Think carefully before spending money on a complex website

Posted by Online Reputation Handbook

October 27, 2009

Having a website built can turn into a costly process that may or may not be sensible in terms of effort and spending. Before you embark on the task, and even before you choose a web designer consider about your organisation and what it really wants to get from a website. Once you have some answers to this question it will give you a good idea what style of designer (if any) you need and a basic overview with which to begin.

Do you simply want to have your business information listed on the internet so that clients who already know about you can locate basic information such as your email address or your opening times? If this is all you really require, because your business is say for example a grocers shop on a high street you will in all probability find that your wants are already handled by the many business directories that are now on the web.

Do you need to provide a service for existing clients, providing them with information, support and service once they have already located you via another route. In this case your site may need to be technically very strong, easy to update but will require no Online Marketing to emphasise it to the search engines.

You may wish to sell goods online, having a product which can be purchased without been seen as it is standard, for example books or cds. If this is the case then investment in a website that can cope quickly and easily with payments is essential, the site will need to have a good Search Engine Placement so that a large number of searchers are alerted to the products but the detail of the things themselves may be nominal.

If your product is a niche one, for example say you traded in antique silver perfume bottles, you may find that there is very little need for any search engine marketing as there are so few competitors for your items on line. You may find that you therefore achieve a good enough Search Engine Placement position without spending on the services of a Search Engine Optimization Company. People looking for these niche items are ready to root through a few more search engine results pages than they would for an every day item. However if you expect to get sales from the site you will have to consider very carefully about how you display information about your products, you will probably need access to a designer who gives a cost effective ongoing service to keep the goods updated and also a decent photographer as images will be vital.

Try to consider about which of these examples would best suit your organisation and then choose your designer on that basis, if you still require one!

Marketing and Advertising