Google for web designers or web design firms and you will get millions of results for companies all promising very similar things: timely delivery, budget-friendly, search engine optimization and cross-browser compatibility, etc. Now if they were all so great, why are there so many crappy websites you may ask. Here are some qualifications that will help you to weed out the good web designers from the bad ones.

Great Portfolio

A great portfolio displays creativity, style variety and most importantly has examples of real client work and not just spec work from school. Ensure that the web designer’s overall style in their portfolio matches what you are looking for. Test out their previously launched websites to ensure that they are user-friendly, error-free, suitable for their target market and fast-loading.

A great portfolio always trumps design experience or education. Web designers with too much experience could be set in their ways and less open to new ideas or trends. And just because someone took a few classes for design does not mean that they have an eye for it. We have encountered many websites offering web design services with hideous websites.

Customer Service

No matter how stellar your designer or agency is, if they cannot respond to your calls or emails in a timely manner during business hours, they most likely cannot meet your deadline. This can mean death to your business if your project is time sensitive due to something like a product launch. Some freelance web designers are moonlighters meaning that they have full-time jobs and they pick up the odd project here and there for extra cash. Be wary of those folks because they will likely not be around when your project goes awry forcing you to forfeit your deposit.

Required Skills

Whoever you select should be proficient with the web technologies your project requires. If you need Flash for an animated clip, ensure that your web developer is proficient in Flash Actionscripting 3.0. If you want to convert your website into a CMS, ensure that they are well versed in your chosen CMS and the web technologies that support it. Most open-source CMS’ are controlled by PHP. It is always better to hire an expert who can excel at the things you need rather than a jack of all trades who is just mediocre in everything. Usually, you should be able to evaluate this based on their online portfolio.

Their Timeline Fits your Timeline

All projects have a deadline or some preferred time range in which you would like it to be completed. Inexperienced web designers often quote overly optimistic timelines. No matter how simple your website design or redesign is, it is almost impossible for the design process (from concept to completion) to take less than two weeks because there will always be revisions. I always laugh when a potential client emails me and estimates that their new website is very basic and should take no more than 2 days. It is much more professional to quote a longer timeline and deliver earlier than expected. However, if your web designer says it will take much longer than their competitors, they may be moonlighting.

Full-Service

Full-service is usually offered by design firms because it requires a team of developers, designers and marketing experts. Full-service means that they offer all-encompassing web solutions like SEO, ecommerce, branding, mobile compatibility and social media marketing all in one place. Rarely will you find a web designer who is an expert in all of these categories, which is why some companies hire design firms if they have the budget.

Communication Skills

Communication skills are just as important as design and programming skills because if your web designer communicates with bad grammar or spelling mistakes so will your website. Do they articulate issues well? Can they translate complicated technical jargon into laymen terms? You can easily evaluate their communication skills through your initial calls, emails and project proposal.

Marketing / SEO Experience

What good is your website if your target market cannot find it? Your web designer or design firm must understand how to promote it. If you found your web designer by via Google with industry-specific keywords then they must know something about SEO. Here are other simple SEO techniques your web designer should implement to build your web presence:

Generate fresh content relevant to your target market with a blog
Write a meta title and description tags
Include your keyword search terms in your headings and subheadings (H1 and H2 tags respectively)
Sprinkle your keyword search terms throughout your content
Create a sitemap for search engines to crawl
Add your website to online business directories
For more SEO strategies, refer to my blog post about Driving High Quality Web Traffic.
Customer References

Ask for client references and make a point about calling them. Ask their clients whether they were responsive, on time and within budget. Some web design firms look for work through freelance websites such as Guru where you can find reviews.

Social Media Presence

Social Media helps you respond to people talking about your brand and understand how they perceive your company. There are so many social media networks but the ones to monitor are Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. A good practice is to post a status update whenever you publish a blog post or new web content.

Cost / Budget

It is key to consider all of the above and then consider cost or budget if everything else falls into place. The cheapest quote is rarely the best.

Jeanette Kwok Web Design is a full-service design agency with clients in US, Canada and Europe that provides:

Website Design
Joomla Template Design
WordPress Blog Theme Design
Drupal Theme Design (new service)
Majento eCommerce Template Design (new service)
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Mobile Websites
Web Maintenance
We collaborate our in-house knowledge and experience with industry web experts such as copywriters, photographers, programmers, animators and other creative talent to clearly communicate your corporate message to your target market to help you achieve your business goals. We know our bandwidth so we only take on design projects if we can complete them within your timeline and budget. Unlike the blanket approach that large design firms adopt, we seek to understand your business to develop your online presence to meet all of your communication objectives so you crush the competition. Visit Jeanette Kwok Web Design
rolfparham
hweadleybb
hanleymack
wintonmann
wynhandler
yvonnelamb
hallemoody
mmarvinsis
miriamloyd
hanleybooth
rowanweaver
yvonnegross
scoutbriggs
rowanloxley
huntercress
hadleytenny
sallyduncan
rockywarner
huntergoman
moiracastro
selenagraves
samsoncooper
sarahwilcher
jerrssebaett
hanleybinder
rogerhampton
haleydouglas
rowanleonard
samuelholden
winstonnunez
mollykimmons
mirandamoody
hadleygarrett
jeffreylittle
jeffreyrgodon
zeldamitchell
jegoffreyrdon
hannahsalvage
hanleyflowers
winthropbishop
windsorgoodman
roderickparham
roderickandrews
jeromegreenwood
sebastianpowers
samanthamckinney
bestcanadaonline
yavapai-apache
markazeahan
albangeis
alectingey
alanrodgers
ainsleysims
ainsleyparham
itstimetotalkaboutoab
cosmo
tablesolution
senior
deteringdesign
videochatten
poly-icon
sosyalarastirmalar
mogaha
mga
chinatjq
linuxmanpages
kunstaspekte
cher
optometry
el-alt
3200creative
fkteplice
animallist
sgrafix
radiozikox
freedomalliance
turnospr
techforgamers
cac2
caoxiu
fleurdechinehotel
jqueryuk
meinefh
online-s-schweiz
beezo
odinnft
yenikumarhaneler
shopfalconsofficialjerseys
siquando
bltrestaurants
ifcomp
xiazai188
lipitor
free500
dmrz
houseofvanslondon
benelinx
-for-gaming
jewelerssecurity
artgrani
imperia
lowandbonar
sacl
autoscript
sastra
pathofscience
shahroodut
xyzmanhwa
online–s
business-continuity-manager
direct–access
charles
hbdysh
koinno-bmwi
qisda
in1re
displaywizard
hochwasser-pass
tyw
nrawomen
brest-metropole-tourisme
tomtop
shanghai-fanuc
srvatervinning
themebutler
biolifesas
crowdsourcingweek