What Your Web Developer Never Tells You

What Your
Website Developer
Never Tells You

Phone: (717) 291-4689
www.ezsolution.com

What
Page 2 Your Website Developer Never Tells You

In this report... Website Problems
Website Problems and Gripes 1 and Gripes
The Cost of an Unprofessional Website 2
The 6 biggest problems that
Education - Knowledge and Experience 2
businesses have with their
How To Match The Right Website Provider With Your Business 3 website companies:
6 Ways Companies Effectively Use Their Website 5

5 Keys to a Profitable Website 6
• They don’t return my phone
Website Design Mistakes & How to Avoid Them 7 calls
8 Creative Ways to Add Real Content to Your Site. 9
• They don’t make changes to
How to Increase Website Sales 11 my site in a timely manner
Who Owns Your Web Address and How to Select It? 13
• They are no longer in business
21 Questions That You Should Ask Before Hiring a Web Developer 16
• They never finished my site

• They could not make my site
function correctly
Here’s what you’ll learn…
In the next 16 pages you will learn… • My site looks bad
• How to avoid problems with your web developer

• What your website says about your company Most of these problems stem from
a lack of knowledge and
• How to choose a web developer with the right balance of
education and experience
experience on the part of many
self-proclaimed web designers.
• Innovative ways to use your website as a tool to grow The fact is there are NO
your business
standards, licenses, tests or
• The essential elements all good websites have in common diplomas required to become a
web designer. In addition many
• How to ensure your website isn't driving customers away
web designers are not business
• How to use your customers to help you sell your products owners. They are part-time, one-
person shops, that often cannot
• What your web pages MUST contain if you want visitors to
provide the consistent customer
become customers
service that many businesses
• How to avoid problems when selecting and buying your require.
domain name
Suggestion: Check out The 21
• The questions you need to ask BEFORE you hire a web devel-
Questions you should ask before
oper
hiring a website company (see page
16) to help you evaluate the
experience, skills, responsiveness and
customer service skills of potential
website providers.

Phone: (717) 291-4689 www.ezsolution.com

The Cost of an Education - Knowledge
Unprofessional Website and Experience

Your website may be the first impression Most website designers/developers don’t
that a prospect has about your business. have formal training. Many are self taught.
What type of impression would you like to Now, some people benefit from teaching
make? Does your website give your themselves valuable skills. They learn to
internet visitor the WOW Factor? “WOW, I problem solve and gain valuable
should call, email or do business with this experience that they would never learn in
company." a classroom. Sometimes, though, self-
taught individuals will lack important
knowledge to complete your project.
If your website … Unfortunately, it’s hard to know before
you hire them if they have the knowledge
Looks like a Junior High School student
and ability to correctly develop your
project
website without wasting a lot of time and
Lacks a Marketing Message money.
Lacks Content
Suggestion: Ask the web designer/
Has Typos
developer about their training. It is
Doesn’t Function important to find a person who sees
the value in training and education as
well as experience.
...Then chances are you are not projecting
the WOW Factor to your potential
Types of training available
customers and it's costing you money in
lost sales, lost opportunities, lack of trust A web designer needs strong graphic
and more! There's no way to calculate that design skills in order to design
cost, but asking yourself what your professional websites. So where do web
average customer is worth to your designers acquire these skills?
business is a good start! Just how many
average customers are you turning away
Graphic Art Schools – There are many
every day that you let your unprofessional
schools that provide training in graphic
website speak for your company?
design.

Training can range from a 6 week
continuing education course to a 2 year
program emphasizing many areas of
graphic design.

