5 Ways a Technology Consultant Can Save You Time and Money

Technology ConsultingYou decided to take a step of faith toward going on your own. Or, you’ve been appointed the unfamiliar task of creating a website for your company or non-profit. You have a great idea, product or service, but you feel intimidated by technical terms such as domain registration, web hosting, email campaigns and tweeting. How can you possibly learn all this and focus on your goal, stay on budget and launch on time?

1. Domain Registration

Domain RegistrationRegistering your domain name is easy enough in itself, and there are countless providers out there eager to provide this service. The delay and confusion happens when you need to point it to your web and email hosting providers. You are confronted with terms like NameServers, MX Records, Sub-Domains and Pointers. Having a technology consultant register your domain and manage these for you saves you the time of learning how, relieves you from talking with technical support and saves additional consulting costs by doing it all for you in a fraction of the time. Think of them as a portfolio manager for your investments.

2. Web Design

Design BlueprintThere are several websites out there you like that you want to pattern your site after, right? You want your website to reflect you or what you offer. That’s just the start! You need to think about who will maintain it and the associated upkeep costs. With website templates like WordPress, maintaining your own website is easy, cuts the cost of paying a developer to publish your updates and eliminates the back-and-forth emails to relay your vision to them. Make sure your technology consultant knows how to create custom WordPress templates for your design as well as give you an overview on how to use it.

3. Social Media

Social MediaConnecting with others through social media venues like Twitter, Facebook, blogs, email campaigns and LinkedIn is incredibly time-consuming if you don’t already have experience doing it. Your technology consultant should be able to help you build consistent profiles, create efficient processes for email distribution and teach you the techniques involved in running an efficient social media campaign.

4. Search Engine Optimization

Google SEOYou’ve heard about the term SEO for a while now and you’ve received your fair share of SPAM emails about getting your website on the first page of Google. SEO is an integral part of everything mentioned here so far. Your technology consultant should not only know what it takes to improve your presence on the web and ability to be found, but they should also be able to provide analytical reports for tracking your progress. This leads to the last (but not least) point:

5. Measuring Success

Measuring SuccessYou are now ready for a great website with SEO techniques implemented; you are connecting with people through your social media campaign; and you are saving lots of time and money by maintaining these on your own or with little assistance. Congratulations! How do you know it is successful? What further improvement is needed to ride this trend of success? This is where analytical tracking tools like Google Analytics, Compete.com, Alexa, and Website Grader come into play. Make sure your technology consultant not only knows how to use these tools, but can give improvement recommendations or provide assistance in implementing these updates.

So what’s next?

Just like any exercise program out there, your first step is out the door! Find a technology consultant who can help you with these. Talk to friends and colleagues for recommendations. An important thing to look for is someone who will help you down the road after your launch.

Chime in

What intimidates you when it comes to technology and throws a road block in front of your business plan? Share your experience working with technology experts or the infamous family tech person.

Comments

4 Comments on 5 Ways a Technology Consultant Can Save You Time and Money

  1. Lev on Fri, 12th Feb 2010 10:28 am
  2. Great advice. Thanks.

  3. Michelle Farabough on Fri, 12th Feb 2010 3:53 pm
  4. Nice!!!!

  5. Rose Morand on Tue, 16th Feb 2010 11:09 am
  6. I think it’s a lot like owning a car. I can drive well, but I don’t know how the thing works, and frankly, I don’t think I should have to. I’m glad I have a mechanic who handles all that for me. Same with a Web site. Let the experts handle it.

  7. Adrian Forbes on Tue, 16th Feb 2010 11:24 am
  8. That is a great analogy. Sometimes people try the DIY route with fixing their car, but they end up in a worse situation. Think Tim the “Tool Man” Taylor.

    Thank you, Rose!

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