I was prompted to write this having seen the questions listed by Savvy Marketers in their March
2011 newsletter.
Having met many business owners over the years who have dabbled in creating or promoting a website themselves, or outsourced to a third party, we still believe there is a lot of uncertainty in what to do / what not to do and some people have been given very misleading information.
They continued:
We feel very strongly about this at Savvy Marketers and more recently have found that some people we have met or who are clients of ours have been given a less than satisfactory service by their provider. We understand that most small businesses are not web experts, but specialize in what they’re good at.
and ended with
Therefore there’s a certain amount of trust that their provider is going to provide a decent service, or at least explain in non-techie terms what the contract they have signed up to involves.
While one of our slogans at Bobbing Wide is
We do the techno-babble so you don’t have to.
when it comes to tellling you what we’re going to do for you we often have to use quite a bit of techno-babble. We believe that using the proper terms can be less ambiguous.. well for us at least.
So here are the questions you need to ask and the answers that we will give.
1. What does the price for your service include and more importantly, what does it not include?
2. How much do you charge for any extras or extra work I may need now or in the future?
3. How quickly can I expect to see results? If your provider promises top rankings on Google in a short time, or even guarantees rankings, then be very wary!
4. Will you provide me with regular reports or contact me about how my site is progressing? Will you respond to my questions in a timely manner?
5. Will you offer me information freely about how I can improve my site or any tips & suggestions you may have?
6. How do you bill your clients?
7. Do you have case studies or testimonials from other clients and can I contact them?
8. Will you find out about my business, my goals, challenges and target market so that you can provide me with the best solution to fit my situation?
9. Do you offer any service guarantees? See number 3 above if search rankings are guaranteed!
10. Where will my site be hosted? Can I move it if I ever need to?
Will you register any domain names in my own name? (this is very important if you’re using a web developer and asking them to buy domain names on your behalf).
It’s very important that many of these questions are answered and you’re satisfied with the answers given, not only so you know what kind of service to expect, but to make sure that your provider really understands your business so they can provide you with the best possible service.
It’s also important that you and your provider are on the same wavelength to avoid any problems that may arise once the contracted work starts. Make sure you really know what you’re paying for. For example, does the new website include any optimization on the site? Some developers include this and some don’t. If it does, make sure you’re involved in the process so they target the right keywords. You should also receive regular feedback on traffic to your site, and how it’s performing in the search engines. They should tell you how you can access your website’s visitor stats too. Most importantly, whoever you use, they should be proactive in helping you make your website the best it can be, and if you don’t hear from them for a couple of months but are still paying them, find out exactly what they’re doing! We hope this helps you get the best possible service for your website, and if you have any feedback or this raises more questions for you, please get in touch by email at help@savvymarketers.co.uk