How to Choose a Web Design Company

On the Internet today, there are many people who call themselves web designers and web design companies. Some people do it for fun, as a hobby or part-time. Web designers that design full-time are the way to go.. Someone who does web design in their part-time tends not to take it as seriously as someone who does it for a living. There are also people who do web design, who have no formal training. Make sure your web designer has some formal training from a recognized school. People who are self taught, although I applaud them for doing it, have relied on the Internet for all their information, and as you know information on the Internet can be inaccurate.
Relevant Experience
The web design company you choose for your project should have relevant experience. If you would like them to design a e-commerce website, it is best to choose a web designer who has e-commerce websites in their portfolio. Your web design company should be ready to submit a proposal for your website project along with a contract. Beware of companies who don't give you a formal contract. The contract should outline exactly what the web designer will do and how long it will take, the price, and what you have agreed to supply. A formal contract is the best way to avoid disagreements between the web designer and you. Make sure your contract outlines every possible problem that can happen.
Different types of websites
There are different types of websites such as: static HTML (brochure type), e-commerce (with a shopping cart), database, Flash and a website with your own content management system. All of these must come into perspective when you are looking for a web design company. For example if you are looking for a fully interactive Flash website you better make sure that the web design company you choose has done many Flash websites. There is a difference between companies who can do Flash headers for a standard HTML site and web designers who can create a full flash website. Your best bet when choosing a web design company is to have a face to face meeting when discussing what it is you would like to have your website look like , also some sketches and some addresses of websites that you like. This gives the web design company the chance to fully understand what you are looking for and a better chance to give you an accurate proposal.
Things to take into consideration
Does the web design company have an update package? You must know that after your website has been created, from time to time you will require updates. Maybe they will be small maybe not. If the web design company you are choosing does not have an update package, you should inquire about the price of updates after the initial design. You should take the price of updates into consideration before you begin the design process. Make sure the web design company or web designer you choose sets realistic goals for the timeline. Usually if it sounds too good to be true then it is.
Many web designers have their own personal style. For example my personal style is clean and bright colors. Some web design companies love Flash and always build Flash websites. This would not be ideal if you are looking for an extremely search engine friendly website.
You would also have to consider guarantees. Does your potential web design company offer a guarantee? Most web design companies do not. So when you find one who does, you can know that they feel very confident in their capabilities. Another thing to consider is: Does the web design company display a phone number that they can be contacted at. Sometimes as a client you would like to speak with someone, not just get a reply to an e-mail the next day.
How to a find a web design company
There are a few ways to find web design companies in your area. One way is to search the web for: "Vancouver web design" or "Sarasota Web design", obviously depending on the city closest to you. You could also search the Yellow pages for web design companies. Most web design companies who can afford to advertise there have already built a pretty go reputation and have been in business for a while.
Another option is search the web and when you see a website you really like, check for a link on the bottom of the page or on a contact page.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/201804

Choosing the Right Web Designer

Creating your web site can be a tricky process. Choosing the best web design company for your site is extremely important. Unless you run a web-based business, you probably do not have web design experience within your company. Building your web site will take time and a little homework!
To create a web site for your business, follow these 4 simple steps:

1. Establish your goals
2. Determine your budget
3. Pick a web design company
4. Pick a web hosting company

Establish Your Goals
Before you begin looking for company to help you design and build your web site, take the time to understand the goals of your web site. This will be extremely important to help set expectations with the web design company you choose.
In order to set your web site goals, ask yourself the following questions:

• Why do you want a web site?
• Are you selling something?
• Do you have a catalog of products that changes on a regular basis?
• Who is your target market?
• Do you already have a brand?
• What is your industry?
• Who are your competitors?
• Do they already have web sites? If so, what do they look like?
• If you're selling something, will you accept credit cards over the internet?
• How soon do you want your web site?
• What happens if you never create a web site for your business?

