Websites for Pet breeders

When you are considering investing your time and money into a pet related website, finding just the right webmaster can be very frustrating. It is especially true if you are not well informed about the detailed procedures involved in website development. There are many elements to ponder before deciding on your webmaster.

You need to do your research, decide what your contribution factors are and ask what responsibilities the webmaster will be taking on. Many simply build you a website and publish it to the internet. That is where they feel their responsibility to you ends.

Others will offer (at a price) to place you with an SEO (Search Engine Optimizer.) They will help you to get your website in the search engine rankings. The “search engines” such as Google, Yahoo! AOL and MSN (among many others) Are difficult to get listed on. This is why many people hire an SEO. An SEO Will promise to get you listed in the top 10 rankings. Some manage to actually do it and many do not. The price range for SEO assistance is very broad. It can start at somewhere around 70.00 per month or as high as 400.00 - 500.00 per month or in some cases even higher.

There are also webmaster’s so dedicated to their business that they have done the research to know how to accomplish this very difficult task themselves and offer to do this for their clients.
There is never a promise if they are honest because optimization requirements change so often that it is ludicrous for even an SEO to promise you will rank. Indeed if someone is promising to rank your site they should not be trusted unless you are willing to take a risk. Optimization takes time. An SEO will ask you to give them at least three months to achieve ranking unless they are charging you an outrageous fee (which still is not a valid guarantee.) The major point I am trying to get across is that there are no guarantees. If you trust your webmaster and they are willing to do your optimization for you, try that first. Many times they have the same abilities as the SEO. A webmaster still does the same things such as submitting to search engine and listing in directories. These are very time consuming tasks. Fees are required as well for many directories and definitely some search engines if you want to speed up the process.
Advertisement as well as optimization will build your “link popularity” as you accumulate links back to your site, this catches the eyes of the “search bots” (automated systems designed to search the web constantly for new material.) Anytime an article is written, a blog is posted or an advertisement is placed it is another opportunity for the bots to find your website. If the information is relevant to your website, it may be ranked accordingly. In this way advertising is an essential part of “getting ranked.” Some webmaster’s offer advertising (again this is something you must ask.) If your webmaster does not advertise, you will need to hire someone to fulfill this task or be prepared to do it yourself. Advertising can become very time consuming and tedious. Many times one advertisement can become an all day headache. They do not always go smoothly and try your patience to no end. This to is very important for the client to realize because webmaster’s and advertising agents are only human. There will be times that a request may not be fulfilled immediately because of complications beyond their control. (They should alert you of any complications that causes a task to not be promptly accomplished) It takes strong dedication to your business to accomplish many of the tasks assigned to a webmaster/optimizer/advertiser.

In addition to optimization, advertising, blogs and articles there are other ways to make your website more popular to the “search bots” among those is viewer safety certifications and website awards. These must be applied for.
Beyond these typical considerations every business should have when choosing a webmaster, You as an animal breeder or pet related business have even more to contemplate.
A responsible webmaster will complete your website modifications in a timely manner (ASAP.)
Being a pet related business, this can be a vital part of your system. Let us just say for instance, you are a dog breeder and it is May 10 and you have a litter of puppies due to whelp on May 13 and your webmaster calls to say she will be going on a three-week vacation. You wanted your litter posted on your website immediately after delivery. Now because your webmaster did not alert you that he or she was planning this long vacation you must either wait for his/her return or find someone who knows the website program that can get access to it to modify your website.
In some cases this may cost you business, as many perspective customers choose a puppy at a very young age and wait for it to become available. You will want to find a reliable webmaster that will keep you informed well in advance of any long periods of absence.

Being an animal related business you will also want to inquire as to whether the webmaster has any animal experience. It is somewhat like being a novelist. If you have no experience with your subject, you might as well throw in the towel. If you choose a webmaster with little or no animal experience, it will put much more responsibility on you. You will find yourself explaining much more of the information you contribute and also having to provide more information. Basically it will consume more of your time. Make sure that if your webmaster has no experience with your type/breed of animal that he or she is willing to research it.

A website is an ongoing investment in your business. There is so much involved beyond the initial creation of a website. It will never be a completed project however, never allow your webmaster to post an “under construction” sign on your website. This not only appears tacky on your website but also turns potential customers away. If for some reason your site needs a major make over ask your webmaster not to publish until it is complete or very near complete. Also, never ever suspend your domain. This can cause you to lose much of your ranking stability. If your domain is not available when the bots crawl for new material you will not be ranked and may fall into the abyss of the lost ranks. Speaking of that, it is very important to constantly be adding to and changing website content (modifications) to keep the material fresh and new to keep those ratings up.

If you can find a webmaster who is willing and able to run the show, you have found what most people never will. If your webmaster feels they are unable to optimize your site adequately ask them to be honest with you about it and to advise you on the best way to get your website optimized. Sometimes it may require hiring an SEO. Some types of businesses are more difficult to “get ranked.” Let us take web design for example. There are literally 100's of thousands of web designers, Do you think it is possible for all of them to be number one on Google’s search engine forever? No that is a ridiculous idea. Some businesses may never reach the top. You can only expect your optimization specialist to do their honest best.

Written By: Colleen Del Bane
http://del-banes-web-design.com
delbanes@gmail.com