Business owners are swarmed with offers from SEO companies that can make them number 1 in Google. They also hear from companies that can build them the greatest site ever made for short money and really quick. But the truth of matter is: They can’t in either case.
The SEO companies that send out millions of spam emails promising the moon, are 99.9% bogus. They haven’t even reviewed your site, yet promise number one in days. Google uses an algorithm that no one can reverse engineer. Plus, Google is always updating their algorithm to get around the SEO tricks. Have you ever wondered (and you’ve heard me say this before) why emails from these SEO companies come from some nondescript GMail account? Simple, because if it came from their domain you would quickly do a search and find out they are not in the top 100 for SEO. If they can’t help themselves, they can’t help you. Look, we tell people all the time, we can improve your search rankings by old-fashioned work and quality content. Nothing beats quality content, period.
As for the companies who promised to build you the greatest website ever, and get it done really quickly and really cheaply. Well, you get what you pay for. You get a crappy template that they have used hundreds, and in some cases thousands of times. They plug in text, and your site is done. But it’s not original, doesn’t look good, and it’s not quality technology. Chances are you will be looking for new site within a year.
For example: I just had a client that we’ve done a lot of work for contact me. We have maintained a great relationship, but when time came to do over one of their sites, they chose a company promising speed, price and that the owner wouldn’t have to raise a finger. They sent me a link to look at the new site in development. I could not believe my eyes. They were using technology, that not only is outdated, the company that owns it is actually about to retire it and has been dead for years. I won’t mention the technology I’m talking about, I don’t want to embarrass the person, although you would get a good laugh out of it. This development firm has their own niche within a given industry. They do hundreds of these types of sites, very cookie cutter and nothing special from a UI standpoint. Unknowing site owners typically won’t look and see the technology, so it sounds good. Quick, cheap, and little effort. Again, within a year they will be looking for a new solution.
While it is an old expression, the title of this post holds true today. In fact, it is probably truer today then the day it was first uttered. Nothing beats hard work. Companies may make crazy promises, but use your common sense when entering into a new project. And be careful of any email from companies out of the blue, chances are they are spammers, or fly by night outfits.
If you need help with Web Development, or SEO, contact us today, we are glad to help.
“You never get a second chance to make a first impression”
Some credit Oscar Wilde with this quote. Others point to Will Rodgers. No matter who said it first, this is as true today as it ever was. I would say it is even more important. Why? Because in the days of Messrs. Wilde and Rodgers, most first impressions were face to face. Today most first impressions happen via your website. And if the impression is bad, visitors are gone in a flash.
For example: I was visiting with a potential new client last week. They told me they had met a potential new client who had told them they checked out their website before coming in. They cringed at the thought. Their website wasn’t horrible by any means. But it was so out of date. They had information from 2010 on there listed as news. Fortunately their business is based more on referrals, and their skill sets. So the new client still came in. The problem is that there is no telling how many people didn’t call or come in as they were turned off by their website.
Though in this case, they probably didn’t lose a new client, it got them thinking. So they brought me in to take a look at their site. With a couple hours work each month over the next quarter we will get them up to date and also secure their website from potential attacks. You’ve heard me talk about all the virtues of WordPress. But there are downsides as well. One of those is potential hacker attacks. You need to keep your WordPress version up to date as well as all your plug-ins. Then you need to have a good security plug-in.
Bottom Line: Every website we review doesn’t need to be blown up and redone. You don’t always have to spend thousands of dollars. With one of our support plans we can incrementally improve your website to get it up to snuff. From that point we will help you keep your site up to date 24/7/365.
