How to Choose a Web Designer

When you want to build a house, you choose the best carpenter for the job. When you buy a new computer, you pick the best one. When you select a web designer, you want the best one for the job. This article gives you some great tips on how to qualify a web designer.

Use Your Designer's Resources

• One way to qualify a web designer is to check out their own website. If they don't have a website, that should send up a red flag. If they do have a site, put their URL through the W3C's Website Validation Test. This testing site is a tool used by designers to make sure their coding is written correctly and is Standards Compliant.
• Check out their portfolio if one is available. Visit the sites they've designed to inspect the look and feel. Are they easy to navigate? Are they easy to use?
• Contact the owners of the portfolio sites and ask them about their experience with the designer. A good designer will leave an impression that makes a client very happy and want to recommend them.
• When you talk to your designer, ask them if they understand the value of Standards Compliant web design. If they say yes, and their site doesn't validate, bring this up to them.
• Ask your designer if they understand SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and what they will do for your site. Good SEO involves keyword research, META tags, search friendly design and great written copy. Using good SEO techniques can help search engines understand your website, each page you have and in return improve it's ranking and searchability.
• No designer can promise high rankings. There are many dynamics to how web sites are ranked, sorted, and placed in web searches, and while designers can build to the known specifications, no one can promise a #1 spot on a search engine.

Comparing Designers by Price

• Price should not be your basis for comparison. What one designer does for $100 is not what another will do for $1000. You will not get the same product, and your website has a much greater chance of suffering if you use price as a basis for your choice.

Process of Work

• Ask the designer about their process. Do they sit down and start coding immediately or do they draft ideas on paper first?
• How often will they contact you during the development process?
• What happens when the site is complete? Do they offer continued maintenance and up keep?

Qualify Your Designer

Just like hiring a new employee, web designers qualify their clients before taking them on. You should do the same with your designer. Make sure they are equipped to handle your project and make it great. Check out their work, email their clients, and learn about their process. Following these simple guidelines will help you to find the best web designer for your project.

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About Dave

I am the founder of Asheboro Creative. I'm a PHP and MySQL developer that thinks CSS is the greatest thing since the knife that sliced bread. I am a stickler for validating our websites and love to check out design galleries.

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