At MagPub we see this problem all the time: a company hires us because they want to change their current Website, but the way their last contractors set things up makes change more difficult than it should be. Ian Lurie had too much good advice on how to avoid these headaches for us to include it all here, so we’re excerpting with his permission. Visit his original post for the rest.
You can become a smart consumer of internet marketing services the same way you become a smart consumer of clothing, or food: learn what to ask for, and how to tell when something feels cheap.
Own your site
When you hire someone to build or modify your site, make sure your contract includes something like this:
All design, code, content and other work performed as part of this contract is a work for hire owned by the Client.
If your contract doesn’t include something like this, add it. If your contractor or agency won’t add it, move on.
Know where your site lives
Make sure your web site designer/developer sends you an e-mail that includes:
- The name of your web site hosting company.
- The contact information for that company.
- The control panel address, username and password for your site, if there is one.
- Your FTP server name, address, username and password.
- The server language used to build your site, if your site is dynamic in any way.
- Any prepackaged software used on your site, like a prebuilt shopping cart or content management system.
- Login address, username and password for your shopping cart, blog, content management system or any other software.
- Database access information—address, username, password, database type—for your site database if there is one.
- Analytics access information.
That way, if your webmaster flakes, you won’t have to send some stranger your birth certificate and fingerprints just to access your own web site.
Own your domain
At least three times in the last two years, I’ve had to tell a new client to get a new domain name. Why? Their last internet geek bought their current domain. When he got fired, he took down the site and posted photos of his pet tarantula instead. Short of a lawsuit or a WIPO claim, the client had no recourse.
If someone else buys your domain (your web address) for you, make sure you know the name of the registrar where it’s registered, and that you have your own account to access and change the settings for that domain.
Control your content
Assuming you’re serious about your online presence, you can get a great site that you can edit without intervention by a web designer. ‘Serious’ means you don’t expect a great site for $500—if you do, you don’t need a designer. You need a therapist.
Get your site built on a simple CMS like WordPress, Joomla! or Drupal.
Most important, tell your designer that:
- You want all text to be html text, not graphics.
- You want to be able to edit all of it.
- If you add a new category or page, it must show up in the site navigation automatically.
Then you’ll control your content.
Know what you’re getting
SEO: Just because a web designer says they’ll build your site ‘with SEO’ doesn’t mean they will. In fact, it usually means that their idea of SEO is a META ROBOTS tag on each page. Get specifics: A list of the things they’ll do to make sure your site is SEO-friendly and SEO-ready.
Design: If you see the first design sample and vomit, how many more will they do for you? I always tell clients we’ll keep at it until we have what they want. I’m betting we can get there before a project goes into the red. I also charge a premium. But this is why.
Reporting: What kind of project status reports will you get, and how often? A weekly two-line e-mail may be sufficient. The silent treatment is not.
Ian Lurie is the President of Portent Interactive, an Internet marketing firm whose clients include Princess Alaska Lodges, AdAge Magazine and Attachmate Corporation.
