How To Choose A Website Design Company
You have less than eight seconds to create a positive impression on a visitor to your website when they first land on your website. Be very selective when it comes time to choose the website design firm for your website project.
Here are some suggestions/tips to consider when selecting a Website Design Firm:
- Do they have a Portfolio? Make sure your chosen website designer has some experience under their belt. Website development has come a long, long way in the last ten years. One person can’t know everything necessary to design, program, and promote a successful website. Think hard about hiring that independent programmer who works out of his house. The price might be enticing, but what will you end up with?
- Can the Website Designer you are considering cater to any type of Business? Look through their website portfolio for variety across industries. Also, do their client websites all look similar in format and structure? A custom-designed website establishes a much more professional image for your company. Templates can be a substitute, but are resold many times over. Your website may look like many others. Also, website templates require your content to be presented in a certain way – a presentation that may not be appropriate for your business.
- How is that Potential Website Designer’s Response Time? This is vital to the success of your website. Take note of their choice of response on their website. Is it by e-mail, phone, fax, or instant messenger? How quickly did they respond to your inquiries? If you prefer to do business over the phone, your website developer should accommodate your preference.
- Does the selected Design Firm have a Contract? Everything must be understood up front when beginning a website project. When it is written, it can be referred to. Also, before signing, make sure you read the entire contract, including all the fine print. Don’t hesitate to ask any questions. This will be best for you AND the designer. Answering questions and ensuring there is an understanding between the web design company and your company will help prevent bad feelings, a poor job, and/or missed deadlines.
- How Reasonable are these Web Developers’ Prices? You do get what you pay for. There are many “web designers” who work out of their homes. They have created a couple of websites, are hungry, and will price low to get more experience. Do you want them to gain experience on your dime? Most web designers work on an hourly basis – this is ok if they have a comprehensive budget they plan from. There is a good chance you will want extras once the website development process starts. You should check to see if your chosen website developer has planned for contingencies in their website proposal budget. Your website is going to the link between you and your customers, so make sure it is the best it can be given your budget constraints. Nowadays, you can find websites for $500 or website builder applications for a monthly flat rate. Be careful! Consider if you will get what you need in these “value” packages. How will your customers view you? You can always consider building your website in phases. This will help keep the cost down and the quality up.
- Can your chosen Website Designer help you market your Website? You may have a gorgeous, functional website, but if no one knows it is there, it is useless. Online promotion of websites has become a whole new industry – search engine optimization, search engine marketing, social media, linkbacks – all very important, and experience in these areas is essential to making your website a success. Ask your web design firm what they feel is best for your company. You should feel comfortable with their explanation and reasoning; otherwise, move on.
- Does the Website Designer have happy Clients? Can you find client testimonials on the site? Ask for referrals and then CONTACT them. Ask probing questions like What was your overall satisfaction? Did the website designer go over budget? Is your website performing for you now? It’s better to spend 15 minutes on the phone than months of hassle and pain with the wrong web developer.
- Can your chosen Website Design Firm meet all your needs? Do you want an e-commerce store, can they program Flash elements, or a custom web application? Can they perform search engine optimization and/or search engine marketing? Discuss their goals and confirm they can do what is best for your company and meet the expectations of your website goals. Choose a firm that has the full corporate solution for your needs – that usually means more than a guy in his bedroom or garage.
- Can they Deliver on Time? Discuss your goals as they relate to timelines. Be comfortable with their explanations of delivery. If you need your website done by a certain date, tell the designer/developer. Can the web designer you choose confidently state that they can complete it by that date?
- Does the Web Designer you are considering take a Personal and Friendly Approach? Is the website designer willing to help and suggest their ideas, or do they robotically go along, hoping they got everything you want? It’s always best to find a website designer who has some ideas of their own, with fresh ideas.
Although this blog entry can seem like a no-brainer to some, many companies will often run into difficulties and conflicts within their website development project. These are simple steps that are often overlooked. Keep this list in mind when looking for a website designer, and you should find the right one to create a successful website!
Have you had a bad experience with a website developer? Do you have something to add to the list above? Please let us know in the comments section below.
5 Excellent Tools for Checking Google Keyword Rankings
Are you looking for ways to check Google keyword rankings? Do you want to know how your keywords are performing on Google?
Well, you have come to the right place where you are going to discover a few of the top tools to check Google keyword rankings. Not only that, but you will also learn why keyword tracking is essential and a few other important details in this guide.
What is Keyword Tracking?
We all know keywords are used by people on Google to find information online, so they can educate themselves and purchase later. That’s how online eCommerce sites are boosting their search traffic and sales.
