From the recent webinars and research Ive been involved with, 2010 appears to be the year of the website redesign. If you're planning on a new website or a redesign in 2010 it's important to think about why? What are your objectives, what do you hope to achieve? Don't lose site of the fact that you're in business to make money, not to have the best looking website. Research shows that a good looking website doesn't equate to more traffic or more leads.

A web expert who understands optimization for business goals and how to convert visitors to leads will ask about your business and offer training or ongoing support for search engine optimization. Here are the 12 key things you should discuss before hiring a web expert:

1. Who is your target audience?

2. How do you solve a problem or meet a need?

3. Why would prospects buy from you?

4. What are your business goals?

5. How do they decide on the best keywords to target?

6. Ask them to explain the optimization process. What is done initially and what is done on an ongoing basis.

7. Do they know how to set up a landing page designed to convert?

8. Will they provide training or ongoing support?

9. If they provide a link-building strategy, how do they do it?

10. Are they conducting a competitor analysis?

11. What analytics are they measuring and why?

12. Blogs should be a part of your optimization process. Can you post blogs on your website? Do they offer any training or support for blogging best practices?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategies such as blogging and link building are ongoing.  If you're getting a price to start this know what the ongoing cost is going to be. If you're going to be trained to do it yourself make sure you're clear on how much time it will take versus paying a professional to handle it for you.

In conclusion, make sure the web expert you decide to employ takes the time to learn about your business.

If this is overwhelming, confusing or you have some questions. Please feel free to post them in the comments or contact Inbound Marketing Solutions directly to discuss the best Website Marketing and Search Engine Optimization strategies for your business.