Need input in choosing a website designer

[studiobtm]

Originally Posted by MegaWebsiteBuilders

1) STAY NO TO FLASH BASED WEBSITES AND INTROS !!!! This is a death nail in any website. Website designers who use flash as a primary platform should be shot. Why? One of the things you will find out when you start your site going is that you will want to get traffic to your website and customers and consumers of your website content. One of the ways to do this is to be listed high in the search engines. namely Google. Flash based websites and site intros are videos and moves basically. its like watching a DVD Extras on your favorite Flick. You select an Image to get to where your going.
While this is good if your a person, Search Engines Hate em. This is because search engines work off of text information. So If your site is Flash based say good by to natural FREE advertising that come from search engines.

This is no longer quite accurate. With the proper structure Google can now crawl and index Flash sites just fine. However, the web designer must build the site properly. Many other search engines are not there however so in general I usually recommend to a client that they keep a mixture of Flash and HTML or just use HTML.

It depends on the circumstances. We just built a site for Cisco and we could have easily gone with a Flash or Flex GUI for them as there was no concern regarding SEO rankings.

[studiobtm]

Originally Posted by Traderx

A lot depends on the type of business you have. The fact that megawebsitebuilder failed to address this simple yet crucial factor tells me he's a blowhard as well.

Here's my advice. Know what you want and hire someone to build it knowing full well you'll most likely be dealing with an idiot who will over promise and under deliver. Just make certain to micro-manage the crap out of them as IT types are the laziest people as a group I've ever met. They also tend to think they're smart so be prepared to smack them in line. When they tell you something can't be done know that means they just don't have the skill to do it. Harsh I know but truthful nontheless.

I've had several websites built, some getting 100K hits a day and spent ungodly amounts of money on developers so I wish you good luck. If you find a person who is good at site design who also has a bit of business sense do whatever it takes to keep them.

LOL - I'm not sure this is the best way to get good sites built and there are two sides to this story. I will agree that there are far too many amateurs in the field - but that does keep the price down for people looking for simple sites.

If you want a professional response you will need to pay the prices. We charge $100 to $150 per hour per developer. Most people cannot afford that.

[Houston3]

Originally Posted by tonyandclaire89

what companies would you recommend

PM me your e-mail address and I will sent it to a web site builder to get in touch with you. He also handles the hosting. He can show you sites that he has done and that are on the internet now.

And no matter what that other person said.... a lot of people request that their sites be done in flash.

[mbuszu]

I've yet to meet any small business owners satisfied with the person they hired to create and manage their website - that's the truth. I met someone who claimed to be talented in this space only to have them completely flake out when they had a simple obstacle regarding my domain registar and website host being different from what they were used to. Bear in mind, completely flaking out on doing anything for me didn't prevent them from later asking me for money for their time. I ended up a couple months later (after I found some time) figuring "everything" out on my own and developing a site which ranks well and gets a good number of hits for my local business.

My advice is the following... find a local business whose website you like (or a friend) and go with their recommendation for creating your site. Make certain you first know exactly what you want and how you want it, and put that into writing before you discuss anything with the design company. I also recommend you ensure that post-design you can update your web pages yourself on demand with your computer/software. Lastly, there's a whole element of website management that needs to be considered and negotiated these days and that is Search-Engine Optimization (SEO). If you don't think or do anything about SEO you can have the nicest website in the world that no one ever visits.

I'm a person who likes to know how to do everything but of course there come times when you need to hire someone else. The best experiences I've had have been without exception those who others "local to me" have recommended, and furthermore vendors who weren't afraid to show me exactly what and how they did their thing when I asked.

[Design7]

You may find a few of the articles on my web site helpful to you in choosing a web designer. I try to demystify the web design process and explain what is involved in plain english. Newark1 Web Design Portfolio & Guide

[user_id]

Originally Posted by studiobtm

If you want a professional response you will need to pay the prices. We charge $100 to $150 per hour per developer. Most people cannot afford that.

Yeah, that is the issue. The people that really know what they are doing demand good pay. But most small businesses are not willing to spend that sort of money. I think someone on a budget is best off finding a talented student that needs money, rather than using some budget web developer.

I have made the mistake of offering to build a few websites (with a designer friend) for your typical small business owner in the past....and geez no way I'd do that full time unless I was getting really good money.

[poconoproud]

Originally Posted by scottdavis

Hey Do ityourself and save a bundle!
Homestead.com

If you can read this you can do it.

Let me know what you think and good luck!

you stole my answer!

here is the site I created with homestead:
www.pocononewhomes.net


I like it, mainly because it's just like using a word processing program, and because it does not matter how many pages or pictures I upload - the annual price remains the same....

[psychofan]

You can also design a website via Microsoft FrontPage (very simple straightforward program) then purchase a storage account and customized domain name from godaddy.com.

[thepinksquid]

I own a web design/development company and my husband and I charge around $30/hour for most work, dynamic code (PHP, .NET) included. We also offer inexpensive hosting. PM me if you'd like more info (I like to keep my C-D name separate from my personal/business life).