10 Important Questions To Ask Web Builders Before Dishing Out the Dough for your In Home Business website

Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.

Having a professional build your in home business web site is a wise investment.

If you want to establish yourself as a serious and professional in home business owner. If you’re not web site savvy, you can easily be cheated, especially if you don’t know what questions to ask.

Here are 10 important questions you want answered before opening your wallet for your in home business website!.

Assuming you already have a fairly good idea of what you want on your in home business web site and will more than likely be writing your own copy or having it written for you, here are 10 questions you need to get answered to help you create a web site without breaking the bank or slowing your plans.

1.  Price by project or by the hour?  Accepting an hourly rate agreement gives you very little control over costs unless you put a spending cap into effect.  If you have to exercise the spending cap, what if your site is only partially complete?  Inevitably, you will have to dish out more dough to get it finished and this is a strain you want to avoid as you start your new  in home business.

2.  Once the site is complete who will maintain it?  If the developer offers this service, what are the costs and turn-around time?  If you’d rather assume modification control, do they offer access to and training on editing software?

3.  When can you expect you site to be finished?  You want to be in a position to plan ahead for your website launch.  Having that information will give you time to organize all your marketing efforts.

4.  What kind of a payment plan do they have?  Do they want all of the money up front?  Half now, half upon completion?  Make sure you hold back partial payment until your in home business site is complete and you are completely satisfied with the results.

5.  Will the designer submit your in home business site to the search engines or will this be your responsibility?  If this is your responsibility, do your homework to ensure you cover all the steps. (Keywords and META tags must be done before your submission.)

6.  Who will be responsible for search engine optimization? This is usually an add-on service, so find out if your developer includes it with site development, offers it at an additional cost, or if you will have to contract someone else to do this for you..

7.  Who will be in control of your site? Make sure you do! Don’t leave this critical component of your in home business and marketing strategy in the control of a third party.  Get all passwords and access to everything.

8.  Will your website developer teach you how to read your web logs/stats so you can understand the how, what, where and why of your visitors?

9.  Has the developer designed other sites for your niche market?

10.  Has the web designer provided a portfolio, testimonials or references from others in your niche market?  Have you verified the references?

A web site is a major component of  marketing  and the success of your in home business.