ALL YOU NEED IS JUST ANY WEBSITE, RIGHT?

Wrong. This is what we hear a lot from clients either just starting out, or those who don’t understand the value of a website. Your website is the most important part of your business these days. Why? Because your website, when created correctly, can generate leads for you, provide information 24/7, direct visitors to specific information, sell your products and/or services, get you listed highly on search engines, help you get your money back (and then some) from any Pay-Per-Click advertising, help your website visitors know how to follow you on Social Media and stay connected with you, and also be the main hub for all of your content which you can share across the Internet. Those are just the basics.

Getting just any ole website will only do a couple or a few of those things at most. Also, designing a website for a professional is understanding how to deliver the message of your company to earn the trust and approval of visitors, convince them to input their contact information, and convince them to buy your products and/or services. The professional also understands how to build your website to maximize rankings on search engines. Is a free or cheap website going to do all that? Will the average $350 website “designer” understand your design, marketing, and technical needs all at the same time?

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION
Cheap websites are exactly like trying to open a business in a remote part of town and a building which badly needs repairs, is off the main road and up a hill, and has no sign…but the rent is dirt cheap!

Likewise, only caring about the aesthetics of your website is just as bad. One of our clients had an attractive website before coming to us. However, it wasn’t working to sell their products, because while it looked pretty it wasn’t designed with the end goal in mind…to sell the products they had in their Shop. This would be like renting out space in the best looking building in town, but forgetting to tell people how to park or where to walk in, then once they found their way inside, you hid the product on them.

Finally, the best solution. You have to design a website which looks professional and attractive, is simple enough to not confuse people, but robust enough to help them get all the information they’re looking for, and grab either a sale or at least their contact information before they leave. This is the equivalent of having a nice storefront on a main street, with an attractive sign out front and a beautiful window display.

Which of these businesses whould you like to own and operate?

THE COSTS
Now that we’ve identified the different kinds of website design philosophies which are out there, and gave you real-world analogies to help you with a frame of reference, let’s talk turkey…or…numbers.

What would be a good ROI on any investment you make? Double your money back? 5x? 10x return? Sure, we’d very much like to have a 100x or even 1,000x return on our investments, but how realistic do we think that actually is? Most would be happy between the 2-10x range, correct?

Well, let’s take the $350 website. A 10x return on that would be $3,500. Not much to live off of, is it? Any you know what? For a $350 website you could probably expect to get about $3,500 back for your efforts, that’s not unrealistic. However, that ain’t gonna put the kiddies through college.

The average Small Business website should cost between $3,000 and $7,500 these days. That is a fair range. Let’s look at our 10x return there…that’s $30k-75k in return. That’s looking better, now isn’t it? Sure, it’s still not going to buy you a yacht, but look at the investment vs the return. With a modest, but serious, investment, you can realistically build a business from these efforts and afford to grow. If you want to open a brick-and-mortar store, you have leasing costs, legal, renevations, staff, inventory, etc. You’re probably spending about $75-100k before you even have the door open for 6 months. So, why would $5,000 be unrealistic to hope to invest on a website which will help you get found on search engines, capture leads for new and interested customers, and help you sell your products and services?

Last point…you usually won’t have to spend all that money up-front if you don’t have it. Many companies will help you break up the payments or divide them out over months, even. This way, by the time you’re on your last payments, the increased revenue from your new and effective website should start paying for themselves.

Now, to be fair and realistic, not every business is guaranteed to make money, and your product may be undesirable. One never knows. However, you believe in your business which is why you’re in business. Why not give it a serious effort and give yourself the best possible chance of making a living off of your business? When you have a good product or service, and you have an effective strategy and build the right kind of website, you can easily expect to make a very solid return on your investment…and then some!

1. Ineffective Messaging

• Failing to understand who the customer truly is…Model your top two customers…create the “person” you’re speaking to
• Not speaking TO the customer’s needs, only about how great your company is.

