Here is a list of 5 things to consider when thinking of having a web site designed in the Virgin Islands.
- This one isn’t really just for Virgin Island web design, it should be taken in to consideration by everybody that is thinking about getting a web site built or rebuilt. Unless, you understand the technology of the internet and computers you should hire a local web designer.The main reason for this isn’t so you can stand over their shoulder and watch them work (that will drive most web designers crazy) but there are times when it is very handy to be able to meet with the designer.
One instance that happened to me, when I needed some pictures to develop a web site for a company overseas and they knew how to send me pictures via email but every time they sent them they would send thumbnails (very small pictures usually used as a preview to the full size picture) which were too small for me to fit into the design without the picture becoming grainy when I enlarged it. Their problem was they didn’t have digital images, only normal photographs that needed to be scanned into the computer and no one in the office that knew how to scan them properly.
If this had been a local company I could have dropped by picked up the photographs scanned them in the proper resolution and format for the internet and returned the photos the same day. As it was this took almost 10 days to get resolved. As you can see it can cost you and the web designer a lot of time for a simple task.
- The next two items both have to do with getting people to your website from the search engines.Search engine tip number one be prepared for questions on keywords. Just in case you don’t know what keywords are, they are the words that people type into Google to look for something. If you know the keywords that someone would use to find your product and you build the site around those keywords you will constantly be getting new customers/visitors through the search engines.
This might seem to be a simple thing but a good web designer will be able to help you with this and to check and see if searches are actually being done for those keywords. You would be surprised how many people build websites around keywords that are perfect for their product but are never searched for in the search engines. You need keywords that are searched for and describe what you have to offer.
When you figure out your keywords in the Virgin Islands you must take in to consideration whether or not you are a business that only operates on only one island, such as a hotel, you need to make sure your keywords aren’t just Virgin Islands and possibly not even just your island and Virgin Islands.
Let me explain that, people are getting smarter with their searches on the search engines. This means that they are using more words when they perform a search. Now instead of just typing Virgin Islands in to the search engine form the type things like “St. Thomas Virgin Islands Hotel”. If your keywords don’t contain St. Thomas. Virgin Islands and Hotel you most likely won’t turn up for that search. This is also the reason you might want to include keywords for other islands.
Let’s say you run an Inn on St. Croix. The person that was running the search for “St. Thomas Virgin Islands Hotel” probably isn’t looking for a hotel on St. Croix but it could be just because they only heard the name St. Thomas for the Virgin Islands or that a friend stayed on St. Thomas and told them about it. This does mean that they are less likely to click on the link about St. Croix and come to your site but there is a chance that you will sway someone from St. Thomas. The reason you want to do this is because “St. Thomas Virgin Islands Hotel” gets searched three times more often than “St. Croix Virgin Islands Hotel” which means more people have the chance to see your link. As a matter of fact “St. Thomas Virgin Islands Hotel” gets searched 50% more often than “Virgin Islands Hotel” and you want your link to turn up where it will be seen.
- Search engine tip number two is don’t concentrate too much on the island without also covering the Virgin Island, VI and USVI. The reason for this is because if you don’t include Virgin Islands, VI or USVI the odds of you ranking high in the search engines is lowered considerably. For example if you just use St. John you will be competing with St. John England, St. John’s University, St. John New Zealand, St. John Newfoundland and numerous others.As you saw from above people are more likely to search “St. Thomas Virgin Islands Hotel” than just “Virgin Islands Hotel” so you need both the island name and the Virgin Islands in your keywords.
- Working with a local web designer has its advantages when it comes to review. It is much easier for you to point out things you want changed on a computer screen than through an email or on the phone. Yes, there are a lot of things you can say in email and over the phone, like I want the logo on the right side instead of the left side but I have had emails that have said, “the little swirly thing on the third picture (no page listed) should be moved more to the center”.This was on a website that had over 40 pages and over 100 images on it. When I called them to try to figure it out they couldn’t remember which page it was on and only that it was a picture with a person in it (over 50 of the pictures had people) and a swirly thing they couldn’t describe any more than, “it was swirly, yellowish and toward the bottom.” I asked them to go through the website page by page and let me know what page it was on. It took them almost two hours of going through the website to find it. When they did find and called me to let me know what page it was on the swirly yellow thing turned out to be a jump rope that couldn’t be moved in the image so we changed the image.
If this person could have sat down with me and my laptop before the site was put online they would have saved themselves a couple of hours of frustration. It is also a good policy for any one purchasing web design to see the design before the site goes online. All web designers would prefer to have all the changes emailed to them so they can build a reference list (myself included) but there are times when being able to look at something the same time as the client can save both parties aggravation.
- Talented Virgin Island web designers understand the uniqueness of the Virgin Islands. They know the problems you will face with technology in the VI. Local web designers know that you should host your site on servers located outside of the Virgin Islands (hurricanes and broken underwater cables have proven this). They understand the unique features that your business or service can offer your potential customers that people from off Island don’t really get.For example locals know that your hotel is a half a mile from that great restaurant or within walking distance of the beach. Were as a non local won’t know that unless you tell them and believe me no matter how hard you try there is always another little nugget that will make your business or service look better in the eyes of the visitor and the odds of finding that nugget increase with the number of people you have thinking about it.
