Marketing a Website

Here are nine (9) reasons why you want to run away from this type of quick fix website design solution.
1. You’re not a website design expert, so don’t pretend to be one – How many websites have you designed? How many have you actually built? None? Leave the website design to people who have done it before and know what they are doing. It might seem easy, but it’s not if you want it to work right.
2. It won't be built with any marketing strategy in place – What are you going to say on the site? You have 10 seconds to engage with your prospects. They are looking for certain words to help them feel comfortable with your company. Do you know what those words are? Without any marketing strategy, you will be wasting your money on a site that doesn’t connect with your potential customers.
3. It’s not part of an overall Marketing Machine including the required supporting tactics – If you are trying to grow your business, then you are going to need more than just a website. What about the other tactics? Do you have those covered? Blogging, email marketing, content marketing, social media, referral programs, and the list goes on and on. Just buying a website is going to do nothing to help you grow your company. 
4. Your site won't be SEO optimized, despite what they say – Most of the companies mentioned below will tell you your site will be optimized but, beyond a few tricks, there isn’t much they can do. Optimization has to do with content and keywords. If you don’t know your keywords, your site won't be optimized correctly. If those keywords aren’t in the COPY on your site, your website won't be optimized. If you don’t add fresh content to your site with the right keywords, your site won't be optimized.
5. It won't include the analytics you need to help your marketing program improve over time – How do you know if your website is working? You need analytics that show you traffic, conversions and leads. Most of these sites come with basic marketing analytics, but unless you use them to improve performance they won't be very helpful.
6. You won't be able to optimize it with content – One way Google decides how high to rank websites is on the freshness of their content. Are you planning on adding content daily? If not, don’t expect your site to rank very high on Google, Yahoo! or Bing. Make sure you have considered how you plan to update the site on at least a weekly basis.
7. It won't have all the conversion tools it needs to generate leads – Most sites like this come with a standard Contact Us page. But what about all those people who aren’t ready to Contact You? They need offers too. You need to have landing pages and conversion Calls To Action (CTAs) all over your site. Most of these "instant website" tools don’t provide all the options required to create a lead generating website.
8. You probably won't update it frequently enough – Build it once and then let it go, right? Wrong. You have to update your website weekly. Are you planning on doing that? Do these tools allow that? Give you the options to help you do that? Probably not.
9. You might not even own the site when you are done – Is the site truly yours? If you stop paying the monthly fees can you take your website somewhere else? Read the fine print. We have seen many clients who didn’t even own their own websites. Don’t get into that situation.
Your company website is a business asset. Don’t take it lightly. This is the first place most people are going to go before they even talk with you. If it looks amateurish or half-done, they won't be calling you. Take the time to get this important job done professionally so you put your best foot forward. Your company website isn’t an electronic brochure. It should be the first stop in an amazing experience for your potential customers and clients.