Finding and Briefing a Website Designer / Developer

How to select the builder of your website and why this is so very important.

You may have taken great care with the best of architectural help to create great plans for your new building. But if you use a shoddy contractor who does not know what he is doing, then you will end up with a disaster. Pause a moment or two to think about this.....

The purpose of this discussion is to explain the concepts you need to understand in order to prepare a Request for Proposal (RFP). This RFP would be sent to designers in order for them to quote on your website development. You would need to be able to assess and compare quotations to get an idea of the designer's competence and capacity to enable you to make a final selection.

What most clients want is a stunningly good looking site with great Wow factor but it must also be clear and straight forward with simple navigation and, most importantly, must serve the functionality in terms of your strategy and objectives. Can this designer deliver this?

In short, we suggest using a 4 step process :
1. You have already created the Concept/Strategy document.
2. now ... Prepare a RFP for designer to quote on.
3. then ... List the prospective designers and send the RFPs.
4. then ... Assess the quotations to select the best.

THE PROCESS

There are about 10 subjects that you need to know a little about. In each we explain:....
- why it is important
- what questions you need to ask the prospect
- what will be a "green flag" (good) response
- what will be a worrying "red flag" response

Outfit Size
Website Type
Content Management (platform & construct type)
Budget
Capacity
vis impact vs function Hosting
Succession
Search Engine Optimisation
Handover
Maintenance
Assembling the RFQ

OUTFIT SIZE

Back at the turn of the century (it was around year 2000) it was your IT technician that was the go-to person for a web development. They were the only ones who knew how to bolt it together and make it work. Today you may be dealing with an advertising agency who have a team of graphic designers, business system analysts, HTML coders, SEO specialists and project leaders. But the reality is that you will be looking somewhere in between. Probably a small outfit and ideally not a one person outfit unless your project is very small and on a limited budget.

A one person show can easily put together a small starter website but when you move to medium sized and more complex sites one needs extra skills that are not always found in the same person. Graphic creativity vs coding knowledge vs SEO comptence vs business experience. One person, especially younger than 40 or so, just cannot be at top of game in all these disciplines and still have time to genate output in a service billing model. And a big agency, with suits and BMWs, ig going to come at a hefty price. So it's a rock and a hard place for you!

What is the size of your organisation and how many staff do you employ?
When did you build your first client website and how many have you completed?

A GREEN FLAG RESPONSE

The designer has picked up your direction and replies that he has extensive experience and has collaborations with other specialists.
The quality and extent of work should be verified under "capacity" below.

A RED FLAG RESPONSE

Avoid the big agency / small website mix (cost) and the big website / small designer mix (competency).
You are trying to ensure the designer has depth of experience and continuity or operations.

WEBSITE TYPE

Most websites would fit into one (or more) or the following categories.
• Personal blog
• Informational
• Club or Not-for-profit
• Business reference
• Customer and sales acquistion
• Business sales online (eCommerce)