Web Design FAQs

Selecting an individual or company to build your personal or corporate web site is a very important and often very difficult decision to make. We have listed some of the issues you should raise before making a decision.

• Does the candidate have an interest in and/or understanding of your business model? Digolov Design will tell you if our interests do not coincide with yours rather than risk a project that will fail.
• Will you be working with the principal designer or will the work be farmed out to a junior designer/programmer? Digolov Design will only occasionally delegate a portion of some project to a highly qualified associate and assumes complete responsibility for a successful project completion. The "look and feel" of the site will be defined early in the project and remain consistent throughout.
• Does the candidate have the necessary artistic ability as well as software expertise to complete the project? Digolov Design has training and experience in photography, graphic, and web design as well as many years of software engineering experience. We use native html and cold fusion as well as "state of the art" software, including Dreamweaver, Flash, Fireworks, Photoshop, ImageReady, etc. We know too many businesses that have been burned by individuals representing a "shopping mall" who propose to build a web site using the "cookie-cutter" software provided by the mall, when in fact they have no web design training or experience. Also, beware of those who plan to develop your site as a project for a class, unless you have unlimited time and no monetary budget.
• Where will the candidate host the proposed web site? Digolov Design will offer several choices depending on budget and other constraints. We do not host web sites ourselves and feel that very few small companies should offer such a service. Consider what happens when someone goes on vacation or part of a network fails, causing your site to be off-line at a critical time.
• How does the candidate determine what the site development will cost? There is unfortunately no such thing as a flat rate for a site. Some designers charge by the page, the number of graphics, the number of additional services, etc. Digolov Design will only occasionally bid a fixed price for the contract and finds that billing for time and materials is the fairest method for both parties. A clause "not to exceed a certain $ amount" may be included.
• Will the candidate integrate metatags and design the site such that it is "search engine friendly?" Digolov Design considers this an integral part of web development. We can also optimize a site for search engines and assist with submission to search engines if desired.
• Can you think of any other questions? Send an e-mail to: Digolov Design Internet Consultants