Choosing a web site designing company that's right for your business

With so many companies out there, it soon becomes a daunting task for many. Outlined below is some honest & informed advice that you may find useful. When choosing a web site designing company for your business, remember you are setting up a long term relationship with them, so don't be afraid to ask questions.

When dealing with any web site designing companies, ask to see their work, ask what their charges are and how much it is going to cost you, how long will they take to develop your site, what happens if you want to make slight changes after site creation, do they provide after sales service.

Approach your decision making in the following logical order:

Previous work
Ask to see their previous work, especially web sites that are still active. Pay particular attention to their own site (do you like the one you are currently viewing?). This will be an important influence on your decision making - but be aware just because they have a great web site themselves doesn't mean they always produce great web sites for others. Consider the following points:

can they produce 10 great web sites in succession?
Is their trend of web site design suitable to your type of business?
Do all their web sites look and behave the same?
Do you like their design styles?

Do also remember - a lack of variety may not be a bad thing, they may specialise in a particular area of the market, which would make them favourable for that particular market trend.

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Your Budget
A very important consideration no matter how big or small your company may be, so consider this right from the outset. All web designing companies have their own way of charging for their services. After all it is primarily a 'service' industry rather than a 'products' industry, thus companies that advertise '£100/web page' are probably working of a standard template rather than producing designs that are tailor made specifically to your needs.

Companies that design specifically to your needs may not be able to quote until a project outline has been discussed, but they should be able to provide you with a 'ball part' figure after such a discussion via a phone call, email or written quote. They may quote on an hourly/daily rate or for the entire project as a single payable figure.

What skills do they possess
This will depend on your aims and objectives. Consider whether your web site will need a flash introduction, a database, client log-in area, site's search engine, search engine optimisation? Can that web site design company produce such work? If they answer 'no' to these questions, then move on, if they say 'yes' ask them to prove it.

A good and honest web site designing company will tell you up front if they are not the best company to cater for your needs and point you in the right direction to someone who may be able to help you.

Are they qualified?
It normal and quite acceptable to ask for the credentials of the designers or the key members within the company. This should be by no means be taken as the company being suitable for you (or that a company without specific qualifications is not capable). It is a fair way to judge their expertise and experience.

Ask for references from their previous projects. These are more useful to gauge whether the company is right for you, and this will help you to form a good opinion. Contact the previous clients yourselves. Clients enjoy offering recommendations - so a simple brief call or an email to a previous client will give you a clearer idea.

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Will the company be proactive?
Will the company make suggestions to help improve your site, or will they be happy to provide you with just your own specifications? You will get a good idea of this when speaking to them. Will they call you from time to time (apart from just maintaining your site) to make suggestions on how to better your site?

Does size matter?
Well largely speaking, the size of a company provides no indication to the quality of work they can provide. There are a lot of freelance web designers who can produce far superior work compared to large companies, but some do charge far more than a large company. Try and leave the size of the company out of your decision making process.

Far more important are factors such as the level of support they can provide, how easy they are to contact. The questions you should be asking yourselves are:

Are they in work full-time?
Will they be closed for any periods (i.e., holidays)?
Can you get hold of them when you need them?
Will they maintain your web site as they said they would?

How long will they take?
Make sure your projected time scale is achievable by that company. The complexity of your site should shed some light on this, so it is imperative that you understand the complexity of your project. Get in touch with previous clients and ask them if they had their sites developed within the said period.

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Level of support
What level of support will the company provide? Make sure that they are able to solve any technical problems as soon as possible and any update maintenance will be swift. Companies who do not provide a solid contact number or address will most certainly be harder to contact. Mobile phone numbers may change often unless it is under a contract.

Does the company understand the nature of your business well?
Apart from the business the web site designing company is currently operating, ask if they have ever owned other types of business. Does the company only specialise in one area or are they flexible into other areas as well.

You need to ensure that your chosen design company is best suited to understand your type of business, and be able to work with those needs in mind to best attract audience of the type that you are trying to appeal to.

Terms & Conditions
Does the companies terms & conditions tie you down for a period longer than one year?
Does the company allow you to own the design of the web site?
Will they create a site that is near impossible for another company to edit or maintain?

These are all considerations that will probably come after your initial research, but are very important to get clear before signing on the dotted line.

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