What To Look For When Hiring a Great Web Designer
Web designing can be a little overwhelming if you're new to the world of web design. Some people try out their own skills at creating their site while others opt to hire a professional. When researching for a web designer, this brings you to one of many questions, what to look for when hiring a web designer? What should you ask before hiring? What kind of costs will you be looking at? What are specific things your web designer must know in order to be able to design a great site for you? Here's a list of things to think about and consider before hiring that will help you know where to start. When To Call a Professional? It is pretty easy to set up a free basic website for yourself but if you are wanting to be able to get tons of traffic to your website and have it look professional and stylish at the same time, the free sites found in a Google search just might not do the job. Even if you have set up a good-looking site on your own hosting plan on a any number of sites, you might not be getting as many views as you want. The more views you have, the more business you get. Getting someone to help your existing website get more views is pretty simple and could increase your traffic enormously. This would be a great time to call a professional. What is a Web Designer? A web designer is someone who designs or creates a web site. You will be working with your designer for at least a week or more so you should find a designer who is personable and one you get along with pretty easily. A Web Designer will be putting all of your information, content, media such as videos, music, graphics, etc, and contact information in a presentation that should be neat, clean, and easy to navigate. You want your designer to understand the K.I.S.S. method. (Read More on That Here.) The worst thing you could do is overwhelm your visitors with too much information scattered all over your web page. Questions To Ask Your Web Designer? 1. What other services do you offer? (i.e. Twitter integration, Facebook, content writing, SEO) - Some web designers also specialize in social media for your business website which is a great way to drive more traffic to your site. By using Twitter, Facebook, having great content writing on your web pages as well as making sure your site is Search Engine Optimized will take care of you in the long run when it comes to search engines crawling your site and you getting more traffic. It doesn't really matter if you have an awesome website with great content that looks fabulous if no one can find your site. 2. What skills do you specialize in? (i.e. HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, SEO, Flash, Ajax, and graphic designing.) - If your web designer isn't able to put up an eye-catching slideshow of all of your photos on your photography site, you're going to have to hire someone else to do it. If your designer knows how to put up a Flash or JavaScript slideshow, you've got yourself a winner! 3. Do you offer site updates? - Chances are, you're going to want to add more content or update your phone numbers, addresses, or other information on your site. Most designers include website updates monthly in their packages but this is a great idea to check on. Some designers will design your site and leave you with trying to find someone else to add a few lines to your Home Page.
What Price Range Am I Looking At? Web designers range from a variety of prices depending on what kind of packages they offer. Some web designers charge anywhere from $300 to $5,000 for a website depending on the type of site they are building. A simple website that includes up to 5 pages of just information, content, and contact information could cost around $300-$500. A site that is an online store, with a shopping cart, that has subscribers, members, and collects payments might cost $4500. It all depends on what type of site you need. Your designer should be able to give you a quote before they start on your site. How Long Will it Take My Designer to Design My Site? Again, depending on what kind of site you need will determine how long it takes your designer to create your site however even with the most complex sites it shouldn't take any longer than 90 days. Be sure to ask your web designer questions and bring up any concerns you have about your site. If it doesn't feel right, research and find another designer. This is the person who is going to be responsible to get your site on the web. You want someone who will be flexible, helpful, and value your time, thoughts, and ideas. Elizabeth Heger CreatdivWeb [http://www.ksofttechnologies.com] Providing you with the most information on web design and SEO.
www.ksofttechnologies.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Elizabeth_Heger/774115