|
|
Cheap Web Design
If you think it's simply a case of who will do it for the best price, think again.
As with many things we buy there are several important factors to take into account. For a moment let's compare setting up a website with buying a house. When you are looking for a new house it's not simply a case of comparing how many rooms you get for your money. In fact there are lots of factors outside of the property itself. What is its location like? How will it stand up as an investment? The same is true of a website.
Here are the things you need to consider:
- Cost
- Hosting
- Domain
- Design
- Accessibility
- Marketing
- Support
Cost
Cost is by no means the be all and end all but in a competitive market place it has to be a decisive factor. Before you start looking you should work out what you can afford to invest in a site. You should look not so much at the one off cost of having it built but the ongoing costs. When you get a quote for having a site built you should ask about ongoing costs. Find out what you have to pay for your domain name, for hosting, what they will charge you for making changes to your site or adding new pages. Also, find out what marketing if any is included in the cost.
Hosting
Ask your would be designer about hosting. Be very wary of anyone saying "we have our own server". Professional hosting companies have lots of servers running concurrently from different locations so that if one goes down another seemlessly takes over. They also have greater security and fire protection. This means that your site stays up whatever happens. I have known small companies where their own hosting server is kept in the toilet. That is not to say that you should be wary of smaller companies but you should ask them who they use for their hosting. It's far better if they leave this to the professionals and outsource it.
Domain
Make sure you get a proper domain name. It is important that your domain is recognised as an independent entity. You should watch out for being given a subdomain. www.yourcompany.com is good, www.yourcompany.hostingcompany.com is best avoided. It's also important to find out what domain extension is best for you. Don't let a designer talk you into a particular extension as they may be getting a bulk discount. .com, .net and .org extensions are the top level domain extensions with the individual country codes coming next. Decide if you want to market to a worldwide audience (and risk getting lost in the crowd) or specialise in one regional market (e.g. use a .co.uk or .us extension).
Design
Design is not just about a page looking pretty. Functionality is more important. Look at the designer's previous work. Is the navigation obvious? Do the pages load quickly? Is text easy to read? Look through their previous work and look at it with a critical eye. Try to find things wrong with the pages.
Watch out for templates. If your designer is using templates it not only means that they're doing minimal work for their fee but your site could be penalised by search engines for being the same as other websites. It's much safer to have a site custom designed for you even if it costs a bit more.
Accessibility
It's increasingly important that your site is accessible to all users. You want your site to display and function properly not only on a PC screen but also laptops, palmtops, PDAs, digital TV services, mobile devices and software for the visually impaired. If your site cannot be used by all of these browsers you are losing a large proprtion of your potential audience. Ask about accessibility and request that your site be built in XHTML rather than HTML (it's on its way out) and that it uses CSS for the styling.
Marketing
If you just build a site and don't do any marketing it will just sit there and never be seen. This is a mistake that too many people make usually through trying to cut costs. Find out what, if anything, is included in the cost of your design. Is your page optimised for search engines? Do they submit it for you? Will they give you any links? Optimising web pages for search engines is a key part of any site's success. There are companies who specialise in this but if your site is built in a way which makes it unfriendly to search engines there's not a lot they will be able to do for you. This is a crucial part of the design process and should not be overlooked.
Support
What happens once the site is built? Does your designer just say "that's it, finished" and move on to their next site? You should find someone you are able to talk to about your site and seek advice without charge. A website is an ongoing project and a good designer should never wash their hands of it.
Chris Smith works as a web designer, developer and internet marketing consultant. For further information on design and free advice please visit Chris's website - Cheap Web Design (http://www.chris-smith-web.com)
Designing Your Websites Directory Structure
Any kid, and their grandmother too, can make a webpage. There are many "wysiwyg" webpage design applications that let you create a webpage as easy as typing text. But only a few people can create a WEBSITE. The stumbling block is knowing how to link webpages together to form a website. I have seen many websites that consist of a single webpage - about a mile long!
