Your Domain Name
Make sure you own it, or you buy it yourself we have seen hundreds of companies that let the hosting company buy their domain name and things went wrong. Avoid the problems and buy the name yourself or have the name immediately put into your own registrar account.
Your Hosting Account
If you dont have Cpanel access and FTP access to your site choose another design company to build your site. If you don't your giving them the power to lock you out of your own hosting account.
The Content Of Your Site
Make sure you ask who owns the content of the site once its built. We have seen lots of crooked web companies out there say that because the created the images you have no right to them, because they took your product photos you have no right to them if you choose to move to another hosting or web design company.
Can I Make Updates To My Own Site
If you choose a crappy company that uses website design software rather than setting your business up on a CMS (Content Management System) you are basically a hostage to them and their time schedule and their hourly $$$ charges to make modifications to your site. If they die, go out of business or shut down their business your screwed! Find out how much those updates are going to cost you per hour / per minute you may find that its better to look for another company to deal with.
Search Engine Optimization
Is the company that is going to build your website going to do the Search Engine Optimization for it or are they going to farm you out to another company? If that's the case run! Find a company that can do both if you don't know why click on the SEO Services tab and read more on this! It will save you thousands of dollars in costs and lost customers!
Is my site RWD (Responsive) and Smart Phone Compliant?
If your getting a website designed from their web design software then the answer is most likely no. Google will penalize sites that are not Responsive or Smart phone compatible. Don't make this mistake and don't choose to have a website and a separate mobile site as you can be penalized for this also!
Hosting Fees
Find out what they are going to charge you each year for your hosting. You don't want suprises.
Can I Move My Site In The Future
If you are not allowed to move your site to another hosting company if you so choose to do so in the future then don't do business with this company. It's just another way for them to keep you hostage.
Will I Have To Buy Any Software
If a company builds your site with web site design software then if you ever want to make changes to your site your self you will have to not only have to purchase this software you will have to learn it. CMS Systems are much easer to administrate and once its built you don't need any additional software to add pages and manage content.
How Long Does It Take For You To Update My Site?
If your held captive by a web design company updates may take days or even weeks. Ask them questions like, "If I need a new page put up" how long would it take you and what's the cost..
How Hard Is It To Change The Look Of My Site?
Sometimes you may want to change the look of your site or add a theme to your site, Christmas, Halloween, ect ect. Is this even possible and what's the cost?
What Happens If My Site Gets Hacked?
Do they back up your site, do they make backups for you, if your site gets hacked are there any charges to restore it?
Security Updates
Does my site need security updates and patches installed? If so who does it and does it cost me anything.
These are the most important questions you need to to get answer to. These are the questions if you don't ask can wreak havoc on your business. Your companies email can be turned off, your website can be shut down and turned off. Get the answers that can make or break your business! Learn More By Checking Out the Learn More Tab to the left.
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