Q. What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?
A. Look for "marketing" and advertising experience when hiring someone to build a website. Most site developers have no clue about marketing and usually build a website that does not have a marketing message or is void of proper optimization.
Q. If you were a customer, what do you wish you knew about your trade? Any inside secrets to share?
A. Yes... make sure that your website developer can estimate the time it takes to build a site. Using a template first, then customizing it will save you many hours and dollars before setting out to build an entire site from scratch. Also, simple is best.. using mixed platforms such as html, wordpress for automation and social media.
Q. What questions should a consumer ask to hire the right service professional?
A. How long have you been doing it?
See several specs for ideas.
How long will it take?
Do you have marketing experience?
What certifications do you have in SEO/SEM and have you actually worked with Google/MSN/Bing/Yahoo products?
How many sites do you have on the first page based on most important keywords?
Q. What important information should buyers have thought through before seeking you out?
A. How quickly do they want their site up?
What are the most important keywords to their business.
Product lines that can be catalogued, then also marketed.. this is an extra bonus to the marketing effort