Questions and Answers

---

1. What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?

2. What is Search Engine Marketing (SEM)?

3. What is Pay Per Click (PPC)?

4. Is your website built on a plat form that is easy to understand?

5. Who will provide the content for your website?

6. How will the theme for your website be chosen?

7. Who will provide pictures for your website?

8. Is my site going to be optimized for multiple browsers(IE, Chrome, Mozilla) and mobile platforms(Phones and tablets)?

9. How do you handle updates to my website?

10. How should I choose keywords for my web pages?

11. Do I need Analytics on my website?

12. Who is going to run me through my Analytic reports every month?

1. What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?

Improving your website’s ranking on the list of returned results when a client searches for your product or service on the internet. SEO helps the organic search of your website on the internet.

2. What is Search Engine Marketing (SEM)?

Search Engine Marketing is the use of a paid online advertising service from a search engine to help customers find your website. SEM often uses paid search/pay-per-click(PPC) and appears at the top or to the right of the returned results page.

3. What is Pay-Per-Click(PPC)?

Pay-Per-Click is a bidding model that charges an advertiser(you) only when someone clicks on, or views your ad. This means you are only charged when your ad gets clicked on or viewed and you can set your monthly spending limit per ad so there are no costs in excess of your budget. Services such as Google Adwords, Bing Ads, and Facebooks Ad’s are PPC services.

4. How is my website going to be made?

Is your website handmade by a designer on their local server? Or is it built on a industry standard platform that millions of people use to build websites? This is good to know, so your website isn’t dependent on one person and can be easily transferred in the future. It’s also important you obtain all of the login information and password(s) you will need for your site during your site’s construction, and also once your site is complete so you are able to test the login.

5. Who will provide the content for your website?

Ask any Web Marketer and they will tell you Content should be a priority, meaning that one of the most important items on your website will be the words on your website. Content are the words used on every single page of your website. This may seem like a simple thing, but you have only seconds to grab someone’s attention to entice them to call you or buy your product. Because so much is dependent on your content, try to have your web designer/ marketer write the content, as they will know what will best grab your user’s attention. A little side note on this, YOUR INPUT IS CRUCIAL for the content, you should be asked questions on what selling techniques you use and how you would like to portray your content on your site.

6. Who will provide or approve the theme for your website?

This is the greatest single question that causes the most frustration between web designer and business owner, but it does not have to be. What are things you look for in a website? Are they the same things your clients like? Ask around, you would be surprised how many people do not agree on the looks of websites. Look at your competition, are there things they do that you like or things you can’t stand to look at? Tell your web designer what qualities you are looking for and not looking for in your web design, after all it’s your website. Please remember, however, that you are using an expert who does this for a living, so it might not be a bad idea to listen to their remarks and suggestions.

7. Who will provide pictures for your website?

The visual appeal of your website is the second greatest thing on your website, right behind content. If your answer to this question is anything other than professional pictures, either through a professional photographer or a website that provides professional pictures for internet use, such as iStockPhoto or Dreamstime, then you will not be doing your website justice.

8. Is my site going to be optimized for multiple browsers(Internet Explorer, Chrome, Mozilla) and mobile platforms(phones and tablets)?

The Answer better be Yes and Yes. Because the majority of people use one of three major browsers such as Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Chrome, your website should be ready to show up correctly in all of them. Also, more today than ever people are using mobile platforms such as tablets and phones to search the internet so your website should be mobile ready.  That’s it, easy.

9. How will updates/changes be handled on my website?

So, 4 or even 12 months down the road, what if you want to add some pictures to your website? Will that cost you more? What if you want to change/add a page to your theme or add coupons to your website? Think of the long term for your website and try to anticipate the costs of anything you may want to add or change in the future.  

10.How are keywords chosen for your website?

Keywords should be chosen around your business objective. Your Web Designer/Marketer should use tools such as Google Keywords, Google Trends, and Bing Webmaster tools. You should ask to see these results, but trust your web designer/marketer to point you in the right direction. Also, know that Keywords are for your Organic Search results and long term search engine ranking.

11. Do I need Analytics on my website?

YES! A One hundred times, yes. How else are you going to tell if your website is productive? How else are you going to determine if your website’s visitors are clicking the buttons you want them to click, or how long they are staying on your website for? Or if they are returning visitors? Analytic reports can do all of this through Google Analytics or Yahoo Analytics!

12. Who is going to run me through my Analytic reports every month?

Do not accept a report every week or month through email for you to interpret and discern how your website is doing. Get a walk through every month, or at least every quarter with your Web Designer/Marketer so you can see the progress of your website.