CHOOSING A WEB DESIGNER OR DEVELOPER

This may seem like a lot of details but it will be worth it. Most importantly, take the time to understand the exact services you are getting for your money: a custom-designed, custom-developed website; a website from a template, etc. Here is some information to find out from your web designer/developer BEFORE hiring them to help you understand what you are paying for...

A strong portfolio. The sites should be memorable as well as appropriate for each project. For instance, a site directed at senior citizens should not include very small type.
Visit their portfolio sites
and look at the page layout, design, and navigation.
Call references-
contact info should be listed somewhere on the websites you just visited... call and see if they recommend their design company. We cannot stress enough the importance of this step.
 
Find out how you will update your website. Some developers will charge an arm-and-a-leg to make updates for you, making it sound too complicated or time-consuming for a non-professional and in some cases, it is! In other cases, you may want to have your web developer train you on how to update your own website. Make sure you sort this out BEFORE signing any contracts. You do not want to get stuck.
 
Know your developer’s tools. Some developers use premade templates and simply change a few fonts and background colors then insert your business's information. This method is often less expensive and faster than custom websites; however, these template websites often have a generic, cookie-cutter feel to the visitor. Custom websites may cost more and take more time to develop but leave the site visitor with a unique image of your business.
 
Ask your developer if they are programming in HTML or using a GUI (pronounced "gooey", it stands for Graphical User Interface) program such as Dreamweaver or Frontpage to create your website. If they are using a program, you may want to consider the cost of purchasing the program yourself and the time involved with becoming familiar with the program versus the freedom you will have to create and update your website independently once you own one of these programs.
Be sure you are comparing quotes for comparable services! Trying to compare prices between a custom web developer who programs in HTML and one who uses premade templates and Frontpage is worse than comparing apples to oranges.
 
Clean, legible layout. Visitors want immediate access to information and rarely spend time on sites which have confusing navigation or long pages of text. Try clicking through your designer’s sample sites and see how easy it is to find information. Everything should be grouped in logical sets which relate internally and to each other in consistent ways.
 
Clear navigation/menu bar & sense of visitor usability. Great web design is only as good as it is useful. No matter how attractive your site is, if visitors don’t know how to interpret your navigation buttons, they’ll go nowhere. Your web designer needs to have a solid grasp of usability principles in order to deliver a user-friendly site. In addition, particularly for clients with a wide client base or receiving federal funds, your web designer should employ federal accessibility standards that allow your site to be utilized by the sight-impaired or other people using assistive technologies.
 
A strong sense of marketing. The web is filled with cool-lookin’ sites. That’s often not enough to reach a business goal. Your designer should be able to clearly articulate the goal of each site and how it reached its audience. For instance a recycling site, designed to provide information and educate, should be laid out differently from a candle maker site, which is designed to sell a product.
 
Understand if you are speaking with a designer, developer, or a team that includes both. Many designers focus on graphic-heavy websites that look fantastic but do not get ranked well in search engines; while developers or programmers often produce sites that are ranked high on search engines, they may not present the information in a way that is attractive to your target market.
 
Quick-loading sites. On average, web surfers wait eight seconds for a site to load. If there is no imagery or text viewable in the browser within that time frame, many viewers will move on to other sites. Your web designer’s portfolio should include sites which load quickly and can be easily navigated.
 
Use of search engine optimization techniques. In the increasingly competitive World Wide Web, it’s critical for your site to be optimized for search engines like Google, MSN, and Yahoo. While there are a variety of factors which influence search engine results placement, some of which are outside your designer’s control, your web developer should know how to implement basic search engine optimization techniques on your site.
 
Excellent business and communication skills. A good designer stays on top of all the details of your project and makes the best use of your time and money.Personable and professional demeanor. Since you get to choose whom you’ll work with, hire someone you’ll enjoy partnering with and who provides professional service.
 
Please call us if you have any questions about what your current web developer is doing. Or if you have questions about computer/internet lingo, etc!