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1. Introduction
What is Web Casa Design? – To the initiated, the question might sound out of this world. But for those already familiar with the ins and outs of web design, the question at hand is very much to the point. With so many facilities for web design cropping up daily, the average person seeking to have a website designed has a wide array of choices. And in an age where commercial graphic design and web design is likened to art, the price tag can greatly vary from free to thousands of dollars. In this case, the pricing for web design is likened to a bull auction for a high priced event, not knowing where pricing can lead for the service offered. Because this is often the case, some companies are investing a great deal for what they are provided, an eye-catching website which is either hosted by another web company, or with no web development beyond the site itself. This could be viewed as simple abstraction. In turn, some may receive a website developed with care and expertise, a piece of virtual real estate which is well placed and expected to thrive just as the business it was designed for. And as many know, time usually equals money. The better the website, the less time that has to be spent providing clarification for what is desirable, with a visually represented end being what’s desired. It’s really a matter of who is designing the website, how well they are doing it, and how much is being invested.
1.1 What is Web Casa Design?
Since we are dealing with web design and development, I think the first thing to elucidate is what Web Casa Design is. Web Casa Design is a state-of-the-art web development and design firm that is geared to meet the needs of discriminating customers who are looking for cutting-edge technology. To give a brief history, Web Casa Design began in 1999 as a web development company specializing in Microsoft technologies. Since then, and several dozen technologies later, Web Casa Design has set their sights on redefining the standards of design and development. Today, they are an industry-leading design firm that specializes in building and marketing the highest quality websites for medium to enterprise-level businesses. They are a small group of dedicated professionals who are committed to bringing their clients the best possible products and service. And let it be known, they are not satisfied with the status quo. If you are looking for a typical website that is built by a distant, disinterested, underpaid, outsourced laborer, you should look elsewhere. Web Casa Design has a unique modus operandi. They won’t hound you with sales tactics, and in case you hound them, they may be too busy to get back to you. They do not outsource labor, and they don’t skimp on quality. They may be a bit unorthodox, but they have fun doing it, and they passionately take pride in their work. Does that mean you won’t get the red carpet treatment? No. You’ll get the kind of treatment that results from working directly with the people who are building your project. You’ll get the input and guidance that results from working with people who actually know what they are doing. And most importantly, you’ll get the quality that comes from attention to detail and pride in one’s work. Web Casa Design is people who are looking to do something different. They want to be the best at what they do, the goal is excellence, and their passion is building things that are exactly that. So what does that mean for the customer? It means that when you work with Web Casa Design, you are dealing with people who view your project as part of a craft, not a job. It means that you are working with people who will bring a high level of expertise to your project and will honestly strive to bring you the best solution to meet your needs. It means you will work with real people who will treat you with respect and honesty and will deliver a product that is sincerely something they believe in. And of course, it means you will be getting the highest standards of quality and service in design and development to give your project the edge it needs to be successful. Web Casa Design is looking to make a statement, and the proclamation is quality. This is no compromise. This is a redefinition. This is victory in Christ.
1.2 Importance of Choosing the Top Pick
The selection of one top pick is important. The concept of a top pick web design is that one is always at the top of the list. According to a source, users follow these steps for determining their preferred design. First, a user is assumed to look over several designs before developing an idea of what is considered the best. Once the idea is developed, the user will be annoyed if the design is too difficult to find again or if it’s too much trouble to switch to that design. At this point, assuming the user’s intentions are to only use the best design, the user is likely to give up if the design is out of reach. Otherwise, the user will set that design as a goal and return to it. Then, the user will evaluate the cost of obtaining that design and will compare it to the benefits. If the cost is less than the benefits, the user will obtain the design. Otherwise, the user will give up on the idea and will not consider changing designs unless it is stumbled upon by accident. This matches the general result of the web design for the user to see, compared to the site which actually implemented the design. If the net surfer decides that this design is better, and it is cost effective to do so, he will remember the URL of the site implementing the design and will contact the site owner telling them to obtain the design. This will often lead to the user returning to the final site. The last step is simple correlation of the design at the other site to the URL. If the implementer of the design is coding it at a location different from where the site is remembered, the user will be confused and it’s likely that he will give up and not return to the final site.
