Cheap Web Design
If you think it's simply a case of who will do it for the best price, think again.
As with many things we buy there are several important factors to take into account. For a moment let's compare setting up a website with buying a house. When you are looking for a new house it's not simply a case of comparing how many rooms you get for your money. In fact there are lots of factors outside of the property itself. What is its location like? How will it stand up as an investment? The same is true of a website.
Here are the things you need to consider:
- Cost
- Hosting
- Domain
- Design
- Accessibility
- Marketing
- Support
Cost
Cost is by no means the be all and end all but in a competitive market place it has to be a decisive factor. Before you start looking you should work out what you can afford to invest in a site. You should look not so much at the one off cost of having it built but the ongoing costs. When you get a quote for having a site built you should ask about ongoing costs. Find out what you have to pay for your domain name, for hosting, what they will charge you for making changes to your site or adding new pages. Also, find out what marketing if any is included in the cost.
Hosting
Ask your would be designer about hosting. Be very wary of anyone saying "we have our own server". Professional hosting companies have lots of servers running concurrently from different locations so that if one goes down another seemlessly takes over. They also have greater security and fire protection. This means that your site stays up whatever happens. I have known small companies where their own hosting server is kept in the toilet. That is not to say that you should be wary of smaller companies but you should ask them who they use for their hosting. It's far better if they leave this to the professionals and outsource it.
Domain
Make sure you get a proper domain name. It is important that your domain is recognised as an independent entity. You should watch out for being given a subdomain. www.yourcompany.com is good, www.yourcompany.hostingcompany.com is best avoided. It's also important to find out what domain extension is best for you. Don't let a designer talk you into a particular extension as they may be getting a bulk discount. .com, .net and .org extensions are the top level domain extensions with the individual country codes coming next. Decide if you want to market to a worldwide audience (and risk getting lost in the crowd) or specialise in one regional market (e.g. use a .co.uk or .us extension).
Design
Design is not just about a page looking pretty. Functionality is more important. Look at the designer's previous work. Is the navigation obvious? Do the pages load quickly? Is text easy to read? Look through their previous work and look at it with a critical eye. Try to find things wrong with the pages.
Watch out for templates. If your designer is using templates it not only means that they're doing minimal work for their fee but your site could be penalised by search engines for being the same as other websites. It's much safer to have a site custom designed for you even if it costs a bit more.
Accessibility
It's increasingly important that your site is accessible to all users. You want your site to display and function properly not only on a PC screen but also laptops, palmtops, PDAs, digital TV services, mobile devices and software for the visually impaired. If your site cannot be used by all of these browsers you are losing a large proprtion of your potential audience. Ask about accessibility and request that your site be built in XHTML rather than HTML (it's on its way out) and that it uses CSS for the styling.
Marketing
If you just build a site and don't do any marketing it will just sit there and never be seen. This is a mistake that too many people make usually through trying to cut costs. Find out what, if anything, is included in the cost of your design. Is your page optimised for search engines? Do they submit it for you? Will they give you any links? Optimising web pages for search engines is a key part of any site's success. There are companies who specialise in this but if your site is built in a way which makes it unfriendly to search engines there's not a lot they will be able to do for you. This is a crucial part of the design process and should not be overlooked.
Support
What happens once the site is built? Does your designer just say "that's it, finished" and move on to their next site? You should find someone you are able to talk to about your site and seek advice without charge. A website is an ongoing project and a good designer should never wash their hands of it.
Chris Smith works as a web designer, developer and internet marketing consultant. For further information on design and free advice please visit Chris's website - Cheap Web Design (http://www.chris-smith-web.com)
Related Articles:
Understanding Web Design Agency Philosophies And Methods
When selecting a web design agency, one thing you should consider is the process the agency uses to take your design from concept to reality. There are actually three different methods or approaches that an agency may follow. These include:
Developing a Good Web Design for an Effective Web Site
The competence of a good web design lies on how creative and artistic you are. Mainly in order for you to successfully present your ideas you have to create an effective layout design in an interesting manner whatever your topic may be. For a good web design will reflect the reputation of the company you are representing of.
Web Design For Novices
Paralysis of Choice
Web Design And Navigation
As people ?browse? the Web, they ?land? on a page and ?navigate? on a website. To find their way around they need a ?navigation? system. Navigation is as important for web design as for a real life drive: when you drive on a new road you want to see clear marked destinations, exits and parking lots. You want to know where you are and where you go. So do your visitors. Fail to provide a clear road map and they will go back to where they came from. Navigation should be clear and simple. Or better: standard. That means: don?t go around renaming buttons. Use ?home? for your index; not ?back to base?. Although this ?back to base? is rather clear, not all the web users are in the mood for riddles, nor do they have the time to start learning your ...
Four Principles Of Basic Web Design
In this day and age where anyone, including a five year old, can use software tools to write a basic web page it is more important than ever to be aware of and follow some of the principles of basic web design. This list of web design basics is by no means definitive, there are many other issues that come into play when publishing web pages on the Internet. However, following these simple rules will keep your pages looking clean and provide a good first impression to your viewers.
Web Design and Hosting - Free Web Hosting Perks That Will Perk Up Your Web Site
If you've got or are considering a web hosting account with PHP and mySQL support, you'll find a wealth of free programs and scripts to take advantage of their powerful combined capabilities.Web hosting providers, from free to pricey, have always included some free pre-installed scripts to their customers in the way of guest books, counters and calendars.
50 Surefire Web Design Tips
Tips to brand your websiteInclude your logo in all pages. Position it at the top left or each page.
Denver's Top Web Design Company, ProSolutions, Inc. Hires Denver Search Engine Optimization Expert to Enhance Denver Web Solutions
Denver Search Engine Optimization Expert, named Senior Web Solutions Account Executive.
Learn the Truth about Your Web Design Company by Its Portfolio
When you start building your online business and search for a web design company that will implement all your needs for the web site you must understand that it is a very serious step because you are entrusting your business along with its reputation and future.That's why it's very important to make the right choice.
Choosing Your Web Design
We would all like to have the best looking website, that's a fact - but if we keep in mind that our main objective is to finally sell our product or service online, we'll realize that maybe design is not the most important factor when it comes to achieve this objective.Professional design is probably the most time consuming part of the web development, so my first tip would be, before you are contacting a Web Design Company, to browse the Internet for companies which offer similar services and products - you will find probably hundreds of them - save in your Favorites four or five websites which you really like, print out these, and show the printouts to as many people as you can, especially to your existing customers, and ask them which on...
Testing The Waters With A Web Design Agency
When selecting a web design agency, it goes without saying that you should take a look at the company?s own website in order to get a better idea of their skills and abilities. Similarly, you should ask the company for some references and to provide you with the URL of other sites they have created. Be certain to take the time to view several of these sites thoroughly in order to make sure they are user-friendly and are attractive. In addition, you can get a general feel for the designer?s methods and style while viewing these sites.
Search Marketing and Web Design Firm Enables RSS Content Syndication for Clients
Grantastic Designs chooses PRESSfeed as RSS and social media partner
Web Design: A Three Second Impression
"We find that Web sites have three seconds to make an impression." - Jeff Rosenblum, Questus
Jaymunda Web Design Announces New Business Partnership and Office in Marietta, Georgia
Jaymunda Web Design, currently located in Asheville, North Carolina, has opened a new office in Marietta, Georgia. The new office will facilitate an emerging business collaboration between Jaymunda and Referrals4Life, LLC.
The Basics Of Web Design: Gimmicks Don?t Sell
Some website developers make the mistake of believing their visitors are stupid. Now, they may not say it directly, but they allow visitors to come to that conclusion every day.