How to choose a website designer

info@thewebsitedesignstudio.co.uk
Tel: 01903 879362

How do I choose a website designer or web
design company?

Many companies and freelancers offer web design services. The choice is huge. When choosing a web design company or freelance web designer, you need to ask yourself some basic questions:

1 Can the web design company deliver what I need?
2 Can the web design company deliver within my budget?
3 How do you know they won’t rip me off?

Here are some steps to follow to help you answer these questions.

Look at the web design company’s own website
Do you like what you see? Is it easy to navigate your way through the information presented? Is the site full of jargon that you don’t understand, or is the information presented using simple, plain English?

The web company’s website can offer a lot of clues. Make sure that the company offers the level of web design services that you are looking for. Large web design companies are often more expensive as the cost of your website will include overheads for services that you have no need for.

Look at the web design company’s portfolio of work
Take a look at the websites that the web design company has already produced for clients. Do you like the look of their work? Do they offer the style of graphic design you are looking for? Are the websites easy to navigate and easy to understand? Do all the links work, does the site load fast and is it easy to navigate the site? Do all the pages have a consistent look?

Look for testimonials
A good website design company will have testimonials from satisfied customers that they will be happy to share with you. Testimonials will give you a good idea of the level of service and design expertise you can expect. Make sure that any testimonials displayed by a web design company have the email address and the web site address listed (so you can contact them if need be – don’t be afraid to do this). If these details are not available, the testimonial could be fake.

Expect free initial discussions with the web design company
Good web design companies will offer advice and initial discussions about your website needs for free.

Make sure you get a quote
After initial discussions, a good web design will provide you with an initial quote based on they type of website you need. It should state clearly what is included in the contract e.g. how many pages, links, graphics? Does it include marketing and maintenance of your web site? If not, then ask what does it cost for the extras. This can include domain name registration, scanning and optimization of graphics and hosting.

Compare prices
Use the internet to compare prices, so you have a rough idea of what a website will cost. You can expect to pay half of the full price up front. If they are professional, they will accept credit cards for online payments. Do the prices include submitting your site to the main search engines? (This should be done by hand if it is done properly). Don’t be misled by those that say your site will be submitted to 3000 search engines by automatic submission software.

Ask about ongoing support
Support means offering help and advice if you have any queries or problems with your website. Expect a prompt and courteous answer to any question or concerns you may have.

Please contact The Website Design Studio for a friendly, no obligation discussion about your website needs.

Tel: +44 (0)1903 879362
Email: info@thewebsitedesignstudio.co.uk

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Glossary

Animation
Any graphic that moves on your website. Animations are often created in a programming language called Flash – hence the term Flash animations.

Below the fold
Content of a web page that is not seen by the visitor unless the visitor scrolls down the page.

Blog
Blog is short for web log. It’s a web page were the owner can easily add short updates (known as posting). It is particularly useful for online diaries.

Blogger
The author of a blog.

Blogging
Blogging is the act of posting on a blog.

Bookmark
A link to a specific web page, stored by your browser in your favorites section.

Brochure website
A simple website designed to give information about the owner’s products or services.

Browser
A program on your computer that allows you to look at web pages. Examples include Internet Explorer, Fire Fox and Netscape. There are others.

Comment
A piece of feedback left by a reader on a blog.

Compression
A way of packing data in order to save storage space or for faster download time. It is commonly used when preparing photographs for presentation on the web. Photos that have not been compressed take a long time to download.

Content
Anything that is included on a web page including artwork, text and photographs.

Discussion board
A discussion board is a general term for any online "bulletin board" where you can leave and expect to see responses to messages you have left. Or you can just read the board.

Domain name
The address of your website. (e.g. www.thewebsitedesignstudio.co.uk)

Domain registrar
A domain registrar is a company or organization involved in registering domain names on the Internet.

Email
Typed messages that can be sent to other users of the internet (providing both the sender and the receiver have email addresses.)

Email address
An address that can be used to send and receive emails.

Email forwarding
A way of forwarding emails to another email address.

Flash
Software made by Macromedia that created animated sequences for inclusion on a website.

Forms
A way for website visitors to communicate with the website or other people instead of sending an e-mail. Typically forms may ask for a visitor’s name, address, email address and details of any enquiry.

GIF
A GIF is a type of image file. It stands for Graphic Interchange Format. It is best used for artwork with flat colours.

Hits
The number of times a web page has been viewed on the internet.

Home page
The first page you see when you view a website.

Host
A computer connected to the internet that stores website pages.

HTML
Stands for Hypertext Markup Language. This is the language that web pages are created using.

Hyperlink
A link on a website that points to another web page (sometimes known as hotlinks)

Images
Artwork or photographs displayed on a web page.

JPEG/JPG
Stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group ( the name of the committee that created this file format). JPEG is best used for photographs for the web.

Keyword
Keywords are words that are key or important words. Users type in a keyword in the search engine to find the relevant websites associated with that keyword.

Link
See hyperlink

Link building
Is a technique where you create reciprocal links with websites with the intention of increasing the popularity of a web page, thus helping increase a web page's position in the search engines. The more inward links a web page has, the more likely it is to be noticed by a search engine.

Link popularity
How popular a web page is based on the number of back links it has.

Mail box
A sort of letter box where your email are stored before you view them.

Masthead
An image placed at the top of a web page to tell the visitor what page they are on.

Mailing list
A method of using one email to sent do multiple email addresses.

Mouse over
A change on a website (e.g. a photographic changing) when the curse is passed over it.

Navigation
The way a visitor moves from page to page on your website.

Navigation links
Highlighted word or phrase that by clicking, allows you to jump to another web page or website. Typically navigation links that move you around the pages of a website are found at the top and bottom of a web page.

Navigation structure
A map or flowchart of the relationship between pages on your website.

Online shop
A website with the facility for visitors to pay for goods bought from the site.

PDF files
Stands for Portable Document File. PDF files are a good way of displaying documents on your website.

Reciprocal link
A link between two websites.

Rollover
A feedback cue that is activated when the mouse cursor is moved over a particular element or button on a web page.

Search engine
A tool for search the web using keywords. Google, Yahoo and MSN are examples of popular search engines.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
Making you website as attractive as possible to search engines, thus increasing your chances of being on the first page, or, better still, first position on the search results list. A number of factors are important when optimising a website, including the content and structure of the website's copy and page layout, the HTML meta-tags and the submission process.

Shopping cart
A virtual shopping cart where visitors can store goods to buy before payment on a shop website.

Splash page
A website's introduction page, usually using flashy of Flash graphics.

Statistics
Information on how many visitors a website receives, where they come from, which pages they look at, how long they stay on the site for etc.

Submission
The process of submitting a new site to search engines for inclusion in its database, so that the site appears in listings.

TIF or TIFF
A file format for graphics used on a website.

Templates
Ready made websites or web pages that can be adapted to meet specific needs of a new website owner.

Traffic
The number of visitors that view a website.

URL
Stands for "Uniform Resource Locator". It is the address of a web page. URLs begin with http://. For example the URL of this website is http://www.thewebsitedesignstudio.co.uk.

W3
World Wide Web

W3C
World Wide Web Consortium

Web design
Web design describes the process of designing a web page or website.

Web designer
A person who designs websites.

Web performance
The time it takes for a page to load.

info@thewebsitedesignstudio.co.uk
Tel: 01903 879362