Hiring a Web Designer

Posted on 01. Sep, 2009 by admin.

So you’re ready to have a website designed, but you are not a designer or developer. How should you go about getting one? Maybe you have the time to learn how to design a professional looking website. Maybe you have a relative who has the skills to do it and will do it for free. If you do, great! This article however is aimed at those who are considering hiring a web designer, and want to know just how to do it.

Want vs. Need

There will be many features and modules that you may want on your website. The more the better, right? While it is fine to add many features, remember not to add so many that the website is cluttered or appears disorganized. Also the more features you ask for, the higher your final bill will be. So now ask yourself the following questions to determine what you want, and what you need, on your website.

• What kinds of information do you want on the site?
•  How big do you think your site will be?
• Who will your target audience be?
• Will your site require regular updates? Who will maintain it?
• Will you need a database to store and retrieve information?
• Do you want to rely on search engines to send more traffic to your site?
• Will you be requiring an e-commerce application?
• What is your timeline going to be?
• What is your projected budget? 

Finding the Right Designer

There are many places to look for a skilled designer. Some examples include Craigslist, local service directories, search engines, and even the yellow pages. One of the best ways to find a web designer you can trust is by asking around. Referrals may not get you the most talented web designer in the world (unless of course you are asking very wealthy people for referrals), but they almost always get you a talented, cost effective, and trustworthy web designer.

Below are some tips to help you in your quest.

• Make sure they have their own website, if they do not they should not even be considered.
• Avoid template designers. These ‘designers’ buy or create a popular template, then simply fill in the blanks with your information. Your website then looks just like every other website they create. How do you know if they use templates? They will advertise with a set rate fee, often “$100 special” or “24 hour turn around for $299″.
• If their website is is of low quality, yours will be as well.
• If they do not offer personal phone support do not hire them.
• Find out if they outsource. Many companies outsource their work to India, these websites break often!
• Never hire a designer who requires more than %33 down before any work is done.

Final Steps

Once you have found a designer that you like, check their portfolio and contact a couple of their past clients. Past clients will tell you if their experiences with the designer were positive or negative. Navigating to referrals on your own gives you a higher chance of the referrals being legitimate. Now all that’s left is to figure out the pricing, sign any contracts, and get started on your website!

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5 Designer Freebies

Posted on 05. Jun, 2009 by admin.

Here you go, 5 completely free resources for designers.

1) NotePad 2
Notpad 2 is essentially Notepad on steroids, and best of all, its free! Notepad2 was publicly released in 2004 by creator Florien Balmer who released it under the BSD Software License. Notepad2 features syntax highlighting which is essential when writing in any programming language like PHP or ASP.       Visit Site

2) ColorPic
Today there are many eye dropper applications made available freely online. None however offer the same level of functionality that is offered by ColorPic. ColorPic easily modifies image colors and even saves your color chips as palettes that can be called in future use. ColorPic will even snap to the nearest web safe color if you tell it to!      Visit Site

3) Core FTP
As a web designer you cannot go without an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) application as it is the middleman between your harddrive and the world wide web. Core FTP provides you with many features like SFTP (SSH), SSL, TLS, IDN, browser integration, site to site transfers, FTP transfer resume, drag and drop support, file viewing & editing, firewall support, custom commands, FTP URL parsing, command line transfers, filters, and more.      Visit Site

4) TopStyle Lite
This is a very handy little tool for creating CSS files. You can preview CSS while you write it, create pleasant color schemes for your site, and it even validates your CSS against multiple browsers.      Visit Site

5) Stock Exchange
Stock photography is a must when designing visually appealing websites. It also happens to be rather pricey and if you or your client are on a budget and can often be out of reach. That is where Stock Exchange comes in. They have massive quantities of stock photo’s and illustrations available completely for free, all you have to do is register.      Visit Site

Well, there you have it, feel free to offer any suggestions you feel should be added to the list.

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WebHost Review - Globat.com

Posted on 04. Jun, 2009 by admin.

Globat is a California based webhosting company that was founded in 2001 by Ben R. Neumann and various dotCom executives. Globat quickly rose to the top as a cost effective and dependable webhost with great customer support and little down time. For over a year Globat sat on its throne as the lead provider of webhosting to small business and eccomerce website applications.

Then, in early 2006, that all changed. (more…)

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Web Advertising

Posted on 16. Mar, 2009 by admin.

If done right advertising for profit on your website and be a great source of income. This should only be done by websites that offer free content or are non-profit. If you are selling a product already on your website, do not under any circumstance host advertisements for profit.
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- Basic Guidelines to Follow -

Posted on 10. Mar, 2009 by admin.

Designing a webpage can be a complicated task feels like it will never be completed, but by following a few simple guidelines you can make this process much easier.

Plan Ahead
Before you even consider touching a keyboard to begin scripting you (more…)

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