Just like in the real estate market, location is important with a web designer.  For people who would like to meet in person with their design team, it is definitely an advantage to go with a local company.  Others are fine doing everything over the internet or over the phone, and may be more open to simply looking for a company that is a good fit for their company no matter where they are located.

Budget is a very important area to consider when looking for a web design firm.  Because the internet is so important these days, one cannot skimp on one’s website.  It is a huge part of the company’s image or brand, and it needs to send the right message to clients or customers.  Opting for the kind of cookie-cutter website one can get on a low budget is most likely not the best use of an advertising budget.  Instead, hiring a professional company like Epic Web Solutions, LLC to create a totally customized website to meet your actual needs is usually a better idea.  They will create a unique product that will help your company stand out from the competition rather than giving you a website that looks just like every other website out there that sells a similar service or product.

This brings us to the next area of focus, which is the actual design experience the company has.  It is important to look at a portfolio of websites that the Phoenix web design firm has created so that one can get an idea for the type of product that they are capable of creating.  In addition to the look of the site, it is important to know how easy it is to use.  Does the site make one want to click on a link or make an order?  Is there plenty of content in addition to graphics? By looking at previous designs, a person can get a good idea of the way the web design firm works.  Many web design companies such as Epic Web Solutions include a portfolio right on their website, epicwebaz.com, which is easy to visit to check out their work.

Research is the first step that any good Arizona website design company will take.  For instance, any company I select must take the time to learn about my company and the direction I want it to take.  They should look into my most likely customer base and ask lots of questions to find out what I really need.  The next step is to brainstorm about what the website needs and come up with a variety of concepts that I could approve.

Along with that it is important that I know what I need my website to do so that the Arizona web design company I have selected can determine which technical requirements must be met.  For instance, do I want just the basics of HTML or something more exciting such as a site designed with Flash, or some of each?  Any good web design company such as Epic Web Solutions, will create an outline so that I can get a pretty good idea of what the website will look like and can approve it, as well as getting a price quote based on my requirements.  Obviously, if I want to add more difficult things to my site it will add to the total cost of the work.

A professional Arizona website design company will help me verify that my content is relevant and contains sufficient information to appeal to the clients I am looking for.  All the bells and whistles can’t take the place of clear content.  They are specialists in helping me choose not only the right colors as well as the fonts that will be used.   Professional web design companies such as Epic Web Solutions (epicwebaz.com) understand the importance of user friendliness and good download speeds for the website.  They also know how to make a website easy to move through so that people will spend more time on my website.

Finally, no matter how great my website looks, if no one can find it, then it isn’t doing me much good.  I need my website to be found on the first page of search engines, and a good web design company understands that fact and they know the steps that must be taken to get my site moving up in the rankings.

Think about searching for something online.  The first thing people do is to type their search terms into a search engine and then wait for the results.  There will be ten to fifteen results on the first page that comes up.  Statistics show that the majority of people never look beyond the first page.  Of those that go to the second page of search results, an extremely small percentage of people keep looking on additional pages.  It is helpful to know a little bit about how websites are ranked by search engines.

Any reputable Arizona SEO company understands that search engines look at a variety of things about a website in order to include it for any given search term.  Of course, the search term must be in the content or words that are written on a page in the website.  The website should have been around for a certain period of time and there must also be back-links to the website from other sources.  In addition, if many people are clicking on the site, it can move up in the rankings.  However, it can be hard to get clicks unless the website is located in the first pages of the rankings.  A new website starts pretty far back, and unless steps are taken, it will not move up in the rankings very quickly.

An Arizona SEO company such as Epic Web Solutions, can provide answers to many SEO questions for people.  They understand that content must be written and linked to each site.  They also understand how to target specific keywords so that the site can move up faster in the rankings for that keyword phrase.  The nice thing is that they have a team of people that they can use regularly to keep the search engine optimization going, since time is one of the biggest factors in moving up in the rankings.

Working with a reputable Arizona SEO company such as Epic Web Solutions (epicwebaz.com) is a great way to get websites noticed by search engines so they can move up in the rankings.

If you own a business that allows you to sell either products or services over the internet, then you should use the services of an Arizona SEO company to help get your website near the top of the search rankings.   Search Engine Optimization, or SEO should be an integral part of any good website design.  While the graphics, colors, and navigation styles of your website are all very important, they won’t make much difference if people cannot find it.

Think about searching for something online.  The first thing people do is to type their search terms into a search engine and then wait for the results.  There will be ten to fifteen results on the first page that comes up.  Statistics show that the majority of people never look beyond the first page.  Of those that go to the second page of search results, an extremely small percentage of people keep looking on additional pages.  It is helpful to know a little bit about how websites are ranked by search engines.