2. Poor Content

• Blog might not exist
• Blog posts aren’t optimized for keywords
• Content isn’t fresh
• Spelling and grammar mistakes
• Having large paragraphs of text, long sentences, or long pages. articles/posts should be 400-750 words, 3-5 visual lines for a paragraph, and about 2-3 paragraphs minimum to 5-6 paragraphs at the very maximum.

3. Not being Mobile-compatible

• iPads are now in the millions
• Mobile phones are outselling desktop computers
• Mobile phone internet usage is surpassing desktop internet usage

4. Unprofessional Design and Branding

• Lot of dead space
• No information due to pushing info down on page
• Poor quality graphics/branding
• Important content Below the Fold
• Use of Flash, and (worse) Flash Landing pages.
• Poor usability and navigation
• Visitor can’t find what they’re looking for
• Navigation is hidden, not in the place the user is looking for, or is too clever for it’s own good.
• No search (if applicable)
• NEVER have a site’s navigation in Flash
• Never have auto-play music/sound
• Poor Conversion/Functionality
• Children pages are “dead-ends”
• Remove the clutter, make it simple but not plain, and obvious what action the user should take.

5. Not using a Marketing Company to handle your marketing needs.

• Trying to do it all yourself takes time to learn, and time away from running your business
• Just having a web site, but not updating it, creates a “dead” website and google will not give it high rankings
• Reaching out via social media, posting your articles on Fb, Tw, etc., Consistently creating blog posts, etc will help keep it relevant, fresh, updated, and give it better ranking results from search engines.
• Experts can help you form a short-term and long-term marketing/growth plan for your company.
• Experts stay up to date with the latest marketing trends, strategies,tactics, and techniques so you don’t have to. You can spend more time working in your business, like you’re doing now, and know someone is helping you work on your business
• Hiring someone with the knowledge of how to market your business can cost anywhere from $60,000-$100,000 depending on your market geography and what you require. The cost could be more if you require technical needs, or hire them on staff and need to pay insurance & benefits, etc….while hiring a marketing company can save you $50k-$75k minimum

NOTE: Reminder that this article was essentially a Part 2 to our original “Top 5 Website Mistakes You Shouldn’t Be Making” article. Please check that out, and let us know what you think in the comments below. Thanks for reading and sharing, we truly and genuinely appreciate all the support.

1. No Clear Call-To-Action on Web Pages

The first step is what happens when someone comes to your Home Page. This is one of the biggest issues, and creates an incredibly high Bounce Rate (people come to your site and leave immediately without doing anything). High Bounce Rates = Bad Website. Most visitors will leave a site if they become confused or can’t easily find what they are looking for. Let’s fix this.

You’ll need a clear Call-To-Action (CTA) on every page, especially the Home Page. A Call-To-Action is a main element, picture, box, messaging, etc which instructs the visitor what you want them to do above all other options. Whether it’s a slider on the home page, or an email sign-up form, or your blog posts, you must have a clear and clean instruction for what you want the visitor to do now that they’re on your website. If you’re selling shoes, then put some pictures for shoes on the home page and a few links and pictures to purchase your shoes. Make it obvious and the main thing that sticks out on the page. It’s preferable to have two Calls-To-Action, but don’t make them both the same size and importance. There should be a main CTA, and a secondary one.

This goes for your interior pages, as well. Nowadays, with blogs and search engines pulling up the most relevant information for any and every search query, not every user will come to your site through your Home Page. This is important to know that you will need a main Call-To-Action on the interior pages as well. Maybe your Blog’s CTA is the blog article itself, but the secondary CTA is your e-mail sign-up form, for example.

2. Website Isn’t Properly Optimized for Search Engine Rankings

In today’s world of Search Engines dominating the world we live in, have a website that’s not properly optimized for maximum Search Engine rankings is a huge mistake. If you can’t be found, then you’ll either have to buy traffic to your website, or you won’t have any traffic at all, because you won’t exist in the eyes of the search world.

