FAQ

Ease Your Doubts With Our Most Frequently Asked Questions List:

How long does it take to create a website?

A website usually takes between 4-6 weeks from beginning to completion depending on how responsive the customer is and how much information they provide us at the beginning of the project. If the client already has a website with plenty of content, the timeline is usually shorter. Our design staff work as fast as the client allows. A minimum of 3 weeks can be expected, but turnover time is usually 4-6 weeks max before launch.

How much does a website cost?

Givemeservice.com (GMS) does not normally sell websites. We sell Internet Marketing Packages in which a website is included. Businesses typically need much more than just a website that sits stagnant. They need a marketing solution that generates revenue and helps them grow. At GMS, we focus on growth oriented solutions and build money making assets for your business so that your website project will pay for itself many times over and grow year after year. Our projects vary in cost based on the client’s needs, their industry, their competitive environment and objectives. These are all discussed in the initial free consultation.

We do, however, specialize in local small businesses and are very sensitive to budgets and working within their comfort zones. The owner, Marvin Ellis, oversees every project and will do everything possible to create a win-win situation and help get your project started.

Do you offer free consultations?

Yes. Consultations are critical in order for us to properly understand your business, your objective and to communicate expectations. The consultation is where we begin the process of building a strategy that will meet your needs and fit within your budget. There is no “one size fits all” package. Every business is unique, as is every business owner. We insist on getting to know both in order to avoid any confusion and make sure you fully understand what we are going to be doing for you.

How long does it normally take before my business starts seeing results?

Every client’s results are different both in quantity of leads and frequency. However, the average “new site” that has never been online before, will usually start seeing results within 3-4 months of launch. This depends on competitive nature of the industry and the volume of searches for that industry or service. The average site project that was already online and is receiving traffic can often see immediate results once the new site is launched.

I am located outside of New Jersey, can you still help me?

Absolutely! We have clients all over the United States including as far south as Florida and as far west as Nevada. Some of our best clients are out of state.

Do you accept credit cards?

Yes we do. All four major credit cards.

How long have you been in business?

Givemeservice has been supporting small business owners since 1999. We have many positive reviews for our business online and are proud of our track record. References and contacts of current clients can be given upon request or simply look at our Case Studies page here.

What are your hours of operation?

Our normal business hours are 9am – 5pm every day, Monday – Friday. We are available by appointment on weekends. Our staff often work around the clock remotely, so we can be reached by email at almost any reasonable hour. Clients are given the owner’s personal cell phone number for emergencies.

What is the difference between website design and Internet marketing?

Web design is at the nucleus of any Internet marketing project, but a website alone is rarely going to perform well if lead generation is your objective. Internet marketing engages many other elements including: SEO, local SEO, conversion strategies, reputation management, review management, call tracking and analysis, & social media integration that all work together and make the actual website perform.

What format do you build your websites in?

Our websites our mainly built using a WordPress platform.

Can I See my website while it’s under construction?

Absolutely. Our clients thoughts and ideas are critical throughout the process. A first look is usually sent to the client to view the site while it’s in development by the end of the 2nd week. At the end of the day, we want you to be excited and proud of your website. We want you involved!

Is maintenance included in your website services?

Yes. Every project has website maintenance included and it is critical to ongoing success and continuous improvement. A static site, that is not updated often, is not good. (See our article on this topic here)

Are your websites built in the USA?

Everyone on our team in our U.S. offices is a Patriotic American citizen, loves small business owners, and works right here in the good ‘ol U.S.A. You can view our staff here. However, we have expanded our reach and established an office in Medellin, Colombia (South America) in 2018, and are now serving both North and South America!

Do you outsource any of your services?

Very rarely. There are times when a specific request is more effective and the expertise level is higher outside of GMS. This is not the norm. 98% of our work is done in house. However, when we do outsource, it is done within the borders of the U.S.A. None of our work is shipped overseas.

Do you provide web hosting?

Absolutely! We provide every service you need for your project to be successful. If you have any issues or concerns about your web project, you only have 1 call to make.

What is SEO?

SEO is short for “Search Engine Optimization” and has many factors and aspects to it. It basically encompasses all the strategies used to help your domain name rank higher on search engines like Google, Yahoo, & Bing.

Do you include SEO services in your design?

Absolutely. Our SEO services are robust and cost effective. We do not use any black hat techniques and our websites are built with on-site SEO during development keeping with the objective of having your key services being found by those searching for them in your geographical area. Every SEO strategy varies slightly, but we detail what SEO is and how it works here.

Why are Google rankings important?

Google rankings are important because 70-75% of all searches are performed using Google. Yahoo and Bing are 2nd and 3rd with about 20% of all Internet searches and all the other search engines combined make up less than 5% of all searches online. You can see why Google is very important. If you want to be found, you must be visible on Google. There are many ways to give your site a FREE Rankings boost! See our article on how to do that here.

Can I have a website without SEO?

