Now that
we've harangued you to upgrade your Web site, take advantage of
business blogs, read your
Web stats/, incorporate
search engine tips and use
Web 2.0 themes, it's time to choose a Web design firm to make all of the above happen for your small business. Google "web design" and spend the rest of your natural life clicking links or narrow down your search around some specific best-practices criteria.
- Best of Show - Good Web firms have great or imaginative Web sites they designed themselves. Their sites employ logical navigation, have intuitive layout and you're never more than 2 clicks away from what you want. Look for a way to get in touch with them; check for samples or a portfolio.
- Site Suckiness Quotient – if a firm is confident in what it does, the rep will give you non-judgmental analysis of your site. No one should tell you that your current site sucks (you probably know that already); rather, they should discuss (in addition to improving navigation) what they would do to make your site more marketable. Do they mention replacing graphics with text? How about improving the content-richness of the text you already have? That's valuable input.
- The Online 5K – if the conversation begins with, "It'll cost about $5,000 to redesign your site," then hang up. The $5K delimiter has replaced the $3K ruler in build 'em fast design and the fact is, it does not have to cost $5,000 for a straightforward site without too much interactivity. Yes, of course, interactivity is good and we recommend it, but design itself just doesn't cost that much. (Programming does.)
- The Monthly Gotcha – Web sites have to be updated. If the firm recommends a large fee for "maintenance," then be concerned. They should be using relatively easy tools to enable you or a staff member to edit the site without enrolling in a community college (remember, Webmaster is a job!). One such tool is Adobe's Contribute ($150 retail) and there are plenty of content management systems (CMS) as well. Beware the firm that doesn't encourage you to self-edit. A modern site should be editable by the site owner.
- The Full Monty – Web sites that are completely Flash are rarely editable except by a Flash programmer. Read the want ads for Flash programmers and deduce how much they charge hourly. Certain sites do well in Flash; most small business sites do not. Is the firm you're considering pushing Flash? Ask about site updates before you sign and don't send money without signing a contract (see #8).
- Who's Your Daddy? – Does the Web firm employ designers, coders and programmers or is it a virtual firm with only contractors in various countries? It's better business to have a designer or project manager for your site who is your single point of contact during the design and build process. You should build a relationship with your design firm; there should be a person there with whom you can relate and who understand your business's culture.
- Ownership – Who owns the finished site? (We've already cautioned you to be sure you own your domain.) The copyright for your site should be yours but there's a secondary issue: who owns the original files used to build your site? If there are cool graphical buttons and in 6 months you want another button, can you get the original graphic file that is the basis of the button? Ownership of content and original build files should be part of your contract. Those files include Photoshop, Illustrator and similar graphics.
- Bottom Feeders – I've often said that if I weren't married to a lawyer, I'd never again speak to one willingly (unless you get into trouble and then you want the biggest, baddest one out there, eh?). Get a contract with your design firm that specifies what the work product will be, the launch date and ownership (plus lots of other lawyerly things). If the Web firm is incorporated, you stand a better chance of that contract actually meaning something.
- See No Evil – Looking at an online portfolio is one thing. Talking to real clients whose sites don't make the Web Top 5 portfolio choices is another. Google the firm; if they aren't showing up as site author in the meta tags, I wonder how their clients rate their work. Due diligence is your job.
- Lift the Veil – Anyone can click "View/Page Source" in a browser. Look at some of their sites; better yet, have someone who knows HTML do it for you. Are their sites coded well or are they generated from pre-built templates? Do they contained sliced images (an antique site design technique)? Do they validate according to WC3 standards and are they ADA compliant?
There are too many horror stories about aborted Web site builds and yours doesn't have to be one of them. Do your own thorough investigation before signing anything that you showed first to your attorney.
Tags: designtips, small business, SmallBusiness, web design, web design company, web site redesign, WebDesign, WebDesignCompany, WebSiteRedesign
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Comments
8
Subscribe to commentsDanNov 21st 2007 9:32AM
I think I'll be forwarding this list to my potential clients. Thanks.
JamesNov 21st 2007 10:23AM
#10b: even if you're not government and therefore required by law to do so, think about Section 508 compliance (you mentioned "ADA") for the disabled. This especially ties into #5 -- I'm in no way disabled, but if a site is 100% Flash with no HTML-only alternative, I always email a nastygram to the site admin admonishing them for losing the business of the handicapped.
I actually do it because I hate Flash and it has never once led to a better site design (in my experience -- I guess anything can happen), but I like to think maybe it will help some people with text-only readers too.
james 42Nov 21st 2007 11:41AM
7. Ownership - Everything a web designer does should be considered "work for hire". Make sure your designer understands this and commits to it in writing.