For a longer list of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Tips & Tricks, please read our article on that subject, but here’s a quick over view so you know what you’re looking for. You want to make sure you know which KeyWords you want to rank for, how much competition there is for those KeyWords, and also place those KeyWords throughout your pages, page titles, web page addresses, and in the ALT Tags of your images. Don’t over-do it. Just follow the best practices guidelines and you’ll be rising in the rankings in no time (if you constantly keep doing it, of course).

Also, make sure that you create an XML Site Map and submit that Site Map to Google and Bing through each of their Web Master Tools Accounts.

3. No Social Media integration

Much like Search Engines, Social Networks are also ubiquitous these days, and offer a great deal of visibility opportunity for your business. It’s very easy to put in a free WordPress plugin (if you’re using WordPress), which will automatically place Social Media sharing buttons at the end of every Blog post on your website. You can also enter in a line of code to allow visitors to Like your Facebook page or Follow you on Twitter without ever leaving your website! This is great functionality, and the combined possibility of allowing sharing and capturing social fans is immensely powerful.

Another great idea is to replace your default commenting area in your blog articles with a 3rd Party platform which can help encourage sharing. For example, Facebook Comments will allow the poster of the comment to allow that comment to be visible on their Facebook Profile and in their News Feed so their friends can see that they’ve commented on your Blog article. This increases the opportunity to connect with others without having to do anything (and for FREE, too).

4. Not Tracking/Analyzing results/progress

If you didn’t know how many visitors were coming to your site, how would you know if you had increased traffic? If you didn’t know where they were coming from, how would you know which off-site efforts were working? If you didn’t know what pages on your website your visitors were viewing, how long they were viewing each page, and which page they left on, then how would you be able to know how well your website is working, what’s working, and where you need improvement? You wouldn’t be able to fix anything.

Good news. Google Analytics does all that…and then some. The best part? It’s way more than most websites will ever need, and it’s all free! Install Google Analytics on every single page of your website, especially your shopping cart and all pages throughout the entire checkout process (if you sell online). Now, you’ll be able to see which pages get the most views, which pages people your site leave on, and even how much money you’re making! It’s truly one of the most helpful tools available on all of the Internet that will help your business.

5. Not Having Strong Lead Generation Element (aka E-Mail List Sign-Up)

When a visitor comes to your website, they are most likely a potential customer. They are on your website looking for something. Imagine you have a brick-and-mortar (aka “real life”) store front, and you could capture most of the personal contact information of everyone who walks in the store. Would that be helpful to you? You better believe it. Yet, many many websites don’t have a clear and inviting way for these visitors to sign-up for your email list. Instead, they make the visitor not only work to find the sign-up form, but don’t convince them that it’s a good move.

Instead of just having a “Sign Up for our Email List” form, incentivize them with giving them something for signing up. This also helps you know what kind of people are signing up for your list. Also, you’re making the sign-up form more obvious. Maybe give away an E-Book when they sign up. Something of value that they would want, and by the nature of your offer you’ll know what the person is looking for, because that offer was valuable enough to them to sign up.

Finally, telling them what they can get from signing up goes a long way to them actually signing up. For example, a travel website with the form reading, “Sign Up for our Weekly Travel Tips and Suggested Destinations” will get way way more sign-ups to their E-Mail List then just the plain, vague and boring request in the above paragraph.

E-Mail is one of the best forms of communication with your customers and potential customers. Reason being is because these days the user has to go through a double-opt-in process. hey fill out the form, and then have to click a link in their e-mail to confirm they want to be on your E-Mail List. The person who goes through that process really is interested in hearing what you have to say and doesn’t mind you telling them about it periodically. So, treat them with the respect they deserve as your best prospects and those who are ready to find out more about your company, products, and services.