EZSolution Corp.
Phone: (717) 291-4689 Phone: (717) 291-4689
www.ezsolution.com www.ezsolution.com

Many of graphic art schools also offer How much business will you lose? Are you
website programming classes in many paying for their learning curve?
programming languages including asp,
asp.net, php, java and javascript. Suggestion: Ask to see other
similar projects that your web
developer has completed. Always ask
Online Schools – these schools offer for client references. This is probably
several different types of classes. the best indicator of their abilities
and experience.
Tutorials: These are classes that
are not led by an instructor. The student
reads materials or watches videos.
Students take a quizzes or tests after How to Match the Right
each section. Some online schools will
Website Service Provider
provide a certificate showing that the
student has passed the course. with your Business
Webinars: These are classes
Compare Your Business Size to Theirs
where you have audio and visual training
over the internet. Students have the One way to see if a website designer is
opportunity to ask questions either over right for your business is to match up the
the phone or by typing a message to the size of their business with the size of your
instructor. business.
Instructor lead classes: These
are self paced classes that allow the
One Person Show – This is one person
student to interact with the instructor.
working full time or part-time (at night or
The student has projects that get
on weekends) as a website designer. They
submitted to the instructor for a grade.
are probably working out of their home.
This means they have no business
infrastructure. When they are busy with
Experience
other clients, they can’t work on your
There is no substitute for experience. You website. They may or may not have any
can have formal training on a topic but formal training. They can probably design
have no experience. What happens if you brochure type sites with no interaction.
have a complex shopping cart or database
project and your website firm has never
completed this type of project before? You The web designer is often a friend or
might get lucky. Short term the project relative of someone in the company
might work out. However, what are the needing a website. The work is often
long-term implications if you encounter provided at very cheap rates ($25-$45/
problems with your shopping cart in the hour is not uncommon). One disadvantage
future? is that they tend to be very unreliable and
unable to provide consistent service to
their customers.

EZSolution Corp.
Phone: (717) 291-4689 Phone: (717) 291-4689

Website Company – This is a company What Programming Language will
with employees. Each employee may be a they Develop In?
generalist or have a specific specialty.
This one of those questions that you
These companies are usually
probably don’t care much about. After all,
accomplished at small to mid-sized sites,
you just want your site to look good and
E-Commerce and custom database
function well.
websites. Their clients are typically small
to mid-sized businesses. They also
typically offer some level of website
Most companies only worry about what
marketing and hosting packages. They
programming language their site uses
can handle most projects in-house but
after problems begin to crop up. The
may subcontract higher level specialized
relationship has deteriorated with their
website features. They’re also usually
current web developer and now they'd like
affordable with rates from $85 to $125/
to look elsewhere.
hour. The website projects that these
firms typically work on cost from $3,000
to $50,000. Some firms are large enough It is easier to move your site from one
to work on projects up to $100,000. firm to another if the first firm has
programmed your site in a common
programming language like:
Large Website Company – These are
large full-service web development • Html
companies. They may have multiple
• Php
locations. The staff has many members
with the same specialties working in • Asp
teams to complete large complex projects.
• Asp.net
They work on websites that have no
tolerance for down-time. They provide
hosting on redundant and mirrored
And used common databases like:
servers. They offer 24/7 support plans.
These firms work on projects from • MySQL
$100,000 to Millions.
• MSSQL

• Access
Suggestion: With client references,
ask about their company size and the
Suggestion: Ask what
complexity of their website project.
programming language
This will give you a good idea if these
references represent a situation
similar to your business.

EZSolution Corp.
Phone: (717) 291-4689 Phone: (717) 291-4689

Who will do your Work? In many cases their website replaces sale
literature that they would have previously
The nature of website development makes
sent in the mail.
it very easy to outsource work to
individuals or companies in other towns, 3. Generate Leads
states or even other countries. This can
One of the most profitable uses for our
be good, since you don't have to rely on
customers' websites is to generate leads.
local talent to service your company. But
This is effective if you are promoting your
it can be bad when your website company
business locally, regionally or nationally.
outsources work to unreliable individuals
Lead generation is a key component in
or companies. Outsourcing to other
most business sales plans.
countries can also create language
barriers that delay projects and create
additional problems.
4. Sell Products

If you have a product you can sell any
Suggestion: Ask your website where, there is no more cost-effective
designer who will be doing your work.
way to reach your customers. (No Catalog
Will you get direct contact with the
Printing…. No Mailing Costs)
developer or will you never know
their name.

