Buying a Website 101 – 4 Rules for Choosing the Right Website Designer

1. Identify prospects – To be honest, there is no “perfect” way to find website designers (there are so many to choose from nowadays). However, to separate the “bums” from the “best of the best,” there are a few things to know as you Google, browse your Little Black Book, ask friends, family, associates, long-lost friends, coworkers etc When you have A COUPLE of prospects in mind, you’re ready for rule number two.

2. Know your prospects – Now the designer you choose must have REAL WORK that they can show you that they have completed. If a prospect does not have a healthy portfolio with ENTIRE websites viewable online, DO NOT consider them a viable option. The reason why your portfolio should be available online is because you need to see that the website design is complete, that it actually works and runs smoothly in your current web environments. If potential websites aren’t working properly… neither will yours. Take some time to click through the pages, try different features of the site, etc. The red flags are…”Oh, I’m still working on building my portfolio”…”I have a ton of clients, but I can’t legally reveal any of them to you”… Well, here are a couple of sites I’m working on”…etc. The truth is, the best designers have tons of ENTIRE site examples… WHY?, because they are good at what they do and therefore have built relationships with clients who have used their services in the past (and still use their services). Never go with a designer who doesn’t have an “established” portfolio that they can show you. The best designers also have their own website (which also serves as an example of their capabilities.) So if you meet a designer and they tell you their own website is “Coming Soon”…beware, that prospect could be an inactive website designer. Simply put, you want to go with a prospect who has an extensive portfolio… like us ;o)

3. Prepare your website vision on paper – Once you’ve gotten to know your prospects, take some time (as long as you need) to write your website vision (requirements); that is, things (features, colors, pages, layout, samples of other websites you like, etc.) that your website definitely needs to have. This could be a lot (or a little) of work, but the more detail you can put on paper, the better chance you have of narrowing down your perspectives (and ultimately picking the right one). Once you’ve completed your website vision, present each of your prospects with a hard copy (or electronic) of your vision.

SIDEBAR: It may be in your interest to prepare a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) or Confidentiality Agreement (CA), in the event that your website viewing contains proprietary information that you would not like your prospects to share with others . You can find a great free template for CA at Microsoft Office Online–>Templates. But you’ll need to compile an NDA with your attorney or do a Google search to find a good NDA template. Any legal document will work.

Once your prospects have reviewed your website vision, expect more professional prospects to provide a website design proposal. Those who don’t provide a proposal are not likely candidates, mainly for the simple fact that a good website designer always does their homework to include, researching the technologies that need to be used to provide the features you want and passing them on. .or just articulating all your ideas in a way that makes you feel confident they can get the job done. A website proposal should include the following sections (not necessarily in this order):

• Site Structure – Overview of the type of website to be developed i.e. Ecommerce, Content Management System (CMS), Flash, Social, Corporate, Static, Custom, Template, etc.
• Include: Could be a logo, tagline, other website ideas based on your vision, etc. The main purpose of this section is for you, the buyer, to know what is included.
• Core Requirements – This section lists items that are general features that the website will have regardless of which page of the site a visitor lands on (typically these are items that are included in the site header, site footer, etc.) , the left/right margins or data). related). This may include a database, site login/registration, banner ads, mailing list feature, etc.
• Site Pages – This section should include the details of each page your website will have. Details include website textual content, images, media, colors, theme, etc.
• Estimate and Schedule – These two sections go hand in hand, because many web designers translate the time it takes to develop a particular type of website into cost. Either way, the proposal should state how many business days it will take and how much it will cost to develop your website. There are three factors that affect any website project i.e. cost, schedule and performance (in this case performance = website hosting).
• Payments – This section should provide the peace of mind any buyer would need when making payments for services. The more payment methods accepted, the better. See number 4 below for more information on project costs.
• Website Content Disclaimer: This section is very important because many website projects are delayed due to lack of content provided by buyers. Well, this section removes any confusion in terms of when the content will be received and what will happen if it is not received in a timely manner in relation to the completion of the project. A good prospect will have a similar section in their proposal.
• Refund Policy – ​​A well-written proposal will have a refund policy (ie, a way out for you, the buyer, if you’re not happy with the outcome or the way your project is handled).
• Portfolio – This section isn’t necessary if you’ve already seen the prospect’s work first-hand, but if you haven’t… then it’s best to have this section in the proposal as a last ditch effort to build trust with them. your website design skills. PS Remember, this section should include work URLs that you can actually visit.
• Contact Us – This is probably the second most important section of the proposal (after all of the above, of course)… a way to communicate with the prospect via email, phone, fax, a website, and/or even in a physical location. rent. The more ways you have to contact a potential client, the better.

SIDEBAR: Remember, good prospects can demonstrate their level of expertise by providing samples of related websites from their portfolio so you can see some variation of the features you want in action. And lastly, a good prospect will not only be able to develop their website but also graphically design their website layout using an application like Adobe Photoshop or similar. We provide all of the above for EVERY potential customer (another not-so-subtle add-on)… but definitely something to consider. ;either)

4. Discuss all associated project costs – Hopefully, number three above helped you narrow down your prospects. If not, discussing the cost will surely do it. Keep in mind, never talk about cost before you know your prospects AND have created the vision for your website on paper. The reason is because, the first thing a good potential customer will convey to you, when asked how much a website will cost, is that it depends on the type of website you are interested in buying, i.e. what “your website vision” will be. Now, warning… never pay everything up front. Pay 50% to start the project and the rest when the project is complete (meaning you have approved the final product). Or if you’re feeling even less confident, it may help to break your payments into milestone payments, ie first full draft, second full draft, etc. Either way, be clear on what the total cost of your project is, including hosting charges, domain name charges, maintenance charges, and anything else you can think of. Many people are tricked into paying for things they shouldn’t pay for. Some of those things are usually 24/7 tech support and website framework/structural fixes (damage caused by poor website development). Make sure the total cost estimate for your project is included with the proposals provided by your prospect(s). This also means that there must be a “Total Cost” line item in the proposal. Please question absolutely ANYTHING you are not familiar with. And be sure to take the time to compare the costs of all your prospects in order to generate a baseline for negotiation. Remember, nothing is set in stone when it comes to website design… and everything is negotiable.

CONCLUSION: If you follow the above four rules, you will be able to choose the right website designer. In general, you want to go for a potential client who can take your ideas, your website vision or concept and create a home on the web for your business or company. Ultimately, your prospect should be able to design whatever their heart desires, whatever they are passionate about, and whatever they feel is right for their business. Our philosophy is simple; You can’t design anything if you haven’t done your homework first. We pride ourselves on our ability to customize without changing your ideas or vision. We consult with our clients before, during and after the development of the website. This is how we can provide what we like to call “perfect fit” websites… which I guess makes us the “perfect fit” prospect. For more information about our website design services, feel free to visit us online.