One of my business associates shared with me an article titled “How to Hire a…” from Good Housekeeping's march 2010 the other day. This article touted “Find the right fix-it pro for those jobs you can’t (or don’t want to) do yourself.”  The article listed Electricians, plumbers and a few others, but no mention of a web developer. So here is my take on what you should be asking a web developer before you hire them.

Web Developer

• What is included in the service? Does a certain amount of SEO come included with the design? What about analytics? Is the site written in HTML, CSS, or simply an image?
• What other sites have you done? Ask for a portfolio, this will give you an idea of the work that the developer is capable of and as with any artist they will be happy to show off their work. Be wary of developers that do not have a portfolio.
• What guarantees do I have that the site will be functional? What is the developer’s policy on upgrades breaking code, or accidental deletion of a page?  How much will they charge to fix a problem?
• What other things will I need to make the site functional? Be careful when a developer doesn’t ask you about your hosting situation at the get-go. An integral part of making your site functional is hosting (ie where the files go for the web to see them). This will be needed for your site to be used.
• Is there a written contract? Does the developer have the terms of the development written out so that there are nothing is hidden and time-tables are known? Verbal communication is great, but if it’s not in writing it won’t stick. Get all agreements in writing so that both sides are held accountable.

Now, let me answer these questions from Next Step:

• What is included in the service?
• We have 4 basic packages, each including Search engine friendly pages (basic SEO) and creative customized design. All of our sites are designed in HTML with  CSS for visual effects, and php for processing. Our Bronze includes 5 customized pages and free content placements. This is the most basic design. Next our Silver package includes 10 customized pages and 1 hour free updates after launch. This is great for small businesses! Our Gold package includes 20 customized pages and 2 hours free updates after launch. This is a great start for small e-commerce websites. Lastly our Platinum package includes 50 customized pages and  5 hours free updates after launch. This is a great start for larger e-commerce websites.
• Our hosting packages include email, mailing lists, Google, Webalizer, and Awestat analytics.
• What other sites have you done?
• We have a complete portfolio on our website (http://nextstepcomputers.net/portfolio.php) that shows a wide variety of designs.
• What guarantees do I have that the site will be functional?
• We guarantee our work till the end. If there is a coding error that has been caused by something other than the customer going in and changing it, we will fix it at no charge. This includes server upgrades, and accidental deletions.
• What other things will I need to make the site functional?
• As always, a website host will be needed to make the site functional. We require a host that supports php, mySQL, and recommend it be a Linux/Unix platform for most functionality.  We offer affordable hosting options for those who do not already have hosting. This info can be found on our website (http://nextstepcomputers.net/hosting.php).
• Is there a written contract?
• Yes, we believe in informing customers up front about all the requirements and the performance time expected for each project. We go over the contract before we begin work.

Now, there may be more questions that you personally would ask, but this is a good starting point.

Spread the word: Reading: How to Hire a… Web Developer!

    My morning has been spent looking at websites as usual, but one thing I noticed is that a lot of sites have too many images or they are poorly optimized (if at all) for displaying on the web. This, as I have posted before, reduces the performance of the site making it load slower. This, in turn, causes potential customers to bounce. This is not good for business, nor the customer!

    Another flaw that I have seen is the website that is basically a Photoshoped image that has been exported as HTML and called a page. This may look great and exactly how you want the site to appear, but it is basically a ghost to the search engines. This is a HUGE problem, because as I posted earlier 85-90% of your traffic will come from a search engine. So, if the search engine cannot see information on your site, you automatically loose 85-90% of your potential customers. Having said this, there are ways that you can make the site more friendly to search engines, but the best way is to reduce the image to a minimum and use text where possible and CSS for design. The most important part being your contact information and a description of what you do.

   If you find yourself in this predicament don't panic, SEO! The basics of SEO will only help you, but will not be enough on their own. These basics include complete meta-tags and compelling content. Now, if this is Greek to you, hire a web developer (not designer) to complete these tasks for you. Once you have the information, the process is very quick and straight forward. Any good web developer will know the questions to ask you and know what content is needed to complete a basic SEO once looking at your site.
Spread the word: Reading: Pictures are good ...right?

In my business networking group BNI, I have been bring in the point that social networking sites are the future of search engine rankings and everyone should get involved before they are left behind. BUT HOW? Yeah, this is good information, but how is it accomplished? It involves a little work every day, not just creating some static content and forgetting about it.

The biggest advise that I can give… Participation is required, and not only that, it will be what gets you noticed. Sure it may seem like a pain at first and that you won’t get there in a day, but the longer you participate and become an active member in the groups that you participate in the better you will be.  This is the same idea as a group in the “real world”, just like my BNI group. If I am not there for an extended period of time no one will know me and more than that the membership committee will inform me that my spot has been opened for another professional in my line of work.

The next thing that I want to stress is don’t be a pest! Link spamming, asking a million questions, retweeting everything you see, etc is a sure fire way to get ignored. Everyone is busy, most (like you) probably have only a short time to devote to catching up on things and answering the few questions that they can then it is back to the rat race! You don’t need to comment on every item that you see, choose a few a day and take the time to really apply yourself. One liners and pointless “you’re dumb” replies will get you ignored real quickly.

Overall think of social media as another business networking group that needs your time and energy to be effective. All the rules apply in a physical group as a digital one. Flaming is looked down on, foul or profane language is not advised, and in most cases dominating conversation is a no-no too. If you wouldn’t do it in your physical group, why would you do it in a digital one?

Spread the word: Reading: Social Media... huh?

