You’ve decided (finally) to get a website! All the cool kids have one and you’ve always imagined yourself as one of the cool kids – so its time. Just don’t make these common Small Business mistakes when starting the process.
1. Don’t have your neighbor’s high school kid do it for you
Kids are really talented and much more tech savvy than you or me, but they are NOT business people and they probably won’t “get” your business or your clients.
2. Don’t get fooled by the offer of a “free” website
Free is rarely truly free (you need to buy something else; you get a stripped down version of something; you host ads for your competitors; etc). Remember – most of the time you get what you pay for!
3. Don’t do it yourself
You’re smart and resourceful and somewhat tech savvy. But unless you know HTML, PHP, PhotoShop, CSS, FTP, etc you’ll spend all your time learning these rather than building your site. Plus, do you really have the time – doing it yourself often means NOT doing it!
4. Don’t hire someone who doesn’t talk Search Engine Optimization at your first meeting
There are thousands of web designers out there, all waiting to take your money. Some are graphic designers, some are printers, and some are super-techies. All could be fine, but if they don’t talk SEO from the get-go, they do NOT have YOUR best interests at heart.
5. Don’t just create a list of products and services
Talk to your clients and provide them with stuff that’s of interest to them – not to you. Think of what they’d search for if they were looking for your products and build your site accordingly.
Posted by
John Tully
dsm-llc