How to Hire The Right Web Design Firm

	720-922-3124
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How to Hire The Right Web Design Firm Regardless whether you manage a small business, charitable organization, or Fortune 500 company, choosing the right web design firm can quickly become a full-time research project. With thousands of design firms to choose from, what factors truly determine which design firm is best for your business? The primary considerations for choosing a web design firm are: * Price * Customer service/access to support * Credibility indicators of the design firm * Portfolio and design experience * Other services offered (domain renewal, hosting, SEO) * Turnaround time Let's take a closer look at each consideration in detail, and explore how to identify and qualify the right design firm. Price Like many products and services we purchase, both personally and professionally, deciding on a web design firm can often come down to price. But the value of the services rendered is really what's important. A $200 web site usually turns out to look, feel and perform like a $200 web site. The price of your site's development will depend on three factors: the features of the site, the amount of content, and the service options included with the design package, such as hosting. Because pricing varies by firm, here are several principles to use when determining the validity and value of a web design quote: * Does the quote state one all-inclusive price for the entire project? * Is there a reoccurring monthly fee for hosting? * Is the site custom-built, or is it customization of an existing template? * Is there a separate fee for content development, such as writing sales copy? * Is domain registration/management included in the package? * Will the firm provide multiple design concepts, prior to actual development? It's important to compare quotes from at least three firms to, determine the value of the services offered. Looking for the best value is important in a competitive service market. Customer Service There's nothing worse than signing with a firm that offers a great product, only to find out they are impossible to contact. Consistent, open contact with your web design firm is important for ensuring success before, during, and after your web site is developed. Throughout the design process, you may identify text, photos, or contact information you'd like to change before the site goes live. If you have immediate questions regarding your site's development, you'll be glad to have immediate contact with customer support staff by e-mail, telephone, or live chat. If you are limited to e-mail technical support, consider other firms that offer a wider range of customer service options such as telephone and live chat support. E-mail is great for convenience - when it's convenient. Credibility Indicators Identifying "credibility indicators" can help ensure a firm is trustworthy, and will be around after your deposit or full payment is sent. Credibility indicators include, but are not limited to: * Toll free telephone support * 24 hour customer service * Better Business Bureau affiliation * Human e-mail address contacts * Google PageRank of 2 or above * Presentation of a hard-copy quote/design contract Design Experience/Portfolio Does the design firm have experience in working with similar types of businesses? Even if a designer doesn't have a web site in their portfolio related to your industry, the firm you select should have a strong working knowledge of how to develop an effective site for your business type. Product and service web sites are not the same. Your designer should have a plan of action for developing a site that reaches the maximum number of prospective customers in your target market. A few good questions to ask about a firm's design experience include: * Does the firm offer a number of diverse, finished web sites available for review? * Will the firm conduct research regarding my competition? * Will my web site highlight the features, benefits and value of my product or service? * Has the firm outlined a plan of action for creating an effective site, start to finish? Design experience need not always relate to the type of web sites the firm has previously developed. If you have a specific look in mind, ask the firm if achieving a similar design is possible. The ultimate goal is to know you're going to get a tangible benefit out of your site through effective, affordable web design. Additional Services Many web design firms offer design, but do not provide other required services such as hosting and domain name registration. Ideally, your web design company should be a full-service firm, offering at least basic hosting, domain registration and search engine optimization services tailored to your needs. Research each firm to determine other key lines of business, so that any future expansion of your site will be seamless as your business grows. Turnaround Time An effective website should take 30-60 days to go live, from the start of production. Unless you're offering hundreds of individual products or services on your web site, the entire development process, start to finish, should take no longer than 60 days. Turnaround time should include: * Upload of your web site to the hosting provider * Configuration of any scripts or forms on your site * Domain propagation (accessing your web site and e-mail via yoursite.com) Hiring the cheapest, fastest, or most elaborate web design firm does not always equate to hiring the right web design firm. A limited amount of front-end research can save time