Website Design, Development, SEO & Hosting:

One of the most important assets for a start-up-business or for a current functioning small business is its website and internet presence. Actually, its so important, it can literally make or break a company.

In today’s business climate, most business transactions are going to involve some form of e-commerce and information technology, and you are going to want your website to use all the industry standard, state-of-the-art applications that are available to you.

Also, you should always remember that a website is a reflection of the character and professionalism of the business’s owner, and its employees and associates.

Accordingly, what you place on your website will determine its effectiveness and its level of success. There are several elements that are vitally important, which are: You should have an answerable business phone number, and-or a live website desktop chat application displayed on your website.

This is because it creates instant credibility. It broadcasts to your potential customers that you are not trying to hide from them and that your business is well capitalized. These are usually among the first things a potential customer looks for when they are considering making an online purchase.

Equally important is your companies return and refund policy. Don’t try to hide it away in some obscure area of your website. Make it easy to be found and displayed.

Most people that make an online purchase want to feel secure they can return a purchase, and receive a refund with ease should it become necessary. After that comes your shipping and delivery procedures. Make that easy to find as well. Transportation and delivery costs are of major concern to online purchasers, so try to provide them a low cost shipping or delivery option when possible.

The next thing you should be sure of is that your website has easy navigation and is well designed. Be sure your text is supported with attractive images, but not too many of them. You want the images to visually emphasize and support the most important text statements on your website.

Your primary product or service should be strategically placed for quick and easy visibility, and above all, make sure your website is Search Engine Optimized (SEO) to its maximum potential.

Finding your website on the internet is just as important as creating one. No matter how well your website is designed, if it can’t be found, it becomes useless and is a wasted asset.

The selection of the company or person that you plan to hire to develop, publish, and maintain or host your website is of equal importance as well. This is something that you should investigate and analyze with great care.

You want to be sure that whoever you select or hire, has verifiable skills and experience in developing websites, and that they have a proven operating history and are financially solvent and are fully capable of performing maintenance on your website both on a short-term and-long term basis.

Another issue will be the hosting of your website. This is usually done by a company that owns an inventory of powerful computers known as servers. A server is capable of storing your website, which is a collection of computer software programs and data. These server computers will execute the programs so your website can be published and displayed on the internet.

Many website development companies will own their own servers or use an affiliate to provide hosting. Either way, you should always check out the financial stability of the company that will be hosting your website, and verify the physical location of where the servers are located. If you live in the United States, its wise to avoid a company that who’s servers are outside U.S. boarders, that our located in another country.

Try to keep your hosting geographically as close to you as possible, specifically within your own time zone, and make sure you are given access to your website’s hosting control panel, that you have your access ID and password. This is wise because it may become necessary for you to change hosting companies for one reason or another.

Also, be cautious on the fees you are asked to pay, both for website development and for hosting. Its best to get several quotes from different companies. Its not uncommon for some of these companies to try and get away with billing you inflated rates, that are above normal market averages or for charging you with unnecessary app configurations that should be free. Additionally, be cautious on what you pay for domain registration and for an SSL certificate.

Our Firm, Arthur Anderson Financial Services, has meticulously researched and evaluated the website design, development, SEO and web hosting industries.

We are highly knowledgeable on the fee structures of these industries. What is average and acceptable to pay, and what is not.

In addition, we researched and evaluated numerous Website Design, Development, SEO and Hosting companies, and we have selected a couple to be our affiliate partners; ones that we trust, recommend and support. These companies can design and build your firm a dynamic website, one that will enhance your company’s internet presence, and increase your revenue base.

You are welcome to contact our Firm if you would like to connect with one of these outstanding companies.

Sincerely,
Arthur Anderson