How to find a web developer or design firm

A web developer may be a great programmer, graphic designer, possibly a technical expert or some conglomeration of the above. He might be very creative but not have any business sense for your business. Most likely they don’t have much experience in writing direct response advertising copy, creating sales presentations that are effective or marketing products or services. This is why it is important to shop and find a web developer or design firm that will make a website for you and your needs.

Check out other sites in your field and be familiar with the Internet, yourself. You can easily find these through business directories on the web. Ask your friends and associates who did their site, if they were happy with the total experience and why. If you like the work, call for appointments with those firms.

Look for some record of success with the firm you choose. Ask to see other websites they have created and call their references. See if they’ve won any awards (not always an indicator as some people don’t bother nominating themselves and can still be very good but not have any trophies). “Success” can also be a nice portfolio of good websites that they have created. Call these people and ask questions about the firm and their service.

Don’t choose a firm too focused on themselves…they should be more focused on you and your companies needs.

Look at their website…if they haven’t done a good job on their own product, you might not have to spend much time with them.

Don’t necessarily go with the firm that says “yes” to all your questions unless they follow up with reasoning, good or bad. You want someone to show you the way.

Do you want face-to-face meetings or want to be able to sit down with someone to go over the work? Find out if the candidate to make your website is willing to travel to see you and how often.

Make sure they explain things in language you can understand.

The proposal to you should contain an outline including the site’s goals and audience, the creation of an easily navigated structure, design the pages, place the site on a service, establish a domain name and register the name with search engines.

If you just want someone to tell you that it costs so much for so many pages, you’ll find a lot of firms out there that will quote you prices. One barometer is that a minimum investment for an effective five-page site is about $1,000 when you provide the graphics…additional pages run $75 to $200 each depending on the amount of copy on the page or the complexity of the HTML (obviously, these rates can vary immensely).  But if you’re serious about your website, choose a website developer with some technical expertise and who’s interested in working with you.

Know about how much you want to invest in your website. Are you going to be happy with a general site or do you have specific needs to fulfill in the website. A good firm will ask you about this and advise you.  Beware of a developer that wants you to provide all the copy.

If you’re not a marketing expert, what you write might not be effective on the Internet, which also bring to mind that your developer should have experience in direct-response marketing and an understanding of the Internet. People who have spent a lot of time on the Net have a better understanding of how it works and how to best use its available features.

And finally, make sure you choose a firm or someone who you feel comfortable with. Find out if the person making the presentation will continue to work with you. If not, whom would you be working with? Try to meet or, at least, talk to this person to make sure you have a good rapport.

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