How to choose website designers

Once you've decided you need to develop or re-design a website the task begins of finding web designers.  This can be a minefield with so many website designers available with pricing starting from a few hundred pounds to, in some cases, hundreds of thousands of pounds.  There are some key things to understand and research as you decide on a web designer.

Understand your project:
Firstly, you must understand your own project and what it is you want to achieve from your site.  Is it just a small brochure site that you want to direct people to for some more information on your company or is it a big ecommerce website generating cash directly with very measurable results?  Is search engine optimisation important to you or will you market the site only through your own corporate literature, perhaps the internet is not an effective way of generating leads for your company?  

Once you have a good understanding of the size of the project, the complexity and an idea of what it may cost you, you will be better prepared.  Do not expect to get a site like Facebook for £5,000.

Check the portfolio:
The first step will be to find may be three web deign companies that you can ask for quotes for your project.  With the thousands of web designers out there the best place to start is by looking at the designers portfolio.  This should give you a good idea of their graphic design skills and on looking more closely at the sites within the portfolio, you will be able to test the sites and the functionality.  Do the graphics stand up to your expectations and has the agency completed similar projects to yours in size, functionality and complexity?  If so, this may be a good agency to approach for a quote.

Send your brief:
If so, contact the website design company and send them a brief.  The brief should have enough detail in it so the agency can really understand what your project is about but not so much detail that they can't get back to you with their own ideas and vision.  A good agency will give you ideas and suggestions on what you can do with the site and how it can impact your business.  Don't necessarily do all the hard work for them as this will give you a chance to test their creativity and understanding of the project.

Check copyrights:
Once the company has come back to you with their proposal and cost it is absoloutly vital that you ask on completion and payment for the website, who owns the copyright and the code to the site?  Many web designers will not tell you but write it into the contract that they own the copyright and the code, in effect ransoming you to that company for the life of the website.  You will never own the website even after you have paid for it.  If you decide to move the site to another host or perhaps want to carry out some additional work to the site with another company, if your web design agency refuse to give you the site files, code or access to the site and this is written into the contract you will be unable to do anything about and either have to continue to use that company or start again.

Face to face
If the costs, portfolio and copyrights are agreeable to you, the next step will be to meet face to face.  It is always wise to visit the web designers office to ensure they are not a one man band working out of a bedroom.  Check the office exists and meet the team personally that will be working on your website.

Check references and history of the agency
Find out how long the company has been trading as if it is a new company or company that has not been trading for long, you may run the risk of the company failing and taking your website with it.  Ask the agency for a list of current and past clients and contact these people and ask them what their experience was with that website designer.

Once these steps have been carried out for each company, you should be in a good position to make an informed decision as to which company to award your project to.