1. When asked if he knows PHP, the reply is: “I don’t do drugs.”

Although your web designer may not be a programmer himself, he should probably have at least a basic understanding of PHP, HTML, CSS, Javascript, etc. If he has no clue than he better know someone that does.

2. He reassures you that you should register the domain in his name.

For sites of little value this may not matter, however, I would definitely recommend that avoid giving the web designer too much control over domains, hosting etc. If something goes wrong you may be stuck without a website, so may want to request a copy of the databases and files.

3. When you see the picture on his bio, he still has a mullet.

If you judge your web design based on personal appearance you may find yourself discouraged to find one that has showered, combed their hair, or changed their clothes in the last month. But if you find their website still looks like it is from the 1980s then you may want to consider: either they are too busy to update their own site, or you may get stuck with the mullet website. Like the famous saying goes with a mullet it is:

“Business in the front, party in the back”

4. He insists on Flash for seo purposes

Although Google recently announced that they are starting to crawl Flash files, I still am a firm believer that Flash is a bad idea for most circumstances. Now I did not say all circumstances. If you are thinking of looking into a Flash website, it is imperative that you consider the use of the website, and how you plan for people to find the website. Perhaps, you can just incorporate it into the design or at least put a wordpress blog on the site.

5. If He Eerily declares “I am the webmaster”

No one wants to be in a power struggle, if you find that your webmaster is not allowing your input. Let him know. If he won’t change his course, it may be time to find someone else. Bottom line, you are paying the money for a website that is going to reflect you or possibly your business. It is crucial that you are proud of it.

6. You haven’t heard from him in a month

Enough said. The thirty day rule means, “You got screwed, count your loses, download Joomla and do it yourself”

7. Inability to communicate

In all reality, I think great web designers are some of the most patient people on earth. I have seen circumstances where a website was almost done and then the customer said, “We are looking to re-brand!” Wow. What a day that was. It is imperative that for the process to truly work there needs to be incredible communication up front through out the entire process. Know what you want going into it.

8. He insists you wire the entire payment upfront to an offshore account

Watch out for people that want all the money up front and especially by payment forms that are irreversible. Credit cards can be great options because at least you can dispute the charge. I have seen many transactions where people get paid and they are no where to be found. Sometime working with a company that has a strong reputation can be a great option.

9. You are beginning to feel the website has been pirated

Unfortunatley, I had a website built years ago and some months after I purchased my website. I saw another website that looked exactly the same. In fact, I saw hundreds of websites that looked exactly the same. To make matters worse all the content was the same too. It is probably wise to include a copywright clause in the contract.

10. Innapropriate logos, domains, content or images

We have all seen the hilarious pictures, and screw-ups circultate around the internet. You sure do not want that to be your company. Here are some of the most shocking that I have seen:

Domain name word combinations:

Pen Island

-penisland.com

Therapist Finder

-therapistfinder.com

11. Security Breach

You find your dedicated server has been compromised to SPAM, phish, hack, crack or whatever.

12. You find out its his first time

No one wants to be the guinea pig. So if you approach your webmaster with a concern and he states, “How should I know? It’s not like I have done this before.” Then, my friend, it is time to move on or your website may end up looking like this: http://havenworks.com/

In order to avoid repetitive he/shes, his/hers we are going to do it once down here. We know you ladies know how to design websites as well.

It was great to see my favorite band as a kid produce one of the best social media videos. When Weezer was launching their new CD, “Pork and Beans,” they launched their hit single on YouTube. But instead of a normal video they used/modified/re-created the top videos every watched on YouTube.

• Tay Zonday
• Miss Teen South Carolina
• Numa Numa
• Peanut Butter Jelly
• Stupid Ninja Guy
• Guiness World Record - T-shirts

I am impressed, but I guess i should not expect anything less from a Rivers Cuomo (lead singer and song writer) who put himself through Harvard in 2 years.

WebBizIdeas.com started building dating websites in 2002. Around this time Match.com was getting national media attention and Dr. Warren’s eHarmony was starting to become a large player in the industry. We followed the trend, offered Dating Website Design services, and helped launch many dating internet businesses.

In 2004/2005 an Emerging Technology now called “Social Networking Software” paved the way for many Social Networking Trends. MySpace very quickly took away 1,000’s of paying members from Dating sites. Users asked themselves, “Why pay $29.99 a month when I can create my own profile, view other user’s profiles, and chat directly with them?”

Brian Peters, an internet consultant/project manager who worked for WebBizIdeas at the time, asked him self the same question. That question lead to WebBizIdeas.com heavily investing in Social Network Website Design. Over the last few years we have had the please to help build many interesting online communities built around the concept of a social network.

Today I was reviewing our dating portfolio and asked myself, “Is Starting an Online Dating Website Still Profitable?” Although we still build dating sites, the majority of the projects WebBizIdeas.com builds incorporates social networking technology. In fact we highly recommend clients incorporate this technology because…well quite frankly it helps build successful internet businesses.

