Girl
Geek Speaks Newsletter
Back to
Newsletter Archives
Welcome to the February 2006
Issue of our newsletter
for the technically challenged and web site
wannabe's.
We feature articles to help guide you through the
process
of designing, building, and promoting your business
web site.
If you know someone who may benefit from
this newsletter, please forward it to
them in its entirety, or have them subscribe
below.
IN THIS ISSUE:
ARTICLE: Questions to Ask a Prospective Web
Designer ....That Will Save You Grief and Money in
The Long Run
TIP OF THE MONTH: Find out if your website is
accessible to the visually impaired.
Top 20 Questions to Ask a
Prospective Web Designer ....That Will Save You
Grief and Money in The Long Run
I’m writing this list of questions because of the
increasing number of emergency calls I’m getting
from website owners who have been BURNED by their
web designer because they didn’t know what to ask
before hiring them.
1. How long have you been in business?
Web designers come and go fast, so find out.
2. What’s your website address?
Go look at their site. If you don’t like what you
see, keep looking.
3. Do you have a contract I can review before
signing up with you?
Protect yourself. Web designers are notorious for
working with only verbal agreements, then going
out of business. Insist upon a written contract so
that you will know exactly what you are paying for
(inclusions and exclusions), how grievances will
be addressed, proposed date of completion, and
what the terms of payment are.
4. What is your policy regarding premature
termination of the contract?
Is there a “kill fee” and how much is it? Will you
get a copy of the site or are you just paying for
their time?
5. How will updates and changes to my site be
handled? Who will do them? What are the options if
I want to do them myself?
6. What’s your turnaround time?
If you’re working on a deadline or need changes to
your website you want to know how soon you can
reasonably expect your site to be built or updates
to be made.
7. What’s the phone number that I can reach you if
I have a question?
Again, you need to assess their availability and
willingness to answer questions and communicate
with you. Many geeks are uncomfortable with
interactions with people and so will only make
themselves available via email.
8. Who will own my site, including the code,
layout, and images?
Sometimes when your site is designed the designer
owns the code and only leases it to you for your
usage.
9. Will I own my domain name?
Insist that you, NOT the designer, are the listed
as the registrar of both the domain name and on
the web hosting package. Beware of designers who
are resellers of web hosting and domain names.
They may offer you a lower price for the design of
the site, but greatly inflate the price of both
hosting and domain name registration to recoup
their money over the length of your contract.
10. Where can I see samples of your work and read
testimonials?
If a web designer only has a few sites or none of
them are currently online, something’s wrong.
11. Will you be using a site builder to build my
site?
Site builders, like Mambo, Website Tonight
(GoDaddy), Homestead.com and Register.com are
inexpensive to start off and designed for the
do-it-yourselfer, but are not search engine
friendly. Plus, if you stop paying the monthly
hosting fee and want to move your site elsewhere,
like to another hosting company, you can’t. Your
site is captive. In other words, these sites have
to stay where they are, as you don’t own the site
or the code and the template is copyrighted.
12. Will you be designing the site yourself or
using a pre-made template?
Don’t be fooled into thinking or paying for a
“custom” template only to find out your web
designer used a pre-made template that’s available
to anyone and is easily recognizable, such as the
templates on FrontPage, which look cheap. Don't be
cheap when you're wanting people to spend their
money on your products or services.
13. Will you be laying out my site in frames,
tables or layers?
Frames are NOT compatible with search engines and
should never be used. Layers are tricky, as they
look okay on some search engines, but not on
others. Tables is the best, if they are used
correctly.
14. What search engines will my site be optimized
for?
In other words, does the designer know what the
standards Google, Yahoo, MSN, and Netscape have
for site layout, usability, and ranking. To have a
viable business website, it needs to be designed
with search engines in mind.
15. Will my site be accessible to the visually
impaired?
This may or may not be important to you
considering the niche you’re going after, but it’s
a good idea anyhow. To learn if your site is
accessible, view the tip below.
16. If I need to expand my site as my business
grows how will that be done and what can I expect
to be charged for those additions?
17. If I need custom graphic work (like a logo) or
original images for my site, what will that cost
and who will do that work?
Original images and photos for a site are
expensive and may not be included in the design
price. Ask before you sign a contract.
18. How much of my site will have text in either
images or Flash?
You don’t want any text in either images or Flash,
unless there’s an artistic reason for it. Search
engines cannot read text that is part of an image,
therefore, cannot rank your pages as well as those
created with text and html. Plus, images and Flash
pages take a long time to open and you don’t want
to lose visitors because they get impatient with
your site loading time. You’ve got 8 seconds
before 80% of them will leave.
19. Ask for references that you can call. Don't
rely upon testimonials, as those can be faked.
20. Are we related by blood or friendship? I'm not
kidding! I've had more clients come to me after
having a friend or relative start their website
and then their relationship is threatened. Simple
advice. Don't do it....even if it's free.
These are the main questions developed from
"horror stories" that clients have brought to me.
Buyer beware!
TIP OF THE MONTH
To learn if your site is accessible to the
visually impaired, to go webxact.watchfire.com and
enter your website address.
Shameless Self Promotion:
Email or Call now (well, maybe wait until next
week as I'm kinda swamped) for your FREE initial
web design consultation and NO OBLIGATION bid for
new websites or old website revamping. Or to
request a bid click here.
Also, we are now offering WEBSITE PROMOTION
CONSULTATION services which help get your site in
front of the people who absolutely, positively
must see it!
Girl Geek Web Designs - ask for Annette
Please note our NEW PHONE NUMBER (618) 457-8103
Email: Annette@GirlGeekWebDesigns.com
Back to
Newsletter Archives
DISTRIBUTION RIGHTS:
The above material is copyrighted, but you may
retransmit or distribute it as long as not a single word
is changed, added, or deleted, including the contact
information. However, you may not copy it to a web site.
Copyright 2006. All rights reserved.
To receive our
FREE email newsletter,
Girl Geek Speaks, please fill out and submit the
form below. Please review our
privacy policy.
