Can’t I Just Build My Own Website?
Sure you can build your own website.
But here are some questions you might want to ask yourself before you start:
- Will it look professional? I can bring up site after site out there on the internet and can tell from first glance if it was done by a professional or the site owner. Studies have shown that one will always get more business from a professional looking website vs. a non-professional website. And yes there are many design firms out there today who CLAIM they are professionals when in fact they are far from being professional at anything they do. I personally will not shop from any site or do business with anyone unless they have a presentable website. Every time I stumble upon a shotty designed site I always email that company to introduce myself and my business in case they ever need our services on down the road. Websites do cost money but we can within your budget in order to make your site look classy and stand out. Keep this in mind…Yes a professionally designed site will cost you money but on down the road it will make you money.
- Do you know about Alt tags? Alt tags are important. Google loves Alt tags on images. I won’t go into depth on the subject because after all this is not a training class but make sure you use them.
- Do you know how to properly set up SEO? Ahhh so you want your site to be found on the net? Then make sure you hire a professional. Sure, you can buy those books on how to set up your own SEO and spend hours and hours yourself trying to set it up. But seriously, do you know about Keyword Phrases? Do you really know how to make sure your site description meta matches up to your page content? Are you really a Keyword Spammer? Keyword Spamming will get you knocked off Google searches in a heartbeat. And that brings up Link Building…Don’t do it! Just Don’t!
- Do you know how to buy a domain name? Many sites on the net today will charge you outrageous amounts on domain names. Be careful. We offer Domain Names at a great price and even offer advice on the best kind to get. Please stay away from having a “-” in your domain name.
- Do you know how to set up hosting? Yes you will need hosting in order to build your site and you will need to make sure your domain name points to that hosting account. Most companies will assist in getting that set up for you for a fee. Make sure you don’t get taken advantaged of.
- Do you have access to stock photos? Remember if you grab an image from the internet to use on your website, you can be sued for using that said image without authorization. Keep that in mind.
- Do you know how to set up email accounts? I am not speaking of emails with yahoo or gmail. Your business should have professional email addresses set up with your domain name such as info@yoursiteaddress.com. Don’t use yahoo for business emails. It is not professional.
- Do you have a marketing background? This is so very important. If you have no marketing background then you should take the advice of a professional. You might think something looks great to your eye but from a marketing standpoint I bet it looks terrible and will not work. Hire a professional to make the banner images on your slider and to give you advice on making your site stand out. I get some clients who actually hire our team and destroy the site design because they want it to look just like another site on the net that is boring and blah looking. If you let me roll with it I will make you leave your competitors in the dust.
- Do you really know how to develop a site? So you bought a wordpress theme template. That is awesome! But wait…you install the theme and there is still a blank white screen staring back at you. Ahhhh, that is because you actually need to know how to install plugins and know how to work with the visual builders and such to make the site look presentable. Darn it…you thought it was gonna look like the demo you viewed. Sorry it doesn’t work like that.
