TIPS ON SELECTING
YOUR WEB SITE DEVELOPER
AND INTERNET ACCESS PROVIDERS

Internet, home pages, web sites, servers, graphics...

In these days these are very common words of our everyday life. When you try to put yourself or your business in cyber space, you may feel overwhelmed with all these new
options of web site development. It seems that every company has a different solution for your Internet marketing problem. Sometimes you almost feel like you are lost and do not know where to begin, sorting out what is being offered and matching it with your needs.
So, how do you select a company that will develop your Internet advertising, help you
market your products in the world market, multiply your revenues and not the
expenditures in unnecessary features that will not only be useless on your web site but also may even drive away your clientele?

Ideally, you are looking for the company that  will give you the best value for the money spent while meeting your Internet advertising needs and increasing your revenues. The purpose of this article is to assist you (the customer) in choosing the right company.

First of all,  you should probably identify the objective you want to achieve. There are
many objectives but the bottom line is that your web site should give you maximum
exposure on the Internet that should result in an increased number of your orders and
revenues. You expect your web site developer to help you make it happen for you.
Remember! This is where you are relying on your web site developer's expertise, ideas, and honesty.

Here are tips that will help you to get the best value for the money spent and avoid
common pitfalls.

Let's  think now  about your potential client who is looking for the services or products on the Internet. So where is he or she going to start? He/she is going to go to many Internet directories or search engines where he/she will enter several key words describing his interests. For example: he/she will use keywords such as  "car repairs" in order to find auto repair shops or "translators and interpreters" if he or she wants to find a translation company.

The search engine will do the search and will provide this individual with links
to several companies or even thousands of companies offering requested product or
service. Once the search engine will complete its list of companies, the potential client will have a choice of visiting  web sites of any of these companies.

HERE ARE MAJOR PITFALLS TO AVOID

ALWAYS ASK YOUR WEB SITE DEVELOPER IF HE OR SHE OFFERS ESTABLISHMENT OF CONNECTIONS AND LINKS TO THE SEARCH ENGINES AND DIRECTORIES.

 If  this service  is being  provided, then it should be incorporated into the price
of development of your web site. If this service is not offered you may later find that you have wasted a lot of money and your web site will not bring you any business.

YOU MAY SPEND A LOT OF MONEY AND TIME ON THE DEVELOPMENT AND UPLOADING OF YOUR WEB SITE. HOWEVER, IF IT DOES NOT HAVE ANY LINKS TO VARIOUS SEARCH ENGINES AND DIRECTORIES YOU WILL NOT GET ANY BUSINESS OUT OF IT BECAUSE THE INTERNET SEARCH ENGINES WILL NOT BE ABLE TO FIND IT. YOUR WEB SITE MAY BE COMPARED TO A BILLBOARD, WHICH IS LEFT IN THE MIDDLE OF A FIELD WHERE NO ONE CAN SEE IT.

There are many search engines and directories on the Internet. Some of them are offering links free of charge and some of them are charging fees. Your web site developer should assist you with selecting the search engines and directories that will best suite your needs.

You can also conduct your own web site publishing campaign by clicking on the banner below and downloading web site Submission Wizard. 

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Your web site, especially the home page of your web site (known as the main page of your web site) must be very easy to download from anywhere in the world.

REMEMBER!

If it takes more than 15 seconds to download the home page of your web site by 486 computer the chances are that your potential clients will stop downloading your home page because they do not have a lot of time to waste staring at the screen of their computer.

Many people are still using slow computers. Downloading time also depends on the processing speed of the server where your web site is stored. Your web site developer should help you to choose the right server. We recommend the same web hosting provider we recommended to our existing clients.

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If your server is processing  many requests from many individuals wanting to access your web site, the download speed of your web site will be decreased. Also, as experience shows, small servers are more time consuming. The download speed also depends on the speed of your modem. Please note that distance may also be a factor affecting the download speed as far as downloading or just retrieving your e-mail.

