Choosing a website design company is a crucial decision that every forward thinking business needs to make at some point. The consequences of this decision should not be underestimated. The reason why? Well, put simply, a good website will bring in more business, and a bad one will drive away prospective customers.

So, what needs to be taken into consideration when choosing a website design company to ensure that the right decision is made?

Firstly, the business needs to know what exactly it is that they require from their website. Rather than just guessing about this issue, a business should undertake some research about their target audience. To do this a business should contact some of their existing customers and ask them a straight question – what information and features do you expect to see on our website?

Having established what is required, creating a shortlist of website design companies is the next step. Recommendations should be sought from contacts who have recently had websites built for their businesses, and general searches (i.e. “website design companies” or “website designer”) should be carried out on Google. When using Google to find website companies, skipping straight down to the 3rd or 4th page will be necessary if a tight budget needs to be adhered to, as those companies listed on the first couple of pages charge top end prices (typically $5000+).

Having made a shortlist of around 5-10 website design companies, each should then be contacted and the following should be considered…

- How extensive and impressive is their portfolio of past work?

- Is there a certain feel to all of the sites they have created, or are they flexible in their designs?

- Can any of their past clients be contacted so as to obtain references?

- Do they have structured planning and implementation processes?

- How soon can they start work on the project?

- Do they do all of the work themselves or do they outsource parts of it to others?

- Will they help get the website listed in the major search engines?

- Do they offer the setting up of a blog as part of their design packages?

- Who owns the intellectual property rights to the final website and the domain name?

- Will they maintain the website after the initial design?

- Do they charge an hourly rate or a fixed fee?

- At what milestones do payments need to be made?

- What guarantees are offered that the project will be completed on time?

The answers to these questions should be used to narrow down the shortlist to 3 or so companies, who should then be asked to give a final quote. Prices may vary significantly, but a general ball park figure for a well designed 10 page website is around $2000. It is of course possible to have a website designed for much less than this, but to do would be risking the credibility of the business that the website is being designed for; after all, would you do business with a company that has a poorly designed website?

Learn more from a web consultant at http://www.kinneymedia.com, a company that specializes in SEO in southport ct.

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/seo-articles/how-to-choose-an-seo-company-1598568.html

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