1) Red flag #1: Your web developer owns your domain name.

You or your business should own your own domain name. There's never a good business reason for your developer to own your domain name. Period.

Why? If your current web developer's performance is unsatisfactory, you need the freedom to switch to another developer. However, if you don't own your domain name, you don't have the ability to control changes to your site - at least, not without paying a chunk of cash in "domain transfer fees" to your current developer.

If you're not sure who currently owns your domain, look up your domain name at www.whois.net and see who's listed as the owner.

2) Red flag #2: Your web developer blames you for his incomplete content and missed deadlines.

Obviously your business is responsible for providing content for the web pages themselves. But your developer should ask you to provide keywords, page titles and page descriptions for each page, and then they should fully populate the meta data in the HTML code.

If they promise to provide keywords for you, they should use professional tools like KeywordDiscovery, Wordtracker, Google's Adwords keyword tool, and Yahoo's keyword selection tool to research them.

3) Red flag #3: Your web developer skips critical tasks because "he doesn't want to distract you."

Last year, the web developer for one of our wellness center clients didn't bother to complete the meta data for the web pages on the site. As a result, their site when launched simply showed up as "Home Page" in Google...rather than the name of the company.  Extremely embarrassing.  Their reason? "We knew you were getting ready for a big presentation and didn't want to bother you."

Were they lazy or just misguided? Who knows...but either way, the result is bad.

Another critical task: installing web analytics on your site so that you can analyze site traffic.  However, many small web development businesses skip this step, which means you have no insight into how many visitors you're getting and what they do on your site.

4) Red flag #3: Your web developer dazzles you into buying stuff you don't need.

Good developers recommend solutions that are appropriate for the maturity of your business. They don't sell a health club a full-blown shopping cart solution if you only sell one or two products online. They don't recommend live chat for yoga studios when your potential customers aren't likely to use it.

5) Red flag #5: Your web developer advertises on your site.

Have you ever seen a link to the web developer's site at the bottom of a small company's home page? You're essentially providing them with free advertising - and what's worse, if anyone clicks on the link they'll LEAVE your site! Small-time web developers like this strategy because it increases the number of links that point to their site - which improves their position in search results.

You wouldn't let your graphic designer put a small ad for her business on your brochure, would you? So don't let your web developer hitch a free ride on your fitness center's website.

6) Red flag #6: Your web developer wants to be paid in full upfront.

It's reasonable to pay 25 - 30% upfront to demonstrate your commitment to the project. However, the remaining fees should be paid only as the developer completes agreed-upon milestones to your satisfaction.

7) Red flag #7: Your business doesn't have a copy of your website.

Your developer should provide you with a copy of your website on disk or via a download link. This practice is especially important if the domain name is registered in your developer's name, not your company's name.

8) Red flag #8: Your developer owns the copyright for your website.

Your website development agreement should specify that your business holds all the rights to the text, images and other content on your site. You should not allow your developer to hold those rights.

Why? Because if you decide to switch developers, your current developer can refuse to allow you to use any content from your existing site. Fighting this can quickly cost you thousands in legal fees.

9) Red flag #9: Your web developer dodges your questions.

Good developers are born explainers. They like to talk about what they're doing and why.

If your developer insists on doing something because "this is what everyone's doing now," keep digging. If you ask questions and they respond by saying "I know what I'm doing, don't you trust me?" or shooing you away with the accusation that "you're not letting me do my job", that's a major warning sign too.

10) Red flag #10: Your web developer hosts your site himself.

If your developer offers to host your site himself, ask these questions before agreeing:

Related articles on effective wellness websites:
Hiring Key Advisors: How To Choose Attorneys, Developers, Consultants, Accountants & Other Professionals
How To Take Your Website's Vital Statistics
A Five-Point Tune-up for Your Health Club Web Site