8. The last point in this series is Content.  Does your site have relevant content that is both compelling and informative? No? Simply having information on your website doesn’t make sales. A website should lead a potential customer to purchase.  Get your in-law to look over the site and see how well they can navigate and get the information you have requested them to look up.  You want to get someone that is in your target audience to review the site for the best return.  Above all, check spelling and grammar!

Spread the word: Reading: Website Secrets Revealed Part 8

7.  You have a great website… now what? Just because you have a website doesn’t mean they will come (sorry for the field of dreams reference).  The question on most people’s minds when visiting a website is “how credible are they”. If you are not credible then your potential customer will bounce. One way to improve this is to offer the customer ways to contact you. Provide a mailing address, telephone number, Skype account name, etc to show your customers that you can be reached.  There is nothing worse than purchasing something from a website then trying to get a hold of the seller when something goes wrong. Make this process painless for customers and detail your return policy and privacy statement clearly on the site.

All of Next Step web design packages include contact pages that show your contact information prominently and a design that showcases your company information on every page. Also included are the privacy and policy pages.  You have to simply customize the information from our basic outline to make it yours.

Spread the word: Reading: Website Secrets Revealed Part 7

6. Would you go to a sporting goods shop looking for groceries? What about the grocery store to find that outfit for your big date? NO! Then why do websites try to sell everything under the sun? That being said, you can sell a lot of products, but the more products the harder it will be to maintain navigation and speed.

This is why we need focus when designing a website. Each product should have its own page devoted to it focusing on its attributes. It is also a good idea to cross promote using things like “others have also purchased…” or “these accessories would increase functionality…” and list the products. Be careful to not bombard potential customers with meaningless ads, but subtly suggest they buy more.

Spread the word: Reading: Website Secrets Revealed Part 6

5. 85-90% of the traffic that comes to your site will be from search engines. Sites like Google, Yahoo, Ask Jeeves, etc will index your site (if you tell them it exists) and allow users to find you. With this in mind, why not make it easier for the search engines to index your site?

Some will say that Keywords are dead, but that is not entirely true. Keyword usage is part of the overall ranking system that makes up you search engine score. The big thing here is using relevant keywords to the page; do not stuff irrelevant keywords into the Meta tags (some search engines are said to dock you points if you stuff). Each page should have its own relevant set of meta tags that are optimized for that set of information.

The most commonly overlooked tag is the title, do not forget that the title tag will be the wording for the link on the search engine. Do not simply use titles like ‘home’, or ‘products’ instead use ‘Next step computers – Take your business the next step, Quality Web Design ~ Affordable Pricing’ or ‘Next Step Computers - Take Your Business the Next Step, website design packages’ . Here I have used our tag line in the title.

Spread the word: Reading: Website Secrets Revealed Part 5

3. Jumping off of #2, a site need simple navigation. Gone are the days of the flashy splash page that forced a user to wait and view a video or ad before your page loads. The more time it takes a user to find the information that they want the higher their bounce rate goes. That said the navigation should be intuitive not just a list of everything that you do on a separate link. Group like products or use expanding menus to allow users to easily find what they are looking for. If a user/customer is anything like me they will bounce in less than 10 seconds if they can’t find what they want easily.

I you would like to see examples of our work and clear navigation go to http://nextstepcomputers.net/portfolio.php.

4. Do you know who you are selling to? The typical response is “EVERYONE!”, this is just flat wrong! If you are looking to sell to everyone you have no focus or target market. Sure you may get some people if you toss out a big enough net, but that too shall pass. In web design you need to know who you are selling to sometimes more than in a brick and mortar store. If you plan on selling to teens/young adults your site can be more colorful and vibrant with lots going on. On the other hand if you are going b2b (Business to Business) your site should be clean and formal with lots of straight edges and compartmentalized. If you get this wrong you turn away your target. You can try for a happy medium, but you will lose in the end.

As a business, Next Step Computers targets b2b relationships that need web design and hosting. Our target audience is 30-50 year-old small business owners that need to “Take the next step” to the internet. We offer packages that compartmentalize the information that we need to get across and use a basic color scheme to cater to the business world. 

Spread the word: Reading: Website Secrets Revealed Part 3 & 4

2. Customers are looking for familiarity. They look for logos, trade symbols, etc when going into a ‘brick and mortar’ shop, why would a website be any different? Keep the look of your site consistent from page to page, making sure that the navigation and information area remain in the same general area. This will assist the customer in focusing where you want them to focus. If you change it up too much a customer might think that they left your site and someone or thing is hijacking them.  Only use alternate colors to accent areas of your site.

Our websites use CSS and html templates that allow pages to be easily added in the future. This also allows for easier updates to the site. If you would like a free consultation on your website please call or send us a message.


Spread the word: Reading: Website Secrets Revealed Part 2

What are the secrets of the super sites? Why do some sites succeed while others fail? As A business owner you should be asking yourself this daily. Over the next few days I will be posting some tips for building (and maintaining) a better web site.

1. If customers can not at least begin to read about your product in under 10 seconds, they will bounce (leave your site). To minimize your load time, keep graphics small. Compress them where possible. Use flashy technology (Javascript, Flash, Streaming Audio/Video, animation) sparingly and only if it is important to your presentation.

Quite a few "web designers" will use a program that will convert an image of the site into smaller images of the whole to make up the site. This means a couple things, slow load time and low search engine recognition. You can tell these sites when you try to copy and paste something and you can't because it is an image.

Our websites use CSS and html with as little javascript and flash as possible to make load times almost instantaneous. If you would like a free consultation on your website please give us a call or send us a message.
Spread the word: Reading: Website Secrets Revealed Part 1