Any reputable Arizona SEO company understands that search engines look at a variety of things about a website in order to include it for any given search term.  Of course, the search term must be in the content or words that are written on a page in the website.  The website should have been around for a certain period of time and there must also be back-links to the website from other sources.  In addition, if many people are clicking on the site, it can move up in the rankings.  However, it can be hard to get clicks unless the website is located in the first pages of the rankings.  A new website starts pretty far back, and unless steps are taken, it will not move up in the rankings very quickly.

An Arizona SEO company such as Epic Web Solutions, can provide answers to many SEO questions for people.  They understand that content must be written and linked to each site.  They also understand how to target specific keywords so that the site can move up faster in the rankings for that keyword phrase.  The nice thing is that they have a team of people that they can use regularly to keep the search engine optimization going, since time is one of the biggest factors in moving up in the rankings.

Working with a reputable Arizona SEO company such as Epic Web Solutions (epicwebaz.com) is a great way to get websites noticed by search engines so they can move up in the rankings.

What do you mean you already knew that?

In all seriousness, Arizona – like any other part of the civilized world – has its share of business web designers and online marketing experts. And yet, we have been able to grow our company significantly over the years. We like to think that a large part of that success has to do with our creativity, and the fact that we build business websites that are as good as, or better than, any other website design company in Phoenix.

But we also know that there is a lot more that goes into keeping our clients happy. Here are five things we do to set Epic Web Solutions apart from our competitors… and why you shouldn’t hire a business web design team in Arizona that doesn’t do any of them:

We design great business website layouts. Although it’s not the only thing that matters, having a good artistic eye is critical to designing a profitable site.

We incorporate search engine optimization into every project. On the other hand, what good is your work of art if no one sees it?

High-quality web hosting is part of the package. This is a piece of the puzzle that a lot of clients forget about, but having your site be online continuously, updated against security threats, and loading quickly is probably more important than you think.

We put customer service front and center. In almost any business, and especially ours, your work is never great until your client thinks it’s great. Getting input and feedback from our clients has been invaluable to our business.

Epic Web Solutions offers business websites at affordable rates. No matter how great your business website is, you have to make more money from it than you spend, which is why we work so hard to keep our fees competitive.

While these might not be the Phoenix web design and search engine optimization “secrets” you expected, they have helped us build a very successful company. So the next time you look to design, or re-design, your company’s website, why not give us a call?

While we are proud to say that we definitely feel like we are in the mix, the truth is that it’s something of a trick question – there really isn’t any best web design team in Arizona, or in Phoenix, or even anywhere else in the world. That’s because great business web design – in the Southwest or elsewhere – isn’t only about skills, talents, or even prices… it’s about the right fit between client and designer.

And so, the question isn’t who does the best web design, but which web design team in Phoenix is right for you? Here are a couple of factors you should probably consider:

Your budget. We would love to pretend like this isn’t a consideration, but when was the last time your company approved an invoice without caring what the numbers were? The fact of the matter is that budgets matter quite a bit in business web design, and so it’s important to choose a team that does great work, but also one you can afford.

Skills and capabilities. Some of the web design companies in Arizona focus on the basics of layout; others, like ours, have online marketing specialists and programmers on hand who can handle things like search engine optimization and custom apps. What matters isn’t that your web design has or doesn’t have any of these, but that they are able to design the business website you really want, with all the features and capabilities you need.

The right match of personalities. Can you hire a web designer you don’t really like? You can, but why would you? Given that designing, launching, and then promoting a business website can be a lot of work – and occasionally, an intense process – it makes sense to find personalities that you mesh well with.

There are a lot of web design teams here in Phoenix and throughout the Southwest, but what really matters to your company is finding the one that makes the best fit for your project.

On the other hand, a lot of business owners hate the search engine optimization process. How can they be so excited about the results, and at the same time so annoyed with what it takes to get them?

It’s easier to understand than you might think. That’s because executing a successful search engine optimization plan is a little bit like dieting – it’s a slow, tedious, and occasionally painful process that usually only pays big dividends after you’ve been doing it for a while. And what’s worse, the longer you put it off, the longer you usually have to wait to get into the right kind of shape.

Just as most of us would love to shovel down hot fudge sundaes and still look great in swimwear, the average business owner can barely wait to see all the new leads or sales they’re going to rack up once their search engine optimization plan starts to pay off. But in the meantime, it can be frustrating to keep generating ideas for content, viewing regular traffic reports, and yes, paying web design firms and search engine specialists for the guidance they provide.

In other words, having a great SEO plan is almost priceless, but writing blog posts, articles, and checks in the meantime can quickly get old.

Our advice to you is this: Find a team that truly understands search engine optimization and how it fits into your bottom-line business plan, and then give them whatever they need to get started. Recognize from the outset that it’s going to be a little bit painful and frustrating… but that you’ll be glad you made the right decision when tons of new business starts rolling in.

