1. Crawl the web

Your search for the perfect web designer starts with familiarizing yourself with the excess of beautifully designed and well maintained websites that are out there in the World Wide Web. Create a list of the features you liked across all the websites you have visited and arrive at a final wish-list of 8-10 features you would like your website to have. It could be aesthetics, page-load speed, ease of navigation, stickiness (addictiveness), relevance of content, level of engagement, or any number of other features. You should also visit potential designers’ websites. A well-designed and informative website of the web designer projects professionalism. It indicates business confidence and application of expertise.

Now you should have 2 lists, one for web designers and one for your desired features.

2. Talk purpose and branding

The first thing you should do with each of your short-listed designers is to broach the topic of branding and the role of your website in creating the online brand presence you had envisioned. Your website is the face of your brand on the internet!

The design of your website must coincide with your overall brand image and sales goals. Website design differs depending on its purpose. If you are a building consultant, you may only want to list information about you, your services and a contact form for service. If you are a home builder, you most likely will need a gallery to showcase your display homes and jobs completed. If you are a building supplier, then you may need a shopping cart feature. Evaluating the purpose of your website will help determine the features you must have and those you can live without ensuring the best return on investment (ROI).

3. Talk Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

You should seek out web designers who are familiar with Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Of course, it helps if the web designer is an SEO expert themselves.

You should always keep in mind that you are building a site to sell a product or a service. There is no point of having the most fascinating site when it doesn’t serve its purpose.

Think of SEO as this example:

‘When you first publish a website, it is similar to putting up your sign beside a busy highway. When you first put up the sign it is only 1meter square, and in a field 1000 meters from the highway. It is there, but hardly anyone reads it.

As you develop your site, the sign moves closer to the highway and gets bigger. To increase the sign’s size and decrease the distance from the highway you must get your site listed in the major search engines’

Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, refers to all the things you can do to improve your website’s visibility in the search engines’ rankings. Search engine optimization techniques focus on increasing the ‘organic’, or natural, traffic that you receive based on your ranking within the search engines.

4. Find out who does the content writing

This is where most website owners go wrong. Website content is generally thought of as commoditized pieces of text that are needed to fill web pages. Your content is what engages the visitor and is uniquely positioned to convert prospects to customers. Some web designers have access to professional content writers to write an optimized content talking directly to your customers. Alternatively, you can provide the content to your web designer

5. Read the inclusions and know what you are getting for your money

Like many builders who have a list of inclusions for each home design, most web designers have 3 or 5 packages with a list of inclusions. It’s very important to know exactly what you are getting for your money.

Watch out for designers who ONLY charge by the ‘page or by a certain page length.’ Or even worse have a very cheap package with a high monthly maintenance fee. This could end up costing you much more money.

6. Find out details of ownership and hosting

Enquire about the ownership of the web site and the domain name. Make sure you are given full ownership of the website and access details so you have control of your website for future updates should you choose to do so without having to pay the original designer. This will ensure you can still use your website domain name in the future, even if you decide to deal with another web designer.

Many web designers and development firms also provide website hosting services. This is not only convenient for you in terms of any website’s updates and speed of portability, but can also work in your favor commercially. Ask your vendor for a competitive quote for a bundled service that includes website design, development and hosting.

