Help needed with choosing web design company

JTMan

Newbie questions...

A mate of mine is looking to choose a web deign and hosting company for a new business in the property area. It is her first time dealing with a web design and hosting company.

Simple question ... How exactly should she go about choosing a web design and hosting company.

irlhost

Well, most hosting companies will be able to help you out as they will know a good design company too.

But the biggest cost is going to be the design of the website.

Best thing you can do is contact afew companies and see what they offer.

Regards

James

DeVore

More suited to Webmaster forum. Moving there and leaving redirect.

Note to hosters: Pimp and die.

DeV.

MrNuked

For Web design you have a lot to choose from. Post your requirements in the Work forum perhaps, and you should get a decent response.

For Web hosting, the hosting services advertised on this site, to which I am unaffiliated, offer as good services and value as you're likely to find, unless you are expecting to need very large amounts of bandwidth.

Figment

Originally posted by DeVore
Note to hosters: Pimp and die.

Does that includer Designers?

When you find a Design company with a portfolio of work that you like, dont be afraid to ring up the past clients and ask what they thought of the process and if they were happy with what they got.

Meet with the designer you are going to be working with (not the sales person) and see how you get on and if they understand your vision. Be aware that is a 2 way communication. A good designer will be able to guide you through the process towards the best design for your site.

List of Design Companies http://creativeireland.com/directory/
Ensure that they have both the Technical expertise AND Design Expertise to make your site a success. Both are as important.

Price wise, ask a few company for quotes. Be aware that cheaper is not always better. You effectivly get what you pay for.As you will have a website for a couple of years it might be an idea to hire/ask and impartial designer to review the quotes you recieve and guide you on who is talking crap and who is good.

Taken from design ireland website:

Making the choice
There are really an almost infinite number of ways that you can track down designers and firms you might like to use. But finally choosing between several likely candidates can be a far more fraught business. After all, design is not a commodity, and you will be commissioning somebody to create something from scratch. How your relationship will work, whether or not the processes of the design firm will mesh successfully with your own and a myriad of other factors will effect your final decision.

One of the key factors here is choosing the right type of firm for the work you need done. While there are many companies who cover a broad range of design disciplines, many more will specialise in one area, maintaining a body of knowledge of one part of the industry that a generalised design firm may find hard to replicated. If a company specialises in logo design, they may not be the best one to hire for your website development, even if the quality and tone of the work appeal to you.

What will always be central in your decision, assuming that there is more than one company who could meet and exceed your requirements, is the relationship you can achieve with your designers. Company cultures vary and if the fit is not there, no amount of excellence in a portfolio will compensate.

Who you need to work with will depend on the specifics of what you need to achieve and how you need to achieve it. But there are some questions, both for your and for the firm you intend to engage, which may make the job of selection a little more approachable.

1) Working practices
The methodology of a firm will give you a strong indication of its culture, even if such documents are rather idealised. A company that institutionalises the centrality of the client, for example, can still have shortcomings, but at least you can see the relationship they intend to have with you. Another key element of your designer's practice will be their design process. This is dealt with more thoroughly elsewhere on this site.

2) Clients and Experience
Obviously you will pay close attention to the type of experience a firm has before deciding to work with them, since you are generally looking for someone to do a specific job for you. But there are a number of angles from which the question may be approached. After all, the final design is only a part of the process that involves a great deal of communication and collaboration. So knowing who the firm's clients are, noting how much the design company has absorbed about them and indeed, how their clients view them, all go to form a more complete picture. Equally, the views of competing firms may have something to tell you.

3) The People
A company is simply name for a group of people who work together. Your work, obviously, will be handled by specific people, so who are they? It is best to be clear about exactly who will be working with you and which people you will meet with regularly. You and these people are about to enter into a period of closer creative collaboration. You will need to be sure you are doing this with people you respect, trust and ideally like.


Hope that helps.

Karoma

optionally, hire a company that has done previous work with "the property area" - esp. if it's her competitors (ethics is for whimps).

flamegrill

Look at www.belfast-connect.com

They have done a range of property sites todate:

www.spanishpropertymart.com being one of them.

Paul

JTMan

Thanks for the great advice guys. I will pass it on to my mate that is directly involved.

p

Incidentally if your friend gets a list of companies might be a good idea to post them up here. There's a load of cowboys out there unfortunately.