How to Find a Good Web Designer – Developer
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Choosing a good web designer is not just about getting some guy to build you a good looking web site. There are many factors that can and will affect the success of your site. For you to know what qualifies as a good designer/developer you need to be educated. That is the intention of this article.
I believe that your web site development begins with a plan. A solid plan that incorporates search engine optimization,(SEO) and usability at its foundation. Building your web site in this manner will enable your SEO to be much easier with just minor tweaking and updating. At the time of this writing it is still not yet possible for search engine spiders, a.k.a: robots, to make sense of everything you have on your website.
Spiders love text. They don’t read javascript and they do not have the ability to read complex flash text or images. Making sure that your entire web site including all its pages are indexed by the spiders is essential. If they can’t see your pages, it may as well not be there.
So what does all this mean to you in your search for a web designer or web developer. In case you’re wondering why I refer to designer and developer as if they’re two different things, the fact is, is that they are.(if you want to be technical). Web designer seems to be the general term thrown about as one who makes or builds web pages. However this is usually the person who designs the physical appearance of the
If you can keep this in mind when you go over the contract it will help you understand why the programming aspect (developing) of your site is usually pricier. Any serious
The World Wide
If they say that they intend
- Using tables for layout is not standards compliant and could adversely impact page loading times. (not good) The more code in your page the larger the file and the larger the file the longer it takes to download.
- Updating and maintaining web pages will be much harder, and could take longer, which may translates more being more expensive.
When you think of your website project try thinking ahead and plan for the long term. You want a site that is extendible and can be managed more easily. Best practices are not called such for no reason. I stress this point because it’s an important one.
A portfolio will give you a glimpse of what the designer / developer is capable of will allow you to see the design style. Any web designer with sense won’t include customers in their portfolio who were not happy. It’s bad for business. Searching for a good designer in reputable online listings is a good place to find a web designer or any other service for that matter where the company or individual will be rated by the public.
It is of greater importance to that firm that they perform well since their rating is available for the public to see. An example of such listings would be Yahoo’s Local Search listings, or online Yellow pages. A good source for finding a good web designer is to speak to people who you know who have had first hand experience and who built their web sites. If people have been given good service they usually don’t have any problem recommending their designer to you.
It is OK to ask for a mock up site. Usually designers will tend to make 2 mock ups for you to compare and sometimes they may even show you an array of various web styles and templates prior to commencing. This is a way of narrowing down the style, how many columns, colors and themes he will need to design for.
The
So here are a few points I believe would make an overall good choice in a web designer/developer.
- Expresses the importance in planning your site for user friendliness
- Understands good
web design that is standards compliant - Can think through the eyes of the potential visitor of the clients site
- Uses colors well and researches the target audience.
- Educates the client and explains web terminology in layman’s terms.
- Plans a site from SEO perspective, with attention to file structure and naming schemes.
- If doing any programming, all the above applies and also strong focus on usability of the application. Easy user interface, secure and full featured to name a few..
These points are by no means the hard and fast rule, its just a guide. However, I believe most importantly above all, you should get good service. Good quality service is the best marketing tool for any business and you should expect it.
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