Concerns to Ask in Picking a Reasonable Web Designer Selecting a web designer can be like picking a tradesman. Who do you rely on? Which ones are authentic and which ones will leave you feeling out of pocket? I have put together a list of concerns that we feel you need to always ask prior to commissioning a site. It shouldn't matter whether you're opting for a costly site that is all singing and dancing or a basic site - you should still expect and get an excellent service. Here are the leading concern s that we think you ought to ask your web designer or inspect on their site. Please do not be delayed! There are countless sincere, fantastic companies out there who want nothing more than to make their customers delighted. As I search on Google, some busi ness aren't perhaps rather what they appear ... 1. Do they offer testimonials that can be verified? As with tradespersons, frequently the best way to gauge a web designer is on testimonials from previous clients. I care about the work I do and I want to ensure that my customers are satisfied. On completion of their site, all my customers are sent out a brief questionnaire about the quality of my work, service, price etc and I am proud to show these on my site. Your web designer ought to more than happy fo r you to get in touch with previous customers, as this is genuinely the only way that the reviews can be confirmed. 2. How much do they charge for hosting? When you get a web design quote, you will often discover that hosting is consisted of free of char ge for the first year. You must make sure that you know exactly how much your hosting is going to cost after this time. For example, I had a consumer who had a great website that had cost GBP50, but they were being charged GBP30 monthly for hosting! This i s far excessive (and in my viewpoint dishonest). Their inexpensive web design wound up costing them a fortune. You must anticipate to pay anything from GBP30 - GBP60 per year for your hosting for an average site. More than this and I would walk away. On the other hand, if you are told that hosting is "free permanently", then I would likewise be suspicious. Perhaps you will be charged a high fee to renew your domain rather ... 3. Will they accept payment from you, without having discussed your needs initiall y? I have actually seen some sites that send you straight to a payment page. I would never suggest making a payment for a site without having initially talked about precisely what you desire - either via telephone or email. Before parting with any cash you require to make sure that your web designer comprehends what you desire from your site, the number of pages it will be (you require to understand what makes up a "page"), what you require to supply and what they will source , what would be the very best domain etc and so on. There's a whole list of elements that need to be decided prior to parting with your cash. If a company enjoys to get payment before this, be wary. 4. Do they have Terms and Conditions? You are entering into an agreement with your web designer and as such, you ought to start with ensure that they have T & Cs and secondly read them! They exist to secure both you as the consumer and likewise the web designer themselves (yes, sadly sometimes the customer att empts to rip the web designer off likewise). If they do not have T & Cs and say not to stress, it is all based on trust, then be wary. 5. Whose name will the domain name be in? This is really crucial. The domain need to always be signed up in your name, not the web designer's name. This means that you own the domain. For example, a dishonest designer might register the domain in their own name. If your business is successful (which ideally it is!) and the time concerns renew your domain if the domain name is not registered in your own name, the web designer can charge you whatever they li k e to use the domain. This is not a circumstance you want to find yourself in. Thankfully, I believe this practice is fading out but I still have the occasional consumer who doesn't own their domain name - their previous designer does. How do you check this? If the company's portfolio is genuine, you can visit the site http://www.who.is, key in the domain and it will inform you who the owner of the domain is. The owner of the domain need to not be the website design company (although they are often noted as the administrators, which is great). 6. How much will you be charged to makes changes to your site in future? This is a challenging one. Having your website designed i s generally just the initial step in. Once your site is up and running, you typically wish to make changes to it, include special offers, brand - new images and so on. Obviously it would be unfair to expect your web designer to carry out this work for you fo r nothing (although some consumers do believe that web designers must do updates free of charge!). On the other hand, you would like to know that you're not going to be ripped off whenever you wish to change your site. You can expect to pay around GBP25 p er hour for updates and this is around the standard for a lot of ethical web designers. It's possible get a lot carried out in an hour, so it typically exercises pretty well for consumers. Some companies will charge GBP25 per change however, so keep an eye out for this. A designer may alter some text for a customer, include 2 photos and an additional PayPal button. It could typically do this in approximately half an hour let's say, so it would cost GBP12.50. If you were being charged per change, this would be GBP100! Once again, simply understand all the costs before dedicating. Something else you may want to look at, is whether or not you have the choice to be able to update your own site in the future. This implies that you can log into your website and m ake changes to your own site as and when you like, without fretting about the expense each time. As innovation ends up being more user friendly, this kind of service is becoming significantly popular. I hope that assists in your mission for a chea p web site designer . Please do not resent any of the above. Like all industries, you will hear both great and bad stories and as long as you do your research, trust your instincts and follow some basic concepts, you will end up with an appealing, easy to use, accessible, SEO friendly website.