Interviewing a Designer to Create a Website for Your Business

As we've pointed out in other articles, plenty of website design tools are available to help you make your own website – many small business owners have, in fact, found that creating a website gave them additional insight into the components of an effective business website.

And many of those who have created a website for themselves, moved on to hiring a website designer as their business web site and their business needs to be expanded.

If you decide to hire a Web designer, here are five key issues to raise when interviewing a prospective web designers:

• Charges and Costs:
  
  • How much will the Web design services charge for preliminary/basic web page and web site design?
  • Are the web designer's services provided on a flat fee/retainer or per hour/item basis?

Additionally:

• How are edits/changes billed?

• What additional/unanticipated costs and contingency charges should you prepare for?

• Time and Schedule:
  
  • How long will it take the web designer to prepare initial designs for your custom website?
  • How long to prepare the finished versions of a web page?
  • How long for the complete business website and future Web design services?

• Is the web designer prepared to set a firm schedule for regular updates of your own website?

• Can the web designer promptly accommodate "emergency" or quick-turnaround adjustments and changes to your business website?

• References and Experience:
  
  • Have the website designers produced custom website development packages for companies similar to yours?
  • Can the web designer provide you with references that you can contact to discuss their custom website development experience with the web designer you're interviewing?

• Growth and Expansion:
  
  • Does the web designer possess experience - and references - with E-commerce and retail transaction business websites, should you decide that your own website needs to add these features?
  • What other advanced business website features does the web designer have experience with - and can show samples of?

• Website Marketing and Site Promotion:
  
  • In addition to knowing how to build a website, does the website designer have experience with more sophisticated aspects of web marketing and web site promotion?

• What are the web designers' charges for website promotional services such as:
  • Designing and linking web marketing campaigns to specific pages on your business website?
  • Search Engine Optimization (SEO) services that will increase your web marketing presence on the leasing search engines?
  • Search engine submission that insures that search engine companies know about your website?

• What sort of time/turnaround does the web designer guarantee for Search Engine Optimization services to take effect?

• What other web marketing and website promotion services does the website designer offer?

Knowing what to ask when first interviewing a web designer can often help prevent costly website design and maintenance issues down the road.

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