Things You Should Know

Hiring someone to create your web site is a major decision. You have spent a great deal of time, money and energy creating a brand for your company. Don't take a chance of destroying it overnight by hiring the wrong firm. Don't take the chance of throwing money down the tubes for a web site that does not perform. Hopefully the following will help you make an informed decision when choosing the web site design firm to design the web site of your dreams.

Ask your prospective designer some or all of the following questions to help you with this decision making process:

1. Do you research which search engine phrases will be relevant before starting on the site so that the site will receive a maximum number of relevant visits once completed?

2. Do you code the site by hand for the best possible search engine placement?

3. Do you code the site by hand for minimum file size to insure the quickest load time?

4. Do you design your sites in such a way that they are handicap accessible and meet with the Americans with Disabilities Section 508 Rehabilitation Act Web Site Design Guidelines?

5. Do you design your sites so that they will be viewed properly with a variety of browsers, screen sizes and monitor settings?

6. Do you size all of your graphics in both the HTML coding and also when creating them in the graphics software?

7. Do you create your graphics using vector graphics to keep the file size at a minimum while keeping quality at a maximum?

8. Do you create email forms that have required fields?

9. Do you create email forms with a "thank-you page" that has links back to the site and also shows the info that was just sent for the sender to review?

10. Can you create email forms that will send information to more than one party each time the form is submitted?

11. Do you create CSS roll-over buttons that work in both Netscape and Microsoft Internet Explorer?

12. Have you put contact information on every single page of the sites you have created?

13. Do you have a data base expert on staff to handle any data basing needs?

14. Do you take professional quality digital photos?

15. Do you have experience creating Flash animations / movies?

16. Do you have experience creating online digital videos?

17. Can you create PDF files for forms, applications, etc. that may need to be downloaded?

18. Have you set up sites with secure shopping carts?

19. Can your carts accept PayPal, the widely popular online payment service?

20. Can your carts do online real time credit card authorization?

21. Can your carts send a mail to the site owner notifying them of a new order?

22. Can your carts remember a past customer so that they don't have to enter all of their credit card and shipping information each time they place an order?

23. Can your carts automatically figure out current UPS shipping charges without any additional input from the customer other than the items they are purchasing and where they are having them shipped to?

24. Can you provide users with statistical anlysis of browsers?

25. Can your site owners access up to the minute stats on their site 24 hours a day 365 days a year?

26. Can the stats be pass code protected?

27. Do you register your clients' sites with the major search engines?

28. Can you keep track of the search engine rankings with the major search engines and fine-tune the site so that it stays in the top rankings for the chosen search phrases?

29. Do you give your sites additional exposure by promoting them with sponsored links?

30. Can you host the sites you create?

31. Do you provide your clients with a fixed price quote before starting a project?

32. Do you stick with that quote?

33. Do you provide your clients with a projected date of completion at the start of the project?

34. Do you have a 95% plus success rate in meeting those completion deadlines?

35. Do your clients interact directly with the web site designers?

36. Do your people speak in a way that your clients can understand, staying away from techno-speak?

37. Do you return phone calls in a timely manner?

38. Do you return emails in a timely manner?

39. Do you provide an annual review of the site at no extra charge?

40. Do you provide occasional minor changes at no extra charge?

41. Does the majority of your business come from referrals from happy clients?

42. Do you have a 90% plus client annual retention rate?