Does your designer care about your business goals?

Your website should serve a purpose. Maybe you want to generate business leads or connect to existing customers. A good web designer will ask about your business and what you want your website to achieve. If your designer isn’t concerned about your business, you can expect that your website won’t deliver the results you hoped for.

Are their websites user friendly?

Visit the websites listed in each designer’s portfolio. Are they easy to navigate? Is the text easy to read? How long does each page take to load?

Website users want to be able to find the information they are looking for quickly and easily. Navigation should be consistent from page to page. Content should be organized in a way that makes sense. If visitors have to wait for a flash animation to load every time they click on a new page, they will become impatient and leave the site. Good design, in most cases, is simple design. Fancy graphics and animation should not take away from usability.

Are the websites compatible with different browsers?

If you see a note at the bottom of a website that says "Best viewed in Internet Explorer," then you know that the developer of the site did not bother to test for browser compatibility. Check websites in different browsers and make sure that they look consistent. Browsershots.org will take screenshots of the website in various browsers for you (Internet Explorer and Firefox are the most popular browsers). Take into account which browsers you think your target audience will be using. If you have a tech savvy audience, for example, you don’t need to be concerned about users who still have the oldest version of Internet Explorer.

Are the websites up to date?

Some design firms crank out websites that are out of date as soon as they go live. They use old coding techniques or generic template-based layouts that look like a million other sites out there. Ask your developers if they are coding with XHTML and CSS. If they are still using tables for layout, then you know they are behind in the times.

Do you like their design style?

Take a look at their websites and see if you like the way they look. Is there a certain look and feel to all of the websites, or are they flexible in their designs? Does the design seem to accurately portray the company image? Is it professional?

Ask your designer if he/she creates custom website designs or uses templates. Websites based on a design template are very inexpensive, but they can end up looking very generic and boring or may look exactly like another company’s website. Remember, your website is an extension of your brand and should accurately depict your company.

Can you find client testimonials?

Look for what others are saying about the websites they created. Read testimonials or ask to speak to some of their clients. Find out if the designer was easy to work with and met their expectations.

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