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Web Design Guide
A quality product is the first thing to take care of before building a website but soon after you will need to locate a web designer that can package it correctly. Online shopping is a visual experience and people like to see what they are buying and be impressed. It is important that a business owner speaks with a web designer and accurately discusses the best ways to attract a target audience.
There are a variety of options and styles to choose from in terms of design. Some basic information websites will consist of pages of content, with a prominent logo and some language about the website. Showcase websites go for style over substance and may use a flash based design. E-Commerce websites allows viewers to look at and purchase products online.
Web designers come in a variety of skill levels and a good suggestion is to find someone with some experience away from just the nuts and bolts of design, especially if you are a small company bringing in just one designer. For example, if you only bring in one guy and that person has no experience in SEO, then you may find that at the end of the day you have a nice looking website that will need to be re-hauled to conform to SEO principles. So, experience matters in addition to the types of experience and a portfolio is always good to see.
Communication with the web designer is critically important. If you tell a web designer ‘its up to you’ and don’t like what they provide, then they have to redo everything the cost will go up. It is best if you research competitors and give some direction, even if you are in favor of the ‘hands off’ approach.
Decide who is Best
There are web designers on every other street corner so deciding who to go with can be a tough decision. The options are endless and depending on budget and functionality requests differentiating from one-to-another can be difficult. Some companies will provide a rough template to lure in your business. It is good to approach companies with some basic information to be included (content, images, examples of competitors) and from that point they should be able to provide a ‘deliverables’ list for you.
If you don’t like their past work, odds are you won’t like the work they do for your website. When looking at their portfolio, look to see if spelling, links and other small things are all correct.
Contacting their old clients should be easy to do, as their contact information will be on the portfolio websites they provide. If the feedback is good, that may tell you something on how well your relationship will go with them.
Web hosting is, merchant accounts (for selling products) and other elements of web development are often included in a web designers package. Make sure there are no fees you are unaware of and the prices being quoted give the full-breadth of total cost. This is important and if you find someone that can cover all the bases it will save you time and money. It all depends on your experience and know-how but odds are as a small business owner you won’t have time to deal with the time-eating nuisances these services can turn into. Again, find out if web marketing is within their realm of ability (or if they know someone) and other things such as customer tracking.
A web designer will be able to tell you what you need based on your product and service. Additionally, they should be able to break down the structure and marketing approach based on the product or service being sold after some research. It should not be a ‘trial-by-error’ experience and if it is, you should not be paying for the designers initial mistakes.
If you have an existing website the needs a redesign, then content and links should stay in place, while the style and additional features are enhanced.
Building a website is exciting and it’s important you find your guy who is worth every penny. By finding a guy who can always make the correct recommendations, you will save money in the long run and be on your way to internet success.
No one individual can do everything but you will find some designers are well seasoned in a variety of fields. Find this person and ask them to manage all of the additional features needed and that way you can focus on making your service and products the best they can be.
