If you're not a web designer you won't know if your web site has all the correct components to function with maximum effectiveness or that it's ready for marketing. There's no point promoting it if it's full of errors or not optimized for the search engines.

Here are some frequently asked questions to ask your web designer when evaluating your web site:

1. Does it validate for correct HTML?

HTML errors slow the loading of your web pages and may cause browsers to incorrectly display the site to your customers. Everyone doesn't use the same browser.

2. Are the pages optimized for the search engines?

Each page should include meta tags that reflect the content. Your main keywords should be included in the title tag and an attention getting description written for the description meta tag. The keyword meta tag doesn't carry much weight these days however it's good to add keywords to it anyway.

A heading tag called H1 should be located at the top of the page followed by sub heading tags ie H2, H3. These tags give emphasis to your content.

Your web content should contain your main keyword phrase and read well to your customers. Create at least a paragraph or 2 at the top of the page that explains what your site is about and what benefits is has for your customers.

Images should contain the alt tag to describe the image. When you hover over with your mouse it should display the description of the image.

3. Do the pages load fast?

If your web pages contain lots of images, videos etc it will load slow and cause visitors to leave. Your web site should load within a few seconds using a cable connection. If not reduce the number of images, videos, javascript or whatever is slowing it down.

4. Is it easy to navigate?

Sometimes a web designer creates a flashy web site that looks great but makes it hard to access other pages. All pages should be accessed within a maximum of 3 clicks.

5. Will it display correctly in all browsers and screen resolutions?

You'll lose visitors if they can't view your web site on their computer screen. It should display correctly in the 2 main browsers Internet Explorer, Firefox  but also check the less popular ones Chrome, Opera and Safari. Computer screens vary in size so ask friends with different monitor sizes to take a look at your web site. If it doesn't  display correctly go back to your web designer. He may not have checked.

6. Does it contain an RSS feed?

This primarily applies to blogs however if your content continually changes create an RSS feed for it. It enables visitors to easily receive updated content in their RSS readers.

7. What ranking does it have?

A new web site won't have any rankings yet however if it has been on the web for some time it should have been indexed by the search engines and ranked accordingly. Check your rankings by Googling "market leap". After evaluating then correcting the errors your web site will be search engine friendly and also appeal to your visitors.