and money in the long term, and maximize the sales revenue from your web presence. Jim D. Ray is a seasoned web developer and president of Web Presence, a national web design firm serving the small business market sector. To learn more, or for a free quote for your own web site, visit the Web Presence at http://www.web-presence.net. RELATED ARTICLES One-Product Sales Sites: Avoid These Top Blunders One product, one long web page: this kind of web site is sometimes called a sales letter site or mini-site, and it focuses on one and only one goal, as many sales of that one product as possible. With a one-product sales site, no distractions, no subsidiary goals, such as newsletter signups, are allowed to interfere with that goal. An Ideal Home Business Home Page From my personal experience of around two year as home business website operator as well as owner, I have spent enough time learning and unlearning. Observing other sites and constantly reading and contributing in online forums about managing a website. The Best Simple Software For The Busy Webmaster Here are a few programs I can't do without. They're free, and make being a webmaster much easier. Why Should You Care About Your Web Site Colors? How Colors are Used in web design:Demarcates screen elements into groups- You can pu a blue background for your navagational bar and white for rest of your page. This tells the visitor that the blue area has different elements and grabs his attention. Is Your Site Too Slow? Why Image Optimization Is Critical Graphics are fun, but if you put in too many bells and whistles when you create your web site, you may lose a potential audience whose Internet connection can't handle lots of graphics, and that means you'll be losing potential customers.According to UK website experts Boommm. Developing Your Winning Web Site Strategy Your web site is the key to your success on the Internet. You can use your web site to build your brand, increase sales, generate more leads, slash costs, and much more. 15 Website Elements That Attract Visitors Here is a quick list of components that make a website attractive. They are listed in layers of attractiveness beginning with the "must" haves, to "nice to haves. Its No Good Having A Killer Product If You Dont Have A Killer Website Read the title of this article over a couple of times in your head so it really starts to sink in.So what does this title really mean. Appropriate Key Words Choice What do the key words represent?Key words - these are the words that the users enter in a given search engine to find services or products you offer. It is extremely important to know what key words they will use. Welcoming Your Website Visitors Imagine you're going on a blind date. You've heard wonderful things about this person, and in your heart of hearts you're thinking -- hoping -- this might just be "the one. A Crash Course on Graphic Philosophy 101 Novice and professional graphic designers, we are aware that you know the basic principles of graphic philosophy. But then, as workers of art - though digital and graphic art already borders in commercial arts, there's no harm in continuously improving our craft through constant study and practice, is there? Really great graphic designers I know have come to their status because of painstaking application and study of their past works. What Your Website REALLY Says About You And Why It Matters Everything you say and do says something about you. This has never been more true than in a text based environment like the Internet. Awards Program Debate Daily article:One of the most debated subject among webmasters is the whole concept of web site awards. I'm sure you've seen the little graphics on many different sites, announcing it is the "best", "coolest" or "most wonderful" or whatever. Website Sales: Discover 10 Mesmerizing Insider's Tricks To Ignite Your Sales Marketing is not an easy skill to acquire.It requires patience and a lot of efforts in conducting many tests and improvement to get it right. Questions to Ask When Designing a Website for Clients Questions to ask when designing a Web Site for your client (s)."Excerpt from the book: Graphic Artists Guild, Handbook Pricing & Ethical guidelines Written by: Brent ParkerThese questions are a great tool to use when trying to develop your clients website. How To Boost Your Sales Dramatically Using Dynamic Back-end Strategies Getting a customer is not easy.Getting a visitor to decide that he or she wants to buy the product or service you're offering, getting out their credit card and giving you their hard-earned money is not a piece of cake. The Golden Rule Of Website Building Copyright 2005 Robert EvansSetting yourself up to earn a steady monthly income has to be a pre-requisite to your success online. There is no doubt that large sums of money can be made (and indeed are being made) from selling products or services online. Top Ten Fonts for Website Design The top ten fonts for website design might change in order, but for the most part the fonts that make up this list stay the same due to their popularity. In general, the top ten list includes Arial, Frutiger, Futura, Gills Sans, Helvetica, Lucida, Optima, Palatino, Agfa Rotis, and Univers. Power of Squeeze Pages for Realtors Squeeze pages are a very hot topic in the internet marketing scene. What a squeeze page is is a page that is built to get someone to take an action. Website promotion Ideas: 10 Web Site Add-Ons To Increase Your Traffic If you're not getting a lot of traffic to your website anymore, must implement these Website promotion ideas immediately.1.