Website Redesign for Existing Websites
Does your website need a re-design? Here are some questions to ask yourself when you are looking for investing in your website redesign.
When Your Graphic Designer Costs You Money
So how do you know when your graphic designer costs you financially and emotionally?
Three Things You Must Do When Designing and Building Your Small Business Website
If you are going to have a web presence for your small business, it only makes sense that it should actually help you get more business. In order to do so, your website design should focus on performing only one function ? and that's to convey your sales message to your site visitors in an effective and efficient manner.
Is a Web Site Builder Right for You?
A web site builder can be a real life saver to someone without advanced HTML knowledge or tools. Web site builders allow a relative newbie to the internet create a professional website in very little time. How can you know if using a web site builder will meet your needs? Here are some things to consider...
Digitalize It! : (Modification of images with tools such as Adobe CS and Corel)
Then it was a choice among crayons, paints and palettes for an artist and designer to create art. It was a box of crayons that make one happy designer during his early years of formation.
How To Use Color Effectively When You Create A Web Site
Colors are powerful, and create strong feelings. They can also make your web site look professional ? or look like a circus. Here are some powerful tips you should use every time you create a web site:
9 Ways to Gain Your Visitors Respect
The internet is filled with sites and they are good and bad. Some have been known for a long time and some still struggle to get the respect and fame they think they deserve.
Web Crimes: how to avoid common website design mistakes
Thinking about designing your own website? Think again about adding any of these "features"?
Flash Web Design - The Wave of the Future?
There are two camps when it comes to flash web design, those who believe it is the wave of the future and those who do not. To decide which camp you want to be part of, you of course need to learn a little bit about flash web design and try it out as well to see how you feel. The following overview on flash web design should help you form at least a basic opinion about flash web design and whether it is here to stay or not.
How to Make Your Site Attractive to Potential Link Partners
Every now and then, I receive a link exchange request from someone who wants a link from my directory (my high-ranking directory directly accessible from the index page), and in exchange, they're willing to link to my page from one of their zillions of link pages about 18 jumps away from the home page. Needless to say, the proffered page has a Google PageRank of 0, and chances are it's not even indexed by any search engines.
How To Create A Stunning Drop Capital Effect On Your Web Pages
Drop Capitals are frequently used in many newspapers, books and magazines in the offline world. You will frequently see the large capital letter sinking down into the first paragraph of articles, stories and chapters in the majority of publications you come across.
Increasing Conversions Through Action-Oriented Copywriting
I do site reviews. Needless to say, I see a lot of Web copy. One thing that always befuddles me is the lack of focus many site pages have. It's as if the writer assumes the site visitor will read the copy and automatically know what to do next. The fact is you have to know what action you want visitors to take before you get them to take that action. That means knowing what the preferred action you want visitors to take is, before you write the copy.
Positive Design Attributes for a Successful Website
Designing a website is hard job, and requires you to think out a plan of action, and put in a lot of work to make it successful. There are many different kinds of websites on the Internet, but if you look at all the top performers with high traffic, you will notice that they all have similar design characteristics which place them as the best in the world.
Pages to Include in Your Website
What pages need to be included on your website? The answer varies for each type of business and depends on how informative you want your website to be for potential clients. Below is a list of sample pages for you to review while you plan out your website.
Web Site Design Mistakes
Some wise human once said "Learn from the mistakes of others. There isn't nearly enough time to make them all yourself." Hence this article. Here are five of the most annoying and common web design mistakes.
Ten Design Mistakes to Avoid
Avoid these mistakes and your site will be steps ahead of your competition.
Wording Up Your Website
Back to basics. Forget funky design, good copywriting is the key to a clear and intuitive website.
User Experience and Search Engines: If Your Home Page Could Only Talk
Dear web site visitor.
Be Friendly to Search Engines
The object of search engines is to give their visitors a list of web pages relevant to the search words, in the order of relevance to the search words. So what do they want from websites?