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Who I Serve

After 17 years managing the Internet department of an IT firm, I became a freelancer with the goal of being generous. My name is Hillary Norfleet of On Time Web Development and I help small businesses solve their website problems. With over 20 years experience I’ve built and maintained over 300 websites. Many of my clients have been mistreated by firms who charge premium fees and become unresponsive; leaving them with broken, hacked and outdated sites. Others have been charged exorbitant “maintenance fees” for services never rendered. One client was charged $300 monthly for Google AdWords campaign management, a total of $3,600 before he cancelled the account. As a Google Certified Expert I was able to provide proof that no changes were ever made to his account.

Update March 1 – 7 2019: As my client he spent $600 on ads – and received $6,000.00 in sales.

If you are tired of being treated like a doormat by your web development or Internet Marketing company. With my help we’ll turn your site into a welcome mat for your customers.

Internet Marketing – Where to Begin?

It one of the most common questions I get from new clients. What’s the first step in growing my online presence? Should I pay Google for keywords? Or hire someone to do keep my social media updated? Maybe update the design of my website? While all of these ideas have merit, they are all secondary when it comes to internet marketing. The first thing I recommend is a site review.

Before you put money and effort into bringing visitors to your site you should make sure they will find it informative and user-friendly when they arrive. A typical website review provides insights on security, user experience and functionality along with actionable recommendations on how to optimize it.

Some of the main categories to look at are:

Page Load Time
Security Issues
Coding Errors
Display Issues
Search Engine Optimization

Let’s take a deeper look at each area.

Page Load Time

This filmstrip shows the process of loading a slow web page.

Speed is your best salesperson. It’s a solid fact that every second you can save when loading the site translates into higher conversion rate.There are a lot of reasons your site could be slow loading. Using tools like Google Page Speed tester and GTmetrix helps developers pinpoint and correct them. Tip: Most of the issues I see are due to server settings. They can be fixed by your hosting company if you know what to ask for.

Security Issues

Firefox web browsers shows a green lock icon in the address bar of a secure website

Every website should be protected by an SSL. They come free with any decent hosting plan, and Google will actually penalize your site for not having one. Try visiting your site by typing in http://youwebsite.com in the address bar. Does it automatically send you to https://yoursite.com (or https://www.yoursite.com)? If not you may have a problem with the way the site is set up.

Other security issues I’ve come across include outdated plugins and themes, which can open your site (and any other sites on a shared hosting account) to attacks.

Coding Errors

Coding errors can make your website vulnerable to hacking. It slows down site speed and can break the layout and functionality of your site. The w3c validator is my go to tool for resolving code errors.

Display Issues

Google penalizes websites that aren’t responsive – meaning they don’t display nicely on browsers, tablets, and phones. You should also be aware that there are some differences between how different browsers display code. Something that looks great in Google Chrome may not look good at all in Internet Explorer, for example.

To be continued

How To Increase ROI Using AdWords

The data above is from an actual campaign. The eCommerce website is tied to Google Merchant Center and AdWords. Product feeds are submitted to Merchant Center (a free perk from Google). The AdWords account includes a shopping campaign with ads for each product in the feed. When someone searches for a product Google’s system kicks into gear, performing an auction with various merchants bidding on the opportunity to display their products.

The tricky part in all of this is knowing how much to bid. Bid too high and all your profits get eaten up, too low and you won’t get seen.

Obviously this is a simplified picture of setting up a profitable ad campaign. It’s taken years of experience, research and Google certification to get to this goal. The real answer to increasing your return on investment involves much more than creating a Google AdWords account. Success comes when you have a seasoned professional maintaining the account.

Website Optimization – Get The Facts

Website optimization means different things to different people.

To an ADA Compliance Officer optimization means making certain your website is accessible to people with disabilities. This includes guidelines like including text alternative tags for non-text content, and using high contrast colors with background/text combinations.

For content writers website optimization focuses on grammar, spelling, and informative content displayed in an easy to read format.

SEO professionals are concerned with page speed, keyword ratio and content hierarchy.

What should it mean to you? All of the above. Optimization means giving your visitors the best experience possible, so the first question to ask is ‘Who is your target audience?’

This includes criteria like

age group
income level
gender
location
education
interests

What is important to them? What pastimes do they enjoy? The more deeply you can identify your target audience, the more effectively you can connect with them.

3 Critical Characteristics To Demand From A Web Development Agency… Does Yours Do These?

1. Request a written timeline for completion.: Some ‘developers’ make promises, take your money, and then someone with more money comes along and gets all the attention. Others simply stop responding to status requests. Getting a timeline in writing doesn’t guarantee success, but it does help to keep both parties on track.
2. Ask if you can make your own updates.: Maybe you just want to change a phone number, or update your hours. You don’t want to have to submit tickets that can literally take months for something simple, and then be billed for it.
3. Insist upon a secure website.: Especially in a world of scams and hackers, your website should include an SSL Certificate to encrypt sensitive information. Your developer should know that Google penalizes websites that don’t default to secure mode.

Over the years I’ve heard many frustrated website owners complain that they spent time and money and visitors still don’t come! They want to know…

“Whose Fault Is It When Website Visitors Don’t Engage?”

One of the reasons you build a website is to be found. And, it doesn’t hurt to become known, liked, and trusted, right?

However, a great website alone is not a cure all for today’s rapidly changing digital landscape. One of the big reasons my clients find great value in my work is because I help their business to…

Develop an Online Presence and Not Just a Website

Why Do Some Web Developers Charge More?

How much does a professional webesite cost? It depends on who you ask.

You may wonder why some web developers charge anywhere from exorbitant to astronomical service fees. Quite simply—because they can! It doesn’t necessarily mean you get better work. The Internet is an unregulated industry and literally anyone can say they are a web developer. It’s frustrating for the true full time professionals like myself.

So how do you tell the difference? Get organized. As you interview companies you want a way to compare and contrast services, costs, and the people offering them.

To be certain you are getting the most from your developer, they should be knowledgeable in more than just creating a website.

FREE Face-to-Face Consultation

Contact me and I’ll provide you with a FREE comprehensive business website checklist that allows you to compare and price out development firms.

Then, if we choose to work together, we’ll develop your online presence in a timely and cost-effective manner. We’ll keep your business in touch with technology, help customers find, and engage with your organization.