Keyword tracking is the ability to track and analyze all the keywords that you are targeting. Keyword tracking helps you easily find out which keywords are performing well on Google so you can analyze those details to improve your keyword rankings.
Why is Keyword Tracking Important?
One of the essential elements of SEO is picking the right keyword, making it rank & track the keyword position in search.
It is necessary for a blogger or SEO professional to check their Google keyword ranking for target keywords. One of the most common mistakes bloggers and website administrators make is that they write and publish articles without targeting any keywords at all.
Every blogger must aim to use the keywords that users search for the most, especially those keywords that will help your website show up on one of the first few pages of search results.
If you accomplish proper on-page SEO, chances are good that you will appear in the first 50 search results.
In order to accomplish this goal, you need a tool that can tell you where a specific keyword ranks in Google’s search results without manually going through 100’s of search results and pages.
To help you do this, we have compiled a list of some excellent online tools to use to check your target keyword position in Google.
5 Best SEO Tools for Checking Google Keyword Rankings:
- SEMrush
SEMRUSH is a well-known, comprehensive tool. Instead of simply allowing you to check the rankings of a single keyword phrase, you get access to a wide range of statistics.
You can enter your website URL and determine which keywords you rank for.
You will be able to see your ranking for top organic keywords, along with monthly search volume and the average cost per click for PPC advertising for that keyword. Check keyword competition and discover other details.
It supports Google (you can select Google Search based on your target geographical region) and Bing search as well.
If you ever wonder, “What keywords do I rank for?”, SEMrush has got you covered. Simply add your domain name in the URL field, and it will show you all the keywords that you are currently ranking for.
SEMrush is professional software that is easy to use, and you can try it for a couple of weeks for free before deciding whether you want to subscribe.
The only downside is that SEMRUSH is one of the most expensive tools on the market. Unless you have a pressing need for its other features, you might be best off with another of the rank checkers.
- SERPWatcher
Mangools is famous for giving some really good SEO tools. A new addition to this is SERPWatcher. This is one of the best rank checker tools with which you can determine the keyword position for any domain. They have features with the help of which you can track keywords based on location. Their paid packages have competitive pricing, and they provide value for the money that you pay. You can track keyword position based on Geolocation & devices (Desktop and mobile).
- Ahrefs
This website has several good features. This makes it very easy to monitor keyword rankings. The keyword for which your website is being ranked is detected automatically. If you want a ranking based on the country, then that feature is available on this website.
With Ahrefs, you can start tracking the rank of your website as well as your competitors’ websites.
- Google rank checker
Google Rank Checker is a free online tool for tracking keyword positioning. Though it does not check Bing, just Google.
It is a very basic utility that gets a basic job done. All you need to do is enter your target keyword phrase and the domain name of your website. You then select the region and press submit. Within seconds, you will know the search engine rankings for the keyword you entered.
- SERP’s keyword rank checker tool
SERP also has an amazing keyword rank checker tool to easily check all your Google keyword rankings. Simply enter your keyword along with your domain name and choose the search engine (including the location) to know your keyword rankings.
This tool is the fastest way to check your keyword rankings, and it’s completely free.
It shows you the top 250 search results. It also gives you information about search volume, CPC, etc, to know how your keywords are performing on Google.
Improve Your Google Keyword Rankings:
The bottom line is that you need to check your keyword rankings to monitor your performance. Whether you choose one of the web-based free checkers or purchase a membership from one of the advanced options, knowing where you rank for your keywords is the first step in improving your Google rankings
Once you know where your website ranks in Google, it’s time to improve it. While many people will offer you their services, we urge website owners to consider the long-term impact of such services on their websites and businesses.
Without a proper, longer-term ranking plan, any ranking gains are unlikely to be sustained over the medium to long term. Go through our recommended service to improve your website rankings.
SEO Vs. PPC Uncovered
After all the hard work you put into designing and launching your website, now you get to the even harder part: getting people to visit.
A website can be a powerful tool for driving more awareness of your business and convincing people to buy, but it can’t do any of that unless people find it. And in an overcrowded online marketplace, getting noticed by the people you want to reach is a serious challenge.
Once you start looking into online marketing tactics to promote your website, you’ll notice two marketing options get a lot of attention: search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click advertising (PPC).
Often, new website owners with a limited budget try to figure out: “In the argument of SEO vs PPC, which should take dominance?”
Before you can determine which tactic makes the most sense for your business, you need to understand what they are.