7. Ask for wireframes

Before you jump headlong into awarding the contract to your web designer of choice, ask for wireframes. These are schematics of how your web pages will look like and the functionality embedded. It is the norm for designers to provide wireframes for the home page and another page, or to show you a sample version of the sequence of actions from one page to another. This will reveal the thought process of the designer as they go about conceptualizing the design for your website.
chacanting
cazenovecapital
replicawatchesuks
acquisa
bandsquare
main
fannit
myarmoury
raycuslaser
cvxopt
d-tools
califlourfoods
shimadzu
v2020-sai
liliebakery
twenga
mountalexander
lemoniteurdespharmacies
qinghuacn
genresnio
aroundtheglo
caesarscorporate
springhillnursery
isbworldoffice
leedscf
ezdesign
glavclub
etana
engaged-solutions
adl
surejob
stw
migjimenez
parceriasonline
kewo
1doc3
9191840
swapatorium
myflipbook
exposureroom
yourdutchmedia
ncal
cao156
amsc
0335e
eprd
telemaque
dongshengzhizao
lihi
theoriginaltour
alinpin
zoomff
hockeyettan
zlmys0
qpg880
grupomednet
suijo-bus
payolee
coford
danskretursystem
ptmgcgdsbxchdyl
funsommers
complexityexplorer
trovalost
taoti
deliverymuch
vincentarelbundock
milanus
kodap
eskom
enterprisewebcloud
bytraject
xn--eckub1ald0a2rta5b6k
app522
mybestbrands
southtech-global
hos
dgkn
smartpillsdeal
globaled
thinksaveretire
yonyount
innovea
stoten
sanofipasteur
modinatheme
wwfsassi
oeschinensee
zzj257
elf-media
ipmall
towardssustainability
ctf-wiki
mistrzowiekodowania
lehrmittelverlag-zuerich
vivamelhorbrasil
1020xx
miraclefruittea
smartertechnologies
pincandsteel
abvp
arabella
boomin
ek
citsci
pithandvigor
cataventocultural
go-redrock
stiba
pagedatapro
historickasidla
clouddigitalmedia
techline
matesnews
swissbionic
heldermann
mailswitch
modeng3
alpspitzbahn
money-design
uca
cellectis
68
ahmia
hotelnikko-fukuoka
learncs
casaruby
kubra
hinweisportal
autismeweek
carcorrection
xf12333
219
etwinternational
schamberger
topcharts
viennashorts
michellequreshi
eyc
ethereumpow
plasma
dieuduciel
waalwijk
jpeterman
mainevt
tensyoku-quest
projectrho
dedeyun
mobistar
cunwww
fim-trust
webguyny
w3fools
rwhs
ufa168vip
evr
stellarcyber
abvtex
gelsen-net
zfo-online
roadrunneremailen
socci
textwith911
innovationliving
psiphon3
coulidoor
jsgo
adultdatings
vdk
tzynwl
jordwatches
nohana
icnbg
yogyaweb
fostershollywood
webbit-cms
ericberne
codakid
themorrisring
trustamerica
bbjaweqoa
orange-thailand
dpb
libaishige
chicagoabortionfund
isleofwightwebsites
poltransplant
viivue
bob-an
flows
netikon
consult-pro
asiaasset
goffgrafix
idmsensor
hvnh
paginadigital
0755rc
indianonlineseller
poshesh
amateurdough
joomlawebhosting
snq
smkdb
supergenji
grignoux
lgbpsychology
104
binhu114
hometrainingtools
fraunhofer
leadershipact
lov-organic
edcmag
solfix
tod
aktin
allbestbrides
6hwan
nikolauspflege
justpre
chojyu
powerplate
prima
riich
webuni
vgt
vnutritionandwellness
mytona
moschettalawfirm
dz3u
patriot-place
jeunesseenaction
iiipoints
houseofholland
digitalimpact
peachfitshop
business-software
cbaite
sipario
anacrowneplaza-nagoya
famousamericans
cxa
ahfproducts
get-coursier
harcresearch
52zqsq
bkhost
classlawgroup
discoverylandco
infopraca
safiagourari
uzbekistan
wecart
synthmuseum
spulmo
menzerna
voi
3wen
santacruz
manageyourleague
bpython-interpreter
comarb
visitberkeley
weblockpro
bigbank
zitobox
fondofbags
ahu
testiowa
rendezvous-carnetdevoyage
itsmycity
bittyandbeauscoffee
creandohosting
web-it
forestines
allcounted
adnest
seedingsovereignty
muyingzhijia
coopercarry
vsfgaragerepairsuk
brewster
xmsti
withalovelikethat
praram9
formulasi
addtoqr
saintandrewsdetroit
forexbinaryoptions
baxterblack
cocoadevcentral
monkeydeals
seilmagasinet
alqemam
dvdfab
beautyworldjapan
ethanhyde