1. How do I select a Web site/marketing consultant?

At the core, you should make sure the firm or person your hire understands your project, has quoted you a competitive price, and has a track record of doing similar work. Understanding the project means that the person you are speaking with can explain the project in their own words and can make meaningful suggestions on how to make it better.  You can determine a competitive price by speaking with other similar companies and verifying that the price you are quoted is within an acceptable range and is a price you can afford. A proven track record can be determined by reviewing a portfolio of work. It is isn’t important that they have done your exact project before, but it is important that whatever work they have done is of sufficient quality and met the needs of whatever clients they are showing you.  I’m also curious how other folks answer this question in the comments below.

2. What kind of Web site do you need?

There are several types of Web sites. Each one serves a different need, and mainly people have some of more than one:

• Brochure Web site: This is a site where you describe what you do, where you are located, your approach, and give people a way to contact you.
• Extranet/Intranet: This is a site for use by your employees and staff (or in some cases clients or customers) use to share information, such as work plans, employee manuals, etc. Use of this site is restricted by location and/or username and password.
• Ecommerce Web site: This is where you have product to sell and people can buy it online.

3. What should I expect to pay initially and on a continuing basis for a viable marketing Web site?

Almost all of the work on most Web sites is “upfront” work — that is, it is completed before the site goes live. Likewise, you should expect to pay most of the money during that time period. More information on how much Web sites costs is located here. You’ll also need to buy Web hosting, which can cost $5-$25 per month for a shared account, and $100+ for a dedicated server.

4. What resources – besides cash – do I need to develop and maintain a viable Web site?

Time. Most business owners don’t know that hiring a Web site developer isn’t like buying a box of cereal. You need to give initial information to the developer, and then give feedback throughout the process.

5. What do I need to plan on doing to maximize the return on my Web site investment?

Once you have a fantastic Web site, you need a plan or strategy to get the Web site in front of the right people so that they can be convinced to buy your product or service. One approach for developing a Web marketing plan is discussed here.

I often get a question similar to this when working on a website design, so what a great time to explain!

With the advent of computers, fonts became much easier to create. Thus, today we have millions at our disposal, most of which we can find for free, or they come for free with our computers. You may only use 2 or 3 of them on a regular basis, but many people have a favorite. As a designer, I have over 4,000 on my computer. Do I use them all? No! But I like having options.

Unfortunately, when it comes to web design, there are not a lot of options. We are pretty much limited to 5 fonts for any text:

San Serifs: Arial, Verdana, Trebuchet
Serifs: Times New Roman, Georgia

To make sure we’re on the same page, “Serif” fonts have feet, or embellishments on the characters. “San Serif” fonts do not, hence the “Sans”.

But yes, we’re really limited to just those 5. Let me explain why. We start with 2 major computer types: Mac and PC. Both have a different set of fonts they come with. From there, we have several different web browsers: Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox, and a few others. Internet Explorer is no longer available on the Mac, and Safari is new to the PC. This is where we start having problems.

Since each browser is created by different companies, and on different platforms, they interpret websites differently. So you might see a website look one way in Internet Explorer on your PC at work, but look completely different in Safari on your Mac at home. Its because of this problem, that these 5 fonts are commonly considered “safe” to reproduce most similarly on all computers and in all browsers.

In reality, there are a few more fonts you can get away with, but I always stick to these 5. Also, there are some methods to getting around this problem, using things like Flash and other fancy methods. But still, not really recommended.

So what do you do? First look at your logo. Does it use a serif or a san serif font? If it uses a serif font, you can use either Times New Roman or Georgia to match as best as possible. Same with Arial, Verdana or Trebuchet for a san serif logo.

Does your logo use both serif and san serif? Then I would suggest using a san serif font (usually Arial) for the site. Does it use a completely different font, or something out of the ordinary? Then you’d probably be OK using any of the 5 options, but again I’d usually lean towards Arial to minimize any clashing.

Another thing to consider, is what feel you want the site to have. I like to use Trebuchet for a more modern look. Georgia for something a either more old-style, or classy. San serif fonts tend to feel a little more casual, while serif fonts feel more professional.

As you can see, the font game is not an easy one. But I hope that this gives you a little more insight as to why we are so limited on websites, and how you can decide what your best option is.

