What to Look for in a Web Designer or Design Agency
Google for web designers or web design firms and you will get millions of results for companies that promise very similar things: timely delivery, economic, search engine optimization and compatibility between browsers, etc. Now, if they were so great, why? Are there so many crappy websites that you can ask for? Here are some qualifications that will help you eliminate good web designers from the bad ones.
Great portfolio
A large portfolio shows creativity, a variety of styles and most importantly, has examples of real customer work and not just the specific work of the school. Make sure that the general style of the web designer in your portfolio matches what you are looking for. Test your previously released websites to make sure they are easy to use, error-free, suitable for your target market and fast loading.
A large portfolio always triumphs over design experience or education. Web designers with too much experience could be established in their ways and be less open to new ideas or trends. And just because someone took some classes for the design does not mean they have an eye for it. We have come across many websites that offer web design services with horrible websites.
Customer service
No matter how stellar your designer or agency is, if you can not answer your calls or emails in a timely manner during business hours, you most likely can not meet your deadline. This can mean the death of your business if your project is time sensitive due to something like the launch of a product. Some independent web designers are moonlighters which means they have full-time jobs and they pick up the weird project here and there for extra money. Be careful with these people because they are probably not present when their project fails and they force you to lose your deposit.
Required skills
Whoever selects must be competent with the web technologies that your project requires. If you need Flash for an animated clip, make sure your web developer is an expert in Flash Actionscripting 3.0. If you want to convert your website into a CMS, make sure you are well versed in your chosen CMS and in the web technologies that support it. Most open source CMS are controlled by PHP. It is always better to hire an expert who can excel in the things you need instead of a cat of all trades that is simply mediocre at all. In general, you should be able to evaluate this based on your online portfolio.
Your timeline adapts to your timeline
All projects have a deadline or a preferred time range in which you would like it to be completed. Inexperienced web designers often cite excessively optimistic timelines. No matter how simple the design or redesign of your website is, it is almost impossible for the design process (from concept to completion) to take less than two weeks because there will always be revisions. I always laugh when a potential client sends me an email and estimates that their new website is very basic and should not take more than 2 days. It is much more professional to quote a longer timeline and deliver earlier than expected. However, if your web designer says it will take much longer than your competitors, it may be a moonlighting.
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Great portfolio
A large portfolio shows creativity, a variety of styles and most importantly, has examples of real customer work and not just the specific work of the school. Make sure that the general style of the web designer in your portfolio matches what you are looking for. Test your previously released websites to make sure they are easy to use, error-free, suitable for your target market and fast loading.
A large portfolio always triumphs over design experience or education. Web designers with too much experience could be established in their ways and be less open to new ideas or trends. And just because someone took some classes for the design does not mean they have an eye for it. We have come across many websites that offer web design services with horrible websites.
Customer service
No matter how stellar your designer or agency is, if you can not answer your calls or emails in a timely manner during business hours, you most likely can not meet your deadline. This can mean the death of your business if your project is time sensitive due to something like the launch of a product. Some independent web designers are moonlighters which means they have full-time jobs and they pick up the weird project here and there for extra money. Be careful with these people because they are probably not present when their project fails and they force you to lose your deposit.
Required skills
Whoever selects must be competent with the web technologies that your project requires. If you need Flash for an animated clip, make sure your web developer is an expert in Flash Actionscripting 3.0. If you want to convert your website into a CMS, make sure you are well versed in your chosen CMS and in the web technologies that support it. Most open source CMS are controlled by PHP. It is always better to hire an expert who can excel in the things you need instead of a cat of all trades that is simply mediocre at all. In general, you should be able to evaluate this based on your online portfolio.
Your timeline adapts to your timeline
All projects have a deadline or a preferred time range in which you would like it to be completed. Inexperienced web designers often cite excessively optimistic timelines. No matter how simple the design or redesign of your website is, it is almost impossible for the design process (from concept to completion) to take less than two weeks because there will always be revisions. I always laugh when a potential client sends me an email and estimates that their new website is very basic and should not take more than 2 days. It is much more professional to quote a longer timeline and deliver earlier than expected. However, if your web designer says it will take much longer than your competitors, it may be a moonlighting.
My Other Links:-
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