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Palm Beach Web Design / Palm Beach Web Programming
There
are many good web design and web programming firms in Palm Beach
County. In fact Palm Beach Tennis was created by a top notch
local firm.
These
days everyone should have a website. They are easy to create
and are a fantastic way to get your message out to the world.
Need
a refferal for a good Palm Beach Web Design company? Then e-mail
us at: info@palmbeachtennis.com
How
To Shop for a Web Design Firm?
by: Jon Kee
While few companies can boast as we do that our first ten clients
are still with us today, many companies often change Web design
firms to get a new perspective on how their Web presence could
look and perform. The following paragraphs serve as a Buyer’s
Guide to use when shopping for a new Web design company.
First,
determine what exactly you’re shopping for. Is your Web
site down a lot? Do you frequently have email problems? This
may or may not be your Web site designer’s problem. Many
design firms outsource their Web site hosting operations and
if that’s the case, you may just need a new Web host.
While most companies prefer to work with a Web site design company
that also hosts their Web site because there are great cost
savings to be realized in this type on environment, this isn’t
always the case and is a question that needs to be asked.
In
addition, does the firm you’re evaluating perform all
of their services in-house or are they outsourcing development
to India? This has become more of a common practice due to the
extremely low labor costs, but if your site is changing frequently,
this can present a lot of problems in delayed response, delayed
postings, and other issues associated with working with such
a time difference.
Furthermore,
what kind of clients does the design company have? Do they have
an online portfolio that you can view to see examples of their
work? The best way to assess a Web site development company’s
capabilities is to look at their previous work. This will show
you what they’re capable of doing as well as whom they’ve
worked with in the past. If the company has a lot of experience
in a particular industry, they can bring invaluable information
to the relationship.
In
addition, how long have they been in business? While the Internet
is only 10-12 years old, companies that have been around the
better part of a decade have done so because they generally
do good work. Make sure that you’re not looking at some
fly-by-night company that just popped up in the sponsor listings
in Google.
Finally,
avoid anyone offering the $500 Web site. If your business is
interested in a professional Web site (as opposed to something
built by your nephew), you have to be prepared to spend several
thousand dollars. There is a lot of graphic design and advanced
programming work involved and it takes time to do this. You’ve
got to establish a realistic budget if you want to have any
success online.
Most
legitimate Web site design and hosting companies can do a great
job for you, but determining the one that is the best match
for your organization is up to you. Use the ideas outlined here
to help narrow the search and then pick the one that you feel
most comfortable with.
Web
Design Know-How: Simple, Effective Methods of Choosing Colors
in Web Design
by: Will Gibson
It's well known that certain color combinations harmonise while
other are considered unattractive and clash. Although it is
well established that there is more to this than subjective
choice the underlying rules are extremely complex and seldom
formulated explicitly. Looking at thousands of natural scenes
taken worldwide with highly complex spectroscopic apparatus
scientists from Cambridge University determined that natural
scenes have a highly complex (and mathematically precise) harmony
and balance which requires complex multidimensional transformations
from our normal methods of color representation to predict.
It's an art that skilled designers learn to reproduce over many
years - and the basis of a lot of great art and fashion.
In
web design it's relevant because the clients great the fear
is that someone with the taste and dress sense of Dilbert will
end up by choosing the aesthetics and harmony of how your company
presents its self to the world.
It
turns out however that there is a very simple practical way
of choosing color sets that obey exactly the right rules. All
you have to do is to take a naturally harmonious scene and use
your color dropper to pick out any colors in that scene for
use as the basic colors on you web page and fonts. These will
already have exactly the right color relationships. To give
a web site a closely integrated look pick the colours from the
actual images used on the home page. To get a radical, arty
look pick colors from a great art masterpiece in the same way.
It's
simple, its effective and it has - we are told - ten million
years of human evolution behind it - for that how long we have
had our modern color vision and that's the heritage you are
fighting against if you don't get it right.
Choosing
the Right Web Designer
by: Andy Quick
Creating
your web site can be a tricky process. Choosing the best web
design company for your site is extremely important. Unless
you run a web-based business, you probably do not have web design
experience within your company. Building your web site will
take time and a little homework!
To create a web site for your business, follow
these 4 simple steps:
- Establish your goals
- Determine your budget
- Pick a web design company
- Pick a web hosting company
- Establish Your Goals
Before you begin looking for company to help
you design and build your web site, take the time to understand
the goals of your web site. This will be extremely important
to help set expectations with the web design company you choose.
In order to set your web site goals, ask yourself
the following questions:
- Why
do you want a web site?
- Are
you selling something?
- Do
you have a catalog of products that changes on a regular basis?
- Who
is your target market?
- Do
you already have a brand?
- What
is your industry?
- Who
are your competitors?
- Do
they already have web sites? If so, what do they look like?
