Avoid These 3 Common Website Mistakes with the Help of a Website Project Manager

Small business owners know they need a website that looks professional and will reassure visitors that they are credible and reliable. Many Cary business owners turn to developers to build a website but then struggle with the back-and-forth required to get the project done. Or, they launch the website quickly but only realize later it’s full of problems.

A website project manager or marketing project manager can help prevent problems with your website build — and may end up saving you hundreds or thousands of dollars. Avoid these common mistakes that occur when building a new business website.

1. Choosing a private proprietary platform. Your developer or website company may urge you to use their unique website software, built just for your industry. That sounds good, right? The problem: you’re tied to using their program and their people, as long as you have that website. Only they can log in and change things. They have the keys. Most reputable marketing and development teams today will encourage you to go with either Wordpress or Joomla for your content management system. These systems are natural for most people to use. Future development or marketing contractors can hop in and make changes if needed, so you’re not shackled to the person you initially hired.
2. Waiting for the design to write the content. Content should dictate design. Your website project manager can work with you to talk about the goals of your website. What do you want it to do? What information are you trying to convey? A website may be beautiful, but if it doesn’t assist prospects who want to learn more about you, what’s the point? Start with content and create a design from there.
3. Promotion. A lot of business owners wait for the website’s completion to think about promoting it. Instead, your marketing project manager can help you come up with a promotion plan while the website is in progress. Some Search Engine Optimization needs to take place during the website build, for example. Other aspects of promotion can be ready to go as soon as the website is live. You just paid thousands of dollars for this site; why waste time after it launches figuring out your promotion plan?

Bonus tip: Buy your own domain name and know your hosting login. We’ve worked with many Raleigh and Cary business owners who hired people to set up their websites. When they need a new one, years later, they have no idea how to access anything. Your domain name and hosting should be in your control so that you don’t have any problems later if you have to fire someone, if your web person disappears, or if something else goes wrong.

If you’re ready to build a new website, contact us to learn more about our process.