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Every forward thinking business needs a website, or needs to re-design their existing website at some point, and so choosing a website design company is a decision that every business needs to make at one time or another. Whether it be a re-design of their existing site, or the creation of a completely new one, the importance of this decision can not be understated. The reason why? Well, put simply, a good website will bring in more business, and a bad one will drive away prospective customers.

So, what needs to be taken into consideration when choosing a website design company to ensure that the right decision is made?

Firstly, the business needs to know what exactly it is that they require from their website. Rather than just guessing about this issue, a business should undertake some research about their target audience. This involves contacting existing customers and asking them what information and features they would expect to see on the website. Their ideas and suggestions should then be made into a prioritized list

Having established what is required, creating a shortlist of website design companies is the next step. Such a list can be made by simply searching on Google for terms such as “website design companies” or “website designer”. Lots of results will be brought up, so a little time will need to be spent looking through the websites of these companies and seeing what they have to offer.

A shortlist of around 10 website design companies should be made, and these companies should then be contacted so as to find answers to the following questions…

- Do they have an extensive and impressive portfolio?

- Is there a certain feel to all of the sites they have created, or are they flexible in their designs?

- Are they willing to let any of their past clients be contacted?

- Do they have structured planning and implementation processes?

- How soon can they start work on the project?

- Do they do all of the work themselves or do they outsource parts of it to others?

- Do they offer assistance in getting websites listed in the major search engines?

- Do they offer the setting up of a blog as part of their design packages?

- Who owns the intellectual property rights to the final website and the domain name?

- Will they maintain the website after the initial design?

- Do they charge an hourly rate or a fixed fee?

- At what milestones do payments need to be made?

- What guarantees are offered that the project will be completed on time?

The 3 or so companies that measure up best in relation to these considerations should then be asked to give a final quote. Prices may vary significantly, but a general ball park figure for a well designed 10 page website is around $2000.

It is of course possible to have a website designed for much less than this, but to do would be risking the credibility of the business that the website is being designed for; after all, would you do business with a company that has a poorly designed website?

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Learn more from a web consultant at http://kinneymedia.com, a company that specializes in website design in darien ct.

You are reading Website Design Companies – How to Choose the Right One on BloggingStuffs.com.