Original Article from IntelliSites, the smart choice for web design (and SEO!)
If I had a nickel for every time a potential client said to me, "Thanks for the proposal, but I've decided to let my 17-year-old grandson build my website", I'd be able to throw a pretty sweet pizza party for all of my employees. Sure, the guy's grandson could buy Front Page and put together a site, but the kid could also buy a set of wrenches and a copy of Fixing Cars for Dummies and have at Grandpa's transmission.
Your company deserves a strong website. And how the website looks and functions reflects on your company big time. So when someone offers to build you a site, you need to be able to ask the right questions to make sure he or she has what it takes to not only build a website, but build the right website for your business.
For starters, you are always going to want to ask the following questions.
1. Will you be using tables to build my site? Remember tables? They have those pesky invisible boxes that we've talked about before. A web designer who uses tables to build a website is kind of like a wedding photographer who uses a 1986 edition Polaroid camera to take wedding portraits. Using tables or an outdated camera will sort of get the job done, but in both cases, there is new technology out there that can create a much better product. You want to choose a web designer who can use DIVs to put your site together.
2. How many websites have you built before? No one really wants to be the first patient a surgeon operates on or the first defendant a lawyer represents. And in those situations, the newbie professional has had years of training and practicing. If your web designer hasn't built many websites, chances are there is a lot he or she has to learn. Are you sure you want that person to do that learning while building the website for your business?
3. Can you build me a functional website? I'm sure most people who offer to build websites have enough knowledge to put together a site that looks halfway decent. But it takes a lot of skill to set up a website that can actually do stuff. If you are just looking for a site that showcases a few pictures and tells visitors your phone number, some amateur web designers might be able to come up with something that sort of meets your needs. But websites constructed by professionals have the potential to be much more functional. At IntelliSites, we set up websites with forms to collect visitor data, sites that allow for online shopping, and so much more.
4. Are you available when I need updates or have problems? Websites aren't meant to be built and remain the same forever. So you need to make sure your web designer is planning on being in this with you for the long haul. I'm sure family functions can get a little tense when Grandpa has been nagging for a few months and his grandson still hasn't found time between band rehearsal and track practice to update Grandpa's website.
5. Can you make sure my site looks good on every major web browser? Something amateur web designers might not know is that you can't just code a website once these days. Web surfers use many different internet browsers and versions of internet browsers, and your website could potentially look different to people using each one. Professional web designers like those at Intellisites take the time to look at our finished product on all major browsers and make any necessary corrections to make it look great on all of them.
Best of luck as you search for a web designer! (Did I mention that the crew at IntelliSites can give the right answers to all of those questions?)
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