subject: The Scary Truth About Web Designers [print this page] When preparing for developing internet site and search for a web site design organization that will put into action your complete needs for the internet site you should recognize that it's a grave phase because you tend to be trusting your organization in conjunction with its reputation and future.
That's the reason the right choice needs to be made. There are several factors that must define your choice, and one of them is portfolio of previous web design works the company has done. This can show you more than all the sales spiels put together, be alert and analyze everything. I recommend that you play close attention to:
1) Presence of portfolio
Yes, it seems to be obvious that web design company must have own web site with portfolio of previous works. But don't be surprised when you find one that lacks it. The reasons are endless for this, however it's best not to tempt fate. Portfolio is the face of the company and it needs to have lots of fresh, good looking projects that are regularly updated...and IT MUST BE!
2) Total number of works
This can tell you much however there is no standard number that will guarantee you are going to deal with web design guru. Absolutely, the more finished websites is always better, however don't forget quality of work. Compare the number with period of time during which the company operates in the market and calculate average number of projects per year, month, or week. Be aware that the normal development time for a website design takes 2-4 weeks for a normal design to be completed.
What this information can give you? Up front, you'll be sure the firm does have the knowledge and expertise. Then this signifies that it has stable stream of works, adjusted schedule of development process, and adequate staff to do it, if you decide to commit your internet site design for the organization you can be assured that the work won't be for them like a bolt from the blue or well-paid but is not feasible overloading.
3) Type of works
Look attentively at each work in the portfolio. Do they have similar projects to yours in the area of site type, look and feel, niche and the platform used? At least 2-3? Good! More than 5? Excellent!! None? There can be a reason for this - owner may not have wanted to publish it, or the site is not live any more - if per chance everything weighs up and is looking professional, the final question to be answered is do they have expertise in what you need done.
If there's a specific technology or platform that you require for your website, it's extremely important to investigate how well your candidate web company can work and has worked in the past with it. However sometimes it happens if the technology is not common used and very popular that the web design company hasn't had chance to work with it for commercial purpose but it might be used for internal projects development, so you will loose nothing if ask the company to show you some examples if they exist.
If you need a web site for exact business, for example dating site or real estate site, it's also better to view such previous works in the portfolio because there are can be specific features and it's better to make sure that the web design company is experienced with them. As well as a variety of website design companies making demonstraion programs and packages that also demonstrate their creativity and effectiveness.
4) Quality of works
Learn carefully each live site (or the ones which are similar to the site you need). What is the load time for the homepage? A few seconds? Fantastic, the website creator knows how to optimize the images. A few minutes? This is normal with Adobe Flash websites, as the entire site is loaded along with the homepage; or it's actually a Flash intro which goes ahead entering the site and as well can load for a longer time because of video and sound.
However if a basic website based on HTML takes longer than 3 minutes to load and not all images display or are only partially there, you need to be careful. Look over all HTML sites from their portfolio - if it takes a long time to load, you'll be better off looking for noe that loads faster and is more professional.
All the previous information is correct, as long as your bandwidth and connection speeds are normal and you have no issues with loading websites.
Look over the site and make sure that it's user friendly, is easy to navigate and the colour scheme doesn't clash, so you get an initial feel for the site - all this has to show professionalism in the designs. But sometimes a web design company is forced to design a site strictly according to the customer's wishes, so if the customer lacks for good taste the site also looks tasteless. There could be a couple of such examples in the portfolio, but not every one!
5) Happy owners
Web design business is a highly competitive area and as in any business there are honest and dishonest players. Every now and then you might see identical sites in the portfolio of different companies, and it can be hard to distinguish who has really done that website. There's a possiblity that some companines put templated websites in their portfolio of which the owners don't even exist.
This is why it's important to be able to get in touch with REAL owners of the website designed by these companies. In the best scenario this sort of information should be accessible under the companies portfolio, testimonials or case studies sections. Attempt to connect with ALL the people in the list and compare their thoughts. You'll probably uncover some insightful facts.
6) Own site of web design company
And finally compare the own site of the web design company to web sites presented in its portfolio. Is there similarties in quality, feeling and the technology? If the works from the portfolio look much poorer than the own site this can mean that the own site was ordered from another web design company, more professional. Yes, this can happen sometimes, a young company will create a start-up business and then outsource to more "mature" experts. In a circumstance like this, it's probably better you continue your search for more designers.
So these 6 rules can help you to make the right choice. Don't be worried about spending longer than normal on searching and analyisis, or even hiring a neutral knowledge expert in the are of web design to help you, in the long run it will certainly help your business be more profitable and generate way more leads and success.
