When it comes to hiring a web design company, caution is advised. Web developers are not above suspicion in bamboozling their clients. Each year, unwary small to large corporations fall prey to these web design fraudsters, who “guarantee” creative and effective solutions. Meanwhile, the web design and development process becomes an unsavory transaction, where fly-by-night companies deploy everything from price gouging, disappearing without providing service, to even committing identity theft.

For a prominent, Raleigh mortgage company, hiring a fallacious web design firm was a $3500 lesson. With testimonials, a plethora of positive reviews and referrals published on other sites, the web development company garnered the publicity of an authenticated agency. However, once the lending company paid for their Web site, the web design company absconded with their money, disappearing without a trace.

Another business thought they had hired the best agency to design their new vitamin Web site. After interviewing a slew of contenders, they awarded their site to a web development company with an impressive portfolio and polished presentation. Five months following the initial consultation, the only task the web design company completed was cashing a $2000 retainer. Completely exhausted from the abominable ordeal, the vitamin company walked away without a refund or a completed Web site.

In another amazing case, identity thieves — posing as web designers, commandeered their clients’ credit card numbers; and then later, used the same information to open new merchant accounts. As for the exorbitantly priced Web site, certain illicit web designers use Web site templates to develop “customized” Web sites, thus overcharging their clients.

Fortunately, not all web designers disappear without providing service. Nick Singh, president of ImagingWebDesign.com has rehabilitated many clients victimized by unethical web design firms. “Ask specific questions before settling on a web designer,” he recommends.

For instance, here are four questions to qualify a web design company:

• How many hours of design work are necessary to create the new Web site?
• Are there any additional costs associated with optimizing the site?
• What aspects of the Web design are outsourced?
• How soon can you expect to see a mock-up, beta or working page of the site?

Mr. Singh offers additional web design advice, “Never pay for the entire site design up front. Obtain a web design agreement that completely outlines the delivery of work. Also, make sure that each payment is reflective of a specific milestone of the web development. For example, the initial payment would cover the cost of the logo and working layout of the home page on a scheduled date.”

In the interim, use the aforementioned tips to obtain a complimentary consultation from a credible web design company.

How to Design A Dream Web Site?

Designing the dream Web site starts with a semblance of organization.

Having a Web site affords an affluence of online business opportunities. With the ability to generate leads, close sales and strike new online relationships, a professionally designed Web site is well worth the investment. Nonetheless, it’s the web development process that most company’s find so daunting. In other words, somewhere between hiring a Web Design company, and deciding how many web pages you want, the creative vision is lost in translation.

Use these winning design tips to achieve the Web site of your dreams:

Outline your company’s products and services.
The keywords of your company’s offerings serve as a sitemap of your site. Your organization’s core services coincide with the information highlighted along the navigation bar.

Define the function of your Web site. For obvious reasons a business-to-business site possesses different characteristics than an e-retail site. If you plan to generate new leads, a contact form on each page may be a necessary design element. If your site is selling downloadable artwork or merchandise, a shopping cart may be a good idea for securing online sales’ transactions. In the long run, providing your web designer with these details saves a lot of non-vocalized assumptions and downtime.

Create a Web site design wish list. Do a little homework, have your team submit their favorite site samples (URL addresses) to your Web designer. Make sure that you identify which features you would like to see on your site, specifying as many details as possible:

• Easy functionality
• Navigation
• Fonts
• Page layout
• Other design features

Media ready to go. To expedite matters, have your logo, videos and all artwork ready for the Web designer. Remember to adhere to all copyrights pertaining to posting someone else’s artwork.

Select your colors. If your color preferences don’t coincide with your logo, give your Web designer a sample of the colors.

In the end, communication goes a long way in achieving the Web site of your dreams.
Start now, by clicking “Design My Web Site.”

