What to do before calling Web Professional…

Often time’s people think that a website is fairly simple; you just make some pretty pictures and put them on the web. Yes! Yes, you can.

But a good web site is a little harder…

Most times people don’t really know what is involved with designing a web site, and that’s fine, that’s my job. But when they don’t know what information they need in order for me to do my job… well then we have a problem.

So, here I am, telling you what you need. I have a list of the most common pieces of information that I need. This is not a comprehensive list, rather a beginning one. It would be best if you could at least sit down and gather all of this information before calling your web professional. If you don’t have all these things, don’t create them. Often time’s the hardest battles are trying to redo the work someone else did because they were in a hurry or didn’t know what they were doing. When something is done incorrectly, it takes 2 to 3 times longer to fix it.

1. Domain Name
   1. If you don’t have one, we can create one.
   2. If you have one, we need a few things:
      1. Username and Password
      2. Where it’s registered
   3. When it expires

2. Website
   1. If you don’t have one, we can create one.
   2. If you have one, we need a few things:
      1. Where it’s hosted
      2. Username and Password
      3. When it expires
      4. What platform or language it’s created in.

3. Social Media for Business
   1. If you don’t have them, we can create them.
   2. If you have them, we need a few things:
      1. Which ones you are listed on
      2. Usernames and Passwords
      3. Admin that use the accounts
      4. Business name used for the page

4. Reputation Management
   1. If you don’t have them, we can create them.
   2. If you have them, we need a few things:
      1. Which ones you are listed on (Angie’s list, Yelp, Etc.)
      2. Usernames and Passwords
      3. Admin that use the accounts
      4. Business name used for the page

5. Google and Google My Business
   1. If you don’t have them, we can create them.
   2. If you have them, we need a few things:
      1. Which ones you are listed on (Analytics, Business page, Etc.)
      2. Usernames and Passwords
      3. Admin that use the accounts
      4. Business name used for the page

Seem a bit overwhelming? Yes, it can be. But in really, since you have followed all my past advice, and kept all the passwords in a safe, secure place… it’s not that big of a deal. And in most of these cases,  you are going to log in, change the password to something ridiculous, like “HowsteNinjasAreEpic” and then send that password to us. We will use it, and when we are done you change it back to “WhateverBoringPasswordYouHadBeforeWas” and  then we don’t have to keep your passwords on file.

So, what are you waiting for? Gather your passwords, you have phone calls to make!

Howste Technical Services

470.236.1999