In my last post I educated you on the most important SEO procedures when transferring to a new website. These steps should help you maintain your placement on search engine results pages. (S.E.R.P.) But choosing a new website is also important to your search engine optimization campaign. Let us explore the most important questions to ask when purchasing a new website.
Will I own my domain name?
Your domain name is directly linked to your business. When you brand your business with a URL, people will automatically associate your business with that URL. You want to make sure that when you speak with a web designer, that you make sure that you are the primary owner of the URL. I highly suggest that you purchase the domain on your own prior to speaking with a web designer. Go to godaddy.com or register.com and buy your domain name with your own Credit Card and make sure it’s on your own email address. Unfortunately we see businesses that have not taken this step and their current URLs are owned under their web designer’s account. Should you decide to leave this designer, he owns your domain name and can pull your website down if he wants. This will make it very hard if you decide to get a new website. Your old designer controls the domain name and can decide where it points.
Where is my website Hosted?
It will be important for your website to be separate from all other websites. Sometimes we see web designers who have many websites located in the same place. This makes it hard for them to give access to your site without giving access to all other sites. While this is normally a simple fix, most designers would rather not do it. To avoid this problem I recommend getting your own hosting package separate from the designers. Speak with your design team and find out what they will need from a hosting package. You should then be able to find the right package in the same place you purchased your domain name. Now you will own the URL name and the hosting for the website. Everything is now in your control!
Do I have a content management website?
A content management website is one that allows you as the business owner to update the site whenever you like. This will allow you to add new pages, change pictures / content and be the true owner of your website. The biggest advantage of this type of website is that you are not at the mercy of a web design team to make changes. Sometimes a simple picture swap can take designer a few days to make. If your website is on a CMS (content management system) you can make this change instantly. Aside from the time it takes for web designers to update your site, sometimes this also comes with a charge. Some design teams charge per item for changes and others retain a monthly fee for this service. With CMS you will not have pay a design team for simple changes to your site or pay for a service that you do not use on a monthly basis.
Does My Website come with a blog?
Building a website today without a blog is like building a car without a motor. A blog will allow you to constantly update your website with new content. This will help strengthen your keywords and expand your search engine results. Whether you think you are going to Blog or not I highly recommend that you have one installed with your website.
Does my Site have SEO tools?
Be sure that you discuss search engine optimization tools with your designer. Your website should have the ability to support unique page titles and meta descriptions for each page of the site, and xml sitemap, Google analytics and Google webmasters tools. Be sure that these are all available on your site before moving forward. I recommend that you have each of these tools on your site. Should you be dealing with a company that is not providing these tools to you, you may consider finding a different web designer.
What does my Web designer need from me?
Most of the time, the speed at which your website gets finished will fall on both you and your web designers shoulders. Be sure to have a plan in place with your team prior to starting a new website. A few things that most designers will need are: content, pictures and most importantly feedback! It is important to provide feedback to your design team so that they can make changes and move forward. If your team does not hear back from you, the design of your site will come to a standstill. Next, be sure to provide your team with the tools to fill your site. Once you have agreed on the look of your site, pictures and content will be needed to fill the site. If you do not provide this information to your design team, they will not be able to make your site live. While some designers will write the content for you, I recommend that you write your own. Odds are that you know more about your business and your industry then your design team.
At Boston Web Marketing we offer website packages that include everything that I have discussed in this article. We know the importance of providing quality websites and providing customers with everything they will require for quality search engine results. Are you looking for a new website? Contact our skilled team at 617-676-8109 or email us at sales@getfoundquick.com.
-Matt Wilkos
If you are interested in more SEO techniques or would like to hire us to manage your reputation online contact us at: sales@getfoundquick.com or call 857.526.0096.
Boston Web Marketing | 1 McKinley Square Suite 7, | Boston, MA 02109 | www.getfoundquick.com