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5 Traits To Look For When Outsourcing Your Web Site
May 17, 2007
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As your business grows, you may become more dependent on a comprehensive web site and the technology that is now available. Knowing that it takes an experienced IT team to provide the complex, yet necessary, infrastructure, selecting the best outsourcing company that fits your needs can make the difference between a great experience and an unpleasant one. Here are 5 traits to look for when making your decision:
- What type of metrics/tracking do they have in place and how often can you check the statistics of your web site? This information is vital to your success online, as you need to know where people are on your site, what they ignore, how often they click on particular links, where they jumped off and left your site, etc. Being able to login and check your stats whenever you desire is the best case scenario.
- Make sure that the outsourcing company has a good track record for service and support. If your web site goes down and there's nobody available to fix it, or if they tell you it'll take 5-7 days to fix a minor issue, run in the opposite direction. Check references to find out how they treat their current customers.
- Ensure that a comprehensive contract is in place so you know what is covered and what isn't. Read the fine print to know whether they only supply maintenance every year, or that their tracking is free is begin with, but ends up being $25.00 per month after 6 months.
- What are the overall costs? Is there a one-time set-up fee and then monthly hosting and maintenance fees (most typical arrangement) or do they demand a large upfront fee and then a small monthly fee? What do all the fees cover and what do they charge per hour if something that's not stated in the contract goes wrong? (tip: this is where many companies make a lot of their money).
- Do you like working with the staff and do they listen to you?
Avoid any company that promises too much (over-promise and under-deliver), has the lowest price (your service and support may fail) and gives you long-term contracts (too often are based on short-term financial goals and aren't in your best interest).
For more information, check out these sites:
Posted by Suze Bragg on May 17, 2007 | Comments (0)
