The Punch List to Decide Who Builds Your Website – Gervais Group

Gervais Group – Web Design Tips by Gervais Group LLC

As soon as you make the decision to either build a new website or re-design the one you’ve got, you’ll realize that everyone you talk to knows someone that can build the “site of your dreams”.  Putting an ad on Craig’s List will confirm the fact that there are so many designers out there that sorting through the responses will likely be totally overwhelming. “Designers” will range in skill level from the nephew that will template your website for what looks like a reasonable price to experienced professionals that will build a site with unlimited capabilities, with a price tags reaching five figures. That range in skill levels provides a range of potential outcomes, starting with the nephew that takes half of his reasonable price up front and then loses interest, gets a girlfriend, or gets distracted and never quite finishes the project. At the other end of the curve is the professionally designed site with features and functionalities that are way beyond the scope of what you want to accomplish with your site.
Filtering your options to find the right fit for your objectives can be done, starting with the following punch list:
* Check out the designer’s previous work – Any firm that has been around for a while will have a gallery or portfolio of websites that they have designed. Spend some time on the sites, especially those with functionalities similar to what you want on your site. Remember your first impression upon arriving at the sites, check for clarity on what the sites are supposed to deliver, and look for ease of navigation. Don’t get too caught up search engine rankings unless the designer intends on providing search engine marketing after the site design.
* Call a few of the designer’s past clients to get their reviews of the experience and their final product. Find out whether deliverables were done on schedule, the level of cooperation, and if the owner got what they expected.
* Find out how many people actually work for the designer – You will want a web design company with some depth and consistency in their employees. Two common problems with small design firms are outsourcing and overload. Outsourced work can be uneven and unpredictable simply due to the fact that work can be outsourced to different contracted web designers with varying skill sets. Overload issues occur when the bid for a project is too low to cover the cost of outsourcing, requiring that the work stays in-house. If a bigger, higher margin project requiring all the firm’s resources comes in, guess whose project is going to get put on ice?
* Determine what you are paying for and what you’re getting – There’s a fine line between too little and too much in terms of developing your site. Pay too little and you’ll sacrifice on design, functionality, and ongoing support. Pay too much for features you don’t need and you won’t get the return on investment needed to have the project make financial sense.
* Get a handle on whether your site will be designed to generate visitors, conversions, and revenues or as a whiz-bang project that looks great but doesn’t function as part of your business. A good looking site that is properly optimized and captures visitors is going to do a lot more for your bottom line than a flashy site that the search engines can’t crawl.
* Establish good chemistry – You’re probably going to have both a working and creative relationship with your web designer. The best relationships have some chemistry and trust at their foundations and the best results are going to be achieved when the two partners are working together, pulling in the same direction. A dysfunctional relationship, on the other hand, which curbs constructive communication will either break up or ultimately doom the project to failure. Establishing good chemistry at the outset can greatly reduce the possibility of hitting those avoidable pot holes.
Your website is going to be your “storefront” and a vital piece of your business. The importance of partnering with the right designer to execute that aspect of your company’s strategy is going to be crucial. Taking the time and committing to making the hard decisions on that partnership will greatly increase the odds of its success.

Gervais Group LLC  – Web Design Company / Web Design Atlanta / SEO Company / Atlanta SEO
For more information visit www.gervaisgroupllc.com or call (770) 529-2262.