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How to Choose Your Web Designer

By Katherine Quirke

Republish: EasyPublish™
Published: 14May2011
Word count: 792
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A business without a website these days is a very rare thing. Gone are the days where creating a website cost thousands of dollars. Today you can create your website yourself for less than $100 or have somebody create a website for you for less than $500.

The problem many business owners have is how to go about getting a website. If the business owner has the confidence they may choose to create the website themselves. However most business owners find that having somebody create the site for them a better option.

Before employing somebody to create your website for you there are a number of considerations. Here is a list that you can use as a base:

1. What do you want your website to do? ie - provide information only or be interactive
2. Do you want an online shop?
3. How and what information to you want to share?
4. Who do you want to attract to your site?
5. Do you have a logo?
6. What colour scheme do you want on your site?
7. Have you seen the layout of a website you like?

A good web designer should help you and provide you with prompts. That brings me to what you should look for in a web designer and how to go about getting a web designer.

Web design is not just about looking pretty. A pretty website does not necessarily bring customers to you nor does it necessarily hold customers attention. So don't get fooled.

When you find a web designer you would like to consider you must interview them. Ultimately you don't just want a designer who will create your website, take you money and leaving you high and dry. What I mean is it is one thing to have a website but will they help you with your marketing? You also need a web designer that will not talk jargon and give you clear information.

The following are some basic questions that you should ask your prospective web designer:

1. What is the cost and what is exactly included in the cost?
2. Will you help me market my website and if so how and what is the cost?
3. What are the ongoing costs for keeping my website?
4. Can I update my website myself?

There is a major complaint that many business owners have and that is they don't understand what their web designer is doing. The reason is many web designers either lack the ability to portray information about the website creation clearly or they just like to hold all the cards so they have the power over their customer. Sadly the latter is much more common than desired.

You are the customer and you have a right to know and understand what you are spending your money on. So if you don't feel you can communicate with your potential web designer from the outset then do not go with them.

Here are some questions you should get clear answers on and feel you understand what is being said. Again if you don't then this is not the web designer for you.

1. What is a domain name and how do I get one?
2. What is web hosting?
3. Where do you put my website?
4. How do I know what content to put in my website?
5. What is a link?
6. Do you charge extra for putting movies or images on my site?

Then there is the added extra scenarios.

You need to know up front how much your website will cost. Many web designers will quote you for a basic website but then charge you extra for multimedia (ie videos, sound etc), picture galleries, Flash headers (headers that have moving images) and more.

A good web designer will ask you what you would like in your website then come up with suggestions. A good web designer will not charge you extra for multimedia (that you have supplied), picture galleries or Flash headers. A good web designer will specify clearly what they will charge extra for at the time of quoting.

At the end of the day when choosing a web designer you need to consider more than the cost. You need to consider if you will have good communication that does not confuse you, you need to not employ them if you feel intimidated, you need to ensure you get support for the long term. Most of all you need to trust them.

There is no doubt about it a web site is the most powerful and inexpensive marketing tools over the long term.

Katherine Quirke is a successful Australian based business entrepreneur with an IT background, has owned a number of businesses over the last 20 years. Her passion is to teach small business owners how to use the internet to their advantage. She empowers her clients to have more knowledge and take control. Read more at: www.thebusinesspromoter.com

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