You may be approached with advice about how to have a successful website.
Sometimes by email, by phone or you may see articles in various publications and websites.

1) Don’t be impressed by internet jargon – if the advice can’t be given in understandable language, then it’s not advice, it’s usually a sales pitch. Ask them what they mean!

2) If they give you search engine advice – and make comments such as, ‘we can get you to the top of Google’ or ‘we can improve your search engine rankings dramatically’ or something similar, ask for real life examples. Ask for examples of websites they have made successful and proof of the success – even contact details of some of their clients. Ask how much it will cost! Note: if they do actually say ‘We can get you to the top of Google’ – be very, very cautious about any ‘advice’ they give. Nobody can guarantee a top Google place – please read our articles about search engines.

3) If they’re selling ‘online booking’ make sure you ask how much commission they take on the bookings, if you are one of our clients, please consult us first before you sign up to anything, that’s what we’re here for.

4) They may mention social networking sites, such as Facebook and Stumbleupon. Registering with these types of websites can increase your website visitors for a while  but the important questions to ask are “Do those extra visitors actually buy your products and services?” and “Have my sales increased since signing up?”. If the answer is Yes – then fine. Either way it’s a good idea to mention that you are going to sign up with them to your website designer – they can then safeguard your photos and increase your spam protection.

Those are just a few things that you may encounter - Think very carefully before you take any advice and if you are one of our clients, please consult us first – we can tell you if it is good advice and how to implement it. If it is bad advice we can give you reasons why, and give you usually cheaper alternatives to achieve what you want.