Web Site Design Buyer's Guide

Once you get a list of potential website design companies from BuyerZone, choosing one is easy if you know what to look for. The main considerations change based on the type of web site you are after.

• If you want a simple informational site, perhaps with very straightforward e-commerce and no tricky interactive features, you should look for website design companies that specialize in small business web site packages.
• If you want a web site that addresses complicated business problems, connects to your existing databases or customer service systems, or offers e-commerce that's more than point, click, and buy, you will want to find website design companies who work as consultants, rather than a production line.

This is an important distinction. Website design companies that focus on basic small business sites will be able to create a site for you quickly and for less money than more wide-ranging firms. Companies with an emphasis on working with you to define and address your business needs will cost more, but can help your business in ways you might not have considered.

The first step in comparing website design companies is conducting a phone interview. Here are some questions to ask. (If you're looking for a freelancer, almost all of these still apply.)

• What are your strengths as a site development company?
• Do you understand my business and customers? (It's not the end of the world if they're unfamiliar with your industry, but they should at least be eager to learn.)
• Do you handle design, development, hosting, and e-commerce? (Ask only about those you're interested in, of course.)
• Will you do the work, or outsource it to others?
• Can you help us with content creation or ideas?
• Will you test the site in various browsers? Which? (A site that works fine in one browser may break in another.)

• Can your developers connect the site to our customer database/inventory tracking software/sales software?
• Will we be able to update the site content ourselves?
• Do you do site hosting? What kind of guarantees do you offer?
• How long have you been in business? Can you provide some sample sites for me to look at? (You may hear the answer that "most of the sites we've worked on are intranets, not available to the public." You should view that with a healthy dose of skepticism - any company deserving of your business should have at least a few sites to show you.)
• What kind of support do you offer if our site breaks or needs emergency updates?

Note that we do not include "So, how much is it going to cost me?" on this list. Determining that a given web site design company is right for you should be more important than the cost. See "Prices for web page designers" for information on what you should expect to pay.

In addition to looking at the sample web sites the web site design company provides, you should also check their references. Talking to their other clients can give you the good picture of what it's like to work with particular website design companies. Get at least three, and ask them specific questions:

• Did the firm meet deadlines?
• Were they flexible?
• What aspects of their work were particularly strong?
• What areas were not quite up to your expectations?
• Did they help you plan and organize the web site?
• Did they set and meet realistic goals for your company?
• Would you work with this company again?