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Finding A Web Designer – What You Should Check For

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Article Overview: So you've decided that you want a web site, but that it might be best to leave web design to the professionals. You have discovered that there are hundreds if not thousands of them out there. So how do you find the one for you without wasting time and money?

Finding A Web Designer – What You Should Check For

So you've decided that you want a web site, but that it might be best to leave web design to the professionals. You have discovered that there are hundreds if not thousands of them out there. So how do you find the one for you without wasting time and money?

Unfortunately web designers range from a young person designing in their bedroom through to large web design companies that spend your dollars on meetings and information gathering. In between are those that think they know what they are doing, those that are hopelessly out of date and those that just want to make a few bucks!

So, how can you protect yourself when you decide to hire a professional? Here are some guidelines for you.


Qualifications Don’t Mean Much, But Skills Do

Web design is a fairly new enough industry without any international qualifications that mean very much. As technology changes so quickly, the qualifications can not keep up and someone who qualified in one area may now be completely out of date. You should, if you feel comfortable doing so, look for the skills that you feel that you may need. If you do not understand what CSS and HTML, Dreamweaver or FrontPage are then decide what kind of web site you need. Do you want a static page, moving graphics, databases, forms, audio, video etc. Look for these instead. You will need a designer who speaks “English” as opposed to techno babble so how they describe their skills is a good indication as to whether you can understand each other.


The Portfolio

The easiest way to tell whether the designer you're considering is any good or not is to take a look at their portfolio. Good designers will have a diverse portfolio, with plenty of attractive sites that they've built for all sorts of customers, and they'll be able to explain to you why they built each site the way they did. They will be able to give you the addresses of the sites that they have designed and be comfortable for you to contact these people to confirm this.

If the designer doesn't have a substantial portfolio yet, you shouldn't write them off there and then – but do say that you're going to need to see something before you commit yourself. At the very least their web site should be an indication of what they can do. If they don’t have a web site then run, don’t walk as fast as you can from them. Web designers as a breed love dabbling on their own web sites.

A good designer will happily do a first-draft design for one of your pages just to show themselves off. If you're happy with what they've done, then the chances are that they've got the rest of the design in their head, ready to code up and send to you.


Search Engine Friendly and Usability is Vital.

You should make sure that the designer you're talking to realises that they're building your website for users – all users, no matter how they want to use it or which web browser they have. Amateur web designers have a tendency to come up with things that they think are impressive-looking, either visually or technically, while ignoring who the website is actually for – your visitors.

Similarly it is difficult to get good search engine rankings now so it is vital that your designer knows the basics of good SEO so that they can give you a good head start.

Ask them how they will ensure that your surfers have a good experience on your website and how you will ensure that you have an optimally optimised web site. They may be a bit cagey before you have made your deposit as this is knowledge that they have worked to obtain. So visit some of their sites to check for yourself.

Making Your Choice

First of all don’t make price your criteria. If you post a project to a freelance site where designers can bid on it, you'll get bids ranging from $50 to $5,000. Both ends are pretty obviously ridiculous. At one end, you've got kids with no experience and those who don't speak English; at the other, you're paying for things that you don’t need or they are just hoping to find a mug!

Your best bet is to find someone professional but independent, experienced but not corporate, and with a price that reflects the quality of their portfolio. As with all things in life, though, don't be afraid to negotiate – and never agree to let them do however much work it takes and pay by the hour.

Always insist that you only pay a deposit at the start of the project and insist on receiving drafts at regular intervals.

Expect to be asked for some of the words for the web site – at the least this will be your company details and contact information. Check how much you will be asked to contribute.

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Article Tags: all sorts, databases, information gathering, international qualifications, moving graphics, technology changes, time and money, wasting time, web design companies, web designers, young person



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