 tires or ask you if you'd like a steering wheel for an extra $400t. As a site designer I believe in giving you a "complete" site that is going to be the foundation for your future success. We include the tags, image optimization, strategically placed text, copywritting to match keywords, a contact form, and at least 10 pages tied to your home page. One page isn't going to do it for you. We even include a squeeze page in those 10 pages. We give you the complete package that will do more for your business than 90% of site design companies. Yes we have add on products, but those compliment your site and make it work even better and they are completely up to you.
Ask those questions above when you decide on a site design firm and you'll be well on your way to making a sound decision that will benefit your business in the long run.