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In today’s competitive Internet economy, a company must have a dynamic Web presence.  A well-designed website will attract customers, promote products, and provide a way for customers to communicate with your company. Website design is an extremely critical business component. A well-designed site will not only help you attract more clients and communicate with customers, but it will also provide a professional image to the world. On the other hand, a poorly designed site may be difficult for customers to navigate, may not function the way you need it to, and may provide a poor image of your company.

It is important to educate yourself about how a good website looks and functions - even though you are not designing it yourself. With the variety of choices in companies and freelance designers, how do you choose? Consider the following factors:

•Design Portfolio - The vendor should have a design portfolio that represents your aesthetic tastes. Some designers rely on Web 2.0 format, which is similar in appearance to a blog. Other designers have certain "styles" such as techie, corporate, artsy, mom-and-pop, etc. Make sure that you like the work in a designer's portfolio and it matches your needs before agreeing to work with them.

•Price - There can be a huge difference in the price of website design and development. Factors like experience, technological abilities and client base are considerations. Also, will you do any of the work yourself? Always put out a Request for Proposal (RFP) in order to analyze the options that are available to you.

•References - Whenever you hire a vendor, you must check references! Make sure that the Web design company actually has live Websites in their portfolio. When you call references, ask questions like: Did their Website design vendor deliver the site as expected? What are the company's strengths and weaknesses? Would you use them again? How was the follow-up after the launch of the site and were errors quickly corrected? Was their company easy to work with? If you are overwhelmed by the choices and checking references, click here for help!

•Technology – Web design firms have different technological abilities and specialties. Create a list of all of the things you'd like to have on your site (e-commerce, login, blog, RSS feeds) and address their abilities and any additional pricing for these features.

•Customer Relations – It’s important that you’re comfortable communicating with your designers and that they are responsive. If you choose to work with a team that is not local, the team should share files and progress updates efficiently and quickly. If you prefer a local company, make sure that they understand that they will need to make site visits to your office or meet with you at their office. Be ready to address problems quickly and professionally to ensure that your project is successful.

Understanding the importance of your online presence, you will want to be very selective with your design firm. If you want website designers to compete for your business, click here. For additional information, you can visit our web design wiki, click here.