2. Questions to Ask
The second question I will ask is: can you provide examples of your previous work? In my opinion, this is the most important question. If you ignore the rest of my advice, do not ignore this question. The best way to gauge the quality of a web developer is to see the quality of their previous work. A developer who produces great work consistently should have no trouble providing you with a long list of websites that they have worked on. A developer who tries to brush off the question or show no sites, certification, or experience is a developer you should avoid. Be sure to check several examples of their work, and pay special attention to sites that are comparable to the kind of site you want. A quality web developer often has more creativity than technical capabilities. Great examples of their work will display their creativity.
SQL Server vs. MySQL has become an increasingly common question, as many developers are more comfortable with SQL Server or less familiar with other back-end technologies. SQL Server often comes with the disadvantage of a higher cost, and it is generally not as efficient for smaller websites. MySQL is often the better choice nowadays, and it is not uncommon for a SQL Server user to suggest SQL Server because they are unfamiliar with MySQL, not because it is the best choice for your website.
Despite the increasing prevalence of new technologies, make sure your developer is well versed in the basics. A developer who can make a great website with just the LAMP stack is better than one who can’t with it. Full LAMP stack is Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP. It is the most basic set of technologies for web development, but many people jump headfirst to something like Ruby on Rails or Node.js before they have mastered the basics and gotten a good understanding of server-side programming.
When it comes to a PHP developer, older is typically better. PHP has progressed a lot since PHP 4, and a surprising number of developers are still using PHP 4. Make sure your developer is using at least PHP 5.3, with PHP 7 being optimal. Look for a developer who also has experience working with new frameworks and technologies. For a WordPress site, that will be a developer who is well versed in both PHP and JavaScript. JavaScript is increasingly important for a web developer, and its importance will only grow as web apps become more common.
First of all, I will ask: how long have you been in the industry? Experience is a good indicator of skill and credibility. Longevity alone won’t guarantee a good web developer, but it can be a good indicator. There are still many people in the web industry who were doing it because it was a good way to make money while the industry was young, and they have retained outdated habits and practices.
2.1 Question 1: How long have you been in the industry?
The experience of any professional will always show in the end result. With experience comes the knowledge of knowing not what to do, but what not to do. Avoiding pitfalls from previous projects and research, an experienced professional should have already made these mistakes before, learning from them in the process. This will directly benefit you and your project, avoiding future problems and ultimately saving time. Web design is no exception to this theory, before taking on a new project with a new technology there will undoubtedly be someone who has tried it before. With the rapid growth of web-based technologies in recent years, it has become much more of a complex platform to develop for. So ensuring that your designer is up to date with recent technologies will provide some future proofing for your project and make any future updates or maintenance more cost-effective. From a moral standpoint, deciding whether or not to use a developer without industry experience is a little unfair. Everyone needs a start at some point and technology moves way faster than any curriculum. But when the reputation of your business is on the line or if you simply cannot afford for any mistakes, hiring an industry professional is the only choice.
2.2 Question 2: Can you provide examples of your previous work?
From a typographic standpoint, “Dumb Questions to Ask At A Job Interview?” is clean and to the point with easy-to-read typesetting and a good amount of text organization. The content is more in-depth than it initially appears, with the bulk of the professional advice and examples coming in the form of amusing interview horror stories. Through it all, Teri’s writing style is direct, lively, and often slightly cheeky, reflecting her claim that her book is written for the client who “wouldn’t read or understand anything longer”.
At first glance, “Dumb Questions to Ask At A Job Interview?” might seem to be a work by an outsider to the design profession. The cartoony cover and playfully snarky tone of the title quickly confirm that. However, author and designer Teri Timmons is a seasoned industry insider who uses real-world snippets of job interview absurdity and professional advice to illustrate the vast discrepancy between a candidate’s intended and actual impression. In her book, you will find everything from résumé typos and unfortunate wardrobe malfunctions to paragraphs on difficult interview questions and thank-you letters. Each real-world scenario is handled with good humor and followed with “Talk about the question too much, sound like a broken record!”
