Before You Hire A Web Designer,
Ask Them These Questions.
Do they understand your needs?
Are they listening to you and absorbing details of your business? Or are they trying to get you to have expensive things you may not need, such as shopping carts, Flash animation etc. A designer who listens and takes time to find out about your business, is likely to give you a far more meaningful, practical and efficient website. Plus, you won't be paying for things you don't need.
Arpey will take the time to find out about your business so you get a website that best suits your needs - and your budget.
What is the right price?
There seems so much variation in prices quoted for website design. If you're quoted a price too good to be true -it probably is! If you're tempted by super cheap quotes, then at least check out their previous work. Is the standard of a reasonable quality? Many larger design agencies will have a minimum price, so if you're quoted a thousand pounds or more for just a few web pages, it's probably wise to shop around further.
Also beware of people offering "standardised" or "template" websites ; these use a basic template, with your logo, & text slotted in. They are very "low tech" & budget looking, and are often created by software. Ensure they design from scratch.
Can they "beat any price"? This tactic leaves a lot to be desired. If they are forced to cut prices, then they are forced to cut corners. Bad news for you in the long run.Buyer Beware!
Arpey pride themselves on being the best value for money. They have consistently been more competitive than the majority of web designers, yet go that extra mile for customers.
Quote or estimate?
Are you getting a fixed price quote, or is it an estimate. If it's the latter, the final invoice may be a lot more, as they will charge on a time taken basis. Get a fixed price quote where possible - most designers will do this.
Arpey will quote you a fixed price. If things change, and we need to do substantially more work, we will discuss this with you and agree a price in advance.
Payment in advance?
Are you being asked to pay in advance? Most reputable designers will invoice on completion for smaller websites, once you are completely satisfied. Larger projects may require a deposit, but this shouldn't be more than 50% of the quotation.
Arpey will invoice you once your website is up and running and you are happy with it. Occasionally a deposit of no more than 50% may be required.
What about hosting?
Has website hosting been quoted to you? This is the rental of space that your website takes up on a computer permanently linked to the Internet network. Clarify this, as you may get a nasty "extra" on your final bill. For a small website (under six pages), expect to pay no more than £120 per year. Also, check whether you are tied into them when it's time to renew in one years time. If so, will they guarantee their price?
Beware too, of the designers who suggest using "freespace". Not only does this look unprofessional, it can be fraught with problems, and you have few if any rights, because it's free. Your website may end up with other people's advertising banners all over it.Remember the old adage -"there's no such thing as a free lunch".
Arpey will quote you a separate figure for website hosting, so you can budget accurately for renewals in one years time. You are not tied to them at renewal time.
How much bandwidth do you get?
This is a measure of how much data transfer, or traffic your website will get. The more people that visit your website, the more bandwidth you use up. If you go over your monthly limit, you will probably get an excess bandwidth charge. Bandwith is measured in megabytes (MB) and Gigabytes (Gb). 1 GB= 1000 MB.
In short, one GB is likely to be enough for several thousand visitors to a small website. This is usually plenty for most small business websites. If you expect your site to get a great amount of traffic, be sure to mention this when getting a quotation. Excess bandwidth charges can range from £15 per extra Gigabyte per month. Do beware of this, as some people do quote low bandwidth figures, and then sting you for excess charges, by which time you're tied into a years hosting contract.
Arpey will quote you based on 1 Gigabyte, unless they foresee that your site may go over this, in which case they will advise you.
What happens if you don't like the design of your website?
A good designer will provide you with some options, in order to determine what type of design you like. If you don't clarify this, you may be charged extra for any changes the designer has to make if you don't like his initial design.
Arpey provide several alternative designs to clients, and then work from there. Clients are continually involved all the way through the design process, in order to ensure they get what they want.
Will they market your website?
Websites should be submitted to search engines for inclusion in their databases. In addition, there are a number of things that designers can do to give you a better chance of a decent ranking in search engine results. Are they familiar with these techniques? If you are especially concerned with being found in the search engines, you should ask. (Be wary of designers who "guarantee" top rankings -no one can make such a claim)
Arpey will register your website with the major search engines, plus approx fifty of the next most important ones. (Approx 99% of searches will come from these sources) . In addition, Arpey uses the latest technology & techniques to give your website the best chance of a good ranking, although these can never be guaranteed. They carry out Internet Marketing Consultancy work for clients all over the world, so are extremely conversant with online marketing techniques.
Do they rely on "metatags" and "submission software" to get you search engine placement?
Many web designers claim they will use "metatags" (part of the underlying source code) to get you well placed in the search engines. To be frank, these are plain "old hat" - they are unlikely to work, and most important search engines will ignore them.
Likewise, they promise to submit your website to 7000+ search engines and directores. Sounds impressive, but it it's not -it can even be counter productive and prevent your site getting indexed. For a start, 99% of traffic comes from just 10 or 15 search engines, so the other 6985 are neither here nor there. Secondly, most internet marketing professionals agree that automated submission is not recommended. This is because the search engines have picked up on it, and have the technology to "block" or give low priority to automated submissions. (There are one or two pieces of specialist software that avoids this pitfall - but few web designers are likely to possess it).
Arpey take no chances - we will register your website by hand with the major search engines - it's the only way. We then use our own software (which we wrote) to submit to the next 40 or 50 important search engines. Beyond that is pointless.
Can you communicate with your webdesigner? Lets face it, the best results come through good communication. If your web designer baffles you with kilobytes and techno waffle that you can't comprehend, you just won't get the best results. Ensure you can communicate and that your designer "translates" everything into plain English. Arpey prides itself on speaking plain "jargon free" English. We'll quickly gauge your level of expertise, so that we're never baffling you -or treating you like a schoolchild either. Even if you do not commission us to construct your website, we hope this information helps you make the right choice, in what can be a very confusing area.(If this free information has helped you save money, please make a small donation to the charity of your choice).
Remember, despite all the services outlined above, we are still amongst the most competitive website designers around.
The end
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Telephone +44(0)1622 201714
Fax +44(0)845 3342064
email:sales@rpasystems.com
