You have the often unenviable task of finding someone to build
your website. Chances are you know little to nothing about web
design and, let's face it, you don't even know what you don't
know. Let's change that, shall we?
Let me start by making a few assumptions about you and your
business: * You either own or are part of a small business.
* You're not trying to do this on the cheap.
* You're looking for an experienced professional or organization.
Your nephew or your neighbour's daughter isn't going to cut it.
* You care enough about your business that you're willing to
invest some time and money to get the job done right the first
time (see the above two points). Regardless of whom you choose to build your website you need to
have, at the very least, a defined set of goals or objectives for
your website. In other words, you need to figure out what you
want your website to do. Forget about PHP, ASP, CMS or any other acronyms you've heard;
the right web designer will figure all that out for you. It's
your job to create the wish list from the perspective of your
business. Do you want the website to help sell your products or
services? Recruit new employees? Stay in touch with clients? You
define the problem and we'll let the web designer propose the
best solution. (If your project is quite large you may want to write a more
formal Request for Proposal document (RFP). But for the purposes
of this article you're part of a small business, so let's not
get mired down in RFP-land, OK?) Armed with your high level requirements, here's how to identify
the right web designer for you: 1) Decide on Geography.
A local designer/company will have more invested in ensuring
that you're a happy customer. If things go poorly you can
actually walk down the street and yell at them. That said, a
web designer who has a good reputation or comes to you through
a referral shouldn't be overlooked if they're not located where
you are. Technology can greatly enhance communication and keep
things running smoothly. Make a decision based on your own
comfort level. 2) Locate Candidates.
This is easy thanks to the nature of web design and Google. Do
a search for 'web design city' where 'city' is your city. Pay
attention to two different areas of the search results: a) the first three to five listings in the natural or
'organic' results, and
b) the top three to five paid advertisers. Create a list of
between five and ten possible candidates. 3) Go Surfing.
Visit each candidate's website and look for the following:
* Quality content. Are they interested in solving problems?
Does the writing make sense to you as a consumer rather than
a geek? If yes, good. Do they offer up their services in
'packages' based on number of web pages and whether you want
fries or a side salad? If yes, bad. The right web designer
will be someone who understands your unique issues rather
than trying to jam your business into a bronze, silver or
gold package. * Presentation. This is not only the design of their website,
but the organization. Does it make sense to you? Do you like
it? Would your customers like it? The design and layout of
a web designer's website is typically indicative of their
'style'. * Happy clients. Look for testimonials, a portfolio and case
studies. Do they show an aptitude at being flexible enough
to work with different industries? Ideally their
testimonials include full names, which means they're not
trying to hide anything. Web designers without some sort of
portfolio or client list are either bad or lazy; either way,
they're not for you. * Contact info. Are you forced to fill out an online form to
get in contact? Is there a phone number listed? A physical
address (other than a PO Box)? You'll need to speak to
someone before moving forward, so be sure you can actually
call and get a hold of a human being. Companies without
phone numbers or addresses are typically located in a
basement. 4) Revise Your List.
Based on your surfing adventure, choose your top three
candidates.
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Robin Eldred is the president of Apis Design, a Calgary Web
Design company. Apis specializes in strategically building
and marketing eye-catching, user-focused websites. They build
websites that work. http://www.apis.ca/
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