In just about every major city like Houston or Toronto, there are thousands upon thousands of web designers – both agencies and freelancers. Obviously, there is a huge demand for their skills; and as a result, more and more people are trying to get into the market.
And because so many aspiring web designers are doing whatever they conceivably can to make their presence known in the web design market, the competition is fierce. This is obviously great for the customer, as competition always brings about higher quality at lower prices. As a customer, you now get more aesthetically pleasing, dynamic websites for less, and that sure is a boon, but one question arises that isn’t always easy to answer:
With hundreds of thousands of web designers to choose from, how can I know who would be the best fit for me?
Sadly, the answer is that you probably can’t know who will be the best fit. However, it is possible to find a high quality web designers who can meet most if not all of your needs. This doesn’t mean they are necessarily the best in the market, but so long as they can get the job done, any reasonable person would be content.
But how do we find out who can get the job done? There are many charlatans out there. They know a thing or two about marketing, and have found a way to market themselves as the best, but aren’t necessarily very technically skilled. These charlatans are often also career salesmen who can talk you into spending a lot of money for their services, justifying the high price for their supposed superior web design skills.
It’s not difficult to pinpoint who these people are – once we learn to ask the right questions, that is.
Often times we see ask how long a company has been in business. This question does you no good, and if you are sensitive with and care about your time, we suggest you forgo asking it.
Instead, ask to see the sites they have built, and also ask to see them log in to the backend of that site. This is very important. It may come off as condescending, but don’t worry. Too many times web designers lie, claiming to have built a site they never even touched. They also often claim to use custom webdesign when really using templates.
That is why it is important you ask them to log in to the backend of the site – to provide proof that they really built it.
No longer is it enough to just google a search term like, say, web design Houston and work with the first company listed on the search engine. There’s a solid chance that they are better at marketing than web design, or maybe not even good at web design at all. There’s also a solid chance they you will be paying through the roof for their services, as a company with a high Google ranking often charges extra just because they can.
We are not saying you shouldn’t work with companies that rank high, just that you should be extra vigilant. Of course, if you’re looking for minimal web design, then the job becomes much easier.
At the end of the day, it doesn’t hurt to ask as many questions as you see fit. Anyone who refuses to give you five or ten minutes of their time isn’t worth working with.