SEO and PPC are the two sides of search engine marketing (SEM). They have one main thing in common: they help you get found by people searching for what you do on the search engines, especially Google.
But they also have some notable differences.
What is the Difference Between SEO and PPC?
The difference between SEO and PPC is all about where on the search engine results page (SERP) you show up and how you get there.
What is PPC Marketing? With PPC, you buy spots on the SERP that show up at the top of the page (if you pay enough), at the bottom, or to the side. PPC results often have the word “Ad” next to them or show up in an image carousel with shopping details at the top of the page.
Brands get those spots by paying for them. Search engine ad platforms use a pay-per-click bidding model to sell ad results. The businesses willing to spend the most get the best placements for the keywords they bid on, but they only pay when someone clicks on the ad, hence the name “pay-per-click.”
An SEO strategy operates differently.
What is SEO Marketing? With SEO, you work to earn spots in the organic results—that’s the term for all the results on the page that haven’t been paid for. For many search terms, that means they show up below PPC results, but not always. Sometimes, organic results can claim a rich snippet, like the answer box that shows up at the top of some SERPs.
SEO results can’t be bought, they have to be earned. You claim organic spots by practicing several SEO tactics, including:
- Working to optimize your website for the relevant keywords you want to target.
- Making sure your website provides a good user experience, especially when it comes to things like site speed and mobile-friendliness.
- Working to build authority for your website by earning backlinks from other sites.
Those are the basic differences between SEO and PPC to be aware of, but what does that mean for website owners?
SEO vs PPC in 7 Categories:
Small business owners don’t have a lot of money to spend on an online marketing strategy, so what you want to know about SEO vs PPC is how they shake out in comparison to each other in terms of things like cost and performance.
Here’s how the two SEM tactics compare in seven main categories.
- Cost:
This is a tricky category for comparison. While it may seem like there’s an obvious answer, since PPC is paid advertising and SEO must be earned with work, you may assume PPC is more expensive. In reality, measuring SEO vs PPC in cost is complicated, as which costs more will depend on how you approach each.
To truly see results with SEO, most website owners will need to hire an SEO expert to help. A recent survey found that SEO consultants charge an average of around $500-$1,000 a month. While technically, you can spend nothing on SEO but time, more realistically, you should expect to spend around this amount.
One benefit of PPC is that costs are within your control. You can set a maximum daily spend within Google Ads, and the network will stop running your ads once you’ve gotten enough clicks to reach that amount. That means you can name your budget and never go over it. But if your budget is too low, you’ll run through your maximum spend too early in the day to get the results you want, and it will take longer to accumulate the data you need to build better campaigns.
According to one survey, small businesses that do PPC spend an average of $9,000-$10,000 a month. That doesn’t mean you’d have to spend that much, but it probably means that’s the amount others have found that gets the best results.
- Control:
SEO is all about doing your best to signal to Google the keywords you think you should rank for, and proving you’re authoritative enough to gain those rankings. While you can target specific keywords, you ultimately have very little control over what terms you’ll show up for, where you’ll show up in the rankings, and how your website will show up on the SERP.
For that last point, you can provide your meta descriptions and use schema markup in the hopes that Google will display the information you’ve provided on the SERP. But it’s still up to the search engine how your website shows up -if it shows up at all.
With PPC, on the other hand, you have much more control. Paying for ads means you can decide:
A. Which relevant keywords do your ads show up for?
B. Who sees your ads, in terms of categories like demographics, geography, and consumer behavior?
C. What your ads look like, since you decide on what the ads say, and can include elements that increase clicks, like images, or ad extensions that provide useful information such as special deals and delivery information?
- Speed of Results:
SEO is a long game. Expect to spend months, or even years, practicing SEO tactics before you start to see results. And even then, your first results won’t be for high-competition keywords.
For example, a small business that sells hot sauce will see results for long-tail keywords—the SEO term for keywords that are less competitive—like “hot sauce shop San Antonio” or “ghost pepper hot sauce” long before it has the chance to claim a broad term like “hot sauce”.
That doesn’t mean SEO isn’t worth doing. It is! There are plenty of Benefits to SEO. It just requires patience.
With PPC, by contrast, you can start showing up on page one and getting new traffic the first day you launch a campaign. PPC is often a smart choice for businesses that are doing SEO but want to start driving traffic faster while they’re waiting for SEO results to pay off.
- Amount of work:
Both SEO and PPC require ongoing work. With PPC, you need to complete keyword and audience research to figure out the best targeting for your campaigns. Then you need to set up your campaigns, monitor them to learn what’s working, and make updates to improve your results and make sure your budget goes further.