5. Customer Communication

One of the best ways to increase your
bottom line is to keep in touch with your
6 Ways to Use Your existing customers. After all, selling to
Website Effectively existing customers is easier and less
expensive than finding new customers.
1. Image/Brand Builder Using email to keep in touch with existing
Many companies want to use a website to customers is extremely cost effective and
build their image or brand. Most of their simple to do.
competitors have a website and they need
to keep up as well as have the upper-
6. Employee Communication
hand in the market.
Many businesses have employees who
need to access pertinent information such
2. Provide Information as schedules, employee manuals,
Along with creating an image, many of insurance documents etc. This
our customers use their site to convey documentation can be organized and
information to existing and prospective stored online effectively to increase staff
customers. efficiency and productivity.

Page 6 EZSolution Corp.
Phone: (717) 291-4689 Phone: (717) 291-4689

5 Keys to a Profitable The site should be designed to avoid
excessive scrolling on individual pages. In
Website E-commerce site development, navigation
often makes the difference between
1. Design turning a profit or losing money.

The graphic design of your site is critical!
Sharp graphics and good design principles
4. Content
will keep your Internet customer
interested. Good copy motivates your Articulate your Unique Selling Proposition
customer to action. Your website should (USP) and turn your website into a sales
be designed for your target audience. The machine. Your website content should be
site design should also reflect your overall motivating and accurately reflect your
image. The design of the site should be business. The first step is to decide what
clean and professional and most you want visitors to know about your
importantly visually fit into your overall business. Then develop a site map. With
marketing plan. each page of the site you should answer
the question… Why should I buy from YOU
instead of your competitors, even if it
2. Speed costs me more? ...If you don’t know, then
chances are your target market doesn’t
In traditional marketing and advertising
either!
speed is not an issue. But in Web
Marketing, speed is as important as
design. If your site is slow to appear,
5. Marketing
potential customers will switch to view
someone else’s site instead of waiting for Your Internet business, in some respects,
yours. Make sure that all of your pages is like opening a new location. If your
load fast. customers or potential customers don’t
know you exist, they will not find you.
And if they can't find you, they can't buy
3. Navigation from you. There are many ways to drive
customers to your site. Some of these
This is a key point that is often
include: traditional advertising, search
overlooked by even large companies. Your
engine marketing, link building, creating
site needs to be user friendly and your
your own email lists, and sending emails.
visitor needs to easily see what categories
are available at all times. If your site
appears to be a game of hide-and-go-
seek, the joke is on you. Your site design
should include a menu navigation bar on
every page so the visitor can easily access
designated pages of the site from his or
her current page location.

EZSolution Corp.
Phone: (717) 291-4689 Phone: (717) 291-4689

Website Design Mistakes • Use a simple white or light-colored
background for all your web pages.
& The text of your pages should always
How to avoid them be a dark color, preferably black.

A recent survey asked web users to define
the most annoying things they deal with 2. Non-Standard Links
on consumer websites. We've listed the Another common complaint users had
top 5 complaints by web users below. We concerned sites that made it difficult to
recommend that you take a look at your decide what to click on. This included
site to see if you are guilty of any of sites that use fancy formatting for links
these website "sins". Your reward could where a user needed to "mouseover" the
be more sales, more newsletter signups link to determine that it was clickable and
and more quality leads for your business. links that opened other browser windows
causing users to be confused as to where
they were on the site.
1. Readability Issues

Many website users were annoyed by
websites that made content difficult to What You Can Do:
read. This includes sites that used fancy, • Use standard underlined text links,
unreadable fonts, sites that placed their highlighted in a different color than
content in very small print and sites the rest of the text on the site. The
whose background color made the text on best color to use for links is the
the site difficult to read. standard blue that is most recognized
by internet users.

