Questions to ask your web designer

[WJP]

Hello all,

In the style of questions to ask your accountant, would anyone be willing to share their gems of wisdom in relation to what questions you should be asking someone before you pay them to build your website? Feel free to start from the basics!

Thanks.

 

[edmondscommerce]

how much do you charge

 

[MartCactus]

Hello all,

In the style of questions to ask your accountant, would anyone be willing to share their gems of wisdom in relation to what questions you should be asking someone before you pay them to build your website? Feel free to start from the basics!

Thanks.

I think it probably depends a lot on what you want him to build. Is it a largely visual/graphics affair, or is it search engine bait to attract new customers, or is it an online application, eg online timesheeting system, etc.

I think some general rules apply when hiring a web developer
1) proven track record - can you see details of work they've done before, and speak to customers. Google them - any horror stories?
2) are they local/UK based? If they are outsourcing it all to India it will be cheaper - but it can cause a whole load of other problems. So weigh the budget available against timeframes, etc
3) make sure the division between what the web developer does and what you have to provide is clear. Will you provide mockups of the design, or is the developer doing the conceptual visual design too? Will you design how every page works, or is he using pre-existing software, and your site will largely inherit design and functionality of that
4) who owns the copyright of the designs? In absence of agreement to the contrary your developer will most likely own copyright.
5) how will fees be calculated. Will you agree fixed cost in advance? How much will be paid in advance, how much upon completion? What happens if you change the design during development, or issues arise that weren't dealt with in original spec?
6) What about bugs that surface later? You can't expect the developer to fix bugs that only appear years into the future for free - so will there be a period of support cover, beyond which you pay for continued support?
7) Will the developer host the site, or will you do that separately? Pros and cons to both... hosting separately means you are less dependent on the developer if you fall out, or he disappears. But if its a complex web application there are advantages to having him responsible for hosting as well (when a problem arises, there isn't the debate as to whether its a result of bad code or bad hosting).
8) err probably loads more I haven't mentioned

 

[makeusvisible]

Some suggestions;

Experience/portfolio.... it should be on their website.
References.... can you call up some past customers?
Time scales?
Are you able to request changes during the design, is there a limit?
How many months bug support do you have?
What is the speed of hosting servers, and where are they based?
How many other websites are on the shared server (if applicable)?
Where do you obtain images from?
Do you use templates?
Will you provide a wire-frame or just mock-ups?
Will the site confrom to WC3 standards, if so what level?
Who will own the website?
What background technology will you use (if any)...eg Wordpress, Joomla etc?

Hope that helps.

 

[fisicx]

Can you build me site like Facebook. In a week. For £150. That will be #1 on google.

Or:

Are you a website designer or website developer?

 

[toastking]

Do you design logos also? Need to look right together so I imagine this is important as I am finding now, getting the balance right is a little trickier than I thought

 

[ITsoldUK]

Can you match my mates cousins Uncle's brothers friends price?

He quoted me £50???

Also, will this include design, logo, seo and marketing plus free hosting, domain name and ongoing support, car valeting, household and window cleaning?

But seriously...I would suggest just one question...

Can you supply me with a RECENT list of clients whom you have completed projects for?

Ta

 

[Simon-M]

Who does the maintenance?

Make sure you find this out because if you are left on your own your site will be out of date and insecure very fast.

If they design your site based on a script and template (CMS) make sure that they do not hack the underlying code without full documentation. If they do not provide this your site will be vulnerable at the very first recommended upgrade.

 

[makeusvisible]

You might also want to ask for the hourly rate for future support.

 

[Deleted member 27344]

design or build? There are huge differences.

 

[Baz Watkins]

Good questions:

• How long have you been in business?
• Have you got a portfolio I can look at?
• Can you actually do what you say you can?
• Can I speak to previous or current clients?
• Can you do what I want for what I can afford? If not what can you do for the sum?
• Do you provide contracts?
• If I pay a deposit what is that for exactly?
• If it all goes wrong can I get my deposit back?
• Will there be follow on costs?
• Will you provide free help if it all goes wrong?
• Why should I trust your company with my hard earned?
• Do you guarantee your work?

Bad questions:

• Can you tell me how much right now?
• My mate says...? (anything that follows that opening line should be avoided)
• I have a great idea, but no money, will you build the website for free in return for...?

Things you should never say:

• Wow...£250 thats really expensive...
• What do you mean you can't get it finished in a week...
• Its not what I asked for...and yes I did agree to the carefully written proposal, I did sign off on the milestones and I did sign the contract but...
• I've decided I don't like it anymore, I'm not going to pay...

