What You Should Ask a Web Designer Before You Hire Him

You've thought about it and you're ready to go. You're ready to give your business an online presence. You want your own website. That's great but unless you are doing it yourself, you would be shopping for a website designer. Some people would design their own websites but most people prefer to save themselves the time and money and hand the job over to the professionals.

But how do you choose a great website designer from the countless website designers in this world? How do you determine who is good and who is passable?

The below may help you decide.

View the web designer's website.

Ask to see the designer's own website. Yes, one would expect a designer to first and foremost design a great website for himself but you would be surprised that some 'web designers' may not even have his/her own website!Once you get to their website, how do you like their website? Is it designed in the kind of style you want? Overall, a web designer's website should give you a good indication of what you are getting, in terms of style and design.

Check out their previous work.

Next up is their web design portfolio. By this I mean work that is done for a client and is live on the web. Get the website designer to show you his or her portfolio. Great designers will often prove it with a good work portfolio which in many cases are online for you to view anyway.

Look at their experience.

It is practical and makes sense because the longer they have been in the business, the more they understand the Internet and its character and the better they can design for it. In the web design business (as with any technology-related business), things move really fast. A good web designer should be able to show you that he has been around long enough to understand how the web works and how he or she should design for this medium.

Ask about website usability.

It is possible to design a gorgeous website without any idea of making it usable or even user-friendly. Designing a website for usability means the designer is able to focus on users' needs, making it easy for users to navigate around the website and achieve what they came to do. It's not about satisfying the website owner or the web designer's ego. An effective web designer combines both form and function when designing a website so it sets out to do what it is supposed to do. After all, your purpose for having a website is to gain attention for your business, sell your products and services and give your competitor a run for their money, right?

Ask about future support for your website.

Ask if your web designer is willing to support your web needs in the future. It is myth that once you get a website done, it is finished. With web technology growing by leaps and bounds, getting a website is just the beginning of the story. You need to plan for future growth and your web designer should be able to design with the future in mind. What happens if you want to add a forum to your website? Or a membership-only site? Can it be done? What about having a content management system? How about extra programming, e-commerce capability and other add-ons? Granted, not every web designer can support programming but he or she should let you know that if you need it, they can get it done for you or else find someone who can do it for you.

Nic Sim is the owner and founder of http://www.RedboxStudio.com ? a web design firm dedicated to helping solo professionals and small businesses go online affordably and successfully with its easy to use, no-fuss Redbox DIY Website.

Visit http://www.RedboxStudio.com for more details.

---

Why Use Professional Web Site Designers For Your Next Web Development Project?

Probably you know someone who has created a web site... Read More

Eight Website Pitfalls, and How to Avoid Them

Clutter: Too much noise, too much text, and too little... Read More

Usability and Considerate Design

I hate to imagine that in your web development project... Read More

Images: How To Make Them To Load Fast On Your Web Pages?

1. Use .gifs rather than .jpgs. GIFs are smaller in... Read More

Awards Program Debate

Daily article:One of the most debated subject among webmasters is... Read More

Online Businesses Still Ignoring Dial-up Market

In this article you will find the parallel between two... Read More

How To Increase Your Conversion Rate or What Most People Miss When It Comes To Optimization

Everybody talks about the importance of testing your sales copy... Read More

Web Copy - What You Should Know First

Just what is web copy? Some people think that web... Read More

Web Design Tips To Boost Your Sales

The way you design your web site affects your visitors'... Read More

User Experience and Search Engines: If Your Home Page Could Only Talk

Dear web site visitor.I can't tell you how glad I... Read More

The Seven Deadly Sins of Web Business Design

Before you take a road trip it is usually a... Read More

An Ideal Home Business Home Page

From my personal experience of around two year as home... Read More

How Does Your Website Measure Up?

Does your website make a good first impression? Is the... Read More

Web Design - 7 Key Things to Avoid

A search for "web design" on Google returns more than... Read More

How to Create A Homepage That Works

Want to know what the worst thing to say on... Read More

Free Online Tools to Design (and Maintain) Your Website

These days, it seems that everyone has a website. Unfortunately,... Read More

3 Tips You Can Use Right Now to Improve Your Web Sites Usability

Studies done by Jakob Nielson the man touted as the,... Read More

How To Design Your Web Site With CSS

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) allows you to create fast loading... Read More

Do You Make These Common (But Deadly) Website Design Mistakes?

Building a website can be overwhelming, here are some design... Read More

No Matr How Goud The Infomation...

Typos, misspellings, hideous grammar, exclamation overkill and run-on sentences all... Read More

What to Avoid to Make Your Website Design Effective

The effective design is this one, which is maximum simplified,... Read More

Having A User Friendly Website

Let's look at what your user wants to see at... Read More

Facts You Should Know About Web Site Design and Search Engine Optimization

1. Web site File Structure / File NamingMost search engines... Read More

How Not To Get Web Design Work

I get the occasional web design lead from my website.... Read More

How To Make It Easy For Your Web Designer To Build Your Website

You have an idea for a website and you are... Read More

Choosing A Web Designer : A Plan to Guide You Through The Minefield

Choosing a web designer can seem like a daunting task.... Read More

The Secrets to Successfully Learning Basic HTML

If you'd like to create/maintain a website, having some HTML... Read More

Power of Squeeze Pages for Realtors

Squeeze pages are a very hot topic in the internet... Read More

Tips for Getting More Sales From Your Website

(1) Create a Direct Response Website, with the minimum number... Read More

Banner Enchancement - Designing Your Banner

A well designed web site is great to have, but... Read More

Website Sales: 10 Strategic Tips To Maximize Your Profits

If you've a website but not making a lot of... Read More

Mini Site or Content-based Web Site?

Are you in a dilemma whether to create a mini... Read More

15 Website Elements That Attract Visitors

Here is a quick list of components that make a... Read More