Footnote on Choosing a Web Designer

Establishing an online presence for your business is a must in today’s digital world and globalization age. Your website must proclaim your unique brand and must explain what you’re good at doing. As competition in almost all facets of business becomes stiffer day by day, your business must have an edge over your competitors. Having a website, like an e-commerce type that uses xcart software solution, puts you in a position wherein sky’s the limit; geographical boundaries have been removed – your business will reach new prospective clients/customers whom you’ve never heard of before.

But having a website is not enough. Here comes the question of quality, usability, and search engine optimization. A poorly designed website – that appears confusing to site visitors – can hurt your business and your identity. It is very important that your web designer is truly concerned with your success and that your web designer has a strong grasp of the core of your business; your web designer must be able to bring out the best of what your business represents.

How do you decide as to who should decide your website? What are some important factors that are vital to your making a decision of choosing a web designer? I can think of three factors.

First, you must be able to contact your web designer easily. Outsourcing is good, but how far can you get hold of a web designer in case something goes wrong in the process of building the website project? If you are living in Texas, for instance, it is a best practice to contact web designers in Texas area. Meeting face to face with a web designer in your area proves that you’re not dealing with some website kiddies or trying-hard web designers who just want your money but don’t want to stand behind your website project. I know of some cases in which a web designer disappeared after he received the down payment of a website deal. If the web designer is living abroad, a hapless victim of fraud has no way of pursuing the unscrupulous person so that he could return the money back to the website owner.

Second, your web designer must have a strong knowledge of search engine optimization. Hundreds of millions of people everyday rely on search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and MSN for information on relevant products and services. Your web designer must build your website with the search engines in mind. He cannot just impose his design style and coding scheme without considering the standard rules of search engine optimization. A website that can easily be found and indexed by major search engines and rank high in search results is vital to your online success.

Third and last factor of choosing a web designer is that your web designer must have a strong background on usability. A website is built not to satisfy a web designer’s personal curiosity to explore new design possibilities, but to meet a site visitor’s needs. This means that your website must not confuse your visitors. A website must give the right information about your business to your visitors without wasting their precious time. When online visitors land on your homepage, they must know what to click or browse next. I know how annoying it is to reach a website that only leaves you groping in darkness.

Again, your website is your doorway to this globalized, digital age. Having a truly user-friendly, functional website opens up many new possibilities of business success, and remember that whoever is your web designer, he must not defeat your purpose of setting up a website.