Effective Online Marketing with Search Engine Optimization

Every new company or website needs an efficient marketing plan. In a technological dependent business world, only the well-marketed online companies will benefit from mass amounts of Internet traffic. One of the most effective methods for online marketing is Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Your website may have a great user-friendly layout, captivating design qualities, and remarkable services to offer – but all that goodness will not be realized by the public without SEO services. SEO helps design your website to achieve higher visibility within major search engines such as Google, Yahoo! Search, and MSN. Proper providers of SEO will target keywords associated with your website’s premier content. In turn, all of those remarkable qualities about your website will help define where you’re placed on search engines. These services are an investment that, if done successfully, can reap a high return for your company or business. If you’re considering making this investment, ask yourself one question: do I want my website to be found? There is little sense putting all that time, effort, and money into your website if it’s undiscoverable. With professional Search Engine Optimization, you will realize an exponential increase in the traffic coming through your website.

Finding the Right SEO For Your Company

When you decide you’re ready to improve your online success with SEO, it is important to choose the right provider. With so many SEO vendors and writers out there, how do you choose the right one? First and foremost, set your goals in order to figure out how much you want to get out of optimizing your website. SEO vendors offer a wide range of services, and you need to choose according to the size and goals of your company. Also remember that testimonials from past clientele can be extremely helpful. Looking at a sample of an SEO company’s work is the best way to determine whether their services are going to pull through for you in the long run.

High Quality SEO Services from Imaging Web Design

Some SEO vendors will try to rip you off and get you to invest in more than your company requires. Small companies obviously don’t need the same marketing strategies as larger ones, so why pay more? Imaging Web Design offers a broad array of high quality SEO services. The degree of our services ranges to accommodate any and all of your company’s needs, and our goal is to find the one best suited for you. Our benefits include on-page optimization, website conversion, content optimization, link development, local search engine optimization, and so much more. Regardless of your needs and budgetary limitations, talk with us and we’ll find a way to make professional search engine optimization a reality for your company. Imaging Web Design provides SEO packages specialized for small and medium-sized business websites. Even the smallest companies can afford to profit from our least expensive “Value” package. With it, your site is completely revamped and streamlined with the same on-page optimization and local search engine optimization as the most expensive services offered. Your company may be small, but our services will help you receive the highest possible placement on the most popular search engines.

Social Media Optimization (SMO) – The Innovative Tool in Marketing Your Site

If you own a computer and browse the Internet, it’s likely you’ve heard of Twitter, Facebook and other social networking websites. In recent years, these sites have exploded in traffic generation and have become a popular forum for users from all ages. What many people fail to realize is that these websites can provide an invaluable supply of customers to your website. Unlike SEO, which brings traffic to your website from the search engines, SMO utilizes various techniques which bring people to your company’s website from social networking. Think about it, with millions of people visiting these sites everyday from all over the world, your company has the potential to exponentially increase its visibility in the public eye. Not only does SMO include social networking, it also includes blogs, business promotional sites, press releases and photo sharing sites. At Imaging Web Design, we are ready to take your website to a new generation of business marketing and online promotion. Our social media marketing services are geared to create the best possible outcome for your company’s exposure – your success becomes our success. With our competitively priced social media services, isn’t it time to bring your brand to millions of people?

Pay Per Click (PPC) – Effective Online Advertising

Another useful online marketing tool is Pay Per Click (PPC) which utilizes sites such as Google (Ad Words) and Yahoo! to advertise your company on their pages. The critical element in effective PPC is choosing the right keywords and keyword phrases for your ad to appear in the search engine results. Many companies attempt to guess or estimate the relevant keywords which can lead to wasted money and decreased exposure of your advertisement. This is where experience comes in. Here at Imaging Web Design, we offer an array of Pay Per Click (PPC) Packages that will give your company the advertising edge it needs. Our experts have the knowledge, experience and resources to choose the correct keywords and keyword phrases to maximize your advertising campaign. We can do it all, everything from keyword research to creating imaged ads, we have the depth of knowledge to provide efficient and effective PPC advertising. Offering four Pay Per Click Packages, you now have the choice to pick which one is right for you.