2.3 Question 3: What is your design process?
A website has to have easy access, clear and precise information based on what the market is searching for, and an effective way to translate its visitors into possible buyers. The way your website is structured is very important in retention of interest from your visitors. This is why we plan exactly how your website’s layout is going to be before any designing takes place. The website must also look very professionally designed and certainly not like a self-made job, as this would turn prospective customers away, and this is not the impression we want for you at all.
After we fully understand your market, we usually go on to design just a homepage concept, with different varieties of this homepage design. We believe that the first page of a website is the key to either make a person want to stay or want to leave. This is a page which has a few very important seconds to persuade your visitor, and we take this very seriously at Web Casa Design. Usually, our clients are very happy with one of these designs, and we create a variation of this chosen design by adding more pages to this concept until the website is complete.
We usually begin by finding out exactly who your target market is. Your website can be utilized to best advantage when we have a picture of exactly who is going to be using it. Once we have discovered this key piece of information, we think about some of the common problems, needs, and impressions skewed towards your product, service, or company that this visitor can have and whether they can be motivated to change this by what your website offers. This stage is very important in understanding how to make an effective website for your target market. It is all about identifying psychology, and this is the foundation of a successful website.
2.4 Question 4: Do you offer responsive design?
If you’re in the market for web design, it may not be at the forefront of your mind to inquire about responsive design. You may have heard the term bandied around and dismissed it as a design fad. However, with the recent surge in smartphone and tablet usage, it is becoming increasingly important to online success. Simply put, a responsive website is one that has been crafted so that all of the content, images, and structure of the site remains the same on any device. For example, when a user accesses a site on their smartphone, they won’t have to pinch and zoom to read the content or click on links, as the site will have been designed to be viewed and easy to navigate on a small screen with touchscreen functions. A recent study from Forrester revealed that 87% of consumers were not impressed with company websites that were not mobile optimized. Furthermore, a staggering 41% of these consumers will take their business to a competitor whose site they can read easily on a mobile. This underlines the importance of responsive design. So, with this in mind, let’s assess the importance of inquiring about responsive design when searching for a web designer and provide questions to ask.
2.5 Question 5: How do you handle website maintenance?
Granted, a site is not a plate glass window. It does not just stay looking great without a little TLC. Whether it is a few tweaks or an overhaul, all sites need a little website maintenance. If it is feasible, letting the designer do this is the best option as they will be familiar with the site, which will make it easier, quicker, and often cheaper. This is why it is crucial to find out whether the web developer offers website maintenance services. When questioning the web developer, it is important to ask what exactly the developer will offer. Some developers will only offer to do the work on an hourly rate every time the site owner requires it. This could end up being quite expensive. Others will offer a monthly package where the company will have certain regular maintenance tasks undertaken, i.e. checking the site for broken links, testing forms, etc., and a certain amount of development work. This can be the most cost-effective solution. Depending on the type of work being undertaken, it may be worth getting the developer to specify the exact tasks that will be carried out and agree on an estimated time plan for completion so that it can be checked by the company that the correct amount of maintenance is being done. The website will be an ongoing project. It grows, it changes, and sometimes it has to take a few steps back to take massive strides forward. Finding out.
3. Additional Considerations
Does the prospective candidate manage projects effectively? And what are their timelines for completion? Earlier, we touched on the large number of amateurs posing as specialist developers, largely on account of their large amount of free time and low expectations of what an internet development project should cost. These projects generally drag on for weeks, months, or even years. A developer who does not have a clear process or finds it hard to give you distinct concise steps on how your project will flow along with the timeline for each phase is likely not a professional.
Even though we mentioned a redesign isn’t critical, you need to make sure the developer will not reuse templates, clip art, aged code, or outdated scripts. Numerous developers who will throw a fast design together and make a few quick changes to cover up the work. The quality of this work can be extremely poor. Ask them a very simple question “What will you do to boost my existing design?” If they do not look genuinely stumped or provide an answer involving some element of design, then move along to someone who considers design quality is crucial.