I decided I needed an answer to my question. I started my research by researching Match.com. If you look IAC Fact Sheet for 2007 you will find the remarkable results:

■ 60,000 new people register on Match.com every day

■ Websites in 15 different languages, serving 37 different countries

■ More than 15 million members, with approximately 1.3 million paying subscribers

Match.com monthly membership is $29.99 a month; if you do the math that is over $30,000,000 a month in revenue! They are partnered with MSN, Cingular Wireless, Comcast, Glamour Shots, Earthlink, Oxygen Network, InfoSpace, BET, Excite, and even Dr. Phil.

eharmony.com is owneed by a private California company so records were harder to come by. The last I heard they were pulling in 15,000 new registered users (not members) a day. But instead investigating the large dating companies further, eharmony, lavalife, tickle, and Date.com, I decided to take a look at a company who owns Niche Dating websites.

The Spark Newtworks is a public company who owns Jdate (jewish), AmericanSingles, BlackSingles, ChristianMingle, DeafSingles, AsianSingles, CanadianSingles, and over 30 other niche dating websites; see the full list at SPARK NETWORKS. As you see they go after targeted markets including religious, ethnic, geographic and special interest groups.

Does their niche marketing work? Lets look at their traffic statistics:

• 38 million registered users
• Approximately 4.75 - 5 million unique monthly visitors
• 200-300 million monthly page views

Spark Networks 2008 Q1 reported $15 million in revenue, $1.6 million in net income, and $4.4 million in adjusted EBITDA. On average, paying members for Q1 was 195,325; 93,411 coming from their Jewish Dating Network.

By writing this article I really want to find out if starting an online dating website is still profitable for our target market; Small Businesses & Internet Entrepreneurs. One of my favorite Dating Internet Businesses I worked on was (not online anymore) MochaMates.com. The owner started an online/offline dating community for African Americans in her home town. A few times a month she would hold events in the comfort of her home that for African American Singles; all promotions were done offline locally.

Where she would make her money is having this network of African American Singles register on her website, MochaMates.com. She didn’t have millions of members but she did have a 100-150 dedicated member paying a registration fee each month. Her registration fee was not $29.99 BUT was $99 - $2999 a year depending on the package. Her customers LOVED being able to meet singles in person and then communicate with them privately online…reminds me how AOL IM became so popular among teenagers in middle school/highschool.

Depending on the membership package her services included matchmaking services, background checks, and free trips. Her trips were not just locally but were arranged vacations to Miami, Jamaica, and Brazil with hotels & accommodation’s included (not flight). Can you see that being appealing to an African American Single who is looking to meet other singles?

In my opinion dating websites are profitable IF you combine (1) social networking features (2) offline interactions (3) go after a niche market (4) offer something match.com & eharmony.com don’t. Unless you have the capital to build what the Spark Network did (millions in investments) the only way to compete is do build an internet business plan similar to MochaMates.

Search Engine Optimization SEO Tutorial by WebBizIdeas is for beginners. We will cover SEO techniques that you can use TODAY that will increase your search engine rankings. We will go over the definition of search engine optimization, organic results, PPC, keyword research, competition research, competition analysis, on page & off page optimization, Meta tags, header tags, keyword density, URLs, site maps, xml site maps, google webmaster tools, link development, directory submission, local directories, online yellow pages, one-way links, two-way links, three-way links, article submission, rss feed distribution, blog submission, and online press release optimization.

Do you need to build backlinks Fast?  I ran across a great list of “Do Follow” websites:

http://www.squidoo.com/dofollow

See back in the day when internet marketers didn’t exploit websites like myspace, wikipedia, flickr, Scrib, and other social media sites ALL links coming from these websites counted as backlinks in the search engines!

But just as spammers killed e-mail social media markers are already killing social networking. Major social networking sites add “No Follow” links to any link posted on their site; blogs & forums also have followed suit. So if you have a link on a PR 5 web page and wonder why your link hasn’t improved your rankings you may want to check if it has a no follow tag.

How to Check If NO Follow or DO Follow?

1. View The Page Source, if the link the code rel=“nofollow” it means search engines can’t see it
2. Download SEO For Firefox (need to use firefox web browser) - every link highlighted in red means it is nofollow

I just finished responding to a post about how far behind corporations are when it comes to Social Media Marketing. Most companies use think social media marketing is about joining a community, making a lot of friends, and then e-mailing them all about your services/events/information. Although this will inform your friends your content will not go further than that.

Who Really Controls Online Traffic & Links:

It is your job to get your information in front of the Diggers, Redditers, Sphinners, Journalist, Slashdotters, Yahoo Answers Posters, Bloggers, Directory Builders, hobbyists, researchers, and forum writers. If you focus on writing good content and getting in front of the correct Social Leader (the popular kid at school) you will find success.

Telling your dorky friends at school you are having a big party does nothing…having the coolest kid in school tell some people about your party is all it takes…that is Social Media Marketing.