Saying your an internet specialist is like a doctor saying they are a body expert or a lawyer saying they are a law expert… its just not true because its not specific enough for a professional today who works in the internet sector. It never has been actually but the general public are certainly not aware of this it seems.

Lets break this down a little. The human body is the market sector. Its covered in general by a GP (General Practice) Doctor. Thats the local man in the white coat you go to at stage one for a diagnosis of a problem or symptom. These doctors are the guys who look over the body in general and make the initial recommendations on reaching a solution. So what next…

Well that all depends…depends on what?

If you need your teeth fixed you get a dentist, heart surgery a heart surgeon, brain surgery a brain surgeon, burns a burns expert. Guess what, the internet is pretty similiar in regards the differences in expertise. God knows you would NEVER let a brain surgeon do heart surgery or a dentist fix a broken leg and YES its the same when choosing an expert for completing a job on the internet.

Thats not to say that heart experts dont know about the brain and vice versa (and this is where the lines blur) but its not something they would take on and they would not be able to do it correctly, nevermind the fact that you might die…

So when someone says “I’m an internet expert” I immeidatley assume they are a web user who knows what they are doing SURFING the web, not someone who works directly on it. What you need to find is an expert who does the specific job you require doing… makes sense no? Well guess what, not many people do it they simply assume that the person who makes websites is also an expert in:

Hosting, emails, coding, designing, programming, SEO, marketing, security, development, navigation etc. The list goes on!

And the problem can be that the website builders may not correct the client that THEY are not the experts in this particular area that needs addressing and this is cimply a recipe for disaster!

So how would a client know what choice to make when selecting the right professional for the job. Its not a big secret to be honest, its common sense, but it continues to astound me how many people will skip these all important sensible points when they are doing business.

Check these simple points out before you hand over any money to an “internet expert”

- Reputation
There are two aspects of reputation to check. The “real world” reputation as to the professionals conduct in general and the online reputation, what they are associated with, who they work with and who they are partnered with are examples of reviewing a professionals reputation.

- Testimonails
Client and business testimonials are excellent ways of assessing a professionals professionalism. That is, if the testimonials are REAL. This is something that happens in any business where an apparent glowing confirmation of a business was submitted by someone who never has, and never will exist so NEVER be afraid to check up on these testimonials and speak to the people who have supplied them.

- Portfolio
Some web companies are unfortunately restricted from publishing the work they do for clients and allowing it to be seen in their portfolios (this can be for a multitude of different reasons) but its no excuse. Web Design businesses should have a range of clients to show off in a portfolio.
*NOTE – portfolios are subjective, you might like the work you may not, but the work is examples of potential outcome and also bear in mind clients can, on occasion, have to much input into a design, thus potentially destroying the work in professionals eyes but leaving the client happy.

Follow these few steps and though there are no guarentees, it will help to ensure that the decision you make is more than liely correct and the investment in time and money wont be a waste.

I have plenty more to write around this type of subect so bear with me as I get it together.