So, you’ve finally decided you need a business website? Well, there are a few key points to remember before making one of the most crucial decisions for your business.
Choosing the right designer for your new business website:
When choosing the right website designer, you should always shop around first to check out all available options. There are many web design companies out there to choose from. And most of them are pretty good at what they do.
Always ask for samples of a web designer’s previous work and examine their portfolio. This will help you get a better feel for the style of sites any particular web designer can do. Most of the time, web designers have their unique style, and you can easily spot which designs they’ve done in the past. I mean, it’s similar to any other artist’s style; you can spot their previous works based on the sites’ general layout, color scheme, and overall visual appearance.
Experience is also a key factor here. Just like any other craft, web designers get better with experience. So naturally, you’ll be better off choosing a web designer with more experience under their belt.
Another key point you should define is whether or not the web designer can make you a 100% custom website. Or will it be just a basic template web design that 100’s or even 1,000’s people already have the Internet? Nowadays, pretty much anybody can create a basic HTML web page in Microsoft Word or Publisher and change its title to reflect their Branson business. But you must ask yourself: “Is this what I’m looking for”? Websites that are truly custom-built will stand out more than the basic template web designs.
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So many people are using it these days. A custom web design will catch the eye of your potential customers and show them that you have a professional web presence and you mean business. A lot of web designers these days choose to do template websites for one of 2 reasons:
It’s cheaper to use a basic template web design. They might lack the necessary skills to develop a fully custom website. Whatever the case, make sure you go with a designer capable of creating a bespoke web design for you. It will inevitably cost you more for a custom site. But it is worth the extra money spent. Trust me, in the end, you will be much happier with your website if it is a site that’s unique and created just for your business and not everybody else’s.
Communication with a potential web designer is also critical in developing your website. You need to be clear and define your goals up-front before you sign a web design service contract with a designer. Make sure you know what you are getting for your money, and get it in writing! I have a 9-page website design contract that I use every single time I design a new website. This contract includes an itemized list of all work to be performed during the website development. Things like the exact number of pages, the precise number of graphics to be designed, whether or not I need to create a logo, the estimated time before completion, whether or not routine site maintenance will be performed after the site is six months, or one year old, etc.
Defining these things will help you in the long run and ensure you and the web designer are on the same page. I also use what I call my “web design planning worksheet.” This worksheet gives “milestones” or deadlines for each phase of the web design project. Things like “In 2 weeks, the general layout will be done,” “2 weeks after that, the site will be coded and launched,” and then “In one month after the website is launched, we will evaluate it to see what needs to be adjusted,” etc. (these are just examples, by the way. the details included in one of my actual worksheets gives exact dates and more specific milestones).
And what about the web hosting for your new website? Usually, a web designer will provide insight into which hosting company they recommend. Web designers, in general, prefer a hosting company that they know will be a good choice for your website, and they should assist you in making this selection.
Fortunately, we have our web server here at Digital Spiral Web Design to do all the hosting ourselves. This is very beneficial because we can ensure the web server stays up and running, and if there is any maintenance that needs to be performed on the server, we can do it ourselves promptly. Plus, we will always cut a deal for our website hosting services to any new business that chooses us to do their web design.
Will your new website require any specialized web programming? Well, the answer to that question is based solely on the needs of your Branson website. What kind of site will it be? Does it need a shopping cart for e-commerce? Will you be implementing any special web applications or online forms for your viewers to fill out? Will it be a website that requires your viewers to fill out registrations and sign up so they can log in? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, you’ll probably need a web designer who can also program.
Web developers and designers must be skilled in web PROGRAMMING (something very different from regular web DESIGN). Web programming involves implementing other languages like JAVA, PHP, Flash, SQL, or. NET. These web programming languages need highly skilled individuals to code them and develop web programs with them.
I personally love PHP! I use it for pretty much everything. I won’t go into the details of PHP in this article (I would have to write an entire book about it to cover all of it). But with PHP, I can create pretty much any web application that is logically possible.
So, choose a web designer capable of coding any special functions your new website needs. Any potential web designer you might use to create your Branson website needs to discuss and review this decision.
Finally, you should always check with the potential web designer’s previous clients to ensure they give them a good reference. Remember, it is just like any other service. You need to verify a web designer’s references and make sure they can do what they say they can do.
So, to summarize all of the tips I’ve mentioned:
Ask questions, questions, and more questions before you choose a web designer. Clearly define your goals from the beginning. Ask to see the web designer’s portfolio and samples of their previous work. Make sure they can help you with choosing a web hosting provider. Get documentation to show exactly how many pages will be included in the project and the estimated time before completion. If your Branson website requires special web programming, ensure the designer can handle it. I hope this article helps anybody ready to have a new website designed. A good website can do wonders for your business!