Denver Websites Home\| Site Map\| Links © 2008 Green Chair Marketing Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Web Site Hosting by Green Chair Hosting

	720-922-3124
Web Design \| Web Design Samples \| The Design Process \| Contact Us \| Home
How to Hire The Right Web Design Firm Regardless whether you manage a small business, charitable organization, or Fortune 500 company, choosing the right web design firm can quickly become a full-time research project. With thousands of design firms to choose from, what factors truly determine which design firm is best for your business? The primary considerations for choosing a web design firm are: * Price * Customer service/access to support * Credibility indicators of the design firm * Portfolio and design experience * Other services offered (domain renewal, hosting, SEO) * Turnaround time Let's take a closer look at each consideration in detail, and explore how to identify and qualify the right design firm. Price Like many products and services we purchase, both personally and professionally, deciding on a web design firm can often come down to price. But the value of the services rendered is really what's important. A $200 web site usually turns out to look, feel and perform like a $200 web site. The price of your site's development will depend on three factors: the features of the site, the amount of content, and the service options included with the design package, such as hosting. Because pricing varies by firm, here are several principles to use when determining the validity and value of a web design quote: * Does the quote state one all-inclusive price for the entire project? * Is there a reoccurring monthly fee for hosting? * Is the site custom-built, or is it customization of an existing template? * Is there a separate fee for content development, such as writing sales copy? * Is domain registration/management included in the package? * Will the firm provide multiple design concepts, prior to actual development? It's important to compare quotes from at least three firms to, determine the value of the services offered. Looking for the best value is important in a competitive service market. Customer Service There's nothing worse than signing with a firm that offers a great product, only to find out they are impossible to contact. Consistent, open contact with your web design firm is important for ensuring success before, during, and after your web site is developed. Throughout the design process, you may identify text, photos, or contact information you'd like to change before the site goes live. If you have immediate questions regarding your site's development, you'll be glad to have immediate contact with customer support staff by e-mail, telephone, or live chat. If you are limited to e-mail technical support, consider other firms that offer a wider range of customer service options such as telephone and live chat support. E-mail is great for convenience - when it's convenient. Credibility Indicators Identifying "credibility indicators" can help ensure a firm is trustworthy, and will be around after your deposit or full payment is sent. Credibility indicators include, but are not limited to: * Toll free telephone support * 24 hour customer service * Better Business Bureau affiliation * Human e-mail address contacts * Google PageRank of 2 or above * Presentation of a hard-copy quote/design contract Design Experience/Portfolio Does the design firm have experience in working with similar types of businesses? Even if a designer doesn't have a web site in their portfolio related to your industry, the firm you select should have a strong working knowledge of how to develop an effective site for your business type. Product and service web sites are not the same. Your designer should have a plan of action for developing a site that reaches the maximum number of prospective customers in your target market. A few good questions to ask about a firm's design experience include: * Does the firm offer a number of diverse, finished web sites available for review? * Will the firm conduct research regarding my competition? * Will my web site highlight the features, benefits and value of my product or service? * Has the firm outlined a plan of action for creating an effective site, start to finish? Design experience need not always relate to the type of web sites the firm has previously developed. If you have a specific look in mind, ask the firm if achieving a similar design is possible. The ultimate goal is to know you're going to get a tangible benefit out of your site through effective, affordable web design. Additional Services Many web design firms offer design, but do not provide other required services such as hosting and domain name registration. Ideally, your web design company should be a full-service firm, offering at least basic hosting, domain registration and search engine optimization services tailored to your needs. Research each firm to determine other key lines of business, so that any future expansion of your site will be seamless as your business grows. Turnaround Time An effective website should take 30-60 days to go live, from the start of production. Unless you're offering hundreds of individual products or services on your web site, the entire development process, start to finish, should take no longer than 60 days. Turnaround time should include: * Upload of your web site to the hosting provider * Configuration of any scripts or forms on your site * Domain propagation (accessing your web site and e-mail via yoursite.com) Hiring the cheapest, fastest, or most elaborate web design firm does not always equate to hiring the right web design firm. A limited amount of front-end research can save time and money in the long term, and