5 ) How will you incorporate search engine optimization principles into my site?

This question is vitally important for your website, especially if you are a new business or in a competitive market. (Remember online, your market is more than just your geographic location many times.) Simply ask, what they & you can do to improve your search engine rankings. The answer can be a litany of things including coding in CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), title tags, meta text, real word link names, more pages, more links to your website, little to no flash, pdf downloads, and now fast downloading speed. If the firm you are interview fumbles on this question, they don’t understand the larger picture.

6 ) Do you work with or have a business relationship with any small business consultants?

Honestly, this question surprised me at first. I have never had a client or prospect ask me this one. After thinking about it for a minute, I realized how important our relationships to business coaches, referral strategists, and business consultants are for our clients. We are consistently talking to these professionals about the market, different industries, and upcoming trends which is a invaluable information for our clients. On the flip side, a web design company that does not have these relationships probably does not have many good business relationships which can be a telling sign.

7 ) Pricing

They don’t list this as a question, but this is vitally important. For the most part, you get what you pay for. A firm that is selling a website for $500 is using a template or won’t be in business next year because they priced themselves too cheap. Other firms have minimum amounts of $10,000 or more because they are more established, offer more features and should have more talented creative and programming teams. Find a firm that fits your budget and where you want to be. Do you want to be the big firm’s small client or the small firm’s largest client? Their are pros and cons to both scenarios.

8 ) Can you develop my site in a content management system?

This is huge and generally not mentioned in the front end, but how are you going to update your website? We have multiple solutions from $250 – $10,000 depending on your needs, skill level, and budget. This website actually uses WordPress for the CMS (Content Management System). Another question to ask is if the firm will do web maintenance. Some of our clients update their own website, some we update and many have both them and us update their website. If you go with a freelance designer that travels and moves from city to city often, you will be left in the cold with no way to update your website. I am amazed the stories I’ve heard over the years about designers disappearing for months and years at a time.

9 ) The Most Important Thing You Should Know:

Your website design firm should be accessible. This means checking email, answering the phone, returning phone calls and talking your language. Many times designers speak a different language with each other and programmers, but they need to be able to speak to you so you feel comfortable. Overall, you should be comfortable with who you are working with, what you are receiving for what you are paying for, and enjoy the experience. Launching a new website (and brand) is exciting and you should be proud of being a part of it.

Please post any comments or questions you have about the process of hiring a web design firm. If we sound like a good fit & you like our portfolio, give us a call. We do some incredible work and we don’t bite.

Please read this article for yourself on LifeHack.org, but I’d like to share my thoughts on the author’s 9 points. (Don’t worry, we’ll just cover the first half this time.)

1) Look For This: A Real Business

Someone working out of their house can be okay, but if they’ve only been doing this a few months, you many want to consider their reliability. Many times, free lance designers can not offer their clients fast, reliable service because if that 1 designer gets sick, goes on vacation or is at a sales call for another project, your project sits. A firm with an office shows stability and the office does not shut down because 1 person is out. The author suggest asking for references which is a great way qualify a new vendor. I love when clients call and tell me a prospect called them for a reference.

2) Look For This: A Web Site

I don’t see this too much because if they don’t have a website, I do not run into them usually. I do not understand how a website design and/or development company can sell their services without a portfolio on their website let alone not having a website. A web design firm’s website should engage you and make you want to work with them even if the style is not your own. If the firm can not engage you with their website, how can they help you engage your prospects to do business with you? In our office, we see ourselves more than just designers; we are marketers and business developers.

3) Question to Ask: What are the components that my web site should include?

The author says a web design firm can not offer/sell you components if they do not know about your business. I couldn’t agree more. The first thing I ask a prospect on the phone or in a meeting is to tell me more about their business and their objectives. If they ask if we can do something like a shopping cart or member database, I say that we can and dig more into how they will be utilizing those features. You can not offer the same package to every one and make it work effectively.

4) Question to Ask: Will you design my site from scratch or use templates?

Wow, I am amazed how many companies sell templates as custom design. I understand their is a market and a need for template websites and even logos, but please know what you’re getting. When doing research for a custom website we were creating for a flooring company in New Orleans, I found 3 competitors with the exact same website. The only difference between the websites was the logo and the text on the about us page. Having the same website does not help you differentiate from your competitors.

Next time we’ll discuss pricing, relationships, optimization & content management (CMS).