Inquiring About a New Website
Before you take the plunge and pay money for a website, you should be very clear on a couple of points. These alone might help you make the decision whether or not a website is a good idea for you and your business.
Be prepared to write your own content
This may seem like an obvious statement, but many clients make the mistake of thinking that a website designer will not only design and build the website, but write all the content and supply all the pictures too.
When you ask your local printing shop to run off two thousand copies of your company brochure, do you expect them to write the brochure first? Of course not. The brochure is written in-house, or by a team of hired professional copy-writers.
Now, you may find some web developing companies with expert copy-writers on their team, and if you're willing to pay the price then that might be the way to go. But otherwise you should expect to supply all the copy yourself, and any photos that you want to display. We will, however, be happy to edit your copy and optimize it for search engines.
Internet business doesn't happen overnight
When your website is finished and ready to go live, don't expect a deluge of new business from day one. Even when a client is warned that it might take some time, still they are sometimes disappointed at just how long it all takes to "get out there" – around 1-3 months just to show up in the search engines at all, and often longer to achieve listings in the top ten.
There are valid reasons for this (explained in another article) but right now you should realize that a website needs to be nurtured like a new pet, rather than just left alone. A website is for life, not just for Christmas!
Reasons why you SHOULD have a website
Despite the important points mentioned above, it's still advisable to have a website. For one thing, customers are becoming increasingly surprised and even annoyed when a business doesn't have a website, or at least some kind of simple webpage with contact information.
Even before you start generating actual new business online, your website will serve as a very useful online brochure. When you meet people at parties or functions, it's easy to say, "Go to my website for information – joebloggs.com."
And of course you can include your web address on your business card and hand it out. It's much easier pointing potential clients at your website than carrying around spare printed brochures, or remembering to send brochures in the mail when you get back to the office on Monday morning.
Later, when your website is firmly established on the internet and achieving some nice rankings, and your internet traffic is steadily increasing, then your patience and initial expense will begin to pay off – especially if you've done a little nurturing from time to time and helped your website to grow.
Read on to find out how to get started on the website.
All articles about building a website
Before you take the plunge and pay money for a website, you should be very clear on a few points. These alone might help you make the decision whether or not a website is a good idea for you and your business...
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Generally speaking the requirements for content are the same for all sites – it's just the level of detail that differs. Whatever size website you want, you need to sit down and write the text...
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