Having been in the website development business since 2006, and currently managing dozens of websites for locally owned businesses and organizations, it’s clear that a website is important for a successful company. This article offers a fresh perspective on a few of our core fundamentals and popular topics, and is presented as a ‘Websites 101’ style post.

Helpfulness
We believe that websites are essential and should be built to work for a biz or org, especially being that they are the first digital impression for prospective customers, clients, subscribers, etc. This means that websites must have the answers, info, and direction to guide web users to their desired result.

Build Smart
There are several smart website development platforms, and limitless ways to build a website. Here at Marketing by the C, we specialize in WordPress websites because of the high-end quality results and usability. BUT it’s imperative that we inform those that we help about the regular maintenance required for WordPress websites, and how they need to be updated to work properly, very much like our smartphones. No matter what website platform or infrastructure is used, we follow best practices and industry standards for digital sustainability.

Intent & Usability
Most of the time SEO plays a role in how info and content is found. When businesses have a content marketing plan, they can effectively tell their stories and become ’thought leaders’ organically. When we combine strong content with a solid user interface, we achieve high levels of trackable success. This is important for business big and small.

Traffic & Tracking
When it comes to digital marketing tools like email distribution, ppc, and social media, having a website work as a trackable digital destination is very helpful in measuring the impact on marketing efforts. We primarily use Google Analytics to track website data, and we love it.

Spend Wisely
In the last couple of years, new companies have surfaced pushing ‘all-in-one’ style website subscription services, that eventually cost small businesses thousands of dollars per year for little to no service, and the fees continue year after year. In our opinion, this becomes a large waste of money, knowing that the cost to build a website should not result in endless monthly fees for years.
The most popular question for we receive about websites is ‘How much does it cost to build a website?’  …and our answer is ‘It varies depending on the requirements, but our website dev projects can start at $1800 with options.’  In all cases, we know that website development fees aren’t ‘never-ending’, and that the expected annual fees for hosting and domain registration are typically very reasonable in comparison.

Hire a Pro
Not everyone is qualified to build or manage websites. While some commercials and ads try to make building websites look easy, it isn’t. It’s more than just photos and text layouts. It’s more than just a few clicks and a publish button. Building and managing a quality website requires more knowledge and effort than that of what a side-job hustler or friend-of-a-friend can handle. Websites are important business assets and marketing tools, and when built (and managed) by professionals, it shows in the results. CLICK HERE to see our portfolio of websites.

Second Opinions
It’s OK to ask for a second opinion when developing a new website, or working on updating an existing one. While we don’t win every bid or proposal we submit, it’s very common for us to receive inquiries asking for 2nd Opinions on work done by other firms. We are open to these conversations, and have helped folks get through (or get out of) unwanted, and sometimes unexpected, situations.