I heard a range of stories too. One was of a man who spent $40,000, hiring an “all in one” person to completely build out his online platform. Others hired someone on Craigslist, a family friend, or someone off of Elance to help. Both clients terminated the relationship with their web person, meanwhile lost a bunch of money, patience and trust. It just hurts my heart to hear it every time. It’s like this in any industry, but I get frustrated that people call themselves experts when they just aren’t.

So today is a loud shout out to all you website owners or soon-to-be website owners. I’m only hoping to educate you a little so you can learn from other people’s experiences and hopefully save yourself some time and money.

First and foremost, if someone is in this business, they should be doing the things they would charge YOU for. If someone says they can design a Facebook profile image, check to see what theirs looks like! If someone says they build websites, look at their site and see if it has the most important elements you would want in a website (like a blog, social media, an opt-in box with a free offering incentive, etc). If they say they are an SEO expert, check to see if they have infiltrated Google.

See where I’m going with this?

If you don’t like the look of someone’s website, you probably shouldn’t hire them to build yours. Now, if you have no clue what to look for in a website review, then that’s one thing – ask me and I’ll tell you what to look for! But in general, you should be able to tell pretty quickly if it looks like this potential person has their stuff together or not.

Do they sell their own products? Are they on social networks? Do they have a following? Are they getting lots of testimonials and recommendations? Are they blogging consistently? Do they practice what they preach?

This is a good reminder for all of us and today I just felt the urge to shout out. I want to be the type of person that does practice what she preaches. So each day I work my hardest, give the most I can and I know it only inspires the people around me to do the same. It is possible to make the world a better place if we have the right intentions.

Would love to hear your thoughts on this post. Type into the box below, share with friends – let’s get the word out!