Choosing the right designer for your small business can be hard if you do not know what you should look for. Here is a simple guide that you can use to make sure you ask the right questions and make an educated decision every time.

Steps

1. Find a website design company. The easiest way is to google them or look in your phone book, but this is not neccessarily the best way. Good web designers are usually found by word of mouth, or reviews put out by other companies. Another good place to look for design companies would be web design directory sites that list companies in your area / country.
2. Evaluate the website design company’s site and own portfolio. Any company can say they have great designs but a company’s portfolio should speak for itself. To adequately judge a website you must look at: Quality of design, ease of use, initial impressions, how the site compares to others in the same industry, consistent look throughout each site, and ease of navigation.
3. Ask them what their technical expertise is. Don’t be afraid of bringing specific things up such as: Do they test on Mac and PC? Do they offer cross-browser compatibility testing? Do they offer Search Engine Optimization? Do they use templates? Do they have their own servers? Do they consider accessibility and standards? These are things that are often overlooked, but are very important.
4. Look at their attention to detail. Sometimes the smallest things can make all the difference. Look for: Page titles – each page should be unique and descriptive. Terms of use pages – every site should have a terms of use and a privacy statement. Use of contact forms rather than published email addresses – this will reduce spam.

Tips

• A lot of the things may get a bit technical; if you have a computer savvy friend, to assist when you start the consulting process.

Warnings

• Search Engine Optimization techniques can be tricky, beware of any company that promises to get you in the top 10 search results.
• Never pay for a website quotation – this should be a free service offered by design companies. However if you require a full scope to be compiled, this would be charged for.

If all else fails and you don’t feel like searching to the ends of the earth for a web design company that you think you can trust… Just contact Freedom Studios – we’ll make the process easy.

Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Choose a Website Design Company. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

I can’t begin to exclaim how important it is for your website to receive inbound links. These links could ultimately be life or death to your website.

Inbound links? What are they exactly?

Inbound links are links that come from other websites directly to your website. The more websites you have linking to your website, the higher your search engine ranking, which means more traffic. Ultimately the importance of inbound links lies in pushing your site up the search engine rankings, but they also have a deeper purpose. Visitors from other websites that click through to your website  will most likely do so because they are interested in what you have to offer – which means you would have achieved getting interested prospects on your site with minimal effort or money.

Are all inbound links to my website effective?

While inbound links are highly beneficial and integral to the growth of your website, there are certain links that are “Evil!” Search engines like Google want to see legitimate and relevant websites linking to yours. While having links from an irrelevant site is not at all detrimental, having paid links from a link farm can be.
A link farm is a website that asks you to pay for links. Usually these linking websites have unconventional and unethical ways of getting search engine rankings and Google especially has become wise to this. A while back these link farm websites where very successful, but now Google actually discredits your website heavily if you are involved with a link farm.

What is an online directory?

A directory is a website that lists thousands of websites under relevant categories. This helps visitors browsing the site to find what they are looking for a lot quicker. Listing your website on a directory site can help your search engine ranking and drive visitors to your site.
There are hundreds, or perhaps thousands of free online directories which allow you to list your site. Some will ask you to include a reciprocal link (a link back to their website), others will just give you a one way link (better than those requiring reciprocal links) and others will ask you to pay to have your website listed in their directory. While the paid directories are usually of a high quality and will usually ensure a better ranking for you, there are some that are just a waste of money.
My opinion is that you should never give up the opportunity to have your website listed in a directory, but if possible always try a list it in a directory that is more relevant to your website and industry.

How do I find online directories?

Well how do you find anything? Simply Google “free website directory” or something similar and you will be met with search results that will keep you busy for quite some time.

Some other good ideas to get inbound links…

Why not consider linking to, and receiving links from people in your industry who are in another country. They will most likely not really be your competitions since the demographics of your target markets will differ. If you are selling your good internationally this may not work for you, but for most of us it is a great idea.

Start a blog.

Writing about what you know best should come naturally to you – you are unconsciously doing it every day by promoting your business, why not just put it into words? Blogs also get indexed and raked by search engines very quickly and are a great way to get visitors. People that read your blog will start to admire you for being an expert in your field and are much more likely to contact you when they need your product or services.

Write articles.

Articles are filled with rich key words relating to a certain topic. When you write an article in your area of expertise and submit it to a top article directory, the amount of quality traffic you can attract is mind blowing! Although writing articles generally takes a bit more time and concentration than writing a blog entry for example, the results are well worth it.

Does all this really work?

Well I can personally say that it does! Freedom Studios does not use any conventional methods of advertising. All of our prospects and ultimately clients come via our website or via word of mouth referrals. Most prospects either find us via search engines or through relevant sites linking to ours.
Getting all the inbound links has not been a quick process, but it sure has been well worth it. Why don’t you give it a try? You never know, you may be pleasantly surprised.