Well theres a good question!

If you look in the yellow pages and make a few phone calls, or google “web design” you will be swamped with options and prices. How to choose?

Where to start and what sort of company to approach.

• You want a professional web designer or comany, not someone doing it in their spare time. This is common sense, for more reasons than I’ll bother to list here, but despite that, many small businesses trust their web design to a “bedroom designer” thats been recommended to them. Recommended usually because its a friend trying to earn a bit on the side. Just dont do it. Enough said.
• What constitutes a professional designer or company?
• full time.
• portfolio of clients.
• their own website.
• a range of skills encompassing design, development and internet marketing.
• business and management expertise.
• sufficient resources - make your own mind up on this. Solstice Business Systems,  hasn’t got a team of in-house developers. Its run by one person who, has a network of associate developers and partnerships with offshore development companies. This keeps overheads down and provides flexibility, but you might be reassured if you can see a room ful of guys behind PCs. You pay your money and make your choice!
• An office in the High St. Make your own mind up on this. Solstice Business Systems doesnt - it keeps overheads down, and the savings are reflected in our prices.
• What its not, is, someone who can simply use Dreamweaver!But I would say all that, wouldn’t I! 

Price
I’ve got prices ranging from £100 to £2000 for a 5 page site!! Somebody’s pulling my leg!
Well maybe, maybe not. You have to be sure you arent comparing apples with pears. Broadly speaking, if youre dealing with a professional company you will get what you pay for, although some companies have lower overheads (see above) Here’s a check list:

• Number of pages?
• Will you see (and approve) a design in jpg format before the site is designed?
• Is the design genuinely original or is a template? You can buy template solutions for a few dollars.
• How many design concepts will be produced?
• Is there one design for all the pages, or a different design for the inner oand outer pages?
• What is the policy on design changes?
• Is logo design included?
• What technology is used?
• it should at least be built CSS/XHTML using table-less layout techniques.
• It may or may not be built to various standards for the code itself and for accessibility.
• does it have a content management system?
• does it include any functionality? (like a contact us form)

Dont just take my word for it, here’s the views of another web design company

Trackback URI | Comments RSS