What You Can Do: • Don't underline other content on the
site that is NOT a link. This may
• Build your site using standard text
confuse some of your users.
fonts including Verdana, Helvetica or
Arial. This ensures that all readers will • Use a different color to differentiate
be able to read your text regardless of between visited and unvisited links so
the computer system they use. If you users can clearly see where they've
must include fancy fonts, do so in the been before.
form of a graphic or image so they
• Don't open links in a new window. This
are readable on all computer
only serves to confuse the user.
platforms.
Exceptions to this rule include links to
• Use a standard 9-12 point font size. PDF files and thumbnail images that
This makes your text easy to read, lead to larger pictures.
even when a user's monitor is set to a
higher resolution.

Phone: (717) 291-4689 Phone: (717) 291-4689

• Reduce confusion by using descriptive What You Can Do:
text to describe the destination of
• Cut out unneeded form fields on your
your links. Try "Car Parts" instead of
web signup forms, contact forms or
"Click Here".
checkout page. For example, do you
really need a salutation?

3. Annoying Flash Content • Don't make form fields mandatory
unless the information is really
More web users than not complained
necessary. Restrict mandatory fields
about sites that used bloated Flash
to essential information like names,
screens and animated introductions,
email addresses or phone numbers.
finding them annoying and unnecessary.
You can always gather additional
information from your users later if
What You Can Do: you have their contact information.

• Use Flash content sparingly and only • Allow flexible input on forms so users
when it truly enhances the user's can enter phone numbers or credit
experience and doesn't serve as an card information in the format they
unwelcome distraction. For example, a like best. Your form processor should
product tutorial done in Flash may be be able to eliminate extra spaces,
more interactive and serve your dashes or parentheses from form
visitors better than a static html page fields after the form has been
of simple screen shots. submitted.

• Avoid puffed up splash screens and
introductions on your website. Use 5. Inadequate Photo Enlargement
Flash content after your user is
One of the fiercest complaints cited by
already interested in what you have to
web users, was about sites that prompt
offer.
the user to click a photo to see a larger
image and then fail to fulfill that promise.
In some cases, the image was only
4. Cumbersome Web Forms
slightly larger than the original. In others
One of the more urgent complaints listed the image was exactly the same size.
in the survey concerned the unnecessary Clicking images like these waste a user's
length of website forms. It's time and may even get them wondering
understandable that as a website owner, what they might have done wrong.
you'd like to get as much information as
possible from your users. Do that with as
few form fields as possible. Long forms or
forms that demand information to be
input in a specific way are often annoying
and frustrating to web users.

EZSolution Corp.
Phone: (717) 291-4689 Phone: (717) 291-4689

What You Can Do: 8 Creative Ways to Add
• Never display the same photo as a Real Content to Your Site
photo enlargement. The extra click is
a waste of time for your user. Instead, If you want better search engine
if you don't have a larger picture, rankings, you need to add more content
simply present the photo as it is to your site. Useful, constantly updated
without an enlargement option. content attracts links to your site, gives
you more opportunities to be found when
a user does a search and keeps visitors on
• When you do have a larger photo to your site longer. Yet, with all the talk
show the user, offer one that fills up about adding content, content, content,
most of the screen on the most nobody ever tells you what great content
common screen size (currently 1024 x is. We're going to change that today! Here
768 for most business to consumer are 8 creative ways to add useful content
sites). This will allow you to show to your website for better search engine
enough detail about the product to rankings.
make opening the extra window worth
the user's time.
1. Add an information-rich FAQ
section
So how does your website stack up against the
common website mistakes? Is your website Sit down with your staff and come up with
annoying your users and causing you to lose a list of frequently asked questions. What
sales? Or are you making it as easy as possible questions do users ask when they call?
for users to find what they need? Check your
What do they most often want to know
website for these common errors that may be
about your products or services before
taking a bite out of your bottom line.
they buy? Write thoughtful answers to
each of these questions that naturally
incorporate the keywords you'd like to be
found under and post the FAQ on your
website.

2. Compile interesting and original
statistics

Are there some interesting statistics
surrounding your product line or service?
If you're an exterminator for example,
can you compile some interesting
statistics about insect populations in
various regions of the country?

