Need a Website? Do’s and Don’ts

Do use a professional

Many times the first impression a person gets about your company is your website. The first impression is everything. The first time a visitor sees your website, you want them to believe your company is a professional top notch business. What you put into your website is what you will get out of it.

Sure, you can create a website yourself using various means including premade templates, free website builders from hosting companies or have a friend or family member do it for you. Unless your friend or family member is a professional, your website will lack a professional look and feel.

Here’s a bad example of a free web builder being used:
http://www.kennedyforcolorado.com/

Make sure you have a positive online presence.

Don’t use templates

Like I mentioned above, using a template is a no-no. Templates can easily be found and bought on hundreds of websites. Templates however are not exclusive. Other companies will also use the same template. Having your company website look like another company’s site will devalue your company.

In order to be competitive on the web, your site has to stand out and be unique, or else what’s the point? Stay away from buying premade templates or web design companies that deal with templates.

Do your homework

Before beginning your website process, do your due diligence and research. There are several things to keep in mind before starting your process:

1. What kind of website are will you need, E-commerce, brochure, blog, etc?
   This is good to know when looking for a professional designer. Some companies or designers specialize in certain areas and are better at developing one type of site over the other.
2. Choose a web designer or company that will suit your needs.
   When selecting a web design company, there are a few things to keep in mind.
   Availability, you don’t want a company located in another country that operates at different times. Make sure your designer(s) can provide customer support in reasonable time.
   Cost, make sure what they are charging is a fair market value, shop around. Charging too low can also be a red flag.
   Experience, hire a company or designer that has experience in designing the type of websites that you need. Hiring a college student might be more economical but they don’t have the experience you need.
3. Who are your competitors?
   If you don’t know who to beat, how are you going to compete? Visit your competitor’s website and see what they are offering. See what kind of website they are running and how your site can best that.
4. What will your website contain?
   Before looking for a website designer or company, make sure you know what you will need. The more you know upfront, the less of a chance you have of incurring costs later on. Visit other sites and see what you may need.  It’s best to start off with your website size or an approximate number of pages. Knowing if you need the following also helps: submission forms (contact, feedback, etc.), discussion forums, picture galleries, custom search, custom scripts, or SEO.

Don’t be cheap

You’ve all heard the phrase, “You get what you pay for”. There are dozens of sites on the web that will give you a free website. Sometimes you get a free website with the purchase of a domain or web hosting. These sites use web builders, which use templates. Like I mentioned before, using a template is not the best way to show visitors you’re a serious company.

Also, searching for the cheapest quote isn’t the best practice either. Make sure when looking for a quote, the company or designer is reliable, experienced and will provide support after the site is complete. Be wary of designers who charge too low, they might be using template themselves. Hiring cheap may cost you in the long run.

Do plan ahead

When conducting your research for your new site, think about your website 1 month, 6 months and years down the line. Make sure you leave room for expansion or change. If you plan on growing your business and website, make sure your web design company knows this so they can accommodate.

If you will need maintenance or updates once your site is complete, make sure you let your web design company know this as well. Many times a CMS (content management system) will be needed so you can edit the site yourself. This can save you expenses in the future.

Don’t use flash intros

Long gone are the days when the flash intros were “cool”. We are now a generation of quick access. When visitors visit a site they want information right-away. They don’t want to search within the site or have to click on several links to find what they want. A flash introduction is just slowing the process down.

Many times when a visitor visits a site with a flash introduction, they will either skip it or click the “back” button. Most people don’t sit through them and watch. I always recommend against them.

Do have plenty of relevant content

When creating the text for your site, the more text the better. The one rule to keep in mind however is to make sure the content is relative to what you are showcasing. The last thing a reader wants is to read text about a subject that doesn’t relate to that page at all. The same goes for images, keep them relative to the web page subject. Make sure each web page is centered on one subject or product. Provide as much content as possible but remember what the visitor is there for, keep to the subject. Having relative content also helps with search engines (see SEO below).

Don’t ignore SEO

What is the use of having a nice, professional and beautiful website if no one will ever find it? Once your website is complete, search engine optimization (SEO) is a must. SEO helps your website get properly indexed and vastly improves the chances of being found during a search. An investment on SEO can provide a tenfold return on investment.

The SEO process consists of a search engine friendly design (this is why choosing the right designer is important), proper keyword usage, relevant content evaluation (see above) and link building.