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How to Choose a Web Designer
By Robin Eldred (c) 2008 Calgary Web Design (http://www.apis.ca/)

You have the often unenviable task of finding someone to build
your website. Chances are you know little to nothing about web
design and, let's face it, you don't even know what you don't
know. Let's change that, shall we?

Let me start by making a few assumptions about you and your
business:

* You either own or are part of a small business.
* You're not trying to do this on the cheap.
* You're looking for an experienced professional or organization.
  Your nephew or your neighbour's daughter isn't going to cut it.
* You care enough about your business that you're willing to
  invest some time and money to get the job done right the first
  time (see the above two points).

Regardless of whom you choose to build your website you need to
have, at the very least, a defined set of goals or objectives for
your website. In other words, you need to figure out what you
want your website to do.

Forget about PHP, ASP, CMS or any other acronyms you've heard;
the right web designer will figure all that out for you. It's
your job to create the wish list from the perspective of your
business. Do you want the website to help sell your products or
services? Recruit new employees? Stay in touch with clients? You
define the problem and we'll let the web designer propose the
best solution.

(If your project is quite large you may want to write a more
formal Request for Proposal document (RFP). But for the purposes
of this article you're part of a small business, so let's not
get mired down in RFP-land, OK?)

Armed with your high level requirements, here's how to identify
the right web designer for you:

1) Decide on Geography.
A local designer/company will have more invested in ensuring
that you're a happy customer. If things go poorly you can
actually walk down the street and yell at them. That said, a
web designer who has a good reputation or comes to you through
a referral shouldn't be overlooked if they're not located where
you are. Technology can greatly enhance communication and keep
things running smoothly. Make a decision based on your own
comfort level.

2) Locate Candidates.
This is easy thanks to the nature of web design and Google. Do
a search for 'web design city' where 'city' is your city. Pay
attention to two different areas of the search results:

   a) the first three to five listings in the natural or
      'organic' results, and
   b) the top three to five paid advertisers. Create a list of
      between five and ten possible candidates.

3) Go Surfing.
Visit each candidate's website and look for the following:

   * Quality content. Are they interested in solving problems?
     Does the writing make sense to you as a consumer rather than
     a geek? If yes, good. Do they offer up their services in
     'packages' based on number of web pages and whether you want
     fries or a side salad? If yes, bad. The right web designer
     will be someone who understands your unique issues rather
     than trying to jam your business into a bronze, silver or
     gold package.

   * Presentation. This is not only the design of their website,
     but the organization. Does it make sense to you? Do you like
     it? Would your customers like it? The design and layout of
     a web designer's website is typically indicative of their
     'style'.

   * Happy clients. Look for testimonials, a portfolio and case
     studies. Do they show an aptitude at being flexible enough
     to work with different industries? Ideally their
     testimonials include full names, which means they're not
     trying to hide anything. Web designers without some sort of
     portfolio or client list are either bad or lazy; either way,
     they're not for you.

   * Contact info. Are you forced to fill out an online form to
     get in contact? Is there a phone number listed? A physical
     address (other than a PO Box)? You'll need to speak to
     someone before moving forward, so be sure you can actually
     call and get a hold of a human being. Companies without
     phone numbers or addresses are typically located in a
     basement.

4) Revise Your List.
Based on your surfing adventure, choose your top three
candidates.

   * Call. Ideally, don't email or fill out an online form; pick
     up the phone. You want to ensure that you're dealing with a
     professional, so call them up and see how they respond. A
     good web designer will get you talking about your business.
     They will listen to your problem, try to assess whether or
     not you're a good client for them, and take things to the
     next step, which is:

   * Meet. Assuming your candidates are all local, meet with
     them. Sometimes this is referred to as a Needs Analysis
     meeting. The goal is to give the web designer enough
     information to prepare a proposal for you. You'll also want
     to ensure that you're comfortable dealing with them, and a
     face-to-face meeting is the best way.

   * Proposals. Get three of them. Any fewer and you're not
     exploring your options, any more and you're wasting your
     time. Three is the magic number. Ensure that the web
     designer gives you the proposal within a week of your
     meeting.

   * Assess. Here's how to assess the proposal:

   * Problem solving. They need to have proposed a solution to
     your problem that makes sense to you and is relatively free
     of geek-speak.

   * Comprehensiveness. Did they cover off all of your issues?

   * Follow up. What happens when the project is over? Will
     they  help you market it? Train you? What about on-going
     maintenance? Do they guarantee their work? For how long?

   * Ideas. A good web design company might have some really
     good ideas that you never considered. These can demonstrate
     creative, out-of-the-box thinking.

   * Timeline. Ensure that they tell you how long the project
     will take, and that you can live with that timeframe.

   * Budget. You don't have unlimited funds, so be sure you can
     live with the costs.

Your ultimate goal is to get quotes from a few web designers that
you feel good about. You want to compare apples to apples, and
only by going through the above process can you weed out the
oranges.

Web design as an industry is still very much in its infancy, so
unfortunately this is not like shopping for a car or a pair of
jeans. You'll need to do a bit more homework to ensure that you
find and choose the right web designer for your business. Good
luck!
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Robin Eldred is the president of Apis Design, a Calgary Web
Design company. Apis specializes in strategically building
and marketing eye-catching, user-focused websites. They build
websites that work. http://www.apis.ca/
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