EZSolution Corp.
Phone: (717) 291-4689 Phone: (717) 291-4689

People love to read facts and anecdotes For example, if you sell outdoor tables,
that are interesting and informative. They show them how they can be used in a
may even pass on particularly interesting variety of ways to decorate their backyard
information to family and friends. or perform useful chores around the
house.

3. Interview an Authority on Your
Subject 6. Write Seasonal Content about Your
Products or Services
Interview a recognized authority in your
field of expertise and provide your visitors The holidays are the perfect time to
with exclusive content they can't get showcase unique features of your product
elsewhere. For example, if your site or service. For example, if you're a
focuses on home decorating, find an photographer, write an article about
expert that can offer some quick tips to capturing special moments during the
help your visitors create a more inviting Christmas season. Give tips on what to
environment, using your products or wear, the best poses or the best ways to
services. get candid shots during family gatherings.
This idea could spawn articles for every
major holiday of the year and create a
4. Offer Product Reviews and Useful great source of ongoing, updated content.
Comparisons

Do you offer several levels of service or
7. Get Users to Send You Pictures and
more than one kind of a certain product?
Stories about Your Products
Create a section on your site where you
compare your products and services to Get your visitors involved by asking them
one another in order to help your visitors to send you pictures or stories about your
make a more informed choice. For products or services. You might even run
example, if you sell several software a contest for the zaniest or most creative
applications with varying features, show a pictures or stories. In no time at all you'll
side by side comparison to show visitors have lots of interesting content that also
how they may benefit from upgrading to a provides testimonials to potential buyers!
more expensive version.

8. Write Case Studies Showcasing
5. Write Useful Tips for Using Your Solutions to User Problems
Products
This tip works particularly well if you offer
Do you sell products that could be used a service, but could work for products as
for more than one purpose? Write some well. Showcase one or more of your
useful tips for your visitors on the customers and do a brief interview.
different ways your product may be
helpful to them.

Phone: (717) 291-4689 Phone: (717) 291-4689

Your goal is to tell a story about the situation If you understand the main reasons
the customer was in before they found you almost 98% of the people that come to
and then write a specific description about your website don’t make a purchase, you
how your product or service solved their can put some systems in place to improve
problem or made their life better. your website sales significantly.

For example, if you help your customers So why do so many people leave your
get out of debt, showcase one of your website without making a purchase? Here
customers, tell visitors about the debt are the most common reasons:
issues they had in the past and write
about the specific steps your customer
went through to reduce or eliminate their 1. The website does not make a
debt using your service. The idea is to be compelling sales offer that entices the
as specific as possible and to keep hype visitor to buy.
to an absolute minimum. 2. The visitor is price shopping and is not
ready to make a purchase.

Obviously, there are many more ways to 3. The visitor is ready to buy, but cannot
create great content for your site on an figure out how to make a purchase
ongoing basis. Be creative and put yourself from the website.
in your visitor's shoes. Brainstorm some
ideas and use some of the suggestions above
4. The visitor requires more information
to get you started. When you begin putting to make a purchasing decision.
up original, quality content that visitors
5. The visitor does not trust the website
really want to read your reward will be more
and is afraid to give out their personal
visitors that stay at your site longer and buy
more of what you have to sell!
information.

The five reasons above are the most
common reasons that visitors to your
website do not make a purchase. The
good news is that most of them can be
corrected easily.
How to Increase Website
Sales While we can’t do much about a visitor
who is just price shopping, we can
Statistics show that out of 100 shoppers, address the other four reasons and take
only 1 or 2 will actually buy something action to improve our websites. Here are
from your website. In other words, 98% seven helpful tips to improve your website
of the visitors to your website will leave sales right away.
your website without making a purchase.
While this is bad news for most website
owners, it doesn’t have to be.

Phone: (717) 291-4689 Phone: (717) 291-4689

Improving Your Website for Greater You may also want to offer incentives to
Sales get potential customers to purchase right
now. Coupon codes, free shipping offers
and time sensitive offers can all make a
1. Make your website pages about the difference in the urgency your customer
CUSTOMER and not about your feels to purchase right now.
company.

