In this article, your will find some valuable information while shopping for Web Design, Web Development, or Website Redesign services. There are some things you can do to make shopping for a website-related services better. We’ve developed a short list for you. Follow it and you will find that your project will go much smoother, your website will come out better and you will have a better overall experience.

Here is the list:

1. Plan ahead
2. Know what you want to do with your website
3. Figure out and know what you like and what you don’t like (have some examples handy)
4. Have realistic expectations; understand the balance between quality, price and speed
5. Communication is important so communicate frequently and be clear about details that matter
6. Get started early

Let’s take a closer look at each of the items on the list:

1. Plan Ahead and Plan Early
One of the worst things you can do is start shopping a few weeks before you need the website up-and-running. This creates all sorts of problems and quality-issues. Plan way in advance and shop way in advance, way before you actually need the website complete and/or online. This way, you can have time for corrections, changes and refinements. If you don’t, you will find yourself rushing, panicking and you’ll cause all sorts of problems for yourself and for the Web designers and Web developers working on your website.

2. Know What You Want To Do With Your Website
Just as it is important to find the right location and the right setup for your business, it is also important to know what you will need your website to do before the project begins.

The most common reasons for small business owners to have a website are:

• To share information about their business, products or services
• To make it easier for clients and customers to find them online
• To make it easier for clients and customers to contact them and interact with them
• For e-commerce (selling and taking orders online)

Make a list of the things you want your website to do.

3. Figure Out and Know What You Like and What You Don’t Like
Have three samples of websites that you like and three examples of websites that you do not like. With these six examples on hand, pinpoint what you like and don’t like. This helps your project tremendously; it will help the Web designers and Web developers better understand what you want and what you don’t want.

Can you imagine if you were a travel agent and when you asked your client “where do you want to go?” and your clients respond with “I don’t know” or “somewhere nice”. That won’t be very helpful to you as a travel agent. If you don’t have them yet, spend some time browsing around looking at various websites, especially the websites of those in your industry.

4. Have Realistic Expectations; Understand the Balance Between Quality, Price and Speed
You can’t build a luxury car at the price of a Yugo; the Internet has created an inaccurate impression that most things online are either cheap or free. We could blame things like our “free” e-mail or our “free” social network sites, or maybe the “free” news we read. In reality, these things are not really free. (As one blog-site put it, “if you’re not paying for it; you’re the product”. However, this is an entirely different topic/discussion.) Just keep in mind that while nothing is really “free” out there, the same is true for the Internet; Web design work, Web development work, and Website Redesign work isn’t free nor cheap. Don’t expect it to be. It requires special skills and experience, it requires hours upon hours of brainstorming and labor that easily adds up to weeks or even months even for so-called “small” or “simple” websites.

As a simplified explanation, when you hire a Web design firm or Web development firm, you are paying for several things, but we’ll simplify into three things. You are paying for:

1. Skill and Experience – Most business owners cannot see themselves taking classes or going back to school for a few years to learn about Web design or Web development. Even after completing the course, it doesn’t mean one is ready or capable of building beautiful and successful websites. (Just because you finish engineering school doesn’t mean your will come out the door ready to build high-end super cars.) The time and cost requirement of hiring a professional to create the site will be a far wiser investment.
2. Mental Labor – The creativity, experience, talent, time, and energy spent on thinking about your website. Some of these examples are trying to figure out how your website will look, what will customers think and feel when they see your website, what needs to be done to make your customers’ shopping experience more pleasant so there is a higher chance they will spend their money with you, and this list goes on!
3. Physical Labor – The hours spent clicking away on that keyboard and moving that mouse so that the look-and-feel of your website can be created to look professional and attractive and so your website is coded and programmed properly. There is also the copy-writing for creating the content for your website so that your message make sense to your customers. Then there is testing of your website to ensure it works properly, etc. (You can begin to get the idea of the volume of work.)

What can you expect when you’re shopping for a new website? There’s a “compromise” illustrated by the triangle below, where you can choose only two of the three characteristics. All projects fall into one of the following categories:

• To get fast speed + good price = you give up high quality
• To get good price + high quality = you give up fast speed
• To get high quality + fast speed = you give up good price
• To get high quality + good price + fast speed = no such thing

Figure out which two is most important to you and communicate that to your Web designer and/or Web developer so that he/she will know what is important to you.

5. Communication is Important So Communicate Frequently and Be Clear About Details That Matter
Communication is important in any relationship and it is no different in a business or working relationship. We find that clients that communicate best often have the best overall experience and makes our work on their project the smoothest.

How can you better communicate with your Web designer or Web developer? Firstly, never assume. Never assume that your Web designer or Web developer will automatically do something or do something a certain way because “it is what everyone wants” or “it is how everyone does it”. Secondly, don’t assume that they know what you’re thinking or what you want because “everyone want this” or “everyone wants this this way”. If you have something you are unsure about or if there is something especially important to you, ask about it or bring it to their attention. This avoids costly and frustrating mistakes and problems.

Be descriptive and use examples. Saying things like “we want to add some “‘zest’ to our site” is like walking into a department store to say “I want some ‘nice’ clothes”; it isn’t very descriptive and each person’s perception of what “zest” or “nice” is is different. Does “nice” mean polka-dotted background wallpaper for your website? Does it mean cartoonist graphics instead of professional photography images? Or perhaps it means a lot of bright neon colors? Saying something like “our website picture images feel outdated and more modern photo images of people with happier expressions is what I would like” (along with some examples) would be much more helpful.

When you communicate, don’t feel as if “you are bothering” your Web designer or Web developer. Good Web designers and good Web developers are (just like at most jobs) often good listeners. The reverse is also frequently true; a poor listener usually makes for a poor Web designer or poor Web developer. We ask and remind our team here at NetServices, “how can you create something your clients will like if you do not know what your clients want?” They understand how important of a skill listening is.

6. Get Started
Lastly, get started! Procrastination isn’t going to make your website look any better or get you a better deal. Last time we checked, the cost of business often goes up, not down. Once you have the previously mentioned items taken care of, get started and start making that website!

In closing, we would like to say, picking a company to do your Web design or Web development is like buying a new car; the service department is more important than the salesperson or sales department because you will be seeing the service department for your car’s needs a lot more, in the long-run. When you choose a new company to do your Web design or Web development, choose a company for the long run. Don’t just shop on price (that happens to be one of the biggest pitfalls). There is always going to be someone cheaper. And just like all other things, you’re likely going to get what you pay for.

If you have any Web design, Web development, or Website Redesign questions, please contact us.