Choosing a good web designer

Written by Edward

Wednesday, 22 October 2008 02:21

If you are looking to have a serious website built (rather than just a hobby site) choosing a web designer for your website is a very important decision. This list was compiled to help people understand the important factors in choosing a web designer for your project.

Take a look at the web designer’s portfolio. Do you see anything you like? If you don’t see anything you like then it would be pointless to go further!
Do they use templates or do they design the website themselves? I would not recommend using templates for two important reasons
1. Templates are not a serious option if you want to compete in a highly competitive world. They often look cheap, offer little creativity, and are not designed towards your exact brand and market.
2. If the designer is using templates can they even design websites? Moving on to point 3.
Do they manually write HTML and CSS code? Ask them what kind of software they use to build the website. Here are a few answers you might get:
1. They use Microsoft FrontPage – This is not serious web design software and if they use this it would be a sign to run.
2. They use Dreamweaver – This is a good piece of software but it depends what they use it for.
3. They use text editors – They write the code themselves. This is a very good sign as it means they have in-depth knowledge.
Is you’re website dynamic data driven? If so make sure they work with languages such as JavaScript, Ajax, PHP, MySQL ActionScript
Can they create custom forms and interactive content such as flash? (if you need this)
How do they keep your website secure? This is particular important for e-commerce websites.
Do they have good marketing experience? Web design is not just about the design and development. A good web designer will need to have a good business and marketing head as
Do they build websites with good usability? Good web design is far from making a website look good. Will your website work across different platforms? Will users be-able to easily navigate the site? Will they be able to read the text?
Will your website be optimized for search engines? At the very least a designer should include Meta tags, alt image tags, title Search Engine Friendly (SEF) urls. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a colossal subject and if you require this service you should check that they are using White Hat techniques, have a portfolio of rankings.
Professional? Choose a web designer you can get a long and work with.

Last Updated ( Thursday, 01 January 2009 17:37 )

Comments (3)

I'm not sure why you think a web designer should be responsible for the correct English of the site. Usually the client is responsible for providing the text content, so unless the web designer is being paid to do the copy (which is very rare) then these skills are not necessary. Also not all websites are in English! We are currently working on several websites that are in Spanish and Chinese. Having little understanding of the language is not a problem as long as the navigation text is understood. Obviously with SEO it is very important that the SEO Expert has a excellent understanding of the language he or she is optimizing the site for.

It would also help if the web designer understood correct English such as good grammar, pronunciation and spelling.

I think it's also important to work with a web designer that you can physically meet.