Finding a Web Designer
| You've decided to hire a Web designer and you want to make sure you find and choose the right person for the job. Great! This part of the chapter will help you find candidates for the position and "interview" them so you know they can do the job you want for the price you're willing to pay. Where to LookThere are a number of resources you can check to begin your search for a Web designer. Here's a quick overview of the ones I think are best, so you can see the benefits and drawbacks of each. I recommend that you use all the resources you can when making a list of candidates. Phone BookYour local phone book's Yellow Pages should have listings for Web designers. Look under the Internet category. The Wickenburg area phone book (which is, admittedly, very small) has subcategories for Internet Consultants and Internet Web Site Developers . (Of course, both of those subcategories are empty in the Wickenburg area phone book, but just seeing them there is very promising .)
Unless you live on the edge of nowhere, like I do, your phone book should list several possibilities in the basic listings and in large display ads. Here's my take on those:
If you're in a big city, you might want to start with the Web designers who are located closest to you. A nearby location can make meetings convenient and it can sure cut transportation costs if your Web designer bills for it. NewspaperThe local newspaper may also be a good source of leads for Web designers. If your paper has a technology or computer section, that's the best place to look. Look for ads that provide a lot of information about the Web designer's services. Don't look in the classified ads section. Classified ads are for selling cars , renting apartments, and finding jobs. A Web designer who advertises with classified ads probably isn't worth the amount of money he spent to place the ad. Friends & Business AssociatesIf you have friends or business associates who have built a Web presence, ask who they used to get the job done. Not only will you get a name and phone number, but you'll get honest opinions about the work done. Be sure to ask what they thought of the Web developer's work and ability to satisfy their needs. If they used someone who got the job done, but not without problems, you might want to avoid using the same person. After all, you want the process to be as trouble-free as possible, right? Your ISPChances are, your ISP has a staff of Web designers or works with a pool of Web designers who can handle your needs. In fact, most ISPs have Web site packages that include everything you need to get your Web site online. Talk to your ISP to see what it has to offer. Or, if you haven't selected an ISP yet, make sure you review available Web design services before you choose one.
OnlineAnother way to find a Web designer is by checking the Web. There are three ways you can do this:
What to AskOnce you have a list of candidates, it's time to interview them. Yes, I did say "interview." If the person you select is going to work for you, he should be interviewed like any other employee. In fact, he should probably be interviewed more thoroughly because he'll probably be paid more than most of your employees . If one of your candidates is an organization (rather than an individual), it's important to gather information about the person or people who will actually be doing the work. Don't let some well-dressed, smooth-talking salesperson talk you into a relationship with his company unless you get facts about the Web designer who will be assigned to your job. ExperienceOne of the first questions you should ask a Web designer candidate is how long he's been designing Web sites. If the answer is less than a year, let someone else give him the experience he needs to know what he's doing.
Here's another true story. I wrote a book about PageMill called PageMill 3 for Macintosh & Windows: Visual QuickStart Guide . One of the book's readers tracked me down via e-mail to ask me a few questions. It seemed he'd decided to learn PageMill so he could go into the Web design business. He had some questions about the Internet and how to get sites online, as well as how he could promote himself as a Web designer. And oh, by the way, could I recommend him to the clients I couldn't handle? This story is scary on multiple levels. First of all, if you read Chapter 8, you should realize that PageMill is an entry level Web authoring program. Although it can make fine Web pages, it's extremely basic and has many limitations. A professional Web designer would not select it as a primary authoring tool unless he was prepared to spend a lot of time editing the HTML that PageMill created. Second, this new PageMill user felt that he knew everything he needed to know to build Web sites for other people. The sad truth is, he didn't even know enough to get his own Web site online. And I won't even begin to discuss his belief that I'd recommend him ”a complete stranger ”to do Web development work! The point is, there are many people out there selling themselves as Web designers when, in fact, they know just enough to make them dangerous. Don't let one of them work on your Web site. Examples of WorkOnce you're convinced that the Web designer has been doing his job for a while, the next step is to see examples of his work. Fire up your Web browser and visit some sites he's created. He should be able to provide you with the URLs of at least ten sites that are on the Web. If he can't, ask him why. Could it be that he's never really created any Web sites for clients? This is a good way to see if he was lying about his experience.
While you're looking at his work, pay attention to a few things:
Design PhilosophyAsk the Web designer what his design philosophy is. If he looks at you with crossed eyes, he probably hasn't thought much about it. He may even think you're nuts. But this is a legitimate question, one a real designer should be able to answer. Whatever he says, it's important that it is similar to your philosophy. Otherwise, you'll have nothing but trouble during the design phase. Tip Be sure to check out the Web designer's own Web site. This is the best indication of his personal philosophy about Web design. Ready for another true story? Until very recently ( yesterday , in fact), I did some Web design work for the friend of a friend ”I'll call him Tim. Tim hired me to build a Web site to promote his business. Once the bulk of the work was done, he'd modify and update the site using PageMill. I had no problem with that; I don't really have much time for Web design work these days anyway. So I went to work. I'm not a real designer, but I do have a Web design philosophy (which you should have picked up from this book by now). I believe in simplicity, providing good information, and making that information easy to find. I also believe that a Web site should look good and that its pages should load quickly and be easy to read. You probably know what's coming, but here it is. I designed a site for Tim to his specifications regarding pages and content. But then he started asking me to tweak the appearance. We made some changes that I wasn't comfortable with but that he seemed to like. Then the site went online and he took over. He inserted dozens of large photographs in the pages, increasing download times ”one page took over two minutes to load! He reduced the font size, making it difficult to read the text. The page design was all but destroyed . He also complained that his site wasn't getting enough hits, but refused to let me add it to search engines and directories. When I tried to point out the problems to Tim and offered to fix them, Tim got defensive. When I asked another Web designer to give Tim some objective feedback about the site, Tim got offensive. That's when I should have quit. But I backed down then; it was only after more of the same that I finally pulled the plug. The moral of this story is this: If your design philosophy doesn't match the Web designer's design philosophy, one of you is going to be very unhappy . Let's hope it isn't you. FeesMost people ask about fees first. I don't. But I do agree they're important to know up front. Find out how the Web designer will bill you for the project. Does he bill based on an hourly rate or does he have some kind of package deal for a site? What's included in the fee? What's not included in the fee and what do those things cost? A professional Web designer should be able to give you a written estimate for the project. This document should discuss what is and isn't included and note whether the amounts are binding or simply estimates. (Get binding estimates whenever possible to avoid surprises .) Tip If a Web designer is vague about his fees, don't hire him. You should know all about costs before you hire a designer.
ReferencesIf everything the Web designer has said up to this point is right in line with what you want, it's time to ask for references. These references should be clients for whom the Web designer has built sites within the past year. They should also be sites that you have seen among the Web designer's examples of his work. Get at least two references. Then, when the interview is over, call them. Here are a few things you could ask:
The answers to these questions should provide a good indication of the Web designer's level of professionalism and ability to satisfy the client's needs. Hire Him!Once you've made your decision, hire the Web designer you've selected. Get the relationship off on the right foot by creating a document that summarizes what the Web designer will do for you, when it should be done, and approximately what it will cost. In many cases, an existing estimate will do the job nicely . Make sure that you both sign the document and keep a copy. This will form the basis of your working relationship. |
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