A lot of web site developers tend to put many pictures and logos or other heavy files such as sound, flash or video on the home page of their web site. These files are very large and therefore it takes a long time to download them. You might consider putting these files to the other parts or pages of your web site so that your client will get the needed information first. You  should ask that your web site developer to establish links  to these files which would make them easy to access  when your potential client decides to view or hear them.

 Next important step for your potential client is to find out if  what you are offering  will satisfy his/her needs. Now imagine yourself  being in a bookstore picking up a book that just  happen to catch your eye. How can you find in a very short time what this book is all about?  First you will probably refer to its name. However the name itself may not tell you enough. Then you will  go on to the author's comments or the introduction as well as to the table of contents. Your web site is very much like an electronic version of a book containing information and services that you think your potential clients may find useful. Therefore the home page of your web site must be able to tell your potential client/customer what your web site is about.
 Your web site itself should explain more in detail what you are offering and how you can satisfy the needs and demands of your clients. If you are offering various products or services your home page should be designed to assist your client in finding the product or service that is most suitable for him/her because in most cases your client(s) may be only looking for something particular and does not have a lot of time to read the additional irrelevant information. In fewer words, your home page must be compact, simple, easy to download, containing the necessary information about your company and the products/services you are offering as well as guiding  your potential client  to a way to purchase the product that best suites his or her needs.

Please note that your client would also want to receive cost estimate or the option of
having cost estimate on-line sending a request for an cost estimate on-line as well as
request additional information about your product or service. Depending on your
products,  or the nature or services, you may want to give your client a choice of sampling the product upon an on-line request.

Your ideal web site must be able to assist your existing clients with ordering your products on-line and help you to accept the payment electronically by credit cards. This will help you and your clients  to decrease expenditures and add extra convenience since your web site is available 24 hr. per day / 7 days per week and  365 days per year. If your clients who live in different time zones this will enable them to order your products or services on holidays and weekends.

In order to assist your existing clients you may want to add an additional feature. If your clients are in a specific geographical area and the language is a  communication barrier, you may want to devote some parts of your web site or add the entire version of your web site in the language of your territory. Please note that  some marketing information and techniques that work in North America may not necessary work in your target area.
You may find it useful to refer to our on-line article which explains how to select the
right translation company and  assure that the translation of your web site will work to the best your advantage. Please click here to get to this article.

If you are a manufacturer of different kind of equipment and machinery you may want to include your additional instructions or materials as well as any new upgrades in your web site. Adding these features into your web site will save you a  lot of money in printing and mailing costs. This information will be available to your clients and they can refer to it in the event they loose their original manuals. If you need to hook up pictures or diagrams arrange to have them put on the linked pages, and not your index home page. This will enable browsers to download your home page and other pages a lot faster.
You may add on your web site any troubleshooting information. This information will save you a lot of money in the long distance calls and other associated expenditures. However this does not mean that the customer service within your company should be eliminated.

Make sure that your web site developer has the necessary knowledge and equipment and will be able to incorporate the above mentioned features into your web site.

You should also consider adding a "LIMITATION OF LIABILITY STATEMENT" to your web site. Your web site may get infected by one of the computer viruses and anyone visiting your web site may have his/her  computer "infected". This may cause some legal problems. This statement will help your clients to understand your and their responsibilities.
Copyright information is also important, since your web site and any information on it is your intellectual property. On the issues of preparation of  "LIMITATION OF
LIABILITY STATEMENT" and Copyright information please consult your lawyer.

UPGRADES AND CHANGES ON YOUR WEB SITE.

Many companies develop new products and services and therefore they produce additional marketing information about them. The same concept applies to your company. You will obviously want to place some new information on your products and services on your web site.

BEWARE!

Some web site developers may not charge you initially for your web site development and they may seem to offer their services for a low price. However, they may charge  you a fortune for any additional upgrades or updates and you may end up spending  a lot of money in a long run.

