My Web Designer Disappeared. Help!

So you found a web designer and they created a great website for you. The design was perfect, everything functioned well, and the people you worked with were really helpful. That was six months ago. Now, you’ve gotten new products, you’ve added new employees, and made other changes in your company. It only makes sense that it’s is a good time to update your website. So you call the web developer you’ve been working with and get no response. You send multiple emails and hear nothing back. It seems as though your web designer almost disappeared. Now what?

There are a few common reasons why talented and helpful web designers simply drop off after they hand over your finished product. Most of the money gets made upfront and any future changes that would bring in a small amount of income may be overlooked. All web designers love to create, but some aren’t always interested in less glamorous tasks such as updating text and adding new contact information. Or maybe they are new to the business side of things and aren’t thinking about their pool of clients in the long term. Whatever the reason, updating and maintaining a website is just as important as the initial creation and launch.

Beyond Custom Websites’ web design and development team loves the creation stage of building your website, but we also take care of future maintenance, updates, and changes into the indefinite future. We build relationships with our clients and offer unlimited updates to our small business websites. Beyond Custom Websites’ cutting edge and completely customized websites have sleek, modern logos, graphics, and layouts along with customized content and images, technical support, search engine optimization, marketing expertise, and more. Once your website with us is complete, we’ll stay in touch and take requests for updates at any time. Visit our website to find out more about our diverse team of experts. 

Should I Write My Content or Let the Experts Do It?

For small business owners building or redesigning their custom website, deciding what content to include on their pages can be the toughest part of the process. You know what your business does inside and out, but you’re probably not a writer. How can you put it all into words? Are people actually going to read about the “specifics of pipe fitting” or “how to install a home entertainment system”? Then there’s search engine optimization (SEO). Where does that come in? You may be left scratching your head and wondering, should I write my content or let the experts do it?

The answer here is, in a way, both. Depending on the nature of your business, you may have very specific content that needs to be on your website—a restaurant menu for example—there’s no making that up! Maybe you have a marketing coordinator on staff that has the wording all done for you. In these instances, you can send your developer specific content that they can include on your site, making their job easy. On the other hand, a financial consulting firm that has been around for 20 years may not know about much about SEO and have so many services, interesting facts, and target market areas that they don’t know where to begin.

There are a few things you can do to help narrow potential page content down. Ask yourself,” how can I deliver the information the customer wants to know in the simplest, fastest way possible?” Follow that by asking “Will viewers actually read this?” One way to ensure positive answers to these questions is to make your content interesting. It sounds like a no brainer, but there are too many websites out there with dry, drawn out information and facts. You are selling yourself and your products, so no matter if you’re talking about hosting an event or describing your newest kitchen tiles, make the content worth reading. Keep your paragraphs short and sweet—people like to get information fast and often less is more. Think quality over quantity, which will also make it easier to give content breathing room (no squeezing in text flush against images and borders). You also want to choose a set of keyword phrases to incorporate throughout the site. This will help your website get found in search engines.

There are many more tips and strategies for producing great website content. The good news is you don’t have to figure these out on your own. Beyond Custom Websites can work with detailed content you give us or write it for you. We understand each company is unique, so we’ll work with you to get not only written content but images and graphics exactly right. Our experts in SEO, copywriting, web development, and web design consult with clients to combine their insights with our creativity and passion for helping small businesses.  Beyond Custom Websites builds ongoing relationships with our customers and delivers polished, modern websites that will help you gain customers and boost sales. Contact us to see what we can do for you.