There you have it. If you notice that you are making one or two of these mistakes, they are easy fixes. If you notice you are making all of these mistakes, then thank goodness you found out now before it’s too late! We offer a Marketing Course which is done online and will give you all kinds of immensely valuable information like the tips above. If you’re making more than one of these mistakes, you might be making mistakes in other areas of your business, too, which could be inhibiting you from attaining your desired business goals and success. Call us if you have more questions, or just comment below and let us know what you think! As always, thanks for sharing this and for your comments!

This is something many professional web designers fail to explain properly to their clients and prospective clients, so I hope to help them out a little here, too.

When you get a few quotes for website design, you’re going to notice what could be a wide range of pricing. You may get quotes as high as $10,000 or as low as $500. Why is this? Its usually due to the combination of what you have asked for, how big the company you’re receiving the quite from is or if it’s an individual designer, how experienced the designer is, whether they are going to give you a custom website or just tweak a theme, or even if they’re going to outsource the work to another country. There are many many factors which go into a website quote and it’s important to know that.

Inexpensive Help (aka My Nephew Is Tech Savvy and Can Do My Website)
You may think what you need and want is simple, but might not understand the development complexity of making it simple. On the other hand, your developer might be in experienced (or worse, lazy) and you might not be getting the website with all the optimization, checks, and balances you deserve as a professional business owner. The cheaper designer may not include all the conversion elements necessary to create the maximum opportunity for you to convert visitors into leads or customers. This costs you money.

Let’s say you sell are a yoga studio. When people come to your website, there is no information on classes, or where to get on an e-mail list, or how to purchase retail products like Yoga mats, Yoga blocks, or other items. You are losing potential sales with every visit.

The Template Site
If you think you’re saving major money by just getting a template site. Sounds like a great deal, right? Only $5/month (if that) and you can “do it all yourself” and have your very own website! Now that you have a website you can start getting found on Google and people will start coming to your business! All for under $60 a year! Sounds too good to be true? Well, it is.

You are most likely not a developer, nor a web designer. Template sites are built with the lowest common denominator in mind. Trying to be all things to all people. 95% of Templates are not designed even for proper optimization or usability. To get a Template website to perform functionally sound and to be optimized for conversion and search results, you’re going to have to hire someone to do some custom CSS coding and add some plug-ins…if the Template even allows that.

When you try to save money, you usually end up paying for it one way or another, so let’s examine how we should do it right.

Pay A Fair Price For A Quality Site
In the grand scheme of things, would you pay $1 for something that would give you anywhere from $2-200 return on that dollar? If you say “no,” then you should rethink being a business owner.  

A quality website (ranging from $1,500-5,000, or more if you have a shopping cart or custom elements) is not “expensive.” A quality website which is optimized for top search engine rankings, has social sharing capabilities, and is professionally designed and compatible with all computers and mobile devices is an investment in your business. This is your online storefront.

If you own a brick-and-mortar business, did you just get the cheapest possible retail space and not paint the walls or fix the cracked glass? Where you happy to “just have something up?” To use an analogy which applies to most people…when you bought your car did you just get the cheapest car you could find that technically ran, or did you shop around for the best value, safety features, MPG, etc?

Cheap websites will cost you way more in lost business than a quality and professionally-built website would have ever cost you in the first place. Alleviate all the pain and stress you could encounter from a relative with a computer or a computer-generated not-user-friendly template site, and contact a professional marketing agency who can help you create the very best and most efficient site for your business. You’ll thank me later. I promise.

Scam Artist 1: The Web Designer
Most of the time a small business looks to hire a single “web designer,” it’s because there’s a perceived lack of budget available to spend on a larger and more expensive company. Even the middle companies who might charge a few thousand dollars for a website, or some online graphic/development work, seems too much. So, the business owner, or manager, looks to hire off of an outsourcing website by placing an advertisement asking for samples and rates. Most of the time, the business owner will get to choose from awful to horrible. And when they do find an aesthetically-pleasing website, then it was usually designed with the web designer’s goals in mind, not the client’s.