When selecting your Internet service provider please make sure that your access provider supplies you  and your web site developer with software that will allow you to make any changes  that is necessary  for making  future changes on your web site without charging you hidden fees. This is a very important factor to be considered, especially if you are planning on updating and upgrading your web site on regular basis. You may want to negotiate a service contract with your web site developer where for a monthly  or annual fee your web site developer will make any necessary changes on your web site. Before ordering your web site services, make sure you  conduct  a survey in order to find out what your clients will be expecting from you when they will be using your web site.
Discuss the above topics  with your web site developer and make sure that you obtain a "GUARANTEED ESTIMATE". In Canada and the US term "Guaranteed Estimate" means that based on your needs, your web site developer will provide you with the cost estimate indicating the maximum amount  you may be expected to pay upon the completion of your web site development service plus any additional disbursements. The term "additional disbursements" may include many things and hidden expenses which you may be expected to pay. Therefore, make sure that your web site developer will be in the position to provide you with the definition of "ADDITIONAL DISBURSEMENTS". This is what you want to know especially if you are a purchasing agent of a company, which monitors its expenditures very closely.
Once you will obtain a "GUARANTEED ESTIMATE" from your web site developer in writing, your web site developer may not charge you a greater amount than the amount on your "GUARANTEED ESTIMATE" even if the web site developer ends up losing the money on your project. Some of web site developers do not offer "GUARANTEED ESTIMATES" and they do not have to. Just keep in mind the consequences. You should also discuss several other issues such as non-performance or force majeure cases (known as the situations beyond your or your web site developer's control). This is very important, especially if you are trying to market a new product or service and have the information available to your clients. This may also cause major disruptions in your business especially if you are heavily relying on your web site as one of your company's sources of revenues.

5. Select the right Internet accesses provider.

Your wants to keep intouch with your clients all the time no matter if you are in your office or  in foreign country. Your access provider should be able to assist you in choosing the right Internet access provider. If you are traveling all the time to many different cities and countries you are better off having an Internet access provider which has a local calling numbers in major cities and its own or affiliate offices all over the world. If you are in Germany and your head office is in Canada you will end up incurring large expenditures when calling your Internet access provider's number. If you are a frequent traveler who is checking your e-mail every few hours and your business trip lasts two weeks you will incur a lot of long-distance charges even if you have the best savings plan from your long-distance provider.
Many Internet access providers are offering their service for a very low price. Please note that price may not be as important as the reliability of your Internet access provider. Your access provider should offer you  free space for your web site on its server. We have found that some Internet access providers charge their clients large amounts of money for having their clients web site on their servers. Many access providers tend to provide "unlimited" access, which is not really unlimited.  If you are relying on heavy e-mail traffic when communicating with your clients, you do not want your access provider to limit the amount of e-mail you will be sending or receiving. You may find that you have some restriction on your e-mail volume and if you do not comply with the limits  established by your Internet access provider you may be charged extra or your account may be terminated because you may be overloading their server. This is the last thing you want especially if you have established several good links to your web site.

In conclusion we would like to suggest that you may be better off selecting an
independent web site developer that will listen to your request and give you an honest
suggestion without trying to sell you unnecessary services. The above information explains only main pitfalls many individuals and companies have experienced in the past while dealing with various web site developers.

Discuss the above issues when contact different web site developers. We encourage you to contact several web site development companies so that you can chose the web site developer that meets your needs for a reasonable price. We trust that this information will assist you in choosing the right web site developer. If you any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Corporate Development Group.

6. Selecting your e-commerce/credit card processing company.

It is important to have very reliable credit card processing company. Some credit card companies charge very high setup, monthly fees as well as security deposits for up to $50,000.00. Furthermore your credit card processing company may hold portion of your funds as a protection against credit card theft.  You want a company that offers no setup, monthly fees or security deposit and will process your credit card transactions instantly and transfer processed payments into your bank account.    

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If you are looking for the company to meet the above expectations and would like to receive free review of your  existing web site or free price estimate on your web site development  project please click here.

If you require more information please contact Corporate Development Group.

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