Website Design & Search Engine Optimization

Q. Describe the most common types of jobs you do for your clients.

A. Taking over from a previous web designer who has exited the web services trade. This makes up about 75 percent of our present and past customers.

Q. What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?

A. We have been doing website design for over 18 years. We will tell you what we can't do up front. A lot of what we do is education of what is possible in a short effort and at a reasonable cost. We specialize in taking over small sites for web designers who have given up on them or have left the business.

Q. If you were a customer, what do you wish you knew about your trade? Any inside secrets to share?

A. Run away from anyone promising you '#1 ranking spot in 100 search engines'. That's an offer that cant be delivered almost all the time. The reality is there are 3-4 major search engines that count. There's a few minor ones that only matter in highly specialized fields. Good ranking takes time and a long term commitment to ongoing tasks to achieve ranking.

Q. What questions should a consumer ask to hire the right service professional?

A. References are everything in web design! Ask for the reference's contact info. Don't take a website quote or brochure at face value! Anyone with general PC skills can make a so so basic site. But to be usable and easily locatable with only basic search effort is another matter. Have them show you these basic searches with their existing or past customers.

Q. What important information should buyers have thought through before seeking you out?

A. Do some shopping on the offerings here to get a feel for what the basic costs will be. Get together all needed information for the website like pictures, legal disclaimer, full contact details and privacy statement, Be prepared to pay for some consulting time up front for any proposal or mock-up preparations, EVEN IF YOU DON'T USE THAT DESIGNER! You are taking them away from other tasks that do pay them, so you should too!

Q. Why does your work stand out from others who do what you do?

A. Others try to sell what they cannot deliver as to site ranking. We offer a realistic expectation of what we will deliver and then project what we might be delivering in ranking. Doing anything else is setting oneself up to fail in the customer's eyes.

Q. What do you like most about your job?

A. There is no set work time to do these tasks. I can fill in little mini tasks between other life and sleep cycles and still accomplish a lot.

Q. Do you have a favorite story from your work?

A. A friend of a customer consistently couldn't remember the name of the customer's theater group. When they wanted to find the site they searched on 'what' and 'where' and it was the first listing. She bragged about not having to remember the name because it could always be found through searching!

Q. How did you decide to get in your line of work?

A. My first site turned a pile of unsearchable papers into a reference site. Soon others found it and offered more content to augment what I had gathered.

Q. Do you do any sort of continuing education to stay up on the latest developments in your field?

A. There are several industry specific forums and blogs that we read daily to keep abreast of trends with the search industry and server technology.