As with PPC, SEO should start with keyword and audience research, then you have a list of tactics to stay on top of:
- Optimize each page of the website for your chosen keyword by including it naturally in the title, headings, page copy, and meta tags of the page.
- Consistently create high-quality content to keep your website fresh and target more of the keywords on your list.
- Undertake link-building strategies to get other websites to link back to yours.
- Maintain an SEO-friendly web design
- On the whole, doing SEO well usually requires more work than PPC
- Trust:
As you’d expect, people generally trust the results that have earned top spots more than those that are paid for them. 46% of people said they consider organic results more trustworthy than PPC ones, and 65% said they were more likely to click on an organic result for product-related searches. SEO is, therefore, a better way to earn the trust of people searching for the kind of products you sell.
That said, a sizeable portion of the population—around 57%— don’t even register the difference between the paid and organic results on the SERP.
Google’s always changing how the SERP looks, so that number is subject to change, but there’s a certain type of consumer that won’t think any less of your PPC ad than if you earned that top organic spot.
- Click-through Rate:
Recent data shows a clear winner in this category, but also shows that a lot depends on the type of device people are using. The click-through rate (CTR) for organic results on desktop computers is at over 65%, as compared to a little under 4% for PPC ads. On mobile devices, organic results get around a 40% CTR, with mobile earning a little over 3% (many searches on mobile don’t result in a click at all).
Either way, organic results get more clicks, making SEO rankings more valuable for traffic once you get them.
- Analytics:
Analytics gives you the power to consistently learn from everything you try, improve your campaigns based on that knowledge, and get better results over time. With both SEO and PPC, you can tap into valuable analytics.
Google Analytics, which is entirely free, provides a lot of data on how much of your traffic comes from organic search, where you rank for target keywords, and which pages people are finding through SEO.
And you can supplement all that free information with the additional data included in paid SEO tools that help you identify how your website compares to your competitors in rankings and what they’re doing differently to achieve the rankings they have, such as their backlink profile and the keywords they’re targeting.
While SEO tools can provide a lot of useful information, ultimately, there’s still a lot of guesswork behind why certain pages rank higher than others.
By contrast, the analytics provided in PPC campaigns can tell you exactly which ads perform well. And because you control every part of the ad, you can do A/B testing to gain insights into what your audience responds to, providing information you can apply not only to your future PPC ads but also to every other part of your online marketing campaigns.
SEO vs PPC Frequently Asked Questions:
Even with that extensive rundown, you may still have some questions. Here are answers to some of the common questions website owners have about the difference between SEO and PPC.
- Which Is Better: SEO or PPC?
It depends on your priorities.
PPC drives faster results. You can start getting visibility and traffic on day one, but you have to continually pay for every person it sends to your website.
SEO is slower, but once you gain relevant rankings, the results last longer. A good ranking will continue driving traffic for as long as you stay near the top, and you can count on getting more traffic from a good SEO ranking than a PPC one. And while there’s a cost to the work involved in getting on page one, once they’re all the traffic it sends your way is free.
- Does PPC Traffic Help SEO?
Not directly, but some of the metrics SEO experts commonly believe to be ranking factors require getting more relevant traffic, which PPC sends your way.
For example, when people click on your ad and like what they see long enough to stick around, it results in a lower bounce rate and longer time spent on site, both metrics that signal to Google that people are happy with the page they land on.
You can’t buy SEO results with PPC ads, but getting traffic from relevant visitors is one of the first steps to doing a lot of things that do pay off in SEO.
- How do PPC and SEO Work Together?
Good question! While the framing of this piece has pitted SEO and PPC against each other, for most businesses the goal should be SEO and PPC working together.
PPC helps you get the initial boost you need in visibility and traffic when your website’s new, or when it’s underperforming based on your goals. It’s a good strategy for short-term wins while you’re waiting for your SEO work to start coming through.
SEO is a long-term strategy that delivers bigger and more reliable results once it starts working. But it’s hard when you’re starting from scratch, and PPC can bring some of the initial traffic and attention you need to get your SEO efforts off the ground.
A good online marketing strategy combines the two tactics. If that sounds like a lot of work, well, it is. But you don’t have to learn both SEO and PPC from scratch to start getting more traffic for your website.
You’ll get better results, faster if you outsource the job to someone who already knows what they’re doing. HostGator offers both SEO and PPC services. Our team includes skilled professionals with years of experience in both types of SEM. If you’re ready for your website to start delivering bigger results, let us help.