A potential customer is only interested in
4. Stress the benefits of your
how your product or service will benefit
products and services whenever
THEM, not how many awards you’ve
possible.
received for your stellar offerings.
Reserve information about product Instead of focusing on product features,
awards, innovations and other company tell the customer what the features of
information for your your product will do for them. For
example, instead of saying that your
About Us page and link to that page from
calculators are 3.5 inches in length, tell
other pages in your site. If the visitor
them how your calculators are small and
wants to know more about you, he can
compact, and easily slip into a purse or
click to that page to find out more.
shirt pocket.

2. Provide additional product
5. Ask for the order!
information.
So many websites make it difficult for the
If the customer is likely to have questions
customer to figure out how to order the
about a particular product, try to
product. Make it easy for your customer
anticipate those questions in advance and
to buy by telling them what you want
answer them clearly. You can include
them to do. Place Buy Now buttons or
extra information like this with each
wording next to every single product you
specific product, on a separate more
sell. If each product has its own separate
information page or in a Frequently Asked
product page with longer copy, be sure to
Questions section of your website.
include a Buy Now button or link in
several places throughout the sales copy
to get customers to buy when they are
3. Tell the customers WHY they
ready.
should buy from you.

Offer a compelling reason why visitors
should buy your product right now. Do
you have the lowest prices, the best
service, or a special product warranty not
offered elsewhere? Let the customer
know.

Phone: (717) 291-4689 Phone: (717) 291-4689

6. Let your visitors know they can
trust you!
You may even enlist the help of friends
Let customers know you are a real and family to help you get a more
company by providing full contact objective view of your website pages.
information on every single page of your Correct any mistakes you find, provide
website. Also, let customers know that the information your customers need,
they can call you if they have a problem make it simple to order and watch your
during the checkout process. Provide your website sales increase!
phone number in a visible spot on the
page to encourage visitors that have
trouble making a purchase to call you. In
addition, add Verisign, BBB, or credit card
logos to your website, so customers see Selecting the Right Web
you as a real company that can be Address
trusted. Make warranty information and
guarantee information readily available as Selecting your web address (domain
well. name) is the first step in developing your
website. You might even say it's the most
important step. Your goal is to select a
7. Make your shipping details clear name that is easy to remember and
before the customer places their reflects your business.
order.

Nothing is more frustrating for a visitor
than to have to get through the entire Should my web address be:
checkout process to find out how much it MyBusinessName.com?
will cost to ship the product they want.
This is especially true for larger items,
If you are able to purchase your business
such as refrigerators, TVs etc. You may
name, you should absolutely buy it. Most
want to include a shipping page which
people who are searching for your
provides approximate shipping rates for
business, will type in
the customer’s reference.
‘yourbusinessname.com'. Owning this
address allows you to continue the brand
So what are you waiting for? Take a look name recognition that you hopefully have
at your website right now to see if your already established. If you are starting a
site contains all the information new business, you might want to consider
customers need to buy your products and what web addresses are available before
services. you finalize your business name.

Phone: (717) 291-4689 Phone: (717) 291-4689

What do I do if MyBusinessName.com Ambushpb.com - We liked that the
is already taken? address was short. However, we felt that
we would have to explain that pb was
short for paintball.
You have two options.

Option One, you can try to buy the
Ambushpaintballpa.com - We liked that
address from the current owner. In many
we had the entire name in the address.
cases, the owner has no desire to sell the
However, we were concerned that the pa
address. If they do want to sell, they
would be confusing and would limit the
might ask for thousands of dollars. We
scope of business.
had a client who wanted to by a 3 letter
abbreviation. The seller was asking
$30,000 for the address. We had another
Ambushpaintballfield.com - We really
client who paid $15,000 for a web
liked this address. It said exactly what the
address. So depending on the selling price
business was all about. It was longer than
and your budget this might be a solution.
we originally wanted. Our biggest concern
was that people would misspell the word
field.
Option Two, Let your creative juices
start flowing. Our client Ambush Paintball
needed to be creative. He wanted
Ambushpaintballgames.com - This is the
ambushpaintball.com but that name was
address that we selected. We liked that it
taken and the owner was not selling. Our
said exactly what the business is about. It
client came up with many other options
promoted the fact that this is a game and
including: ambush-paintball.com,
therefore is fun. It also made it easy to
ambushpb.com, ambushpaintballpa.com,
grow the site from an informational site to
ambushpaintballfield.com and
an e-commerce site.
ambushpaintballgames.com. All 5 of these
names were viable options.

