Small Business | Forum « What questions to ask a web designer

What questions to ask a web designer (15 posts)

Topic tags: web designer

Peta Minter said
1 year ago:
I’ve decided to revamp my site and with so many web designers and my lack of knowledge, I’m hoping that someone can advice me on what to look for – what questions I need to ask before hiring someone.
@petaminter12 | # | Top
Trudy Phillips said
1 year ago:
I would ask: How long have you been doing this? What URL’s are samples of your work? Can you do a Wordpress website? Then of course fees structure. And what time will it take to get it up assuming you provide everything that you need to do in a timely manner. Will you be able to update the site or will they have to do so.
Those are just a few of the questions I have asked of webdesigners. Also, most can be distant.They do not have to be local to you.
@trudy | # | Top
Karl Morris said
1 year ago:
How many of your clients rank on Google for key words.
A critical elementof any website is not building it but the follow up support once it is live.
1. How much for monthly hosting and does that include a maintenance component?
2. If my key words aren’t ranking on Google will you help me?
3. Will you ajust cotent for met
A lot more but this is a start
@karlmorris | # | Top
Maureen Denny said
1 year ago:
@petaminter12 – @trudy gives some good questions to ask. In addition though I would focus on what questions they ask you, such as your vision and strategy, site objectives, how you envision your new site, the functionality you want to add, etc.
It would also be very helpful if you had taken some time to have written down your vision and goals for your new site. Figure out your budget and be fairly clear at the start of the project so you get a fair bid and control scope creep.
Good luck!
@maureendenny | # | Top
Trudy Phillips said
1 year ago:
@karlmorris Yes, the follow up and changes cost is also a great question to ask. @maureendenny I agree that questions they ask you will help you understand their competence. I agree also that you need to have a clear vision and goal for your new website. What do you hope to get out of it in the way of new business/contacts?
@trudy | # | Top
Karl Morris said
1 year ago:
@maureendenny great points.
As a developer the first question we ask is what do you want to achieve with your site? 9 times out of ten it is to make your phone ring or get clients in the door. (what Yellow Pages used to do)
Once you know your key objective (ie. get the phone to ring, leave details, come to your shop etc.) teh following questions become relevant;
- Do you provide keywords (assisted by the developer, not your own) and make them location relevant
- Do you provide a site plan that is friendly to Google for my products
- Do i have to write the content? (This is a bad sign if they rely on your content particularly if you know little about Google optimization)
- Do you install Google analytics?
- Do you track the progress of my keywords once the site is built?
- Do you submit my site to Google webmaster?
- Do you adjust google places where relevant?
@petaminter12 Peta, when you go to a hardware store to buy a drill, you don’t need a drill, what you actually need is a hole. It’s the same with websites, you don’t need a website you need customers.
Building a website is easy. Getting it to work for you is a different story.
@karlmorris | # | Top
Hilda Alanis said
1 year ago:
@petaminter12
I will also ask about the availability to find them for any question, or if they have a support team to help you any time you need it.
I saw your FB business page, what a great business you have, if you were here, I would be your #1 client.
@hildaalanisgonzalez | # | Top
Amy Hall, Virtual Assistant for WordPress and MailChimp Help said
1 year ago:
@petaminter12 There are two different types of people that build website and web solutions – A web designer and a web developer. A designer usually focuses on the visual aspect of the site and a developer focuses on the coding aspect.
As a developer, when I have people contact me about their WordPress website and why it’s not getting traffic, 8 times out of 10 it’s because it wasn’t built with for business, it was built to be beautiful. Contrary wise I’ve seen beautifully developed sites that don’t work for the businesses needs, because the developer doesn’t understand business processes or needs.
Ask a potential designer about their coding experience and their business experience. Ask them how they would they organize the information on your site. How would they achieve your most wanted action that you want your visitors to take. Ask them how they would market your website if it were their own.
Ask a developer, what their graphic experience and business experience is. Ask them how they would achieve your most wanted action you want your visitors to take and how they would market your website if it were their own.
What you really want in someone that will be building your website is the ability to help people find the easiest way to take action on your website. When people take the action that you want them to it will develop into leads and sales for them. You may need some really great webcopy or an clear, easily readable way to find your products and services. Remember your website has 2 customers … Google and your visitors.
My husband is a business guy first and web developer second. He’s been self employed for 30 years – in several businesses – bakery owner, real estate broker, freelance data base programer, international speaker and now a WordPress Website developer – so he brings all sorts of marketing experience for several type of industries to the table. He knows what one needs to do to market their business off-line. This gives him an advantage when it comes to on-line marketing & content and building a site that takes full advantage of all types of search engine marketing.
@amyhallbiz | # | Top
Jules Webb said
1 year ago:
@petaminter12
1. Most designers and developers have an online portfolio for you to view, but if not you should ask to see examples of their work.
2. Find out who or what team you will be working with. Who will be manage the project and who is does the technical and design work.