maximize the sales revenue from your web presence. Jim D. Ray is a seasoned web developer and president of Web Presence, a national web design firm serving the small business market sector. To learn more, or for a free quote for your own web site, visit the Web Presence at http://www.web-presence.net. RELATED ARTICLES One-Product Sales Sites: Avoid These Top Blunders One product, one long web page: this kind of web site is sometimes called a sales letter site or mini-site, and it focuses on one and only one goal, as many sales of that one product as possible. With a one-product sales site, no distractions, no subsidiary goals, such as newsletter signups, are allowed to interfere with that goal. An Ideal Home Business Home Page From my personal experience of around two year as home business website operator as well as owner, I have spent enough time learning and unlearning. Observing other sites and constantly reading and contributing in online forums about managing a website. The Best Simple Software For The Busy Webmaster Here are a few programs I can't do without. They're free, and make being a webmaster much easier. Why Should You Care About Your Web Site Colors? How Colors are Used in web design:Demarcates screen elements into groups- You can pu a blue background for your navagational bar and white for rest of your page. This tells the visitor that the blue area has different elements and grabs his attention. Is Your Site Too Slow? Why Image Optimization Is Critical Graphics are fun, but if you put in too many bells and whistles when you create your web site, you may lose a potential audience whose Internet connection can't handle lots of graphics, and that means you'll be losing potential customers.According to UK website experts Boommm. Developing Your Winning Web Site Strategy Your web site is the key to your success on the Internet. You can use your web site to build your brand, increase sales, generate more leads, slash costs, and much more. 15 Website Elements That Attract Visitors Here is a quick list of components that make a website attractive. They are listed in layers of attractiveness beginning with the "must" haves, to "nice to haves. Its No Good Having A Killer Product If You Dont Have A Killer Website Read the title of this article over a couple of times in your head so it really starts to sink in.So what does this title really mean. Appropriate Key Words Choice What do the key words represent?Key words - these are the words that the users enter in a given search engine to find services or products you offer. It is extremely important to know what key words they will use. Welcoming Your Website Visitors Imagine you're going on a blind date. You've heard wonderful things about this person, and in your heart of hearts you're thinking -- hoping -- this might just be "the one. A Crash Course on Graphic Philosophy 101 Novice and professional graphic designers, we are aware that you know the basic principles of graphic philosophy. But then, as workers of art - though digital and graphic art already borders in commercial arts, there's no harm in continuously improving our craft through constant study and practice, is there? Really great graphic designers I know have come to their status because of painstaking application and study of their past works. What Your Website REALLY Says About You And Why It Matters Everything you say and do says something about you. This has never been more true than in a text based environment like the Internet. Awards Program Debate Daily article:One of the most debated subject among webmasters is the whole concept of web site awards. I'm sure you've seen the little graphics on many different sites, announcing it is the "best", "coolest" or "most wonderful" or whatever. Website Sales: Discover 10 Mesmerizing Insider's Tricks To Ignite Your Sales Marketing is not an easy skill to acquire.It requires patience and a lot of efforts in conducting many tests and improvement to get it right. Questions to Ask When Designing a Website for Clients Questions to ask when designing a Web Site for your client (s)."Excerpt from the book: Graphic Artists Guild, Handbook Pricing & Ethical guidelines Written by: Brent ParkerThese questions are a great tool to use when trying to develop your clients website. How To Boost Your Sales Dramatically Using Dynamic Back-end Strategies Getting a customer is not easy.Getting a visitor to decide that he or she wants to buy the product or service you're offering, getting out their credit card and giving you their hard-earned money is not a piece of cake. The Golden Rule Of Website Building Copyright 2005 Robert EvansSetting yourself up to earn a steady monthly income has to be a pre-requisite to your success online. There is no doubt that large sums of money can be made (and indeed are being made) from selling products or services online. Top Ten Fonts for Website Design The top ten fonts for website design might change in order, but for the most part the fonts that make up this list stay the same due to their popularity. In general, the top ten list includes Arial, Frutiger, Futura, Gills Sans, Helvetica, Lucida, Optima, Palatino, Agfa Rotis, and Univers. Power of Squeeze Pages for Realtors Squeeze pages are a very hot topic in the internet marketing scene. What a squeeze page is is a page that is built to get someone to take an action. Website promotion Ideas: 10 Web Site Add-Ons To Increase Your Traffic If you're not getting a lot of traffic to your website anymore, must implement these Website promotion ideas immediately.1.
Denver Websites Home\| Site Map\| Links © 2008 Green Chair Marketing Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Web Site Hosting by Green Chair Hosting

720-922-3124

How to Hire The Right Web Design Firm