1. Think about what you want!
Take a look around at other websites on the internet. Decide what you like and don’t like and give those examples to the person that will developing/designing your website. There are so many ways to design a website, it will give you a good reference point and it will cut down on the design time if you have something in mind already.
2. Make sure you have your logo in a usable format.
A logo is a very important part of your website. In order to re size and keep it clean, make sure you have a large version of your logo. If you give that to your web designer /developer at the early stages, then that will help them keep that branding theme and it is an effective way to start your website color scheme.
3. It costs more and takes longer than you think.
Superior Internets average turnaround time to build a website is 4 to 6 week. There are a lot of factors that go into the amount of time it takes. Time= $$$$$
A. Time to design the website. This takes a lot of time because we want our clients to be happy with the way their website looks. You don’t want to cut any corners here either because this will provide the framework for your entire website. This process including the time it takes to go back and forth with the client can take 2 to 3 weeks by itself.
B. Time to code the website. This varies greatly depending on the type of website you are building. A simple css/html website takes a lot less time than a database driven website because of the setup time and the factors that go into making the database functionalities.
C. Time to wait on the client. Client response times is very important. When your designer sends over and update or change to your website, it is important to respond quickly. It is difficult for designers (when their creative juices are flowing) to send over a change, then have to wait 1 week or 2 weeks for the client to respond. They sometimes lose that creative idea they have in their head and it may take them some time to get back to their idea.
4. If you build it… they may not come.
There are a couple of common phrases I hear at least once a month by the general public that was probably true 10 years ago in the internet, but no longer apply. See if you have heard these.
“I have a great domain name, I should be ranked number 1 on Google.” Well that is not true in this day and age. It takes a lot of work to get to number 1. Domain names are one of the least weighted factors for search engine optimization.
“I bought my domain name with .org, .net, and .us. extensions so it will help my search rankings.” – This might be true if you put different content for the same subject matter on a duplicate website on those domains, but just the domain names themselves do not provide any measurable difference to your traffic
5. Don’t let your brothers, cousins, uncle build your website.
There are 2 reasons for this, the first is control of your website. More than likely, they are going to register the domain name for you as well as build the website. If they register your domain name in their name and then disappear, you have no right to that domain name. In this case, it is almost impossible to get your domain name back without that person being involved.
The other problem is support. Once they have the website built, people tend to lose touch with their designer. So if you need a phone or fax number changed or maybe the address, it is a lot of time difficult to get that done with some who has better things to do.
6. You get what you pay for
This is covered in number 5. Your cousins brothers uncle may be cheap, but it could result in a lot of problems down the road.
7. Talk to a web professional before you start buying anything.
This is important. Most web design companies are willing to meet with you for a free consultation. Talk with a webdesign company before you buy anything like a content management system, domain, or hosting. If you purchase these before you start with a professional web developer you may be spending money needlessly.
8. Allow your website designer to finish the project properly.
Your website designer is well aware of the deadline you set. Keep in mind by the end of the process, there are a lot of minor (and sometimes major) changes that need to be made at the end of the process. Allow your designer the time to complete the website properly even if it costs you a couple of days and delays your launch. A rushed website is one that WILL has some errors in it.
9. Test, test, test.
Although your website designer has tested your new website, you and a friend need to review and test the site before it goes live. There is a big reason you need to get your friends to test it. You and web designer know how the website is supposed to work, but your friend more than likely does not. They will be able to find any bugs that the normal users will see.
10. Things you need to ask for in your website before it goes live.
Make sure you ask you web designer to add a keyword rich title tag and company description to your website pages. Also ask them to upload a sitemap so it can be submitted to Google. Finally ask your designer to link their website to yours. This is very important to get you started quickly on SEO for your new venture.
