If you are thinking of having a web designer build your website then viewing the websites of various web design companies of course is the first step, then moving on to check out their portfolios of web designs should help with your search.

A web design agency should be confident at putting together the right design to suit you and your business needs as well as offering additional services – is he/she an insightful online marketer or can they offer help with printed off-line marketing? View their website pages to get a feel of the kind of client they have worked with previously and look for a variation – brochure websites, e-shops, information or charity websites etc

Your website should be designed for just your business, your web designer should arrange the site and its practical aspects around that, and in doing so should also keep your visitors happy. A good website designer is worth their weight in gold and especially they mention extra services such as online marketing, shop setup etc. Your website is your shop front or your ‘welcome’ to potential or new shoppers who may return to spend money or simply revisit for the information on your site so finding a web designer with varying experience is good.

A web developer needs to wear many hats – that is offer more than one service – from being programmer to website marketer, or from PR representative to researcher. Putting together your site can be much more involved than slotting together a few images and stylish graphics into a couple of pages, tons of hard work goes into building a site and your chosen web developer will take lots of time on your site just through research and discussions as well as styling it and then consideration for longer term issues such as marketing.

A web developer has a great skill and should have the experience and knowledge to be able to put together a fabulous site that works with you and for you. Look at other websites that the company or individual has built and go into that a little deeper – any sign of marketing, search engine optimisation and longer term web maintenance is definitely a positive thing and may give you that indication that web designer has much more to offer.

Looking for a web design company that is going to help you with either rebuilding an old site or building a new website can be quite a daunting task, not only because there are so many companies out there but you also need to know how to find a professional web design company that can style your site to your requirements but also tell you where you might be going wrong.

Offering a custom website design, providing good graphic design, expert advice, simplifying processes like e-shopping for your convenience, and also providing an all-round software solution that meets your current and perhaps short-term future needs are all good pointers in the vetting process. A good company will be able to talk to you without using jargon, be able to offer complimentary software solutions, and of course will look further into your business instead of stopping at a design because the images and text seem right.

Vetting design companies will allow you to narrow down your choices to just two or three which will help you find a professional website design company within your local area or within the UK, of course by limiting your search to a region may help you to make easier comparisons. To do this the first ideal is to ask around – ask colleagues, friends and family if they know or have recommendations and experience of custom website design companies or individuals and make a list.

You may be put off by tech speak or you may be put off with a company trying to sell you too many services on your first contact, either way your feelings after making that first contact will help you narrow your choices further. Some points to consider in the selection process:

• Were they willing to talk to you in depth about your business?
• Is this company willing to allow you access to testimonials and contact past clients?
• Were they only interested in supplying a cheap option but with no other mention of ongoing maintenance & support?
• Were they busy (how soon could they start), if not why not?
• Do you feel they can offer professional website design based on their expert knowledge or are they willing to do exactly what you want?
• Did they take in your requests and turn them into a professional looking proposal and quote?

It still surprises us that some businesses do not have websites yet! Of course there are some companies that do not yet need them to boost profit however they can still bring a company up to date and can be used to help branding, popularity and of course sales.

A company that is focused on your project is great, once you have limited your choice to just a few then the decision is yours. By vetting design companies in a simplistic but methodical way and spending a little time doing it, you can reap the rewards many times over. Putting ourselves in your shoes, we would particularly make note whether a website design agency had they asked such questions as ‘where do you expect your UK business will be in three years?’ or ‘describe your business in four words’ showing that they consider your business model before thinking about a design suitable for it – it shows professional website agencies at their best.