Monday, February 22, 2010

Client tips for finding a Professional web design company.


You the client are badly in need of a professional web design company or freelancer and just don’t know where to find the right one or which one to pick or even where to start. Well I am in the Los Angeles area and how many web designers do you think are in this area? More, even more than your last thought. Wait let me show you (Google maps above).


Yeah EXACTLY! Those red dots aren’t Starbucks locations, but are actual web design firms and freelancers located in the L.A area. Ridiculous! Well at least you have a lot of choices, too many choices. I can understand your pain and the level of stress to invest thousands of dollars on some firm which you have no idea about. But they do exist and hopefully all of them have a website for you to view their portfolio of work.

Well, here are a few tips to keep in mind when looking for a web design firm or freelancer.

1) Know what you want before-hand.
These days no matter what you buy, you are bound to jump online and find out more about the product. Research. Educate yourself on what you actually want. Just knowing you need a professional website with an image of a dog chasing its tail is not enough. Here are a few things to know before you go looking for a web designer.

a) What is your call to action? What is the #1 thing you want to achieve from having or redesigning your website? Is it sales, more members, more hits, downloads or getting the word out. This will help you decide if you need an informative, ecommerce, database, networking website or just a blog. What’s the difference? Thousands of Dollars!

b) How many pages or links do you need for all your content? Re-asses your current site and pick and choose your content and if extra pages are necessary. This will save you cost and important real-estate on the web page.

c) Do you need a content management system? A CMS will help you maintain your website all on your own. Most popular CMS’s like Joomla, Drupal and Wordpress are pretty straight forward, almost like using MS Word. Alternatively you can also hire a webmaster to do the updating for you. Cost: Webmaster > CMS. By a lot. Go for the CMS.

d) Know your Budget? $150 is not a budget for a professional website. I understand you are a student and live on your own and have student loans up the yin yang, and you walk 10miles to school and can afford to drink Starbucks everyday (comes out to about $150/mo) but still want an AWESOME website with all the bells and whistles and flash.. You are better off going with a template from Monster. Just remember, 1000 other people also have the same looking website as you and on the World Wide Web, you don’t want to look like the rest of the sheep. Your basic informative website from a medium priced design firm will range from $1500 - $3500. That’s about 8-10 links, a contact form and a decent custom design. Hopefully coded in table less format, better known as CSS/XHTML. Some even give you a blog and a content management system along with it.

e) Research your competitor’s websites. Obviously you want your website to shine in the industry you represent. But see what they are up to. Note down what you like about them and what you don’t like about them. Do this for about 3-4 sites. Here the look and feel really matters. Functionality is definitely important, but your customers and viewers will base their initial experience of what they SEE! So a designer who can pay attention to detail and has some pretty decent designs in their portfolio might suit you best.


2) Google the web for web design firms.

a) Google the web for, “Professional Web Design” or “Los Angeles (your city) Web Design”, in your area first. The reason I say this is because it’s always good to have someone local to go to.

b) The top results on Google are because they have marketed themselves really well. Not always are they the best choice for web design firms. That’s why it’s best to look directly at their portfolio of work to get an idea of what their capabilities are. They may or may not impress you.

3) Request a proposal. Contact the web design firm.

a) Go to their Contact Us page and fill out the form if they have one or email them with your requirements. Most proposal forms have certain questions that they as web designers need to ask to formulate a comprehensive quote. The more information they have the more accurate they can be in giving you a quote. So be as descriptive as you can.

b) Personally meet your designer. Local web designers can sometimes meet you at a coffee shop, come by your office or meet at their office to discuss your project in more detail. To some of you it matters a lot that you physically meet and greet your designer. If that’s what it takes then do just that. Remember it’s your money and your website; you do what you have to do to feel comfortable with hiring them.

c) Talk to your designer over the phone. Meeting personally is not always the most feasible option for a lot of clients. I know most of my clients I have never personally met, but I make myself available over the phone and email throughout the day. You can also get a feel for who your designer is by seeing how quickly they respond to your emails or return your calls. Whatever it takes to make you comfortable.



4) Check their Portfolio of work:
Most web design firm’s sites look amazing. But their portfolio could tell a different story. Check their work and look at their designs, and see if that’s the style you are looking for. Go through their site to get a feel for functionality. The more diverse their sites are the better chance they can cater to just about anything you need.

5) Read their client testimonials:
Client testimonials are a great way to see what the client thought about their work. Most likely you will only see positive remarks, but you feel more comfortable that others have also used their services and have been satisfied.

6) Talk to some friends or family that are familiar with the industry:
There is always some IT guy you know that may know a little about what to look for. They could possibly recommend someone to you as well. Word of mouth is a good way to get recommendations as its direct form the source and most likely legit. Don’t have your best friends, sister’s, BFF’s dad do it, because he knows how to use Photoshop. You get what you pay for and it’s true. Go with someone who does it for a living.


Web Design is a creative art and you have to be passionate about it to be really good. Creativity can’t be taught, it is something that comes from within and it’s the ability to see something that doesn’t really exist. The ability to create that and put it into something tangible can be a huge plus to the creative mind. Respect the art. After all at the end, it’s your site that is on the line with potential readers and clients. These days with our economy more and more people are closing shop and going online. The competition is getting heavier and the eternal struggle to be unique has web sites embracing new designs and technology. It pays to LOOK better here. HAPPY HUNTING!!!


Sarfaraz

http://www.imanstudios.com

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