Simply put, someone who has visited your website, or bought from you in the past, holds an insight and perspective that are very difficult to find elsewhere. For all of the things you think you know about your business, they know exactly why someone decides to click the “buy now” button or pick up the phone to call you… not to mention the reasons they don’t.

Note that this conversation doesn’t even have to be an actual conversation. It could be in person, of course, but also over the phone, or even online. The point is that you want to ask potential customers things like:

• What would you like to see more, or less, of on this website?
• What do you like about our competitors’ websites?
• What is your favorite feature of our existing site?
• How did you find this website in the first place?

Are you going to get all of the answers you want from simply asking these questions? Probably not, but what you will likely get is a good starting point for understanding how the men and women you are trying so hard to market view your pages. This might sound like a small detail, but it can stop you from making a disastrous change, or copying a competitor who really isn’t as well-liked as you thought.

Metrics and expert opinions always have their place in business web design and online marketing. But if you really want to make your company more profitable over the Internet, don’t forget to ask your customers for their input once in a while.

To help you understand why, and succeed in your own search engine optimization campaigns, we’ve tried to put them into a simple, easy-to-remember system. Here are the three P’s of good SEO for small businesses:

Planning. You shouldn’t change anything on your business website, not a single page heading or meta-tag, until you have had a business web designer or search engine specialist help you to find the right keywords and phrases to optimize. Which ones are the right ones? The keywords that don’t just bring you lots of traffic, but also buyers who are looking for more than just quick information.

Persistence. The interesting thing about search engine optimization is that it isn’t so much something you do as much as it is a process you start. That’s because you’re never really finished; even when you have taken the top spot for some of your most important keywords on Google, it’s still necessary to keep fresh content and updates coming. This is especially true when you are still trying to climb your way up the search engine rankings.

Patience. If there’s one thing that is consistently frustrating for business owners when it comes to search engine optimization, it’s that it takes a decent amount of time if you are operating in a competitive market. Plan on waiting at least three months before you see any real bottom-line improvement. That might seem like a while, but it’s worth the wait.

There is more that goes into the technical side of search engine optimization, to be sure. But, if you are armed with this understanding and the help of a good web design and online marketing team, then the three P’s of SEO will take you a long way.

In fact, hurricane Irene was a prime example.

Although damage from the storm was by far and large less severe than it was predicted to be, it still caused major problems up and down the East Coast. And believe it or not, there are a few things we can draw from the experience that bear directly on your company’s SEO plan.

Here are two lessons on search engine optimization from hurricane Irene:

Things don’t always go where we expect them to. Although teams of meteorologists and experts plotted its course on an hourly basis, Hurricane Irene still ended up making landfall in a place where it wasn’t expected, and promptly took a direction no one predicted. As a result, several communities weren’t ready for the rain and wind they received.

What does this have to do with your website? Visitors aren’t always going to arrive on the pages you hope they will, or click through on the links you would like them to. For that reason, it’s important that every part of your business website be ready to sell. An important part of search engine optimization is converting traffic into customers, and you should be prepared to do that from any page you have.

You have to plan for the unexpected. This isn’t exactly new advice when it comes to online marketing, but it’s still needs to be mentioned once in a while. Because Google, Yahoo, and Bing can change their algorithms at any time, you never know when your current flow of traffic is going to be washed away.

Very frequently, minor adjustments to search engine algorithms work themselves out over time; once in a while they don’t. Either way, it’s a good idea to have other online marketing avenues in place. Relying solely on search engine optimization is fairly common, but it makes sense to be ready for any change in the weather, because you never know what can happen.

So how much should you be reading into web analytics? The short answer is that you should be watching just closely enough to spot any trends and increase your profitability. To see what we mean, consider the following examples:

• A high bounce rate on one page or another could indicate that a stronger call to action is needed, that visitors are finding the information on that page confusing, or that you don’t have enough links to other resources.
• Knowing which pages visitors typically arrive on and leave your site from could help you optimize them for conversions, but only if you have a sense of what keywords they searched to get there, and what they were looking for (and didn’t find) when they departed.
• Having insight into which pages on your site are regularly bookmarked or e-mailed to others could show you which pieces of content visitors find most valuable, and which product areas you should expand on.

These are only a few examples, but they point to the need for balance. Having only half of the information about any of these issues – or none at all – could easily lead you to the wrong conclusions. On the other hand, reading too much into them, or changing your plans after only a couple of weeks of results, could prove disastrous.

In the end, our best advice is to get the best analytics package you can, but also to get expert advice and guidance when it comes to understanding the figures you see. After all, you do need lots of information to keep your business growing online… but what good is any of it if it isn’t helping you to increase sales?