There is no doubt that the web design industry is growing faster than ever. Mesmerised by the billion dollar success stories of a few online community web sites, everybody wants a web site to trade online. Is there scope for the online business? Should you go for a web design solution and if you do, what is the recipe for success? These are a few questions that anyone considering hiring a web design company should ask. Whilst there are no magic solutions for a very successful web site, experience has taught us a few fundamental lessons in web design and online marketing with some interesting results. A good web design company, a reliable hosting provider and sound search engine marketing techniques are the key elements for a successful and profitable web design solution. Although each one of these key elements are considered in more details in separate articles, below is an overview outlining the fundamental principles. So what is a good web design company?
• Excellent web design competences, a good knowledge of the web design industry and new web design technologies • Creative ideas that work and a sound online marketing knowledge • Have a proven track record with a large and varied web design portfolio coupled with a solid reputation within the web design industry • A strong partnership with its clients based on trust, honesty and simple, jargon free communication • Focus on achieving web design objectives on time, with a transparent pricing policy • Provide realistic expectations for your web design solution at affordable prices
Once your web site is online it needs to be reliable and fast. Remember that people are very reluctant to spend time waiting for a web site to download. The way the web design is constructed will affect its download speed. Although broadband connection is becoming increasingly popular and web sites tend to download pretty quickly, there are factors that can still affect the way your online visitors interact with your web design solution. Large flash animations in web designs take ages to load are not a good idea. The web hosting package can also adversely affect the performance of your web design solution. Hosting refers to the server package where your web site is kept so the entire Internet community can access it. Do not underestimate the task of finding a good and reliable hosting service. There are so many services out there and everybody claims to be the best. Get the wrong service provider and you could spend your time chasing up support to get your web site back online. Your web design company should be able to source a fast and reliable hosting solution. Getting both the web design and hosting services from one provider is usually a good idea.
Assuming you have a reasonably good web design done and hosted on a good server, you still need traffic and visitors to your web site. Millions of companies and individuals are frantically competing for that first page on Google for the best keywords. Do not despair. There are trusted and reliable ways of promoting your web site online. Search Engine marketing is a fine art and few web design companies also have search marketing skills in-house. Do ask before you commit to any web design services. The most obvious way to test a web design company’s competences in search engine marketing is to check their own ranking for a major keyword like ‘web design’ on Google. If they are on top, they probably know how and can advise on how to promote your web site online properly.
If all this sounds like rocket science, do not lose hope. Thankfully there are a few genuine, competent and affordable web design companies out there that can advise and deliver your professional and comprehensive web design solution. ----------
Ralph Ramah is the webmaster of Discount Web Design, one of the leading web design company in the UK offering quality web site design and SEO services