- If
you're selling something, will you accept credit cards over
the internet?
- How
soon do you want your web site?
- What
happens if you never create a web site for your business?
Take the time to answer each of the above questions
and if you have time, write the answers down on a sheet of paper.
These are the same questions most web design companies will
ask you before they begin to create your site. If you have these
questions answered up front, you will have some criteria for
choosing the right web design company. For example, if you are
a real estate agent, and want to publish listings on your web
site, you should seek a web design company that knows about
the real estate business and has created web pages for other
real estate agents.
Determine Your Budget
How much do you want to spend on your web site.
Web sites can cost you anywhere from $100 to $100,000 depending
upon what you want it to do. Know your spending constraints
before you begin negotiating with design companies. Whatever
you do, do not tell a web design company what your budget is!!
Always get pricing based on your needs, not you budget.
Pick a Web Design Company
Your choice of a web design company is a very
important step. Take your time to investigate all of your options.
Here are some important items to consider.
Design vs. Build
Depending upon the scope of your web site, you
may need to choose two different companies. Building a web site
is a highly technical process. Designing a web site is a highly
creative process. Many advertising firms specialize in web site
design which does not necessarily require any web development
skills whatsoever. The process of creating a web site is similar
to the process of building a new home. Before you ask a construction
company to start building, you first seek out an architect who
creates a blueprint of your house taking into account what you
want (number of stories, square footage, etc.). Creating a detailed
blueprint before construction begins can help you accurately
estimate the final price. Without the blueprint, you may end
up paying a lot of money for a house that does not fit your
needs. Creating a web site is exactly the same except most web
site "builders" also claim to be "designers".
The good news is that you can look at other sites a web design
company has created (like looking at other homes that a home
builder has made). Make sure you ask the web design company
what their process is for designing a web site vs. building
a web site. They should understand the difference between these
two concepts. If they don't, they're probably builder that think
they can also architect.
Evaluate Experience
Has the web design company created web sites
similar to yours? Do they have relevant industry experience?
As with any services company, choosing someone that has relevant
experience. If you want to sell products through your web site
and accept credit card payments, does the web design company
you are considering have experience doing just that?
Review the Portfolio
A
well established web design company will have a solid portfolio
of web sites that they have created for other clients. Ask for
links to other site the design company has created and review
each one. Do you like what you see? Do the sites have a style
that appeals to you? In addition to reviewing web sites, ask
for customer references. Contact their clients and ask them
about their experience with the web design company. Were they
happy with the results? Did they get what they paid for? How
much did they pay? Would they recommend them? How long did it
take? What didn't they like about the company? How responsive
was the company when they had questions?
Compare
Prices
Pricing
for creating a web site can vary. Typically, web design companies
will charge one of three ways:
Time and materials: price is variable based on the actual number
of hours spent working on your site. For example, a web design
company may charge you $75 per hour. If it takes 100 hours to
create your web site, your price would end up being $7,500.
Fixed Price: some design companies will charge you a fixed fee
based on a fixed set of requirements. If you outline your requirements
very carefully, many web design companies will quote you a single
price.
Component Pricing: some design companies will charge "by
the page". By creating a price based on the number of pages,
you can control the cost by designing a specific number of pages.
Buyer beware: some design companies will charge by the page
but will have "special pricing" for components such
as custom graphics, animated images, and the like.
The
most important step in pricing is to make sure the potential
design company outline all of the prices associated with the
work and puts it all in writing. Never enter into a deal unless
all of the costs are well understood up front. Also make sure
that you understand what "done" means. Try and structure
the payments such that a significant portion of the fees (20%)
are not due until you "accept" the final web site.
Include the agreed-upon dates in your contract and provisions
for what will happen if these dates are not met.
Solicit bids from multiple web design companies
and compare both the pricing models and the prices themselves.
There
are thousands of web designers across the country and they should
all fight feverously for your business! Be picky! If a web design
company dismisses any of your questions regarding their design
process, pricing, or client references, take your business elsewhere!
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The
Palm Beach Tennis City List Made Clearer From North To South:
- Tequesta
Web Design
- Jupiter
Web Design
- Palm
Beach Web Design
- Boynton
Web Design
- Delray
Beach Web Design
- Delray
Web Design
- Boca
Raton Web Design
- Deerfield
Beach Web Design
- Coconut
Creek Web Design
- Parkland
Web Design
- Dania
Beach Web Design
- Ft
Lauderdale Web Design
- Hollywood
Web Design
- Aventura
Web Design
- Sunny
Isles Web Design
- Miami
Beach Web Design
- Miami
Web Design
- Coral
Gables Web Design
- Professional
Web Design
We
hope you have enjoyed our articles on web design / choosing
a web designer. Now go get the website you have always wanted
designed today!
Want
to advertise on PalmBeachTennis.com? Contact us today / e-mail:
info@palmbeachtennis.com
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