Should my web address be short?

Here is how we came to our final Buy the shortest address possible without
decision. making the address hard to remember,
read or pronounce. Web addresses can be
up to 67 characters long. You should find
Ambush-paintball.com - We were one with 25 characters or less.
concerned that people would forget to
type in the dash. In many cases, the web
address would be promoted verbally over
the phone or the radio. We felt that it
would be too challenging to have to
explain the dash.

Phone: (717) 291-4689 Phone: (717) 291-4689

Should I use acronyms or initials? However if you are a non-profit
organization, I recommend that you
Acronyms are great if that is how people
purchase the .org as well as the .com. As
commonly refer to your business or if it
more businesses and organizations buy
spells another common word or is easy to
web addresses we will see more and more
remember. We have a client AIC Auto. His
of them using these new extensions.
web address is aicauto.com. This fits his
business because the initials are the name
of his business.
Should I buy my web address as a
plural?

If it is complicated like xsczpt.com (I In many cases it is a good idea to buy
made this up), I would shy away from your web address as singular and as
these addresses. plural. It is difficult to get into the mind
of your customer and how they will think
of your web address. So to cover all your
Should my address be a common bases, I would recommend that you buy
word? both.
This is a difficult question. My answer 7
years ago was yes. Because, at that time
Our customer Musser's Markets had this
you could buy addresses like curtains.com
very dilemma. He covered all the bases by
or marketing.com. Today, these addresses
purchasing mussersmarkets.com,
are already taken.
mussersmarket.com, mussermarkets.com
and mussermarket.com.
Should I buy a web address with
dashes?
How many web addresses should I
As you saw in our example with ambush buy?
paintball we ruled it out because the
This is a difficult question to answer. I
address would be verbally communicated.
would recommend that you purchase as
If the address is strictly going to be
many as make sense for your business. If
promoted on the search engines or in
you are trying to protect market share or
printed media, buying an address with
protect a brand you might want to buy as
dashes will work just fine.
many variations as possible.

Should I buy an address with an
extension other than .com?

There are many other extension such
as .net .org .biz .name .us and then all
the country codes. Dot Com is still the
most widely used.

Phone: (717) 291-4689 Phone: (717) 291-4689

Who owns the web address after I 21 Questions you should
buy it?
ask before hiring a
The easy answer is:
website developer
You should own your web address.

This is absolutely a question that you
should ask before letting someone else 1. How long have you been in business?
register a web address for you. 2. Who will be performing the work?
3. How many employees do you have?
In some cases the company that you hired 4. What education and training do they
to register your web address will have?
unknowingly or maybe knowingly put their 5. What projects have you completed
company as the owner of the address that are similar to mine?
instead of yours. This is not a problem to 6. What will my project cost?
change if the web company is agreeable
7. Who will own my web address?
to change it. If they wont agree to change
it or if you can no longer reach them, you 8. How much input do I have in the
are in for a battle. Design of the site?
9. What programming language will you
use?

SPECIAL 10. When I have changes to my site, what
is the process?

OFFER 11. How long does it normally take to
make changes to my site?
12. Can I update my site myself?
13. Where will my site be hosted?
Free Website Analysis 14. How reliable is the hosting?
& Evaluation 15. What tech support will be provided for
email?
16. What website statistics will I receive?
CALL (717) 291-4689 17. How do you handle updates to my
site?
18. What Type of Search Engine Marketing
To Schedule your do you offer?
19. Can you provide references?
Appointment 20. What guarantees do you offer?
Today! 21. Why should I choose you?

Phone: (717) 291-4689 Phone: (717) 291-4689

What Your Web Developer Never Tells You

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