Do Not Buy a Website Without These 7 Questions

Do NOT Buy a Website Without Being Asked These 7 Questions

Congratulations! You’ve decided to take a trip down the information super highway. You’ve packed your bags and know where you want to go, but you’re just not sure where to turn or how you’ll get there. So you decide to turn to the experts for direction: A Local Website Designer.

It’s true that your website will be the “car” that drives you through the world wide web. So your website designer is your “car dealer”, for lack of a better term.  Now the question is: Which car dealer do you choose? Some will talk fast enough to make your head spin, utilizing the high-pressure technique. Others will charm you with technological facts, big promises, and big words. -So how do you decide who to buy a website from?

SIMPLE. Make sure your car dealer (website designer) cares about YOU and your goals- and cares enough to ask the following questions:

1. Before You Buy a Website: Can you tell me about your website content?

Your website designer should need to know more than just WHAT content you have or where it will come from.  Your website designer should be digging deeper when you’re ready to buy a website:

• How often will you be updating when you buy your website?
• WHY are you updating your content?
• WHO will be updating the website content?
• WHO do you want to see that you’ve updated the content? -Current clients, potential customers, your employees, your affiliates?

These questions should result in a full conversation, leading to the true goals you want to come from when you buy a website. Your website, like a car, needs to be maintained. You could just park it, but it won’t bring you anywhere. So if you want to still be travelling, not only at high speeds, but also stay in the right direction, you’ll want to keep your website running in tip top shape.  Your website content should have a strategic plan that is customized to your goals.

2. Before You Buy a Website: Do you plan to blog?

You might be familiar with how popular blogging is these days, even if you’re not sure why. Before you buy a website, you should know you want one! When you buy a website, your website designer should be digging deeper into your blogging plans:

• You want to blog: Who will be writing the blogs?
• What problem are you hoping to solve with your blog?
• What topics do you plan to tackle with your blog?
• Who do you want to see the blog, and why do they want to read yours?

Blogging can really help any website keep running, but this area also deserves a detailed strategy. It isn’t about the technology that provides you with the ability to blog. It’s about what your blog will do for your viewers, and in turn, for you.

3. Before You Buy a Website: Do you need an e-commerce solution?

If your company sells products, you’ll likely get a shopping cart when you buy a website. Again, this is an opportunity for a web designer to spout off a ton of technological options that will meet your needs. They can set up a great shopping cart with bells and whistles, and get you prepared to sell.  …but how will you get the sales? With e-commerce websites, it is VERY important that your website designer dig deeper.

• What types of products are you selling?
• Who is your target market?
• Are you open to wholesale options?
• How many have you sold already, and with what kind of profit?

E-Commerce SEO efforts require a strategy and plan that is specific to the product, company, competitors, and marketing budget. Don’t buy a website without your web designer knowing the ins and outs of your product, target market, and goals.

4. Before You Buy a Website: What makes your company, service, or product different from your competition?

Almost any good local website designer will ask this question. But it’s what they do with the answer that decipher’s their potential to really help your website fly down the information super highway.

• Is their story worth of a press release?
• Are the products the right fit for providing samples in exchange for reviews?

There are countless ways for you to benefit from your answer to this question. Your website designer should keep asking questions, knowing it will help design the path of efforts to bring traffic to your website.

5. Before You Buy a Website: What problem does your company, service, or product solve?

Again, the answer to this will truly help sculpt the strategy and long term plan to drive traffic to your website. Your website designer might ask this question, too. But perhaps this is when YOU should ask them questions in return:

• As the website designer, how does this information affect our website layout?
• How does this information change your plan for SEO for our website?

6. Before You Buy a Website: Aah, Social Media?

This is an important set of questions.

• How many social media accounts to you have?  Types and for how long?
• How much experience do you have with utilizing social media to produce a following?
• Who will be posting for you and how often?
• Can you find the balance of posting various types of media to keep your audience?
• What is your budget for paid social media advertising?

Social media is a fantastic avenue to use as fuel for your website, if you know how to use it. Your website designer could simply tell you that social media is a plus and encourage you to do it. But without knowing your skill level and the time you have to dedicate to it, your website designer is likely missing out on a vital opportunity.

7. Before You Buy a Website: Will you be recording your website’s results?

When you buy a website, you should know how it’s performing! There are a lot of analytic reporting options that can be thrown at you when you buy a website, but deciphering the data can be confusing, overwhelming, and time consuming. Your website designer is aware of this! Does your website designer care that you are kept up in the loop?  They do if they ask the following:

• Have you ever viewed a website analytic report before?
• Which portions of analytic reporting are most important to you?
• At which point (positive and negative) do you want to take action based on analytic reporting?

With a full online marketing company, you can receive analytic reports that are customized to the information that is important to YOU and will help you make decisions on how to move forward with your online marketing efforts. Hiring a local online marketing company that offers comprehensive online marketing plans will offer many additional benefits, turning your new website into real a lead generating tool.

When you buy a website, it’s not just about you doing your homework. It’s about THEM doing THEIR homework about you, your company, your service, and your product. If they aren’t willing to do their homework regarding you and your goals, they likely aren’t as invested as you deserve. Best bet, look for a local online marketing company so you can utilize their full range of online services. 

Give the VantagePoint Marketing Group a call before you buy a website: Get your free consultation. Tell them about your dreams and fears. Tell them secrets. Take up their time. Do what you gotta do to get their attention before you buy a website, because VantagePoint Marketing Group services are designed for small business owners, like you!