Hiring an Internet Marketing Service: Plan Before You Jump!

Website design By BotEap.comA common mistake businesses make is hiring an internet marketing company too quickly, mainly based on price. Your website is a visual representation of your business, and a poorly designed site can frustrate visitors, misrepresent your products, and even lose sales. Before hiring an internet marketing company, research the answers to these questions:

Website design By BotEap.com1. How much experience does the internet marketing company have? Do they have any special qualifications or designations?

Website design By BotEap.comLongevity in the industry is a good indicator of stability and ability. Online marketing companies that have been in business for a while and have built an admirable reputation are generally known for their design work and customer service. Choosing an internet marketing company that has been around longer means that they will be more likely to be around in the future for ongoing maintenance and updates to your website.

Website design By BotEap.comThe answer to this question will give you a general idea about the skill set in the web company. Having a tertiary degree is good. Having a lot of experience is better, and combining the experience with a tertiary education is best.

Website design By BotEap.com2. How many staff members do you have and what are their roles?

Website design By BotEap.comBigger is not necessarily better when it comes to effective web email marketing companies. On average, companies have a designer, a couple of web developers, analysts, and a few sales and support people. Some companies use just-in-time staffing, adding or removing staff as needed. This helps keep overhead costs low.

Website design By BotEap.com3. Apart from internet marketing, what other services does the agency offer?

Website design By BotEap.comMany prominent internet marketing companies are branching out and offering other services, including web design and development. SEO, search engine marketing, web content writing, social media marketing, blog promotion, and Google AdWords management are services offered by many experienced online marketing companies. The key is to find a company that offers the services you are looking for.

Website design By BotEap.com4. Does the internet marketing company spend time with you to gather business insights and provide you with a formal proposal?

Website design By BotEap.comIt is good to select a web marketing company that will take the time to offer a custom solution for your website. Often the online marketing company will provide you with a questionnaire to fill out so they can get a better idea of ​​your goals, competition, and overall website needs. Your website will play an important role in the overall marketing of your brand. Therefore, it is important that your internet marketing company have a clear picture of your overall internet marketing goals.

Website design By BotEap.com5. What are the payment terms of the internet marketing company?

Website design By BotEap.comFor anything from a small nonprofit site to a full corporate brand, most internet marketing companies will charge an upfront deposit and stage payments based on agreed milestones and deliverables. Beware of any internet marketing company that asks for full payment before starting the project.

Website design By BotEap.com6. What is The Internet Marketing Company’s information privacy and non-disclosure policy?

Website design By BotEap.comTo create the perfect marketing plan for you, your Internet marketing company needs access to important information about your business, information that you wouldn’t want your competition, or anyone else, to know.

Website design By BotEap.comThis is particularly true if you are starting a new company. You don’t want others to steal your concept before you’ve had a chance to monetize it. Therefore, a strong privacy and non-disclosure policy will protect your information.

Website design By BotEap.com7. What are the average timeframes to complete your web design project, including e-commerce, logo design, and corporate branding?

Website design By BotEap.comIf the company is in both web development and Internet marketing, ask what the company considers a typical response time for projects similar in size to yours. This should give you a pretty good idea of ​​whether the website designer/developer has project management and time tracking systems in place. If you have a tough deadline to meet, be sure to let the design company know in advance so they can plan accordingly.

Website design By BotEap.com8. Who will be your central point of contact for your Internet marketing project?

Website design By BotEap.comIt’s important to have a single point of contact for your project to ensure nothing gets lost in translation. A Project Manager must be assigned to all web projects. However, if you are working with a small web company, the project manager may also be the web designer and/or web developer.

Website design By BotEap.com9. Does the company outsource any component of the project to third parties or to countries such as India? If so, what components?

Website design By BotEap.comWhile outsourcing can be a valid business decision to save costs and keep overheads lower, you’ll want to be wary of any internet marketing company that takes your project and outsources large components to another country. If you have concerns about low quality, cheap labor, and remote project management issues when jobs are outsourced to India, be sure to bring them up before you start your project.

Website design By BotEap.com10. Can The Internet Marketing Company help with website content writing?

Website design By BotEap.comSEO copywriting can make or break your website. Your website design may draw the reader in and focus their attention where it needs to be, but the words themselves make the sale. And if the content is properly optimized, your website can appear on the first pages of search engines for your chosen search terms.

Website design By BotEap.comMake sure the internet marketing company you choose offers copywriting and ask to see samples, particularly samples from sites within your same industry. This will give you a good basis on which to base your decision.

