A common mistake businesses make is hiring an internet marketing company too quickly, primarily 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:
1. How much experience does the internet marketing company have? Do they have any special qualifications or designations?
Longevity in the industry is a good indicator of stability and skill. 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 they will be more likely to be around in the future for ongoing maintenance and updates to your website.
The 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 experience with a tertiary education is best.
2. How many staff members do you have and what are their roles?
Bigger is not necessarily better when it comes to effective web e-marketing businesses. 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 low.
3. In addition to Internet marketing, what other services does the agency offer?
Many leading 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 all services offered by many experienced online marketing companies. The key is to find a company that offers the services you are looking for.
4. Does the internet marketing company spend time with you to gather business knowledge and provide you with a formal proposal?
It 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 that they can get a better idea of your goals, the competition and the general needs of the website. Your website will play an important role in the overall marketing of your brand. Therefore, it is important for your internet marketing company to have a clear picture of its overall internet marketing goals.
5. What are the payment terms of the internet marketing company?
For anything from a small non-profit site to a full corporate brand, most internet marketing companies will charge an upfront deposit and stage payments based on agreed upon milestones and deliverables. Beware of any internet marketing company that asks for full payment before starting the project.
6. What is The Internet Marketing Company’s Information Privacy and Non-Disclosure Policy?
To 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.
This is particularly true if you are starting a new business. You don’t want others to steal your concept before you’ve had a chance to monetize it. Therefore, a strong non-disclosure and privacy policy will protect your information.
7. What are the average timeframes to complete your web design project, including e-commerce, logo design, and corporate branding?
If the company is in both web development and Internet marketing, ask what the company considers a typical turnaround time for projects similar in size to yours. This should give you a pretty good idea of whether the website designer/developer has time tracking and project management 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.
8. Who will be your central point of contact for your Internet marketing project?
It’s important to have a single point of contact for your project to make sure 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 can also be the web designer and/or the web developer.
9. Does the company subcontract any component of the project to third parties or to countries such as India? If so, what components?
While outsourcing can be a valid business decision to save costs and keep overhead 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 poor quality, cheap labor and remote project management issues when jobs are outsourced to India, be sure to raise them before your project begins.
10. Can The Internet Marketing Company help with website content writing?
SEO copywriting can make or break your website. Your website design can 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 optimized correctly, your website can appear on the first pages of search engines for your chosen search terms.
Make 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 foundation on which to base your decision.
11. What programming languages and operating systems does the Internet marketing and/or web development company work with?
Ideally, your web development company should offer the open source programming languages PHP/MySQL and ASP.NET. They must make a technical recommendation on what
The platform would best fit your needs and budget.
12. Do internet marketing and web development experts build websites according to web standards?
Compliance with standards, such as W3C and the Web Standards Group, are highly recommended industry practices. The main reason is consistency in how your visitors see your website on different platforms and future-proofing.
13. What does the testing/QA phase of the company website cover? Can you view the website while it is still in development?
The basic testing requirements should be browser testing, broken link checking, and general usability testing to ensure that the website is easy to use and interact with for website visitors.
By viewing a development test version, you will be able to check the website before the release date and make any necessary adjustments.
14. Does the internet marketing company allow clients to host their websites with any host?
Sometimes, for the sake of functionality or other good reasons, a web company may ask you to host their 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 hiring an internet marketing company if they will require you to relocate your accommodation.
15. Do you provide any training once the website is launched?
If your website project includes custom systems or software, it can be very helpful if your Internet marketing company provides you with 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.
16. Does the Internet marketing company have knowledge of Web 2.0? Is this included in your quote or are there additional charges?
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a science in 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 customized online campaign to help you achieve the best results.
There is usually an additional charge for individual items such as video development, commercials and advertisements, photo shoots, copywriting, etc. Ask about these if they are part of your marketing plan.
17. What is the charge for website updates after the initial website is complete?
While marketing is an ongoing process, the website is often considered a one-time effort. But there is always extra work to be done: changes and updates, new content, etc.
Please note the charging structure for updates to your website. Consider how often you’ll need updates, and ask the Internet marketing company how they handle future updates and maintenance.
If 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 member of staff is well trained in it. If neither is the case, it may be cheaper to have the vendor handle small updates.
18. What if you find a problem or code error after the site ends? Does the graphic design company have any kind of warranty or code guarantee?
Often, web companies will make the switch if it’s small at no additional cost. However, keep in mind that if it 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.
19. Does the website copyright transfer to you when the project is completed? What about the images on the website? Logo design?
Copyright law is a specialized legal field. You must apply to own the copyright to all designed and developed work after you have paid for the project in full.
20. Will the website development company comment on your source code?
Commenting code is part of good website development. If your code is well-commented, you won’t waste a lot of time if the unthinkable happens and you’re forced to find another website provider mid-project or mid-maintenance.
Finding 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 web design and a website that represents and enhances your overall corporate brand.
Of course, you can choose not to follow our suggestions and simply 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 mess. Your internet business depends on how good you look. You wouldn’t ask a friend to fit you new teeth, would you?