Utah Web Design Blog

Design, as with all art, is subjective. One man’s masterpiece is another man’s trash. But when dealing with a web design company, there are at least some things that you should be able look out for to make sure you get the best results possible. Here is a list of 12 items to help you:

1. How long has the web designer been designing websites? A good follow up would be to ask if the designers have degrees or awards. Clearly the more experience a firm has, the better the design is likely to turn out.
2. Are the designers employed in-house or do they subcontract the design to an outside firm? No one likes the idea of outsourcing. When this happens, you lose a bunch of control. Make sure the designers work for the company you contract with.
3. Do you have a personal project manager? You should have someone that will be your personal liaison with the designer and production staff. That person should walk you through the entire process.
4. Don’t get sucked in by testimonials. Just because a firm has a list of people lauding their work, that does not mean they actually do good work. All they have are a list of people who liked what they did for them. Sometimes, people just don’t know any better.
5. Do all of their designs follow a template or can they do custom work? Template designs are nice in so far as they can help to keep costs down, but you lose some creativity with those layouts. You want to find a firm with plenty of custom work capability and experience. Even if you decide to use one of their templates, you can at least be sure that they know how to design creatively.
6. Do they do logo and branding work? Specialization is good, but so is a broad range of talents. It’s helpful to be able to have the same designer who creates your logo, business cards, etc. be able to create your website as well. This helps keep consistency across your marketing materials.
7. What kind of information do they want from you before starting the design process? They should provide some sort of questionnaire to ask you about your company, customers, competitors, website goals, etc. If they don’t get your information and feedback during the design process, walk away. This is your project and you should play a big part in it.
8. Ask to look at previous designs. Do they have a gallery of past design work? Carefully look through it. If you don’t see things that stand out, then they aren’t the design firm for you. Also something to consider is how many designs have they done. The more they have the more likely they have been around a while and that they know what they are doing.
9. Can they design with SEO in mind? While creating stunning design elements are important, you also want to make sure that they design with SEO in mind. Having plenty of room for dynamic, editable text on the homepage and making a navigation that utilizes web friendly fonts is key to helping ensure good search engine ranking. Anything that relies too heavily on flash and non-web-friendly fonts is the enemy of high search engine ranking.
10. Are they still designing in the ’90s? Some web design firms on the market today are still living in the ’90s. Design is constantly changing, and therefore so should designers and design firms. Your design company should not look like this: http://www.webking.com.
11. Do you get to keep the design files? At the end of the process, do you get to walk away with the Photoshop or Illustrator files? You should, because you paid for it.
12. Don’t be fooled by cheap prices and promotional discounts. You will always pay a cost for the “low, low deal.” Whether you pay by lack of design quality or poor communication, you still pay an unseen monetary amount.

Lastly, don’t be afraid to ask lots of questions. This website is for YOU. You should be a part of the entire process and be able to feel like you understand what is going on. With these tips you should be able to narrow down the right firm for you.

This article was written by Peter Nash, head of project management and front end development at i4 Solutions.

As the world of online marketing continues to mature, there are a lot of claims that SEO companies make to entice and solicit new business. Before signing an SEO contract there are a few key questions that need to be asked and mutually understood.

• Are your expectations in line with what the SEO firm is presenting?
• How experienced is the SEO firm?
• What references/case studies are given before the campaign is started?
• Who will actually make the changes and monitor my site on a regular basis?
• Are the monthly services clearly presented and equally understood?
• Will there be a “social networking” element used in the SEO campaign?
• How can the SEO firm accurately track quality visitors to my website?
• Is any aspect of the campaign outsourced? If so, is the cost marked up and passed on to you?
• What will be done to increase inbound links?
• What does the SEO firm use to determine a successful campaign?

All reputable SEO firms will be able to provide straight forward answers to all of the questions. If you are left questioning the SEO firms’ ability, track record, or simply what they will do every month, it is a good idea to keep looking for a company that will provide results and not just a monthly bill. There are literally hundreds of SEO firms out there, so take your time and ask the necessary questions to get the most out of your marketing budget.

This article was written by John Pohlman, an account manager at i4 Solutions. To contact John regarding online marketing options or to receive a free website evaluation, you can email him at john@i4.net.

The Utah Web Design Blog is focused on discussing all aspects of Utah web design, Internet marketing, and related topics. Over time we’ll be posting helpful information that should help current website owners to improve their existing sites, help people in need of a new website to know what to look for in a web design firm, and how to know if you’re getting the most out of your online marketing campaign. We urge you to subscribe to the blog feed so you can stay up to date with our posting and feel free to comment as well.