Choosing A Web Design Company

Choosing a good web design company can be quite challenging, there are plenty out there but which are the good ones? Most people don’t look beyond the first 10 results on Google. Before contacting a web designer, decide on the limits of your budget, and have some idea about the type of website you want.

• Do you want a corporate brochure site, typically 1/5 pages
• Do you need a Content Managed System (CMS) that allows you to update the website & add web pages?
• Will you be selling products or services online & require a shopping cart.

Hiring a Web Design Company – 10 Tips

1. Make sure the web design company exists! It’s an industry littered with bedroom type businesses. Make sure the design companies on your short list actually have an office & staff.
2. Most web design companies have a portfolio of website projects they’ve completed, normally these are just screen shots, it’s always best to visit the actually site they have designed, it can reveal issues (accessibility & functionality etc…)
3. Establish what type of website you need, the price difference between the different types of designs can be quite substantial. Typically prices go up from £99.00 for a cheap 2 page brochure site, to many thousands of pounds for ecommerce & content managed system (CMS).
4. Try to stay with a local web design agency, a face to face meeting can save a lot of time wasting… designers by the very nature of the business don’t spend too much time reading emails & answering phone calls, you will find it easier to scope your requirements by visiting the web design company, if they can’t accommodate a meeting, walk away.. It’s a sure sign they don’t have offices, or they have something to hide.
5. The design brief – any decent professional web design company will publish a full design brief detailing the requirements & scope of work for your new design… Make sure the company you decide to go with has something similar in place.
6. Intellectual Property Rights – Who owns the website once the job is complete, ASK THE QUESTION! There are a number of cases where agencies have taken websites back due to fallouts over hosting etc… Depending on the type of website you have designed, it may be worth asking for hard copies of files on CD etc…
7. What’s included? Don’t always presume that extras like domain names & hosting are included with the price, again make sure you negotiate and settle on a price for everything you need.
8. Domain names – It’s not uncommon for web design companies to register domain names on your behalf, however… please make sure the domain name is registered in your name, again some unscrupulous web design companies register the domains under the design company’s name which can become messy if you decide to move you website to a different hosting company. (remember the name of the registered domain owner is the legal owner – a visit to Nominet.org.uk can help in this area)
9. Do they have clients that are willing to talk to you? If they a good design company then they should have recent clients who are prepared to discuss their experiences.
10. Support - What kind of support do they offer if things go wrong or need changing? It’s not uncommon even with the most proficient web design company to have teething problems during first few weeks of launching a new site.