Things you should never think:

• Ah its only the web designer, Ill pay them later...
• Its 10pm I have a great idea, I better phone the designer...

There are more...but I lost the will to live halfway through typing this senten....

 

[Nuno]

If I had to actually ask "where is your portfolio?" because it wasn't readily available online I wouldn't bother asking any questions at all.

(Same applies to having one behind a maintenance page.)

 

[Big Pete]

NO need to flaff with them simple questions,

How much completed website with domain sorted and in google ?

Can you get me page 1 of google for " ---------insert your business type etc " ?

When can you do it ie, how long to do it ?

Do you take cash or cheque or paypal or what ?


Simples. its not rocket science . then decide , and then pay by 50% upfront 50% only when website does what it says and its page 1 in google..

 

[MartCactus]

Can you get me page 1 of google for " ---------insert your business type etc " ?

Personally I'd be concerned with anyone who guaranteed first page google results. No one but google can guarantee the position for a particular search term. Making such claims seems to make the pitch sound just like those ones I get from Indian chaps called "Kevin" and "Timothy" in my email each day.

Things to consider
1) will they cheat to get you on first page? Sure they get paid under the contract you agreed, but what about the future damage when google discovers the black hat stuff?
2) isn't it best to focus on a range of terms that you'd like to get found for?
3) no point coming up high in google if the site is cr*p and users bounce as soon as they see it.

In many cases customers and not web developers are best placed to do the link building that is so critical... they know their own market, the sites that are respected, the forums where sites are discussed etc. Getting a web developer/SEO to do this for you is expensive and often he won't know the best places for such links... to me its better for web developer/SEO to advise a client on why such links are necessary, and how to go about getting them and formatting them for maximum effect.

 

[juststartingout]

design or build? There are huge differences.

Does this mean that if I want an e-commerce website made I need to get two different people to work on it? One to design it (the designer) and one to build it (the developer)? It seems that the two together are called an agency, but they are apparently more expensive...

 

[Deleted member 27344]

If your budget/ project requires it then yes.
You can get someone to design/ build it very well but they'll let you down on the other discipline.

if you use an agency you're more likely to get 2 people that have worked together before and know each others strengths/ weaknesses and will feed off each other for ideas etc.

What makes you think an agency would be more expensive than 2 separate people?

 

[juststartingout]

What makes you think an agency would be more expensive than 2 separate people?

I don't know that it would be, but I've heard a few times it would be more expensive to use an agency than get a one-man band to do it.

 

[puzzlebox]

I agree with the "Are you a web designer or web developer?" question. You can be both, but everyone is better at one than the other. You can ultimately choose someone who does both, but base it on your requirements (i.e. do you have a difficult technical spec or are you expecting a truly beautiful, but simple, website?)

As far as agency pricing, it isn't necessarily more expensive AND you get the whole team. Assuming you feel good about them, they answer your questions, are nice on the phone, etc. it gives you a good, long-term resource. And, dare I say, agencies are easier to keep track of than one-man bands (and I've been both, so that's not meant as an insult to freelancers).

 

[Big Pete]

Personally I'd be concerned with anyone who guaranteed first page google results. No one but google can guarantee the position for a particular search term. Making such claims seems to make the pitch sound just like those ones I get from Indian chaps called "Kevin" and "Timothy" in my email each day..

All depends on the business if its called "Kev and Timmies love nest" and they have the w w w kevandtimmieslovenest.co.uk and they want to be google 1 for Kev and Tims love nest making then unless your a brain dead web guy its a pretty easy safe bet right

So you are greatly incorrect in your appraisal of the situation ..

 

[ITsoldUK]

Personally I'd be concerned with anyone who guaranteed first page google results. No one but google can guarantee the position for a particular search term. Making such claims seems to make the pitch sound just like those ones I get from Indian chaps called "Kevin" and "Timothy" in my email each day.

Keywords, maybe agree as there are soooo many metrics in the equation
Company name, totally disagree (unless it is a keyword rich company name alone )

 

[patrickpeer]

Show me your portfolios.
Were your previous customers satisfied?
Show me the feedback of your previous customers.
How much do you charge?
Can you provide me a prototype first?

 

[Malvern Builder]

Just look at their recent work and testimonials. Possibly contact one or two of their previous customers - I'm sure most would be happy to say a few words about their experience.

 

[romnickhudges]

A web designer could also other skills to offer but I found so many who focus alone of setting up and designing a site. Usually, promoting of a site is not their concern as web marketing people or seo people handle it.

 

[RedEvo]

I don't know that it would be, but I've heard a few times it would be more expensive to use an agency than get a one-man band to do it.

