Designing a website is the tremendously painful job for both designer and a client if the client doesn’t have necessary planning or unaware of goals of a website. Since this is the first blog post, I decided to write something about what a designer/developer expects from client when it comes to development of the website.
To get started, follow these 4 simple steps:
- Set out your aims
- Calculate your budget
- Choose a web designer company
- Choose a web hosting company
Set out your aims
Before you even begin to search for a web design company or place an inquiry, spend some time on researching what you expect from a website, your goals, and your likes/dislikes. This is very important information once you are clear with them things will be easy for both. In order to establish your goals, ask yourself following questions.
- Why you are creating website?
- Are you selling product or service?
- Who is your audience?
- Have you got a brand?
- What industry your business belongs to?
- Who are your competitors?
- What the first impression of your clients website on you?
- How I can be better or different from them?
- Will you accept payments? Will you take credit card transactions online?
- How quickly do you need your website completed?
- What will happen if you don’t have a website?
Take your time to get answers of these questions and write them of peace of paper don’t forget to write your own thoughts too. If you spend time now on your objectives, you will have a better vision of what exactly you want from web Design Company you have chosen and avoid future conflicts.
Calculate your budget
Now, you need to think about your budget. How much you plan on your project? This cost differs significantly depending on your requirements which company you choose. Write the maximum figure you can spend or afford then ask for quotes.
Choose a web designer company
This is the most important part of creating your website project; take your time to find the right company. Quality is always better, but quality service for a “reasonable” price is what you should look for.
Assess Experience
Has the web design company created any sites analogous to the one you need? How long the company is in the market? Just like other services in regular life you need to lend this job to someone who has some experience to the highest possible standards, one who knows the principle of professionalism. You might encounter the persons who have very less or no experience, and they will offer you services in the cheapest rate compare to market. Don’t be the person who pays for teaching them let someone else do that. If you want to sell products or services through your website, ensure the web designer you choose has sufficient knowledge on integrating payment getaways and credit card processor.
Examine their portfolio
A good web design company should have a portfolio and descent amount of projects should be listed there. Take some time to examine their portfolio and evaluate them. See if you like the way they design or not, also check authenticity (Yes some people add fake projects to showcase portfolio). If they are giving testimonials on a site see if they are actually written by clients or not, this can be checked by looking at writing patterns. Do not hesitate to contact existing clients and ask about an overall experience about the designer company.
Compare costs
As already mentioned, the cost of designing a website can vary to a great extent. There are usually four ways in which a web designer company will charge for their services.
Packages -: Companies provide web design packages like we do see if your requirement fits in that if not then request them quotes.
Per Hour -: This estimate is depending on actual time spent creating your site. Every company offers their hourly rate ask them for quote see if they have the transparent hour calculation tools so you can keep an eye on progress.
Fixed Price -: Some web design companies will charge based on your project requirement. Once you have clarified your needs, the company will quote you a fixed price to create your site.
Component Pricing -: This generally means charging by the page, so the bigger the site, the more you will have to pay. However, some web designers will charge additional fees for features such as animation or graphics. Ensure you know exactly what is chargeable before agreeing a contract.
It’s important to get complete estimate for all the work. Get estimate in writing. Make sure you and designer company understood scope of work and pricing before signing any agreements. Its good idea to read all term and conditions provided by them. Have a structured payment methods and plan release of funds in stages as work progresses. Make sure to accumulate the entire fund before work begins even if you are paying them in stages. This is important because you should be able to pay them on time, if you fail to do the designer may loose enthusiasm from your work this could lead your project in mess.
Don’t be mean
Below are some funny quotes about most irritating clients from web designer community. Don’t be one of them.
Web designer hate clients that
- Keep changing their minds on design
- Clients that want to help with design then blame you that it sucks
- Keep adding stuff and not wanting to pay extra for it
- Clients that give you a dead line and supply info the day before
- Clients that take weeks to get back to you to answer questions
- Clients that want discounts when the jobs finished
- Clients that email you a dozen times a day with questions
- Clients that rip you off with payments.
- Clients that think major changes only take 10 minutes
- Clients that want their sites in the top 10 of google everywhere.
- Clients expecting you to do update every month for FREE.
- Clients that have done all of the above
- Clients that bounce checks
- Clients that think they can pay whenever they feel like it (several months later).
- Local clients that think I need to drive to their office for everything.
- Clients expecting you to be their IT support / help desk after they attempt to fix PC’s themselves and say I didn’t do anything
- Clients that get you to re-register their domain name and then don’t pay for it…
- Corporate Clients that treat you like crap and act like their superior beings..
- Clients calling about website down coz they forgot to connect to the internet.
- Clients that ask about cost of websites with no information supplied ( yeah we all read minds)
- Clients friends/relatives just out of school attempting to, screwing up and then your asked to fix it
- Clients thats just tell you the website is not working and thats it ( yeah we read minds again)
- Clients that do not check their own text / content for errors ( a very popular one)
- Clients that like to SCREAM at yar when they find one of their own errors.
- Clients constantly forgetting to keep admin login information and call you at all hours for help
- Clients that want a copy of the artwork for desktop publishing and refuse to understand the difference or think you are able some how to help at no extra cost if possible at all?
- Clients that sign up to websites that monitor your design and report every supposed error that needs fixing
- Clients that insist the design fills their 24″ screen, then bitch about scrolling on a 17″ laptop.
- Clients complaining about how dull the website colors look on a 10 year old CRT monitor or never cleaned their monitor since purchase.
- Clients that insist on FAX’S coz they are too lazy to open their email or never used theirs yet.
- Clients whos ‘family’ has advised them on your design, for example, “my son Jimmy, who is in the 6th grade, said you should design it this way.”
- Clients who give you NO communication or feedback after a contract is signed, then blames you for missing the agreed completion date.
- Clients wanting a cheap & simple 3-5 page HTML design, then request load of programming and extras for the same price
- Clients that are happy with design until one of their friends make suggestions, client then panics and wants a FREE redo plus extra’s overnight !!!!
- Clients that sit next to you when designing and talk to you non-stop about site.
- Clients that give you 10 pages of hand written notes that make no sense..
- Clients that discover DIY CMS programs for 9.95 per month, then think you are ripping them off.
I laughed like hell on some of these quote as I experience them many times. So be professional you will get professional work.
Best of luck with your web design project
