Website Design and Development
Website Platforms
The Paramount Group.us provides website design services on a number of platforms. The industry standard is currently WordPress. However, WordPress websites do require maintenance at least a couple of times a month to minimize the risk of crashing and security to keep it safe. All the parts and pieces need to work together in order to continuously function properly.
We also have alternatives that are user friendly and less work for you, the business owner. If you don’t want to pay for a monthly maintenance service, let us know, and we can find a platform that works for you.
Do you need an ecommerce site? Shopify is a popular platform if your business is selling goods online. We are certified Shopify Set-up Experts, which means we know how to get you started on the right foot.
If you’re not sure what web platform is right for you, attend one of our website workshops to learn more. Sometimes knowing the right questions to ask your web designer can make the difference between success and failure with your online presence.
DIY Websites
In the age of Do-It-Yourself, many business owners are opting for a DIY website versus hiring a professional. There are a number of services that you can use to create your own business website, such as: GoDaddy, Wix, Weebly and SquareSpace to name a few.
These may be a good alternative to paying a professional web designer in the short-term, but many of these platforms are lacking the sophisticated SEO functionality that is necessary to get to the top of Google Search.
Of course, nobody can guarantee top search results, but it’s important to use every tool at your disposal to try to attain that, and a web platform that doesn’t have all the bells and whistles may come back and bite you.
Another pitfall of the DIY website is not having all the backend fields correctly filled out. Part of good SEO is knowing what to write where, in order to give you a fighting chance with Google. To be honest, many web designers don’t know a lot about SEO. It’s important to know what questions to ask your web designer if you choose to go the professional route.
And finally, understand who is hosting your site. Many DIY web platforms want you to buy your domain name and host your site through them. That basically “locks you in” to their services. Many DIY websites will only work when hosted on their own servers. This may not always be a bad thing, it’s just something to be aware of when making your decision.
If you just want to get a landing page up to start gaining page authority, then go for it. Just know that down the road, you will probably need to start over with a more robust website.