Web design has become an integral part of business marketing these days. To help your business website stay ahead of the curve and beat the competition, we have assembled this list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):

How many pages should a website have?

That’s a good question! It depends on the goal of the website. If you are trying to rank for a competitive search term, like our website ranking for #1 in web design in Billings, Montana, you will need quite a few pages. For example, this website has 62 pages and 375 blog posts. On those blog posts are 108 categories and 581 tags, bringing the total website pages to 1,126. That is a huge amount of content and links! That makes it the biggest web designers website in the area by a long shot and why we rank at the top of the Google and Bing search engines. If your company has a similar goal, I certainly encourage making as many pages as possible that make sense for your visitors. If your company is in a non competitive space and SEO ranking is not as important, than just enough pages to guide the visitor to your message or products should suffice.

Is WordPress harder to update than a Wix or SquareSpace website?

Not really, there are builders for WordPress like Elementor that allow easy drag and drop editing just like those “easy-to-use” platforms. The only reason people believe that those are easier to use than WordPress is due to marketing. WordPress is an open source website platform and doesn’t have advertising all over the place like the others. With every website we build, we offer training on how to update the site included.

Does my business need a website?

Not necessarily. The type of business that you have will play a big role in the website software that is optimal for that industry. For example, a lawn mowing service may not need a website. A Facebook page and flyers at local laundry mats paired with word-of-mouth should suffice. However, if your business is a coffee shop, then you will want a website, and a well optimized site so people can find you.

What all will I need to get my business online?

All websites need a few basic elements to be visibly and publicy accessible online. First of all, a domain name will be required. This is like your home address or identity online, it is what the visitor will type in the bar to visit your website. Secondly, your website will need hosting. Hosting is like property in that it is a location for your website to live. Without hosting, a website cannot be accessible to the public online. Once these two have been procured, the final item is the actual website itself. Websites consist of software, code and media elements like images and videos. There are many, many different ways to assemble a website, with one of the most popular being WordPress. We recommend using WordPress or Bootstrap HTML5 for your website and hiring a professional company like SkyPoint to do the design. Try to avoid companies like Wix and SquareSpace that promise easy website creation but really fall down when it comes to the actual success of the site to create business.

What’s the difference between website self-builders like Wix and SquareSpace and website custom design shops like SkyPoint Studios?

Self building seems easy to do according to those sites’ commercials. The problem is you’re busy running your business and don’t have the time to make professional designs online. The other main issue is that these websites do not perform well in Google search. SkyPoint Studios websites are designed to be extremely SEO (Search Engine Optimization) powerful. The value we bring your business by high-ranking search results will far out-shadow the low cost “easy-to-do-yourself” idealogy of Wix or SquareSpace. Of course, there are use-cases for these platforms and we will kindly inform you if your project is a good fit for our marketing or if you would be able to run your hobby site from one of those web based builder platforms. Call today to learn more 406-208-8733

How often should I update my website?

Websites are considered active documents that reflect the current state of the business they represent. In that regard, stale and out of date info or just lack of new content can penalize the market viability of your business online. Google, Bing and other search engines are always trying to serve the latest information on businesses. The sites that are updated the most get the most traction in the search engines. Feed the engines new content or updating of old content and track and measure the search results, it is scientifically possible to see it work in action.