7 Tips On Choosing A Website Designer

There are thousands of website designers in the UK; how do you choose the right one?

Before you start thinking about this particular hurdle, you need to think about a few other things first.

1/ What Do You Need?

There is a difference between what you want and what you need.  You may see a website that you like the look of (amazon for example) and think 'I want one' - however without spending hundreds of thousands of pounds, you need to be realistic. 

Decide on the kind of 'features' that you want (the basic pages, some graphics, a web tutorial etc.)

If you have limited funds, then consider the basics - you can always build on them.

2/ Consider Your Budget

Websites can range in cost from a couple of hundred pounds up to millions; so you need to have a good idea of what kind of site you are looking for.  Considering that a designer may charge £40 per hour to work, if you have a budget of £1000 this is about a week for the designer to plan, prototype and get your site set up.

There are cheap websites and websites that can be designed for free - deciding what you want is important before talking to a designer.

3/ What Do You Want

There are lots of different sorts of styles of websites, so do a little research.  See what you like the look of and make a note of them.  This will help the website designer to put together a site that is going to be in line with your expectations.

4/ Know Your Competition

If you know who your competitors are, you can see what sort of websites they have, what works and what does not.  Again, this will help the designer in putting together a website for you that looks right, but also stands out in the crowd.

5/ Know Your Audience

If you are targeting young people, having an interactive slant is good, as is the modern fee.  If you are targeting older people, making the site clean and no frills is a good move (maybe with a feature to change the text size).  Know your audience - and plan the website for the kind of visitors you are targeting.

6/ What About SEO

SEO means search engine optimisation; what this means is how visible your website is on the internet.  Once a website is designed and live, it can get lost in the millions of other sites.  SEO brings it up in searches.  So if you are a legal company in Bradford, then you would target legal phrases based around the place name of Bradford.  This is done by an SEO expert as opposed to a designer.

7/ Compare Prices

Website designers all charge differently; there is no standard when it comes to website design.  By comparing website design prices you can get a feel for different designers ideas and angles, and choose the best one (based on the design ideas, prices etc.).

UK Website Design

If you are a UK business, then there will be the angle of 'keeping work in Britain' - as we are all aware the UK industry is moving overseas.

The automotive industry is almost completely gone from the UK now, Mercades is German, Toyota is Japanese, Hyundai is Korian, Ford is American.

Most food and beverage (vegetables, chocolate, alcohol) are imported.  Many restaurants are looking at using local suppliers (which is used as a PR spin) but massive amounts of our foods are imported.

The clothing industry is almost all imported (Made in Taiwan is a popular phrase on our clothes) from the USA, Italy, Japan and China.

Many companies are outsourcing their website design overseas due to price, quality and support services.

Even the royal wedding website of Prince William and Kate Middleton (www.officialroyalwedding2011.org) was developed by an American company (Accenture).

Many top UK firms do use overseas companies to maintain their websites, provide tech support and SEO services; when there is a wealth of resource in the UK market.  Why - it is normally down to money.