So, you’re going to hire a designer or design company to build a website for you.

You’ve made the right choice (but since I’m a designer I would say that wouldn’t I) – however like most trades, there are a lot of so-called “professionals” out there who are far from it.

Some simply don’t have the technical knowledge to back up their design skills, most don’t have any type of marketing expertise – they’ll build you a website that looks fantastic, but won’t bring in a red cent because it takes 10 minutes to load that bandwidth-sucking Flash animation they did for you.

By that time your visitor (who’s on dialup) has decided they’re not going to wait and have left your site.

There are some “web designers” who’ll take your money and not complete the project because they don’t have the expertise or the time/inclination – or worse, just blatantly rip you off and not do the work at all, quickly changing their phone number so you can’t get in contact with them.

And worst of all … some designers work is just plain crap.

Sorry for being blunt … but it’s true!

So, how can you protect yourself when hiring a web designer or company?

When it comes to web design, qualifications aren’t worth diddly squat!

There are no recognized industry-standard qualifications in web design. If someone wanted to go into the computer support/networking field they know they need to aim for becoming a Microsoft Certified System Engineer (MCSE) or a Cisco Certified Network Administrator (CCNA).  Read more... (1062 words, estimated 4:15 mins reading time)

Why offshore web design and development

Offshore web site design and development help to keep prices at least 3-5 times less, for example, average hourly rate of web development services in USA is $35-75; in UK – $25-50, in Ukraine – $5-20.

How it works?

Typical plan:
·You find a client who needs a web site, ask his/her requirements for the project and send to your offshore partner company.
·The partner makes a proposal and gives you the project estimation basing on his hourly rate, for example, $10.
·You mark up the rate $10/hour as high as you wish (and can – taking into consideration competition in your region, level of demand for web design services, and other marketing factors), for example to $30/hour, and sends the proposal to the client. So if the web design project is estimated on 50 man-hours of work, you charge the customer $1500, from which $500 you pay to your offshore partner company, and $1000 is your profit.
·The partner company works on the project and delivers it to you along with copyright for the work.
·You deliver the site to the customer.

Result – you have a satisfied client and good profit from the marked up price.

How to start?

The first and most important step is to analyze market in your region and decide if it’s worth to start this business.  Read more... (647 words, estimated 2:35 mins reading time)

Here is a web design theory : websites are like onions, you see, since websites have layers. And ogres are like onions, since ogres have layers. Websites are designed by web designers. Ergo – web designers are like ogres.

So, let’s explore why web designers are like ogres.

Firstly, let’s see why we say that websites are like onions, with layers, in the first place – since this is the whole raison d’etre of my argument.

~Websites have an outer layer~

This is the graphical look and feel of the site. This is normally what most people think of when they refer to ‘web design’. In order to create this your common, or garden, web design ogre needs to have an artist’s eye and a designer’s skill with tools such as Photoshop or Fireworks. The graphical web designer needs to have insight into the latest web design styles, He needs to be able to wield shades and shadows and meld them into Web 2.0 flavored onion soup. Preferably soup not made with eyeballs.  Read more... (1006 words, estimated 4:01 mins reading time)

San Francisco area has a number of web design companies offering custom Web Design Services. Most of these San Francisco web design firms, whose number is swelling, claim to deliver a rare blend of imaginative design, grounded in a rich understanding of the customer’s strategic objectives and business requirements with deep technology expertise. While some web design companies do deliver practical, personalized services and solutions, based on client needs and most are mismatched and a visual horror to say the least. Needless to say, the overuse of bright colors and animated graphics by an amateur San Francisco web designer adds to the confusion.

Web-Design.Nr10.com with a team of experienced San Francisco Web designers , programmers and consultants is always a trusted name. It offers complete Web services — including Web application development, custom business software development, database integration, graphic design, site promotion and maintenance. #10 is a creative San Francisco web design company that creates your customized websites, makes the right impression and reaches out to the target audience. The company offers services especially Graphic Designing and Web Development in San Francisco, San Jose and Oakland.

Being in touch with your audience and sending the right message is essential to keeping ahead in a competitive market. With a dedicated design staff work, #10 works closely with its clients, understanding their requirements and needs. They make your website stand apart by imparting it a unique character – adding details like logo, graphical illustration and photographs – with informative content, new ideas and entertainment. From Consumer Products, Services marketing, Manufacturing, Entertainment, Retail or Sports, this San Francisco web design company helps you design a website that will attract your target audience.  Read more... (469 words, estimated 1:53 mins reading time)

Anybody who has advertised on Google Ad words or Overture knows what it costs to generate leads, build a sales pipeline and convert the orders. The cost per click for the keyword ‘web design’ can be as high as £2 per click. Try to generate enough good leads and your pay per click budget could run into the thousands. Obviously getting the leads is not enough to secure web design orders. A lot of time and money can go into following up on the leads and converting these to web design orders. There is no doubt about it: securing first time customers is hard work and expensive. A viable business option is to generate web design orders through word of mouth. Whilst anybody would probably with this statement, the question remains…how do we sell web design effectively through word of mouth?

The obvious answer is by getting yourself known within the web design industry and by your potential customers. There are a number of ways of achieving this objective. Your existing satisfied web design customers are an excellent starting point. Notice I say ‘satisfied’ customers. Although it is our aim to have satisfied customers, it is not always possible to keep all our customers always happy. Let’s face it, there are some web design customers out there that you just cannot please, no matter how hard you try. Yet, every web design company should strive very hard to keep excellent relationships with existing customers because there is no better reference for your web design business than your happy clients.  Read more... (483 words, estimated 1:56 mins reading time)