The Second Question to Ask a Web Designer
Where do you rank? Ask that of most website designers and most of them will ask you, “What do you mean? ” They are more comfortable showing you what sites they have designed or talking about flash.
But ask them to show you where they rank in Google, Bing or Yahoo. What are their keywords, what do they rank in searches for those keywords? Web designers like to tell you what they have done, but would you buy shoes from a person who goes around barefoot?
Has the web designer practiced their craft for themselves? I know one designer here in Sonoma County who for a long time didn’t even have her own site and then it went up and was a very primitive site merely linking to sites she had created. Do I want somebody working on my site who doesn’t even take the time to maintain their own? Would I go to an accountant who did keep her books straight?
Don’t just look at sites the web designer has done, but at their own site. Does it get page rank for them?
We have had the discussion about a pretty face earlier. Who would hire a person because they are good looking only? Well many businesses have put up websites that are nothing more than a pretty face. They do nothing to help them be found unless somebody is specifically looking for their site by name.
So find out if the web designer knows how to build a site that ranks. Does their own site rank at the top of a search for their keywords? If not I would say you should find someone else.
There are a lot of people out their who call themselves web designers but never learned their craft beyond looking pretty. They use a web design tool or software and leave it at that, not knowing how to do the work of building a site that will get you found and ranking for the services or product that you sell.
The day of just having a web site is past. I did that. Then I realized that people really are using the internet to find the services I offer locally. It is worthwhile, and actually imperative, that your site be findable in a search.
Ajalon can help you get found on the internet locally or globally. We have done it and know what it takes. Call us at 707.528.0288.
Written by David Walrath
Ajalon Printing & Design
