Most if not all businesses today can benefit from a website. If you already have a site that isn’t working for your business, or are starting the process of finding a web developer, you can save a lot of time, trouble, and most importantly, money by answering a few questions before choosing a website. appointed.
What is your budget?
Money and time are the two most important factors to consider before making your choice. In general, most sites I’ve worked on, or have been asked to work on, fall into three cost tiers.
Realistically $500, is the minimum that should be budgeted for the design/redesign of any site. It should be easy to find a good designer for $300-400 to create a good basic website. But chances are you will have some changes and updates, especially the first month or two after launching your online presence. So it’s always a good idea to add 10-15% to your budget for any changes etc. that will most likely come up.
many businesses you already have some sort of website or online presence by now. If you or your organization falls into this category and is looking to redesign and/or update your site, you probably have a better idea of what your budget will be. It will most likely be more than $500. The website or app redesign could even cost thousands of dollars. So for redesigns, finding a developer with the right mix of skills will be the next big decision made.
There are basic skills What to look for in any web designer. For example, you want to make sure that they can actually produce a functional website. This seems obvious. But there are professionals who specialize in the development of templates, flash or other products, which can be converted into websites. But they are not really an end product. These are valid and valuable services. Just make sure your end result is a published working website.
Other things, such as communication, scheduling conflicts, experience in your market area, and looking at your previous work to see if your design style is a good fit for your organization, are basic questions to consider when searching. candidates for your website. draft. Beyond basic skills, it’s also helpful to look at the exact skill sets of the various designers competing for your project.
Todaytitle website administrator encompasses a wide variety of specialists and skill types. For example, many webmasters have a background in graphic design. If you or your organization’s requirements call for intensive animation, video, and/or graphic design, you’ll specifically want to find a web designer with a lot of experience with flash, photoshop, etc.
Some other common backgrounds that webmasters come from are: IT, Marketing, Writing and Sales. There are many more. The main idea is to have a good idea of what the internet developer specializes in and how they want to promote their site. Matching the background of your developers to your requirements can make the process much smoother.
There are also quite a few, like me, who fall into many of the above categories. Although some webmasters have great command of multiple areas of expertise, they are few and far between. However, there are many who will have all the skills you need. Most developers working on many types of projects will rate 6-9, on a scale of 1-10, in the various competencies that their project requires.
The advantage of working with a web developer that he is not a 10 in any area, but that he has multiple areas of specialization, it is just that. The entire project can be managed by one person or group. Having worked on projects involving multiple developers, I can say that it automatically adds a new layer of complexity to the project. Since you’ll have multiple developers working on various aspects of the project, you’ll need to manage the workflow, the communication, and eventually bring it all together at the end. For these and many more reasons, it is always best to work with only one developer or web design company at a time.
If you are working with a company Since you may have a lot of people working on your site, it’s always a good idea to ask a few more questions. You still have the benefit of having the entire project managed by a single entity, but issues of miscommunication and lag times can still be an issue. The project will most likely be handled by a project manager who then delegates and relays the requests to various people within your web design company.
a good practice is to always back up any communication in writing and make sure that deadlines are part of that communication. For example, much of my communication is over the phone. It is very helpful to write an email that covers all action items, issues, etc. covered over the phone or in an in-person meeting. I simply ask them to reply to the email to verify what was covered or clear up any misunderstandings before work begins on any given phase of a web project.
Written communication checking that everyone understands what is expected and when is a best practice for virtually any situation. It’s even more important when you’re working with a company rather than working directly with a single web developer.
If your budget is less than $300-500 range, try to find some extra resources somehow to allow more budget for the project. Otherwise, you will most likely have to outsource it to a company abroad. You also have the option of making the site yourself; Or find a novice designer or a friend with some knowledge to help you. The downside to this is that it will take much longer.
If you just can’t increase your budget, the best thing to do is search for a developer on a web job board. Sites like guru and elance have many low cost developers who will bid on your project. If you choose to go this route, you can reduce the amount of wasted time by having a very clear idea of what your final site should look like and how it should function.
Increase your own technical knowledge you can also save some time. Since you will most likely end up working with a web developer in another country and time zone, any miscommunication or deviation from the original request can leave you broke with an incomplete website. And like I said, it will definitely cost you days, if not more, over time.