It is possible to have a website with SEO. In most cases, we don’t recommend it. Every project is different, but most businesses need a visibility boost in order to increase traffic. An effective SEO strategy is critical to this goal. There are exceptions and this would all be sorted out during your initial consultation with GMS.

What is white hat SEO?

White hat optimization strategies are those techniques that follow search engine rules and policies and have little or no chance of being penalized by Google or other search engines. These are tactics that focus on the positive experience of the end user and do not try to “trick” the engines in any way. White Hat SEO includes using proper keyword protocol, back linking from other sites with high authority, link building and link popularity techniques. Ongoing content building with meaningful and relevant content being searched online is also included in white hat SEO strategies.

What is black hat SEO?

Black hat SEO strategies generally refer to those techniques that attempt to “trick” Search engines into ranking a site high and do not concentrate on improving the actual experience of the visitor. These techniques are often penalized by search engines as “cheating” and although they can give your website a boost in rankings temporarily, they can do more harm than good in the long run. Black hat techniques include but are not limited to: hidden text or links, keyword stuffing, sketchy redirects, unknown link farm purchases and the list goes on and on. Givemeservice does not use or recommend anyone use these kinds of risky SEO techniques.

What is the difference between Local SEO and Organic SEO?

Local SEO has to do with search engine results listing services located within or serving a particular geographical area. These local results appear on Google and other search engines and are often associated with a map of the area being searched. These are usually listed with business name, phone and address info for quick reference. They are different from the Organic search results which are usually listed 10 to page and provide the link and description to the website being searched based on the search engine’s perception of relative content. You can see the full explanation of Local and SEO services and descriptions on our Search Engine Optimization page here.

Do you work with small budgets?

All the time. Some of our best clients started out small and grew from there as business picked up. There are countless examples of this. Unfortunately, we cannot work for free, but if you have a reasonable budget, we can usually start out small with only the absolute necessities and build from there.

How long does it usually take for my website to rank on Google?

This depends on many factors. The competitive nature of your industry, maturity of your domain name, authority of your domain name, site content, frequency of updates and more are all considered when Google indexes and includes your site in search results. In a perfect environment, your site can begin ranking within 4-6 weeks. If the industry is super competitive it can take longer. The important thing is to get started!

How important is a site’s look to how it performs?

We are very proud of our sites and the way that they look. However, we are more concerned in how they perform and the leads they generate. We want your site to put money in your pocket and grow your business. We thoroughly discuss how a site looks vs. how it performs in an article we wrote here.

Do you use templates?

Most of our designs start with a basic theme, not a template, but by the time we thoroughly customize your site to your objectives, the them is almost unrecognizable. The reason we start with a basic theme is to streamline development and include many of the conversion tools and the functionality we’ve determined are needed for a successful project.

Do you guarantee results?

We can never guarantee results, but we have a fabulous track record. Much of our project’s results are dependent on how cooperative the client is and how much they are able to communicate. Not every client puts energy into their project once it begins. It is hard to explain this, but it is true. Our clients need to update their website by sending us photos of completed work, testimonials, and other important updates. It’s important to send us emails of existing clientele periodically for reputation management purposes. If our clients can spend just 15 minutes per week focusing on their own required Internet marketing tasks, we can make that effort work wonders for their project. If they let their site stay static for 12 months, results will suffer.

What analysis tools do you use?

We use Google Analytics, Heat Maps, Rank Tracking, Call Tracking, & our own proprietary Internet Matrix to assess over 25 aspects of your marketing strategy. We have a page dedicated to explaining these tracking and analysis tools. Remember, if you don’t track it, you can’t manage it!

What is Google Analytics?

Google Analytics is a free tool that provides insights and key statistical data and allows for calculated decision making and adjustments. This is all made possible by a JavaScript code that is placed within the source code on every page of the website. Data collected includes: total visitors, total referrers, total page loads, speed of page loads and much more.

What is Call Tracking?

Call Tracking for GMS gives us the ability to track not only the number of calls, but also the origin of the search engine from which the call came, the caller information and an actual recording of the call for training purposes. This is a state-of-the-art system where phone numbers are seamlessly updated and integrated into the website. All of this is done while avoiding any potential penalties that Google and other search engines can attribute to out-of-date call tracking techniques that alter the business phone numbers and can potentially interfere with local search results.

Why is reputation management important?

The web is open and available to everyone. For better or for worse, your clients, both past and present can give your business a boost with glowing praise or a blast with painful criticism. Just know that your potential customers are searching, reading and may eventually review you prior to purchasing. Get your online reputation under control. For details on reputation management and the importance of it, check out our article on reputation management.

Can I manage my own site once design is complete?