3.1 Pricing and Packages
As with any product or service, it is important for a potential customer to explore the cost in relation to the quality of the product. While you may already have an allotted budget, it is important to take a look at the packages offered by web design companies. Often times, by investing just a bit more into a project, you’ll gain a huge increase in the value of the end result. Inexperienced web designers will often undercut themselves and ask for too little. In doing so, they will then be unable to afford the time needed to complete the project and will end up cutting corners or abandoning it altogether. It is important at this point to inquire about the details of specific package deals. When considering to employ a freelancer for the job, you may wish to ask if there can be a custom package made. Freelancers are often more flexible with the services they offer as compared to a company and can sometimes offer a better deal. An example of this can be seen at a freelance web designer’s website. The package deals offered there are simple and straightforward, however, it states “If you require something a bit different please get in touch for a custom package quotation.” This lets the customer know that there are still more options available if the standard deals are not adequate.
3.2 Customer Reviews and Testimonials
One thing to typically avoid is relying primarily on customer testimonials hosted on the web design company’s website. Testimonials can be easily made up, fabricated, or padded, usually do not offer any solid proof that the experience was real. A custom website that hosts its own testimonials often times does this; they are very easy to identify, no example context of the client project and are littered with over-exaggerated comments. While some may still be legitimate, it is very difficult to prove their authenticity and if there are no real reviews from them elsewhere, you may have a hard time relying on them.
A web design company that boasts a good track record will have plenty of positive client experiences. Many review sites such as Google My Business, Clutch, or Yelp offer very good platforms for verified customer reviews and are known to be very reputable. Watch out for any pad data scraping reviews on review sites. You can tell what is likely padding when the rating is overly exaggerated or when the comment appears to be just as overly positive. Oftentimes these fake reviews reflect a lower quality company with low integrity. Make sure to cross-examine and look for patterned reviews, i.e., multiple similar posts from similar clients that appear to be paid fake reviews. Websites such as TrustPilot or SiteJabber are typically a hub for these companies and do not offer much real data.
Customer reviews and testimonials are an extremely critical part of any business. They are reflective of the experiences of actual clients and how satisfied they were with the product or service. In many cases, customer experiences can be very indicative of the experience one may expect to receive. This holds true for web design companies.
3.3 Communication and Support
There are a number of ways in which the level of communication between client and company can be determined. If at any point a company representative tells the client that they are impossible to get in touch with, it is a dead giveaway. In this particular industry, the primary means of communication is likely to be via email due to the fact that we are often dealing with digital information and images. Should this be the case, it is good to know that an email communication will yield a reply that is both prompt and representative of the questions raised. Therefore, it is not uncommon to simply send a test email to determine the response time. A good example of open communication can be found in the case of some of the larger 3D visualization jobs, during which the designer may need to confer with the client to confirm some details in the concepts. Open support largely comes down to flexibility on the part of the service provider, with the understanding that not every concept is perfect the first time and some revisions may be needed.
It may not be initially apparent, yet one of the more critical offerings from a home design company is the offering that generally does not come with a dollar value. It is the offering of open communication and support between the client and the service provider. This aspect is generally crucial, particularly if faults are found in the service at any later point, making good support (or lack thereof) a crucial determinant of whether the service was of value to the client.
4. Conclusion
A professional reference or formal letter of recommendation from a customer site who had a similar project. Many web developers can do one thing or another. It enforces that they have done something similar to justify their ability to handle the project. ODesk has several tests designed to show an individual’s capabilities. This is a good idea. If a programmer says he’s absolutely amazing and has done it for several years, but he can’t pass a simple test for it, this raises warning flags. These flags do not come in the form of insult or downfall. If he is great but just cannot pass the test, there is no worry and he should have no problem taking a test to feel more secure about the work he is doing.
The following ten questions should be asked to every web designer before making a decision, because answering any of these questions incorrectly may increase costs for the website development dramatically. Costs were high enough to begin with, and no one wants that to happen. Not to mention retyping every list in the phonebook – just imagine the horror.
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