Being informed before having a website done will ensure your website is created for your particular market and to be a successful marketing tool and not just a pretty online brochure.
Before Visiting the Website Company
- What is your product/service?
- Do you want to grow over the next 5 years and add to your offering?
- Who are your target markets?
- Do you know what your competitors are doing and what their websites look like?
- Do you have an idea on how you want the website to look?
- Do you have examples of other websites you like?
- Do you want a subscribe function? articles section? Or specials page?
- How often do you need to or want to update your website?
Design Options & Edits
- Is the company website designers or developers – or both? Ideally you want both. This will enable you to have a professional design and also an effective build.
Designing for Your Market
- Are they also experienced marketers? This will ensure the website is designed for your target market
What is Included?
- Do they write the content for you? Or do anything with the content?
- Are images included?
- How many pages can you have?
- How long will it take from signing off to completion?
Marketing and Statistics
- Can they provide you with an online marketing plan to assist in the promotion of your new website?
- Have they set up Google Analytics for you so you can track your website statistics?
Building for SEO
- Often websites are “optimised” for the keywords chosen by either the client or website company that they think are best. Choosing keywords out of thin air is not recommended and a full keyword analysis should be undertaken to find out exactly what people are searching for
- A thorough competitive keyword analysis should be done at the beginning stages – before the site map is developed for your website.
- Everything should then be designed around this, your pages, your content, your title tags, meta descriptions etc
Building Your Website - Tables vs CSS
Ask you web designer/developer whether they use tables or CSS (cascading style sheets) for your website (you want CSS).
Also ask that the website meets W3C standards. You should check the validation of this before signing off and making final payment by using the validator at http://validator.w3.org/. You can also check for any CSS errors as well by validating the CSS at http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/
Custom Design vs Templates
Often website companies claim to give you a custom design although when you look at their previous websites you notice a trend. They often have a “set” number of template designs that your website will inevitably be designed deliberately to fit.
If this is the case – you should be paying less as it is easy for web companies to do this rather than to design one from scratch (custom design).
A way to combat this is to have a graphic designer “design” the website “look” and send that to the website company who then will build the site based on that design.
Search Engine Optimisation “Friendly”
- Are you or another provider besides the website company able to make changes to the content and all SEO related sections of your website?
Hosting & Monthly Fees
- Some website companies will just do the design and build for you and allow you to host your website elsewhere. This is a great position to be in because you are not locked in to hosting with the website company and you can save lots of money per month by hosting elsewhere. You can host your site for as little as $4.95 per month for a basic package. If you want someone to take care of hosting, URL and also updates for you, then the monthly fee can be worthwhile.
Where are your files?
- If you choose to leave your website provider, can you receive all your files?
- Do you have access to your files now?
Updates and Hidden Costs
- How much will it cost you to have minor updates made?
- How much will it cost to make structural changes to the website?
Content Management System
- There is a selection of content management systems out there. These allow you to update your website yourself.
- Not all are created equal. Here are some points you need to consider
- Can you make changes to your menus?
- Can you add/delete main menus and sub menus?
- Can you change all areas where this is content?
- Can you add/delete images, PDF files and other files?
Warranty
- Is there a warranty on your website? That is, how long do you have to make changes to the site before you start being charged?
- If you don’t find an error until 3-4months after it goes live, do you have to pay for this change?
In Summary
- Website companies like quick sales and often leave clients standard afterwards
- Be informed enough to make a comfortable decision
- Ask lots of questions – there is never a stupid question
- Don’t be wooed by sales talk – ask to speak to the technical guy (builder)
Have you had a good/bad experience wtih a website company?
About the Author
I disagree with the heading...
Its not that web companies don't want to tell the customer, its that the customer doesn't want to know...(nor pay for being told)
But maybe thats just your marketing tripe...
Good article anyway
Keep up the good work...
Hi John, thanks for the feedback. The reasoning for the heading is that I was a client of leading web design companies in Sydney and had some very bad experiences - that is why I created this article.
It is true in some cases that customers also don't want to know - until the end when it's too late. At least this way, both sides can be prepared!
Thanks again
A
as there are so many variables on both sides of the fence [clients and web designer/developer firms] it can be a delicate issue… as John said, some clients may expect "everything" to be done for them, without defining exactly what that involves, and also without paying for the time required for the designers/developers to do it…
I think your article is great, and poses some important questions that all organisations [not just small businesses] should consider before meeting with a web designer/developer.
I believe its best to be open and honest about requirements, expectations, and even budget, to get the best recommendations about what is possible, and eventually, the best results from a new website. It's all about partnership.
You can probably tell what side of the fence I'm on…
cheers, Erica.
Good article man!
Great site, a lot of solid information there! Would it be okay with you if I created a similar column on my website? I am creating a blog about this topic. I would give you the credits and the source which I found this article at. Let me know!
This is a good post.