How to Build a Website or How to Hire Someone Who Can

It seems like everyone is a web designer or an SEO expert these days. After all the years in this industry you learn to spot trends.  When the economy is poor, the web designers come out of the woodwork. Everyone suddenly knows how to build a site and knows SEO.  I am here to say that is an absolute fallacy. Reputable web designers are not part of the gig economy. And web design is not a side hustle.So what are some of the tell-tale, inside baseball signs, small business owners need to consider when looking for a Web Designer or SEO Company. Let me say up front, price should be the last consideration. I know it is easy for me to say, right? Not really, a solid web presence needs to be nurtured, so there really are two choices, learn to do it yourself, and that is the whole point of the our class series, Internet Marketing Clinic. Or, conversely you have to pay someone to do it that actually knows what they are doing. But I’ll say more on pricing here shortly.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-AwBZ6XofQ
Where Do You Start with Web Design?
The first thing all business owners should ask themselves is do they have the aptitude to do it themselves. Small business owners tend to be very wily in finding ways to get a job accomplished. Your website should really be no different. One of the barriers that often comes up is the fear of a computer. But as with anything, if you tell yourself you can’t do it or something is beyond you, it will be a self-fulfilling prophecy.  Take your entrepreneurial can do spirit and apply it to this.Should you go down the do-it-yourself route, what you should not do is use DIY tools like Wix, Squarespace, Weebly. These are platformed based solutions.  Although you can whip up a website quickly, it does not account for poor design choices, but more importantly, the lack of these platform's ability to do well in the organic listings of Google. These listings are free if you put your website together properly and the value of that must not be overlooked by small business owners.Now that we’ve told you what not to do, let's talk about what we should do. WordPress.org. There are a lot of reasons for it, but the reality is this software can be set up properly  to meet the Google bench marks. This will greatly increase your probability of landing on the first page in your niche. Now, of course, there are delimiters because if your niche is crowded, the lift to get to the first page goes up. Often, those companies have folks like me on their payroll.Vertical Web has a customized version of WordPress available through our WordPress Web Hosting Plans that include all the tools preloaded and paid for making it a one stop solution for your WordPress needs.
How to Pick a Web Designer or SEO Company?
So, as I’ve already said, price should be one of the least important factors of who you trust with your business. But in the real world, it is not always a way to view it. So here are a few tips that might help you make the decision when the time comes to get a professional web designer to work with you.Does the company you're considering have a professional looking website?This seems like a now brainer, however I can’t tell you how many times we look at a competitor's website,  only to find the website is a one-page WIX built site, with very few clients listed, if at all Is there an attention to detail?Is spelling correct? Are images properly sized and not distorted? If the website has flaws, this is often indicative of a few things that range from how thorough a company is; to their overall ability to write an effective website. If they can’t execute these things on their own website properly, how do you expect them to execute it on yours?Does the web design firm demonstrate an basic understanding of Google's best practices?Check the website’s title tag and see if it is indicative of what the company does, rather than their company name. Or worse, does the title tag say home.