My domain name has been registered in the developer’s name, not mine, so I don’t have control.
We’ve had cases where a web development company has ceased trading and the owners are not contactable. This situation often leaves the customer with no control at all over their website. If the domain is registered in the customer’s name, as it should be, getting control of the domain and pointing it to a new website or holding page isn’t too much of a problem. However there have been occasions when the developer has registered it in their own name rather than the customer’s. In this case without a lengthy legal battle it’s virtually impossible to get control of a domain name that might be vital for your company website and email accounts.
As a matter of policy, we always register domains using our clients’ names and contact details.
TIP: Always check that domains are registered with your contact details as the registrant.
My developer charges me monthly for SEO (search engine optimisation). I can’t see what they’re doing for that money.
Search engine optimisation is the practice of refining your website to be more attractive and accessible to search engines. The aim is that this kind of refinement will help your website rank more highly within organic search results for the key search phrases your customers are using.
Sometimes SEO involves changes you can see on the page, such as re-worded text, and sometimes it involves changes behind the scenes that only web robots can see. Researching trending keywords and tweaking your site content to include them on a regular basis can be very time consuming and expensive.
We advise customers to get their content right first time; readable, relevant, accurate, useful and informative for human visitors. Don’t think you can ‘beat’ Google by using underhand tactics – they’re onto you!
Once your content is right for your target audience, definitely add more and always keep it up to date so that it reflects your business as it grows and changes. Bear in mind that there is nothing to be gained by rewriting the same content in a slightly different way just to make Google think it’s fresh. Tactics like that are a complete waste of time in our opinion and can even count against you.
TIP: Focus your attention on making the site useful and attractive to human visitors. Don’t assume you can beat the robots with a few tricks.
