Today, a company’s website is more important than ever. Websites are often a customer’s first impression of your business. To ensure that your business works with your site and not in spite of it, certain questions should be asked when looking for the best web provider for your company.
1. Will the site have a content management system (CMS) in the back end?
A CMS will allow you to make changes to your web pages easily, at any time, just as easily as making changes to a Microsoft Word document. A CMS helps you to:
Save time. You can make changes instantly yourself. There is no need to send changes off to someone else and wait around for them to make them. When you make a change yourself, you know that it’s been done correctly.
Save money. If you can make changes yourself, there is no need to pay a web designer $75 to $100 per hour every time a change is needed.
2. Will my site be built using current Web content standards (as defined by the World Wide Web Consortium – /www.w3.org/)?
Using W3C standards helps to ensure that:
Your site will work in multiple browsers (Explorer, Firefox, etc.) and on multiple devices (PC, Blackberry, tablet computer, etc.)
Search engines will be able to easily find your content. (This has to do with whether the text of your site is coded properly — search engine “spiders” look for certain codes and if they are not there, they cannot easily find your keywords.)
Your site is “forward compatible.” That means that any design changes you want to make to the site can be done very easily. In other words, you can make one coding change and quickly change the look of your entire site, without having to re-do the coding on every single page. This will also save a significant amount of money, not to mention headache in the future.
3. Will my web provider be able to create a superior, professional design?
Website projects with superior design qualities will:
Put you on par with your competitors.
Help capture a larger share of the marketplace.
Showcase yours a 21st-century company committed to progress and quality.
4. What is the work style of the web provider?
An excellent web provider will be able to:
Advise you of the best practices in web design and development.
Develop a schedule and project plan for your site development so that you won’t have to.
Create a custom web design strategy for your company, offering suggestions as to what will work for your company.
Give a reasonable cost estimate up front. You shouldn’t have to guess what your costs will be at the end of the project.
Atomic Interactive is a full-service web studio that knows you’ll be asking yourself these questions before selecting a new web provider. Atomic believes that the most effective websites combine breathtaking design and deep functionality. Atomic’s interactive designers are committed to giving you the website you want without all the hassle.
As natives of Dayton, Ohio, the staff of Atomic Interactive is proud of the success that their Ohio web design studio has seen.
