Small Business Marketing on The Web

Q:I was recently asked to provide a checklist of things a small-medium size business must look for when choosing a web site designer. Given that there are so many people out there claiming to be web designers/developers, their prices are so variable, and there is no web site designer certification to speak of, could any of you give me some pointers as to what qualifies a person as a good designer? Obviously, moving on to marketing on the web can involve a huge expense for a small business, and we don't want to go into it blind.

A:The only important thing is their past work. Ask for a list of all their past web-pages and look at them to determine if their style matches your business-image. Call the businesses who have used this particular designer and ask the same questions that you would ask if you were hiring a person. Also, make sure that you have the rights to all work done by this designer on your behalf (HTML, GIFs, etc.). Go visit the following link. It is from the people at Wired Digital Magazine(part of the ZipDavis group). http://www.hotwired.com/webmonkey/99/22/index4a.html?tw=frontdoor The article is called Hiring a Site Developer by Evany Thomas 1 Jun 1999. It contains the following sections Page 1 Hiring a Site Developer Page 2 How Much for that Site? Page 3 Click and Learn Page 4 Locating Able Designers Page 5 What to Look for in a Developer Page 6 Selecting a Site Designer Page 7 Now Build that Site This is a great site for all your web site needs, form learning HTML coding to how to add animation to your site. It is geared for the lay-people.