What Can You Do About Your Website Design

What Can You Do About Your Website Design

How To Find A Website Designer

Hi Folks

I published a blog recently within WA about Web Design and I have been asked lots of questions since then about how to get someone to design a site. I have to add those questions where mostly from new members. I also have to add that I pointed them in the direction of the training. After all that's where most of us learned the basics of creating a website.

In this blog I will give a few pointers on how to look for a web designer. Unless you are an accomplished programmer, you are going to have to spend some money at this point. If you are not going to take orders online, then a static site, primarily for image purposes, is a good way to start.

If not then you must have a clear idea what you want. For example, is the server you are thinking about Linux/Apache or Windows based? Will it support dynamic pages, or only static, and if they do support dynamic will they support both PHP as well as ASP, or do they stick to one aspect of dynamic? If these terms mean nothing to you, you are going to need the services of a webmaster, and now is the time to seek out and hire one.

Web designers tend to specialize, so don't feel like you need to get someone who is versed in every aspect of website design.

If you just want a basic HTML site then just about anyone with web design experience should be able to help. However please don't call a relative who just took an intro course at the community college. Because you are building a business website you will want someone who knows something about business as well as websites.

If you need a dynamic database driven site, you will need someone who understands PHP and MySQL. One who does ASP and Microsoft SQL may not be able to help.

There are many choices you can make here, but if cost is a major factor, stick with PHP, MySQL and some form of Linux. You may not know what they are, but when I say that they are free to use, it may give you a good enough reason to think that way. And, believe it or not, there are A LOT of people supporting these products without pay.

In my opinion, MySQL rivals any database system in the world for almost any use, and it is totally free for you to use. This is one time that you get a lot more than you pay for!

The Yellow Pages are a good place to look for a designer. The size of the Ad may give you an idea of experience and cost. Somewhere with many programmers is going to be more expensive, but may save money in the long run. In any case, make sure you get as many estimates as you can.

A good web designer should be able to build a mock up, or rough demo, for you early on to give you an idea of what the site may look like. They can put together some basic pages, add images and some generic text to give you a feel for the site, but do not expect to see a final site before you fork over some cash.

There are generally two ways to pay for a project like this, either a flat fee or by the hour. If you know precisely what you want, then go for a flat fee. If you do that, however, do not expect to make a lot of changes or additions that you expect to be done at no cost.

For most people an hourly based time and materials contract is best. The designer can give you ball-park estimates and tell you what it will cost per hour for anything else.

Ok folks that's all I have to say about web design and designers. Please remember if your website design is not all that it could be do not ask me as I stopped doing this line of work several years ago. However there is one member that I know of who still does this kind of work. You might like to contact them and I'm sure they will give you more tips and advice.

Have a great day and be successful.

Robert Allan