We recommend letting us manage your site and content. There are plenty of reasons for this, but the main reason is that often times, too many cooks in the kitchen will hurt results. Page design and layout is important to lead generation and content needs to be strategically arranged. Many times our clients will simply arrange a page incorrectly and hurt their conversion rate. Another thing to note is that maintenance is included in every project, so this isn’t a cost savings to the client anyway. When clients want to add new content to their website, they can simply email the information, video and/or images to us and consider it done! It is usually best for the client to focus on their business, not editing their website.

Having said all this, if the customer insists on managing their own site, we will not stop them. If additional work is needed to correct mistakes or errors, those changes are not included in maintenance, so we ask the client to be very careful.

We do recommend that willing clients manage a blog, an online calendar if appropriate and/or an events page. These areas are a great way to have “hands on” access that will generate a high impact on results. Every project is different, as is the level of involvement by our clients. We will find that perfect balance so that your project has the maximum chances for success.

How important are testimonials to a website?

In a word…VERY! Testimonials are basically people vouching for you and proof that you perform your services properly and as expected. There are strategies that will make testimonials work more effectively and we like to deploy many of these strategies for our clients as often as possible. For instance Video Testimonials are even more effective than written testimonials. Testimonials with photos are more effective than testimonials without photos as well. A combination of all 3 is fine as well as you have a few of the other. We have an article dedicated to testimonials and their importance to lead generation that we recommend you read here: https://givemeservice.com/5-reasons-why-testimonials-are-important-to-lead-generation/

How important are testimonials to a website?

In a word…VERY! Testimonials are basically people vouching for you and proof that you perform your services properly and as expected. There are strategies that will make testimonials work more effectively and we like to deploy many of these strategies for our clients as often as possible. For instance Video Testimonials are even more effective than written testimonials. Testimonials with photos are more effective than testimonials without photos as well. A combination of all 3 is fine as well as you have a few of the other. We have an article dedicated to testimonials and their importance to lead generation that we recommend you read here: https://givemeservice.com/5-reasons-why-testimonials-are-important-to-lead-generation/

What is a hit?

A hit is a request to server and is actually irrelevant to analyzing your website data. “How many hits does your site get?” is a really old question that is rarely asked. What you are looking for when analyzing traffic are visitor counts and more importantly, “unique visitor” counts. If you have a hit counter on your site that is visible… remove it.

Do you offer pay per click services?

We can manage pay per click campaigns, but for the most part, we try to get our clients to rank organically in order to save our client money. Pay per click can get really expensive, really fast. Now, there are instances when pay per click can be a useful tool, but the strategy has to be used correctly and we would rarely is use the strategy to drive traffic to a websites home page.

Do you offer domain name management services?

Yes. And it is included in every project at no cost. We currently have over 300 domain names under our management and are global partners with Register.com.

What is a 301 redirect?

A 301 redirect is a permanent redirect of a domain name to another domain name that will automatically bring up the latter domain name when the original domain name is clicked on or typed into the URL. A 301 redirect will also capture 90%+ of the authoritative juice of the ranking power of the original domain name. the “301” refers to the HTTP status code and in most instances is the preferred method for establishing redirects to a different domain name.

I can build a website for free on Wix, why should I use givemeservice.com?

Great question… But, FREE is a relative term. If you get a ticket to Los Angeles for FREE, but the train never arrives, what did you really get for FREE. Exactly. Nothing! Websites that work properly are actually better than FREE sites that don’t perform because the site that you pay for that works correctly will put more money in your pocket than what you pay for it, creating an asset, not a liability. In other words, it will pay for itself! We have written an article on FREE sites and why they usually disappoint here: https://givemeservice.com/free-websites-are-usually-the-most-expensive/

What is a landing page?

A landing page is a page dedicated to a very specific strategy or campaign. I.E. Pay per click or banner ad campaign. It is usually highly targeted to a very specific audience and is built solely to drive lead generation. Used properly, they can be very effective to business growth.

Is Social Media critical to lead generation success?

Social Media comes in all shapes and forms. Some is worth your time depending on your business model and some is a total waste of time and resources. For the most part, get your website correct FIRST before spending time and energy on twitter and Facebook. It’s not that these can’t be useful tools down the line, but for most small business owners, they should not be the nucleus of your Internet Marketing Project or the bulk of your marketing efforts. There are some exceptions to this rule, but not many. It is important to note that YouTube (owned by Google), is a very effective tool for almost every small business owner.

Does givemeservice provide social media services?

GMS provides limited social media services including integration and training. We do not focus on social media except in cases when it is going to provide clear ranking or lead generation increases. For instance, video testimonials and YouTube Channels are key for conversions and citations for rankings. Optimizing this Social Media tool can be a very useful tool.

Do you provide content writing services?

Yes. We certainly do. We understand that many of our clients are too busy to write and while excellent at what they do in their business, may not be proficient writers. This is ok. We will acquire original, SEO driven content for you and provide it for your review and approval. There are many ways to achieve the results you want, but without valuable original content, it is very difficult. Getting a website to rank high with empty page is next to impossible. Keeping original content flowing is very important as is the frequent updating of that content.