From a technical standpoint, the process is easy. Go to a domain registrar, like register.com or godaddy.com and type in the domain name you want and purchase it.

From a marketing standpoint, the process is a bit more complicated. Your Web site domain name is your business address on the Internet. It may be the first place people interact with your business, and the name will be the Web site’s first impression left with a potential user. We have 4 rules for choosing a Web site domain name:

- Do a Dot Com. Your domain name will always start with your business name (like Curvine or 3M, or Microsoft), but there are a lot of different ways your domain can end. Which one should you use? If your business is in the United States, you should always choose to end in .COM, and never primarily use .NET, .INFO, ,US or .ORG. The reason is simple: if your domain name ends in something else, people will sometimes forget and go to the .COM version. If that business is a competitor, this could lead to lost business.

That said, there is no harm in buying other domain names to avoid having someone else by them. For example, Microsoft may purchase Microsoft.info even if they have no intention of using it.

For international businesses, it is worth noting what the most common practice is in the areas where you are doing business. For example, a UK based business may purchase a .com.uk domain.

- When possible, make your domain name easy to say. You will be telling lots of people about your Web site, and they might tell other people. It needs to be easy to say. If an average person can’t pronounce it, it means less people will find your Web site. Try asking a friend how to pronounce your domain name before buying it. Note that sometimes this isn’t possible. If your business name involves your last name which isn’t easy to say, than there’s really nothing you can do about it.

- When possible, make your domain name easy to spell. Just like the tip above, it is important that your potential clients and customers can spell your name. Some of these are obvious, words with -ance and -ence are often confused. Others are less obvious: when someone hears Eye in a domain, will they spell it Eye or I? Too is another word people have trouble with. Also, having two words that end and start with the same letter; like EvilLambda has two L’s — which people may spell with only one L. If these things can’t be avoided, consider purchasing the misspelled versions of your name so that people can be redirected to the right place.

- When Necessary, Be Creative. We have a client who opened a movie theater called Movies 8 several years ago. Not surprisingly, movies8.com was taken. He also had plans to open additional theaters with different names, so we came up with a creative name that could be used for all of them, seethemovies.com — it is both easy to say and easy to spell. It is still in use today.

So there are four tips on choosing a great domain name. We welcome your tips below!

Short answer: it depends on what you need and want.

Background: I always chuckle a little when people ask this question before we have the specifics of what they want or need. Imagine this scenario: someone walks into an Autonation dealership (a franchise of car dealerships, mainly in the south that sells many different brands of cars) and says “how much does a car cost?” They haven’t explained what kind of car they want. Do they need a Ford F150? That isn’t a car I guess, but I’m sure the delaership sells them too. Do they want a Toyota Prius? A minivan? A used sub-compact? Or are they looking for a Rolls Royce? The sales person will probably laugh or be bewildered by the question.

That’s how it is with Web sites: a lot of choices. Instead of number of seats, number of optional accessories, we price Web sites based on the amount of work involved. We’ll ask some questions to try and figure what is necessary and what the client wants. Key questions:

- Is there a logo for the business or are we creating one?

- How many pages will be on the Web site?

- Is there a shopping cart? There are several follow up questions if the answer is yes.

- Do we need to write the content for the Web site or will it be provided?

- Will the content need to be edited?

- Does the client want a Content Management System installed?

- Are there other calculators or interactive sections of the Web site? Several follow up questions if the answer is Yes.

Also, it is important to know that the same answers to these questions can generate vastly different prices from different providers. There are at least 4 different types of Web site development providers, in order of pricing:

- $ Templates: There are many providers who will provide a pre-designed template and put your content into it. This is a great way to save money, but often the design of your Web site will suffer.

- $$ India: There are many firms that do most of the work in places where labor is cheap. Keep in mind that design is subjective and linked to a designer’s culture, so a design made by an expert in India may not be great for your audience.

- $$$ Freelancers: There are many people who work for themselves from home. They can do great work on a budget.  One downside can be reliability: if the designer gets busy or something happens to them, you may be on your own.

- $$$$ Firm: This is what we are, a company of Web site developers. Naturally, we think this is the best approach!  But seriously, this approach is great, but not as inexpensive as the others. Note also, even among firms, there is a wide variety of quality and pricing.

That’s all from me, I’ve invited some other Web site developers to comment below.