Agencies generally have higher overheads than freelancers so yes, an agencies hourly rate is likely to be higher.

d

 

[ITsoldUK]

I don't know that it would be, but I've heard a few times it would be more expensive to use an agency than get a one-man band to do it.

Indeed it will be.

They have larger overheads than one man traders...

However, you MAY (using this subjectively) benefit from a team of experts working on your project in all areas

 

[tumbledown]

One of the most important questions these days must be: 'Do you provide mobile-ready, responsive sites?'

More and more people are using smartphones and ipads etc to view websites and very soon they'll account for the great majority of web visitors.

Responsive websites detect what device (smartphone, laptop etc) a visitor is viewing the site on and serve up a version of that site optimised for that device. No more using finger and thumb to 'biggerise' the text, tapping the wrong link by mistake etc.

Responsive sites are the cutting edge of web design but soon they will be the norm. Why buy a non-responsive site that is semi-obsolete from the start?

I'd include a link to a page explaining molre but I'm not sure I'm allowed.

Googling 'responsive web design' should do it.

 

[JElder]

All pretty good questions so far. I've not seen any regarding timescales yet:

• How long until the site is live?

Also content?

• Do we need to write all the content? Will it be reviewed and spellchecked?
• What data do you need the content by?
• If they supply content, how is this written, and who by?

For those arguing about agency or developer, for most site builds you need:

• An idea person who has developed the product or service. Hopefully you have this.
• A designer, who creates the look and feel - logos, colours, font selection, layout, images or photos.
• A Developer, who takes the content and turns it into HTML. They will also do things like creating a working shopping cart, comment forms or a database driven content management system. Note many of these can be bought off the shelf, in which case the developer is applying the styling to the defaults, as supplied by the designer. Off the shelf systems are much cheaper, but may place limitations on both looks and functionality.
• A Content writer, who writes all the pages, categories, product descriptions, etc. Don't underestimate this. Even a small site with 10 pages will take a few days. The Developer will generally add this to the site.
• An internet marketing person who will work on getting your site found - Paid Marketing, Direct Marketing, SEO and Social Media may all be used.

For all of these, the jobs may be further subdivided by speciality - that's where an agency is useful, as you will generally get someone who specialises in each role, rather than a jack of all trades. You can hire each role separately which can be effective, or have some internally, but you will need to be happy they will work together well and have very clearly defined tasks.

 

[Vennweb]

If they design your site based on a script and template (CMS) make sure that they do not hack the underlying code.

Script templates and CMS are two different things, although they are often found together. Our sites contain a CMS system, but no script templates we directly integrate our own CMS into each site without templates this gives a faster site, more flexability and of course more security.



Paul http://www.vennweb.co.uk/

 

How much are your other clients making?

 

[Nuno]

How much are your other clients making?

I would be amazed if a web designer or developer had this sort of knowledge.
I would be horrified if they had the knowledge and told me as it would mean they are untrustworthy, and incapable of keeping information confidential.

Which could make it a good question if you are likely to be recruiting from a pool of possibly dishonest people. Bit glass half full tho'.

 

[toastking]

I would be amazed if a web designer or developer had this sort of knowledge.
I would be horrified if they had the knowledge and told me as it would mean they are untrustworthy, and incapable of keeping information confidential.

Which could make it a good question if you are likely to be recruiting from a pool of possibly dishonest people. Bit glass half full tho'.

I suspect. I may not be sure. I may not be right. That it was a joke.

Scrap that I'm not even going to pretend! It was an obvious joke

 

[Nuno]

Maybe it was nearly a joke, but to hundreds of people coming here for advice who might not know about webs, web designers or Earl, the humour might be missed, the advice taken and time wasted. Not the end of the world I know, but it might hamper some startup's efforts at getting a site going.
Without being to killjoy about it, sometimes the Time Out section is a better place to practice keyboard komedy.

 

I suspect. I may not be sure. I may not be right. That it was a joke.

Scrap that I'm not even going to pretend! It was an obvious joke

well it was a joke with a slightly serious side.

Its pretty easy to find out how a company is doing and I suspect if those companies are multi million pound concerns then there may be a slight indication.

 

[Nuno]

well it was a joke with a slightly serious side.

Its pretty easy to find out how a company is doing and I suspect if those companies are multi million pound concerns then there may be a slight indication.

Why should how much a company makes have any bearing on which designer to use?
I can understand if you want figures on how much a company makes on their website, or how much a company makes on their new website compared to the old one, but these would not be easy figures to find out.

Granted, if the website was the only route to market you could make guestimates from how much they make overall, but that's all.

Which is why I answered in a Scrooge-ish fashion to a post with the nearly inevitable smiley.