How do I hire the correct web designer for my site?

[beainked]

I am looking to hire a professional web design company to implement my site. My problem is, while I am familiar with the basics of marketing and social media, I am completely new to the world of ecommerce and designing a site. I guess this makes me a bit gullible when someone tries to sell me their services. My question is, what kind of questions do I ask? What is a good company to use? What is a realistic time frame to get an entire ecommerce site designed and launched? All information and suggestions are welcome on this topic. I am a bit naive.

[morestar]

I would tell you to lay down everything you want on paper and present the information to your web designer. It may take you some time to do this and feel a bit overwhelming but if you do this, page for page, function for function your web developer will have a great understanding of your needs. From there you should be able to get a quote - hopefully a decent one - on your project.

[weegillis]

How many hats does the OP expect the web designer to wear? The more hats, the bigger the job, the higher the value of the person's work. Come up with too many hats and not enough money and one or more areas will receive less attention than they should.

What is the goal of your site? Do you have a well promoted product or service already, and only wish to augment its market base with web marketing? What sort of promotional materials do you have in place already? Is your business or product already branded, and familiar to the public in your market region and beyond? How much copy have you got already written?

The above are your starting assets. The list is by no means exhaustive, but it would be a good idea to exhaust all available material and public goodwill before creating anything from scratch. It will be the foundation upon which you build, keeping familiarity out front as the chief cornerstone.

A design is nothing without a presence behind it. Visitors need to feel that they are engaging real people on the other side of the web transaction. Your design and copy presentation will need to convey this. It's no small or easy task, and does require the skills and insights of a person with experience in visual and type design; the craft of an experienced marketer and copy writer; the art and science of a gifted web programmer; the foresight and knowledge of an accomplished SEO professional. I could go on...

These are just some of the hats. Want one person to wear them all?

[beainked]

This has given me a lot to think about. Definitely a good starting point. Thank you for pointing out some key factors that I need to consider.

[Bliss Ellison]

Hi beainked,
Although your problem solution has been explained very well. Further I'd like to add and would agree that first you have to be clear about what your business is all about? What do you want in your web design? What type of impression do you want to make on your visitors? What are the core functions of your website?
Of course you wont like to go for an amateur or newbies in the development field.
So, when you contact professional web designers, ask them to show you their sample work and list of previous projects they'd done. Through their work, you'd get an idea about their potential and experience and you'd also be able to judge if they can handle best your project and deliver your thoughts in the web design. This will help you in making a good decision.

[Ecommerce web design]

If you have the budget you can ensure that the proposed company has dedicated professionals for each aspect of the porject.

EG
dedicated research team
User interface design strategist
dedicated graphic designer (ensure you like his previous work)
dedicated coders with seo knowledge
dedicated seo team
dedicated support line
etc

This will ensure your new platform is exactly what you expect and more.

On the other hand :

small budget = 1 man band
Ensure you like his design style
ensure he can code all required aspects
ensure he has descent hosting
ensure they know how to carry out basic onsite seo for site launch
ensure there is a support option - just incase something happens
ensure you have a get out clause including all code incase he can't manage project to your standards
etc

Good luck

[Optic]

Also keep in mind the Project Management Triangle.

[CoolDiamond]

My best idea is to look at web designer's portfolio and if you love what you see contact him/her/them to discuss the matter further.

[raj kumar]

I am looking to hire a professional web design company to implement my site. My problem is, while I am familiar with the basics of marketing and social media, I am completely new to the world of ecommerce and designing a site. I guess this makes me a bit gullible when someone tries to sell me their services. My question is, what kind of questions do I ask? What is a good company to use? What is a realistic time frame to get an entire ecommerce site designed and launched? All information and suggestions are welcome on this topic. I am a bit naive.

Questions to be asked:
1. How old is the web designing company in market?
2. What role will they have web maintenance?
3. Are the landing pages predefined or customizable?
4. Project cost and duration.
5. How friendly are web pages for SEO?

[webmeliorate]

You need check with company that what kind of work they did in past, also ask them few basic questions as below

whether company is going to provide dedicated resources?
what is methodology they are following for development?
What is time and cost estimation?
What is maintenance and support duration?