Take the time to answer each of the above questions and if you have time, write the answers down on a sheet of paper. These are the same questions most web design companies will ask you before they begin to create your site. If you have these questions answered up front, you will have some criteria for choosing the right web design company. For example, if you are a real estate agent, and want to publish listings on your web site, you should seek a web design company that knows about the real estate business and has created web pages for other real estate agents.
Determine Your Budget
How much do you want to spend on your web site. Web sites can cost you anywhere from $100 to $100,000 depending upon what you want it to do. Know your spending constraints before you begin negotiating with design companies. Whatever you do, do not tell a web design company what your budget is!! Always get pricing based on your needs, not you budget.
Pick a Web Design Company
Your choice of a web design company is a very important step. Take your time to investigate all of your options. Here are some important items to consider.
Design vs. Build
Depending upon the scope of your web site, you may need to choose two different companies. Building a web site is a highly technical process. Designing a web site is a highly creative process. Many advertising firms specialize in web site design which does not necessarily require any web development skills whatsoever. The process of creating a web site is similar to the process of building a new home. Before you ask a construction company to start building, you first seek out an architect who creates a blueprint of your house taking into account what you want (number of stories, square footage, etc.). Creating a detailed blueprint before construction begins can help you accurately estimate the final price. Without the blueprint, you may end up paying a lot of money for a house that does not fit your needs. Creating a web site is exactly the same except most web site "builders" also claim to be "designers". The good news is that you can look at other sites a web design company has created (like looking at other homes that a home builder has made). Make sure you ask the web design company what their process is for designing a web site vs. building a web site. They should understand the difference between these two concepts. If they don't, they're probably builder that think they can also architect.
Evaluate Experience
Has the web design company created web sites similar to yours? Do they have relevant industry experience? As with any services company, choosing someone that has relevant experience. If you want to sell products through your web site and accept credit card payments, does the web design company you are considering have experience doing just that?
Review the Portfolio
A well established web design company will have a solid portfolio of web sites that they have created for other clients. Ask for links to other site the design company has created and review each one. Do you like what you see? Do the sites have a style that appeals to you? In addition to reviewing web sites, ask for customer references. Contact their clients and ask them about their experience with the web design company. Were they happy with the results? Did they get what they paid for? How much did they pay? Would they recommend them? How long did it take? What didn't they like about the company? How responsive was the company when they had questions?
Compare Prices
Pricing for creating a web site can vary. Typically, web design companies will charge one of three ways:

• Time and materials: price is variable based on the actual number of hours spent working on your site. For example, a web design company may charge you $75 per hour. If it takes 100 hours to create your web site, your price would end up being $7,500.
• Fixed Price: some design companies will charge you a fixed fee based on a fixed set of requirements. If you outline your requirements very carefully, many web design companies will quote you a single price.
• Component Pricing: some design companies will charge "by the page". By creating a price based on the number of pages, you can control the cost by designing a specific number of pages. Buyer beware: some design companies will charge by the page but will have "special pricing" for components such as custom graphics, animated images, and the like.

The most important step in pricing is to make sure the potential design company outline all of the prices associated with the work and puts it all in writing. Never enter into a deal unless all of the costs are well understood up front. Also make sure that you understand what "done" means. Try and structure the payments such that a significant portion of the fees (20%) are not due until you "accept" the final web site. Include the agreed-upon dates in your contract and provisions for what will happen if these dates are not met.
Solicit bids from multiple web design companies and compare both the pricing models and the prices themselves.
There are thousands of web designers across the country and they should all fight feverously for your business! Be picky! If a web design company dismisses any of your questions regarding their design process, pricing, or client references, take your business elsewhere!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/24448

Web Design

The importance of a well-designed website is not something that needs any further explanation or persuasion. Organizations across the world have very well understood the significance and relevance of an attractive and efficient website. In this era of internet marketing, a website is like another showroom, outlet, branch office or services center of the company, although online. In fact, it must be considered as the first and one of the most frequent interfaces of the company with the client. They serve multiple purposes including but not limited to promoting the company, advertising about new products and educating the clients about the organization and its products and services. With the increasing affordability and easy availability of internet to large masses, electronic commerce is leading the marketing practice.
A vast majority of consumers agree that they have never had a human interface with many of their online service providers despite using them for a considerably long period. Needless to say, that every organization should invest significant time and money to get the best of the design for their website. Companies like custom web design Toronto, specialize in creating beautiful, functional, user friendly and lead generating Toronto based websites. Any kind of compromise in website design may lead to very damaging consequence in future.
Any organization would certainly do a cost - benefit analysis before deciding their budget for the website design but it would be extremely foolish to just look at the immediate returns from the money spent on the website design and as such keep on curtaining the budget for the same. The return on investment (popularly known as ROI in the financial parlance) for website design mostly take into account the short term as well as long term benefits. It is true that it is very difficult to measure the exact quantum of the real benefit that an organization has achieved due to better website design. Hence, the justification to why we compromise to design our website can always be provided.
More and more organizations have started to realize that money spent on the website is not wasted but invested. But the sad reality of life it that most of the business organizations still see the website design as a cost center and do not want to pay the premium for a better, user - friendly and efficient website. Corporate client are generally driven by their out dated annual / quarterly budgets and do not want to exceed. Not realizing the fact that any decision related to the website design can have far-reaching consequences on the profitability and reputation of the company. For example, on 14 July 2010, BBC World had launched the redesigned version of its website. To their utter surprises, it received more than 500 comments from various users in less than 6 hours of its launch and a vast majority (around 75%) of the comments said that they hated the new look which was confusing and did not at all appear to be user friendly. Many users requested BCC to get back to the old version. So it's better to get your website designed without any compromise.

Aylmer author at Custom Web Design Toronto, designing business websites with client satisfaction. 365 web designs professional team of Toronto web designers and developers, SEO specialists, and Social Media Experts, which are educated and truly dedicated individuals in their respective fields.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5590681