If you’ve put the word out there that you’re looking for help designing a new website, or if you even went as far as posting a request on Craig’s List, then I’m sure you’ve been inundated with responses because there are so many people out there that have enough knowledge to make a website.
BEWARE.
99.9% of the people who contact you are inexperienced and don’t know what it takes to build a successful website. If you’re just looking for a site that it a fancy brochure, then you can hire just about anyone. But if you’re wanting something that will get traffic and not be lost in cyberspace, then you need to hire someone who knows how to do that.
Competent web developers are not cheap. If you’re getting offers for a couple hundred dollars or even a couple thousand dollars, you’re probably dealing with people who don’t understand the pitfalls of web development. I recently had a client who had gotten a website from a large company who made a HUGE mistake. The site wasn’t being found by Google and my client came to us to figure out why. Turns out that their web developer had added an extra slash (/) in the wrong place in one of the files. We found the extra slash that told Google to go away and not read through the site. Problem fixed. If you hire someone who’s not competent, you’ll likely only wind up wasting the money you’re spending now, when you move forward in a year or so with someone who’s actually competent. While many people think they’re getting a good deal when they hire an inexpensive web designer, usually they come to the conclusion that the cheap designer cost them more in the long run because their work is scrapped eventually. Not to mention that there is lost time. Time when your competitors are gaining market share while you’re still floundering. Worst of all, incompetent designers can cause your site to be banned from Google and you can spend months trying to get back into Google’s favor once you discover the issues. Just ask BMW. They hired a company that did some things that displeased Google. BMW found their site delisted. It was taken off of Google all together. You don’t want to find your company in the same situation. Tomorrow, I’m planning on posting some questions you can ask a web developer before you hire them to make sure they know what they’re talking about.
To your continued success.