You’ll have to get on at some point.
Many mouldy moons ago, when I first set about my own personal journey of Web discovery, the script read something along the lines of my brother-in-law at Butler Sheet Metal performing the cardinal sin of the Web by asking a relative to make him a site because said relative knew a bit more about computers than he did.
If we’re being honest, my mother knows more about computers than he did and still does. He’ll also admit as much.
Talk about the blind leading the short-sighted. There are certain things in this world that I’d rarely recommend, and getting a buddy, a relative or a bum (in my case it was all three) to put your presence on the Web is one of them. Especially these days.
The only thing conceivably canny about his proposal was that it was going to cost him nothing. It may not have worked out, but he wouldn’t have been out of pocket had it not done so. There was simply no chance of a failed return on investment as I was on nothing but a commission at first.
I have no idea as to who was the more stupid – my brother-in-law, John, who spent a full year struggling calling the blog a ‘blob’, or me for agreeing to do it in the first place.
But, now I’m sat here typing to you and my brother-in-law is seeing an approximate doubling of turnover. I suppose you could say we’re a bit of an exception that proves the rule.
But, there are some key elements to my brother-in-law’s decision making process which should be considered by anybody before bolstering or starting a Web presence.
#1. Find somebody you trust.
#2. Find somebody within your budget.
#3. Find somebody you can build a sound working relationship with.
#4. Find somebody who isn’t better at golf than you.
Your Web presence and its marketing can be such a bountiful area with regards to your business, yet also the most stressful due to your abject lack of knowledge of what it entails. So, make sure you get recommendations and research any company on the web thoroughly. Don’t judge them on whether they know their onions as you will have no idea what their onions are supposed to even look like. Judge them on previous results. And see if they know how to hold a knife and fork if you have to.
After all, this could be one of the most important business decisions you ever have to make. And the most fruitful.