8. "If the Web firm is incorporated, you stand a better chance of that contract actually meaning something." I'm not sure why this would be true. A contract is a contract and, in fact, a sole proprietor has a lot more too loose if sued then an incorporated company.
9. I'm starting to think that I have misinterpreted what the author tag is for. When I bother to include it, I always put in the name of the client, they are the ones who wrote the stuff, I just packaged it. Now that I am looking into it, it seems more like it is about the publisher, that being the web designer. What are your thoughts? This is one of the hazards of being self taught...
10. I like to code clean, but the reality is that it does not matter. A site that is well designed and has good SEO will work well, it really won't matter if the code is pretty or not. I even read a while ago about a guy who tested identical sites, one coded well, when coded poorly. The poorly coded site actually came out with better Google placement then the properly coded site.
CarlosNov 21st 2007 11:55AM
"The Online 5K – if the conversation begins with, "It'll cost about $5,000 to redesign your site," then hang up. The $5K delimiter has replaced the $3K ruler in build 'em fast design and the fact is, it does not have to cost $5,000 for a straightforward site without too much interactivity. Yes, of course, interactivity is good and we recommend it, but design itself just doesn't cost that much. (Programming does.)"
This is my all time favorite, always a designer work is cheaper compared to "oh" programmers work, and that is bull, art is art, and if a designer has to spend huge amount of hours for a GREAT design (Branding) of the site that doesn't count? C'mon people, with all the CMS platforms avaialble today, there is no need too much for that "really smart and expensive programmer", any designer can figure out how to hack Wordpress or Joomla to fit the clients needs.
EmceayNov 21st 2007 1:56PM
I thought I was going to find great tips so that I could make some web design magic... Instead I get the cold, harsh sting of business - and the reality that I'm too small fish to accommodate all of these guidelines without losing my mind or going under. The monthly "gotcha" keeps many folks above water when all the clients are looking at a site like yahoo and saying to a designer "They can make me the next buzzword for $200, why can't you?"
TMMNov 22nd 2007 5:02AM
Design doesn't cost much?
Excuse me ... but you seem to be mistaking "decoration" with design.
Now, if a client wants a redesign of their web site and has no real CD, so in the process a CD has to be redesigned as well ... That takes a lot of work.
And a lot more of what programmers can do: they are programmers and should stay with what they can do.
Even if there is a CD and a manual ... good "design" will take a good amount of work: or are you talking about those "template" style "so-common-everywhere-pseudo-designed" sites? "Design" 'em fast? A site that can be navigated, an that's it?
Designers, for a good reason, will cost a lot, more than a programmer. And real web design should be: design by a real designer, programmer just programms. And by design, I don't mean only - what some call - "eyecandy".
I mean: thinking - and a lot more.
So your "rule" can only be for a "nicely" "decorated" site, in my understanding.
If you want something special, something thought over, you will have to pay a designer; or at least pay for design.
I understand that you're only trying to give some finger rules, some starting tips: but please make it clear: good design - and I mean design, you know, the stuff that's got thinking in it - is worth a lot and should be payed accordingly.
Designers: your work is very valuable. I understand that there are a lot of people that mistake a lot of things for design that aren't and by that "devalue" design: they don't want to pay for it, because they see no value in it. Maybe because they don't understand the value of it - that's an intellectual matter. It has to be learned and understood.
Make it clear what design is and what is not and why you have the right to be payed for the special work you do.
So 3K ... ok ... if you want a fast site that just works. A "templated looking" site. You want something good: it will go on top of that.
In a rough comparision:That's not so far away what's being payed for art:
What do you pay for a painting? Do you just count the hours it took for it and then take, say, 50$ per our ... and add the material?? BS. Designers are forced to do that, what's more bs, i.n.m.o., so it's only fair to be payed a "high" hourly wage.
Other than that: it's nice to see that you're trying to give people some advice, some point to start from. Good effort!
Oh ... and excuse mistakes: English is not my native language, so some sentences might sound arkward for native speakers ... I guess ...
alyNov 22nd 2007 3:24PM
Good design definitely matters and is worth every penny! Rare is the client who will demand programming changes once they've communicated the elements they need; but design can go through countless nit-picky explorations and touch-ups and changes! "Design" is not about editing a template style sheet -- it speaks for who the client is, what they and/or their company represent and is akin to making a "good first impression." Granted a site that doesn't work properly is equally important, but let's not devalue the art form or the artistry involved in quality site design.
magooDec 17th 2007 9:23PM
Speaking as a programmer / scripter, who plays with web stuff in his spare time, I find good design the hardest part of building a website.
To be blunt, HTML / Script writing is a commodity, but it takes good design and content to lift one (otherwise equivalent) site above another.