A common problem is a general lack of marketing knowledge. A designer doesn’t understand ROI, Conversion rates, usability (for the most part), Search Engine Optimization, or content creation. The web designer may also not be adept at developing efficient code, and may even use a template or CMS Theme “out-of-the-box” and hackingly tweak only what the client needs for the site/project to look like the clients’.

SOLUTION:
You should look for a company which has a small staff of experts, and whose work is consistent. Also, ask for references and follow up on those references. Asking to see links only tells you a small part of the story. You’re most likely not a marketing expert, either, so knowing how to break-down the effectiveness of each site given to you as links usually isn’t a tool in your toolshed as a business owner. And if you do work in the marketing department of your company, are you informed on the latest and most effective strategies and techniques out there? If you are aware that Google just changed their algorithm almost a year back to counter act link farms and aggregate websites, then you’re more informed than most.

Scam Artist 2: The Social Media “Expert”
When you meed a “Social Media Expert” then you probably have met someone who spends a lot of their time on Facebook and Twitter, and they feel that the hours they’ve logged in gives them enough usage hours and peripheral knowledge of how things works for them to try to get paid for it. Worse yet, if you ever meet a self-professed “guru” then run, don’t walk…and…if you ever meet someone who specifically claims NOT to be a “guru” without you even bringing it up, then run away even FASTER!

A common problem with Social Media consultants is that they aren’t familiar with PR/Publicity, Marketing and Advertising. Having a knowledge in these areas will help your Social Media message be more effective. Social Media is marketing your product, but it walks the fine line between pure marketing and pure publicity/PR. You’re essentially going to be starting a conversation with potential customers, and cultivating a strong relationship with them. You have to strategize your message effectively for your target market and understand who your customers are…from the type of income they make right down to the types of shoes they are likely to wear. You have to know your customers’ mindsets if you’re going to communicate how your brand, company, and/or product is going to help improve their lives in some way.

SOLUTION:
A honest to goodness true expert (or guru) will have case studies, metrics, and examples of what they’ve done for others. You should also ask your expert how they envision your company or brand being able to harness the power of social media, and what ideas they have for you, and how they will strategize your social media road map. When you begin working with them, after you’ve agreed to work together, then ask for specifics and documentation on how they will work for you, what results to expect, and how you can check their work periodically to chart the progress.

One note, though, to be fair, Social Media is the quintessential real life example of the old saying, “Good, Fast, Cheap…Pick Any Two.” If you’re going to get some Good results Fast, then it’s going to cost you in media buys, hourly charges, and affiliate partnerships just to name a few. If you’re expecting something to work Fast and Cheap, then the results are not going to be very good. For example, if you want 5,000 fans in three months for your Facebook Page, then expect a lot of fillers and unqualified fans usually gotten through trading “Likes.” Depending on the kind of business you have, this might be a decent tactic depending on the overall strategy. Finally, if you’re looking for something Good and for Cheap, then the great results will not come quickly. It will take time to cultivate good relationships while being frugal. Why? Because you’re going to have to keep the hours spend on the social networks down, or you’re going to have to invest a lot of time yourself if you don’t wan to pay others to spend the time doing it, just to name a couple reasons.

Scam Artist 3: The “SEO” Promise
This could be the biggest scam out there. The promise of “I’ll get you on the first page of Google in two weeks!” Anyone who says that, just tell them to politely leave you alone, because you know their game. They know that NO ONE knows the algorithm Google uses, much less be able to guarantee positioning on an on-going basis. There are billions of “first pages of Google,” and you can reach quite a few just with a specific-enough search.

For example, if you search for your own name, or your business’ name then you better be the first entry on Google, or you’ve got some work to do. Being first for your exact name should be easily achievable. The trick, however, is being first for an actual KeyWord and search phrase your customers will be typing into the search engine box to find you.