3. Who will own the intellectual property rights to your website? The obvious answer is you, but you should get this confirmed. There are some nightmare stories out there.
4. Does the Price Include Hosting and Domain Name Registration? I would suggest purchasing your own Domain name that way you know you own it. Many developers wrap hosting in with there services and this more than likely will be an annual fee.
5. Do you use prefabricated templates or do you create custom templates? There is nothing wrong with getting a prefabricated template adjusted to your needs, but the price should reflect that. I create custom sites myself and though I’ve adapted templates in the past I prefer to create my own.
6. What is the process if I don’t like the initial design mockup? You need to find out what the limitations on revisions are and how much back and forth they’re willing to work with you on.
7. Do you build mobile friendly sites? If yes which process do you advocate using? You can set a site up to redirect to a mobile version (mobile.mysite.com) or use a responsive design that collapses as the screen narrows. The pros and cons of each is a huge conversation in itself so I won’t go into it hear, but you should find out what there slant is.
8. How SEO-friendly will the website be? What will they do to make my site ‘search engine friendly’? These are two good questions but the reality is that you’re for the most part taking their word that they know what their doing. Now that social media is so tightly woven with SEO you should find out if they integrate the necessary meta tags and help set up the social media accounts. You should also find out if they set up google analytics and webmaster accounts for you and if they create and submit an xml sitemap. Find out if they do testing for page loading times, do they know what an htaccess file is, do they keep http requests to a minimum?
9. Do you build sites using a content management system (CMS)? If yes which one. A CMS will enable you to update content yourself and you want the site built so that you can do pretty much everything except maintenance, which would be things like software upgrades and troubleshooting.
10. How long will it take to build and launch my new website? This is a good question, but until you’ve given all the information they need it’s a hard one to answer.
You also need to be asking yourself questions. To help me understand my potential clients needs I’ve created a project questioner. I would encourage you to download and save a copy. Go through and answer as many questions as you can. You don’t have to send it to me or feel obligated in any way, just use it to help fine-tune your own goals and needs.
Best of luck to you!
Jules @petaminter12 @petaminter12
@juleswebb | # | Top
Peta Minter said
1 year ago:
WOW…thank you so much everyone – I feel that it’s a lot clearer, thank you @juleswebb for the download – great questions and all of the above has got me writing anwers - @amyhallbitz @karlmorris cheers.
@petaminter12 | # | Top
E N Brown said
1 year ago:
Some great responses here but I’d like to add that a web developer is not JUST a coding person. Web Development companies should have an entire package already set and then customize that package for the client.
I’m not talking about a platform like WP or Drupal but about the business packages any web developer might have in place.
As far as portfolios go – I disagree to a certain extent. With many of my clients I have confidentiality agreements as to not only what appears online but the business in general. I hold confidentiality very dear and business between my companies and my clients is very high on any scale of business.
Designers tend to have portfolios more than developers however, many (and now most) web developers have designers on staff or on call for any given project (if they are reputable) so design is not usually an issue. A complete package will ALREADY HAVE all the essentials in place, including ongoing SEO. Look for the loopholes that leave out important basic components.
The questionnaire I send to my clients is usually much more extensive than any questions they have for me unless they have prepared a brief in advance. MOST companies know what they want, but getting all the info out of them on a timely basis can be a difficult process.
When the client does not provide requested information the entire process slows down considerably.
Good Luck to you! :D
@supereb | # | Top
John Kelly said
1 year ago:
As a web designer and WordPress developer, I fully believe the right web company should be asking YOU the all of the questions! Why? I can’t expect my clients to know what they likely don’t know or need so I have developed a series of questions to ask them. It saves times and saves my client’s money.
Most design questions alone can be answered with an interactive form I created on my website. Feel free to play. You point and click your way through the form and at the end, it will be emailed to you. You can find it here: http://www.6x6design.com/website-planner/
Other questions are very much like those above that others said you should ask. In fact the right web person should be asking YOU most of those questions if they truly know what they are doing. It’s a big indicator of the level of service you can expect to see and how they would take care of their clients after it’s built.
Best wishes with your endeavor!

@johnkelly | # | Top
Dea Irby said
1 year ago:
Kari, LOVE the analogy of the drill and the hole! Brilliant. @karlmorris Great answers from everyone! Love the questionaires, too. @johnkelly @juleswebb @petaminter12
@deairby | # | Top
Terence Blackburn said
1 year ago:
That was a nice set of comments. The last website I built was 12 years ago. A lot has changed since then and now we need to consider a web strategy. Its been quite a learning curve getting back into the saddle!
@blackterence | # | Top
Dyanne Edwards said
1 year ago:
The other thing you need to ask is about ongoing costs like Domain name renewal, Hosting & Maintenance (updates), Getting a site built is a good idea but some Companys can vary a lot in ongoing costs so you may pay out a little more for the build but you could save yourself money in the long term with the ongoing costs
@dyanneedwards | # | Top