If you are a business owner out there and you were thinking about building a website for your business, the most likely scenario is that you will look online for an agency. Once you find the appropriate agency, you will ask them for a quote explaining what you need and then accept a quote and this agency will build your website. After few weeks your website will be delivered and you will be a happy owner.

Please do not follow this path above!!!

I do not have any problems with big web design agencies as long as they do the job in client’s interest. In the last month I have seen two CMS websites built without considering the correct keywords for the client. Both clients have been told that their website is on the first page of Google for the particular keyword.

After 5 minutes of investigation it turned out that there are no searches whatsoever for that keyword and the number of competing pages is insignificant. Of course you are going to be on the first page of Google. You get the picture….

Before you decide and hand over hundreds or even thousands of pounds of your hard earned cash, please do following and in the order below:

1. Do your keyword research. Find several keywords that people are searching when looking for your product or service, don’t guess them. Find keywords for each individual product or service you offer. If you do not know how to do this then ask agency to do it before they start to build your website. If they tell you that they are design agency and not SEO company, move on. Why? Because they should be both design and SEO agency. Beautiful website that is not optimized correctly is like having a Ferrari without an engine.

2. Once your agency provide you with some keywords ask them to provide you with the number of monthly searches and the number of competing pages. If they can’t do that then ask myself and I’ll tell you how to do it.

3. Think about main categories that will be part of your website. Always think about main keywords and create your categories in relation to these keywords.

4. Ask your agency to show you the example of how url will be structured within CMS. The complete url (folder(s) and the final html page) should be structured around your keywords. No numbers or random characters in urls or words like “page” or something that has nothing to do with your products or services. If you don’t do this before building process starts and once you realise your website pages are built in unsatisfactory way, you will have to pay again for the work that should have been done in the first place.

5. Ask the agency whether they can include RSS feed within your website (There are add-ons out there).

6. You should incorporate a blog within your website. This blog should run on wordpress platform. If your website is built on wordpress then blog will be there included. If your website is not built on wordpress platform the you can install wordpress platform within separate directory. Why is blog so important? This topic is huge so I am not going to answer it here but there are some other posts where I address this topic.

7. Once you clear all this out, write down what you expect at the end of the relationship and present it to the agency.

 If you follow and complete all these points your life will be much easier once your website is out there. Then you can concentrate on promoting it and doing off-page SEO.

Pronto MultiMedia builds wordpress and drupal websites for local businesses in Bury, Manchester. We incorporate and follow all these points mentioned above so you don’t need to worry about whether correct keywords are included or whether SEO on your website has been done. Our aim is to build a website for your business that will attract new prospects and convert them into your customers. Our aim is to build a lasting asset to your business that will act as another sales person and constantly bring a new business. By following the instructions above you will never have to answer on this question: What is the point of the website with no visitors? Yours will have plenty.