SOLUTION:
When looking for better search engine rankings listen to the “experts'” pitch. If they promise first page and first spot rankings for any KeyWord you wish, then they are not being honest. If they want to work with you to find the perfect and achievable “long tail” KeyWords which will help your customers actually find you by what you do and where you are, then you’re on the right track.

Also, you shouldn’t have to pay one penny more for organic search engine optimization. That means developing your website so that it’s optimized for prime display in the search engines, and ready for great rankings. Many scam artist developers, and one-person-shops will grab a WordPress theme, install it for you, and tweak some logos, colors, and text and send you on your way. That’s not going to help you. There are a certain base number of customizations which will need to be done on every site, by an expert, to help you achieve those amazing search engine result rankings you’re looking for.

In Conclusion:
There has been a lot of information here. As a courtesy to you for reading all of this, please give us a call with any questions and we’d be happy to help walk you through a few things which would help you out, and NOT give you a used car salesman pitch for your troubles. It’s our mission to help out, and make businesses more successful however we can, so just Contact Us today! Talk to you soon!

Your website should be able to help all your visitors, provide the information they’re individually looking for, usher different visitors through different channels of information, establish your credibility, capture their contact information, and allow them to either purchase from you through the website or easily set up an appointment where you or one of your business representatives can help them with their needs and the solutions they’re looking for.

Will you use website templates or will you custom develop your website? This is a big question for many business owners. A website template can cost as little as $4/month through your web host, or can cost in the thousands when hiring a professional agency. All too many small business owners opt for a middle ground of paying hundreds for a one-off Content Management System (aka CMS, or Blog-site) theme that an inexperienced, out-of-work developer, or “friend of the family” puts together for the business owner for, say, $300. This cheap labor usually ends in dissatisfaction and wasted money on the business owner’s part, because they got what they paid for…a cheap website which doesn’t work.

How does the average business owner, who has to work overtime and sometimes 7 days a week in their business have time to work on their website or even know what’s most effective? Fear not, we’ll walk you through all the options right now…for free.

Flash Sites (“The big debate!”)
Flash sites, or sites which contained a large degree of Flash technology in them, were very popular in the 90’s and early 2000’s. These days, most modern sites and modern development techniques do not include Flash. As a matter of fact, with Mobile technology and usage growing at a pace almost similar to the speed of sound, you have to consider compatibility with modern Smart Phones and Tablets. Flash is not compatible with any mobile Apple product (iPhones and iPads), and is not fully reliable on Android devices (Motorola Droid and Xoom, HTC, Google Nexus, Samsung Galaxy, etc). The Android mobile devices state they are compatible, and technically they are, but the performance has been less than desired at the time of this writing, and very clunky at best. Also, Flash sites hinder (and sometimes almost prevent) any Search Engine Optimization (SEO) you’re going to want to do with your site. For the most part, and Flash proponents will undoubtedly disagree, it is our professional opinion based on almost two decades of experience with online marketing and online business that you should NOT use Flash for your website, as there are far more negatives with it than positives. Adobe, the company which owns Flash technology, has even slowly started moving away from it. Plus, it’s very expensive to create and change. Bottom line. It’s probably just not worth it unless you’re creating a game on your website, Facebook Game app, or something along those lines.

Template Sites (“Would you like fries with that?”)
The advantage of a template site is that you don’t have to pay a developer, they’re mostly easy to change, and they’re cheap. That’s pretty much the end of the benefits with a template site. The disadvantages are limited ability to customize the site, the templates are more likely than not developed to be for generic use and not developed with your business category or company in mind. Also, the template website will most likely not be able to easily tie in to your social networks or capture leads and/or visitors’ information for you (unless you know a little bit of coding). Basically, you get what you pay for. A cheap solution which doesn’t advance your company’s brand, marketing, or business development effectiveness.

