Be on your guard when choosing a web designer — there are many people
out there who claim to be qualified web designer but have no real
experience. They can use web builder software provided by hosting
company for free. Yes they can create website using those software but
when ask them to customize as per your requirement then get stuck and
give you only half finished project. Obviously you should ask them to
send you some examples of their previous work. You should also ask if
the designer is able to do the following:
- Can they Work with languages such as JavaScript.
- Can they Create meta-tags and optimize for search engines.
- Create forms and further interactive content.
- Can they create custom website from scratch.
- Can they work with fixed price for the project?
- How comfortable are you with writing HTML
- Ask them to show their portfolio.
Prepare Your Website Plan
After
researching your target audience you should have a list of features
that your viewers expect. Always treat your website like a business.
Website also can be for fun but always manage it as a business. Make a
priority list of these features. Your budget may not be large as much as
necessary to include everything at first go but with a complete list of
features you can ask web designer an idea of what the total plan is.
Having a website plan will also help in the process of choosing a web
designer. You should determine first if you are comfortable working
long distance or you rather want to meet web designer in person on
occasion. Search the internet to find a few website design firms to
consider, there are lots to choose from!
This
should be purely about you, your website and your business. Next step is
to choose domain name. If you want to be found in major search engines
then you should choose domain name with top keywords in it.
If
you are searching the internet for a website designer then you need few
things to keep in mind as you look at their website and their
portfolio.
- User friendly designs
- Check if all their samples look the same?
- See if sample websites are quick to load?
- Check sample websites in different browsers.