If you are in need of a new website and your preference is to have a new custom built website designed especially for you, selecting the right supplier poses quite a problem if you are starting from scratch. Without a personal recommendation or testimonial, you will be reliant solely on your own research skills and abilities.
Some people have a preference for using a local website design company. In support of this limitation they cite things such as having local geographic and demographic knowledge that only a locally based company can develop after years of being immersed in the local business community. Another advantage often cited is that it is easier to arrange meetings with a local website designer rather than having to possibly arrange transport and perhaps travel for hundreds of miles. However, being a part of what today we call the Global Village created by the ease of use that the internet has brought, distance is no longer such an issue, and with the development of video conference calls and webcams, a virtual meeting is as effective as an actual physical meeting.
However, in order to give our research some sort of starting position, we shall assume that a local website designer is in this instance, to be preferred. The first stage in the selection process is to draw up a schedule of suppliers to be evaluated. This can be done in one of two ways, or even a combination of both.
1. Firstly you can use the local business trade directory to look up the names of a few locally based website design companies.
2. Search google for web designers in your local area for instance the county so ‘Web designer Norfolk’ in our instance.
3. Select some businesses local to your area, and go and have a look at their websites, bearing in mind that they may or may not have been designed by local companies. It is usual for the website design company to put their name and contact details at the foot of the home page of every website that they design.
Having drawn up a shortlist of potential website design companies by one method or the other, the next stage in the selection process is to visit some of the sites that have been designed by your chosen companies to carry out an evaluation of the sites.
Evaluating a Local Website Designer
In evaluating websites in this “cold call” manner, one is looking in the first instance, for design flair, and originality. People searching online for various services and skills are in themselves notoriously fickle. What they first see when they arrive at what is called the landing page of a website, will determine if they tarry there or if they dismiss it and shoot off to another website. In other words the landing page must have stunning design, must look thoroughly professional, and should be pleasing to the eye both in terms of colour scheme, and layout. The copy displayed on the landing page must be helpful and informative, and should tempt the visitor inside the website to explore further. Finally the site should be easily navigable.
In the final reckoning it is the eye catching design and the ease with which the site can be explored that are the most important issues. Most companies will provide their chosen local website designer with the text they wish to use, in which case in is down to them to ensure it is captivating. If a local company can be found that satisfies the design and navigation criteria, then all well and good. If however you have to cast your net wider, so be it. You want the best, and you must explore the options to find the best website design company for your specific needs.
Posted on September 18th, 2009
Some great tips there! As a web designer myself, it’s certainly made me think about how I advertise. Thanks