Website design By BotEap.com11. What programming languages ​​and operating systems does the Internet marketing and/or web development company work with?

Website design By BotEap.comIdeally, your web development company should offer the open source programming languages ​​PHP/MySQL and ASP.NET. They must make a technical recommendation on what

Website design By BotEap.comThe platform would best fit your needs and budget.

Website design By BotEap.com12. Do internet marketers and web developers build websites to web standards?

Website design By BotEap.comCompliance with standards, such as the W3C and Web Standards Group, are highly recommended industry practices. The main reason is consistency in how your visitors view your website across different platforms and future-proofing.

Website design By BotEap.com13. What does the testing/QA phase of the company website cover? Can you view the website while it is still under development?

Website design By BotEap.comBasic testing requirements should be browser testing, broken link checking, and general usability testing to ensure that the website is easy for website visitors to use and interact with.

Website design By BotEap.comBy viewing a development test version, you will be able to check the website before the release date and make any necessary adjustments.

Website design By BotEap.com14. Does the internet marketing company allow clients to host their websites with any server?

Website design By BotEap.comSometimes, for the sake of functionality or other good reasons, a web company may ask you to host your website with them, but this is not always the case. You may have existing business relationships with an ISP or web hosting company that you prefer to use. It is important to know before you hire an internet marketing company if they will require you to relocate to them.

Website design By BotEap.com15. Do you provide any training once the website is launched?

Website design By BotEap.comIf your website project includes custom software or systems, it can be very helpful to have your Internet marketing company provide training documents for future reference. If your system is very detailed, it might even be optimal to organize an ongoing customer support or training program.

Website design By BotEap.com16. Is the Internet marketing company knowledgeable about Web 2.0? Is this included in your quote or are there additional charges?

Website design By BotEap.comSearch Engine Optimization (SEO) is a science unto itself; An experienced internet marketing company should be able to offer you a variety of options including organic, PPC and social media marketing including Facebook advertising. Depending on your business requirements, you should consider hiring an internet marketing company that can create a custom online campaign to help you achieve the best results.

Website design By BotEap.comThere is usually an additional charge for individual items such as video, commercial and ad development, photo shoots, copywriting, etc. Ask about these if they are part of your marketing plan.

Website design By BotEap.com17. What is the charge for website updates after the initial website is complete?

Website design By BotEap.comWhile marketing is an ongoing process, website marketing is often seen as a one-time effort. But there is always extra work to be done: changes and updates, new content, etc.

Website design By BotEap.comBe aware of the charging structure for updates to your website. Consider how often you will need updates, and ask the internet marketing company how they handle future updates and maintenance.

Website design By BotEap.comIf you have frequent or large updates to your website, you might consider a Content Management System. A CMS is only really useful in case of regular changes and if a staff member is well trained in it. If neither is the case, it may be cheaper for the vendor to handle small updates.

Website design By BotEap.com18. What happens if you encounter a problem or code error after the site ends? Does the graphic design company have any kind of warranty or code guarantee?

Website design By BotEap.comOften web companies will make the change if it is small at no additional cost. However, keep in mind that if this is a change and not a bug fix, you may have to pay more. Internet marketing companies will usually give you several designs to approve initially, and then involve you every step of the way. Each approved section of the project is considered complete. Going back and making changes, even if they seem simple, can be expensive.

Website design By BotEap.com19. Does the copyright of the website transfer to you when the project is completed? What about the images on the website? Logo design?

Website design By BotEap.comCopyright law is a specialized legal field. You must apply to own the copyright of all work designed and developed after you have paid for the project in full.

Website design By BotEap.com20. Will the website development company comment on your source code?

Website design By BotEap.comCommenting code is part of good website development. If your code is well commented, you won’t waste much time if the unthinkable happens and you’re forced to find another website provider in the middle of your project or maintenance.

Website design By BotEap.comFinding the answers to these questions may seem time consuming and complicated, but it is an important part of the interview process. After you’ve interviewed several companies and answered their questions and concerns, you should be able to select a talented internet marketing and web development company that is knowledgeable and easy to work with. The company you choose should also have the ability to produce a web design and website that represents and enhances your overall corporate brand.

Website design By BotEap.comOf course, you can choose not to follow our suggestions and just hire the least expensive company available, or a friend of a friend who is into graphic design and internet marketing. But then you could end up with a real disaster. Your internet business depends on how good it looks. You wouldn’t ask a friend to install a new denture for you, would you?