5 things to look for when choosing a web designer
When the time has come to find a designer for your future web site, there are many things to consider. In this article, I will help you find the correct designer for your project.
1. Go Local – Local designers can offer better customer support than someone who is in another city, state, or even country. Think about how difficult it would be to describe your New Orleans coffee shop’s look and feel over the phone to a designer in San Fransisco. WebNola specializes in providing face-to-face customer service by concentrating on New Orleans businesses.
2. Unprofessional Business Practices – If your designer balks at the idea of a formal proposal and/or contract, the designer may realize that he/she is dealing with someone who has done the research and won’t be put into a compromising situation. Always request both a proposal and a contract (complete with deadlines, prices, and included items) to be sure that all parties involved are on the same page. WebNola.com always provides proposals and contracts to our clients.
3. You Get What You Pay For – Chances are, you’ve seen ads for insanely cheap web site design, as low as $200, $100, or even $50. The reason these sites are so cheap is because you are getting a generic template with slight changes made to reflect your business name. These would-be designers buy a generic template for $10-$20, and spend the next 30-60 minutes filling in your company information. After the would-be designer gets your money, you may find another site (or many sites) looking very similar to yours. WebNola.com always designs custom layouts (for a fair price) and never uses generic templates.
4. Get a List of References – Before signing anything, request (and contact) a list of the designer’s references and portfolio. If something here seems shady, it probably is. Beware the designer who says “all of my recent clients are out of town” or the even more hilarious “all of my projects are down for maintenance”. Also, take a good look at the designer’s portfolio. Chances are your site will look very similar to those.
5. Free Web Designs Aren’t Always Free – Yeah, your friend, cousin, brother, or teenager may know a little bit about web design, but their services might end up hurting your business rather than saving you a few bucks. Some reasons people might have for developing a free site for you are a barter situation(web site for other service), for the would-be designer to “gain exposure”, or just to help you out. Hey, if you know someone is qualified to build your site, and they want to do it for free, then by all means go for it. If you have any aura of doubt about their capabilities, you’d be much better off by using a qualified company like WebNola.
Thank you for reading this article about how to choose a web designer. I hope that it helps you make an informed decision on our Web Services. If you enjoyed this article, please feel free to go back to the web design articles list.
-Jeff Couret (Founder/Designer WebNola)