Cheap Labor (“My nephew does websites!”)
The advantage of hiring a cheap single worker is pretty similar to having a computerized generic template. You get an actual human to do the coding and development for you, so they’re more likely (hopefully) to be able to plug in some connectivity to eMail Marketing systems and Social Networks. However, once again, you get what you pay for, and hiring a non-professional will most likely mean you will be missing out on something else along the way, like effective Search Engine Optimization (SEO), professional blogging and content creation advice, semi-reliable technical knowledge, etc. You’re also not guaranteed to have an effective website which will work to drive business growth, because that friend of a friend, outsourced worker, or nephew most likely will not be a marketing expert who understands how websites should be used…to drive business growth, capture leads, drive up conversion rates, and create a stronger connection with prospective, current, and repeat customers to keep them all coming back over and over and over again.

More often then not, the business owner who tried to save money and cut corners usually has to redo all the work the cheap labor did, and spend more money the second or third or fourth time around to get the job done right. The business that is lost by trying to cut financial corners usually results in much more money in than it would have cost to hire an expert professional website design and/or marketing company in the first place.

Professional Website Design and Marketing (“Done Right…The First Time“)
The professional website designer and marketer will ask you about your business requirements for the website, and will ask what your typical customers are like. You should expect a document of what the site will do in full detail, an information architecture document (i.e. flow chart, site map layout, etc), and an expert to discuss with you the options for converting visitors into leads and/or customers.

The website’s graphic design should tie in nicely with your existing branding and feel like an extension of your business itself…because it is. The professional marketing company or website designer will also help you with the technical side of things such as determining which format to code the site in (for example WordPress vs Drupal), where to host the site (cheap host vs dedicated server vs cloud hosting), how to tie in all the Social Media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Google+), and eMail Marketing plug-ins (like AWeber, ConstantContact, etc).

You should expect to see the website’s visual design, and all architecture documents before the site is launched, and expect a full walk-through which will show you how to use the site’s back-end system, update the content, and some instructions on how to blog for best conversions and organic Search Engine Optimization. The professional website designer will launch the site with you, check for bugs and anything that needs tweaking to work exactly as specified in the planning stages, and fix any errors or bugs for no charge. Beware of any company or “professional” who doesn’t show you website designs before launching and looks to charge you extra money to perform bug fixes. You’re paying for professional services, so make sure that you’re getting exactly that.

Here’s the key part of this blog post, which will make sure you’re not getting ripped off…
A strong indication of how good a company’s performance is will be the strength of their testimonials. Just looking at a page of a website which reads “Portfolio” and doesn’t contain any information other than a link to the live site is a red flag. A professional website marketing company will provide more than just a pretty picture. They should be able to tell you what they did to help that company’s image, brand, and business. They should be able to give you a case study on how that company went from concept to completion and what the results were from their work. Any company that just offers up a group of screenshots and links, without providing strategies and thought processes is either not telling you the whole story, or hasn’t performed all the necessary steps to ensure their work will be successful after the project has been completed. Look for a company which stands by it’s work, can explain their strategic thinking to you in speech you can easily understand, and which has a track record of success and long list of dynamic and impressive testimonials.

Look and sound expensive? It doesn’t have to be. Any professional company will work with you on the payment plans. Expect to pay a deposit, or start-up fee, initiation fee, etc. After that, you should be able to break up the balance in stages. If you found the company you trust and want to work with, and money is the only object, then make sure their main focus is on your company’s success and not just getting paid. Any company with integrity and which wants to work with you and your company will most likely be able to work with almost any payment plan you can afford in order to help your business grow.

Professional companies’ pricing for websites should start around the low four figures and go up from there, depending on the complexity and business goals and requirements of the website. Get a few quotes, but don’t just go with the lower price. Some companies are cheap for a reason (see the two sections above), and you could end up going through a rough situation and more headache to save a few bucks than just going with the most professional company which has your best interests, and the best interests of your company, at the top of the list.

Action Item: What kind of website do you currently have? What do you want your website to do? How would your website be improved with a new version? Do you have a professional designer or marketing company in mind? If you require any assistance whatsoever, give us a call or drop us an eMail and we’ll be happy to help you and your business out!