www.colorcrayon.com

This is how my checklist looks:

General Questions

1. Where did you hear about me?

2. Do you have a domain name? If not, do you have ideas for a domain name? If so, what is it?

3. What is your company name? Do you want to use the entire name on logos and graphics or an abbrviation?

4. Do you have special features in mind? Like blogs or ecommerce or other interactive  features?

Marketing  Questions

5. Who is your target audience?  note: once you know the target audience you can add extra questions about that audience.

6. What kind of contact information will your website  need? (forms, phone numbers, or email links)

7. What are your website expectations and primary goals – increased sales, increased leads, and so on.? How would you prioritize these goals?

8. What separates your company from your competition and what do feel will help pull people to your website?

9. How do you plan to market the website?

10. What specific qualities about your company do you want to emphasize on the website? Please prioritize these qualities.

Identity Questions

11. Do you have a logo or any graphics you’d like used on the website?

11. Do you have a tag line, slogan, or other catch phrase?

12. What keywords do you feel describe your company?

Layout Questions

13.  Can you provide a list of competitors websites?

14. Do you have any color ideas or specific colors you don’t like? What are your company colors?

15. If the site isn’t the entire width of the screen do you prefer left or center alignment?

16. Do vertical or horizontal navigation?

17. Please provide a list of the main pages you need in the website.

18. Have you written any copy for your website? Do you have specific content ready to go?

19. Do you have an existing business card or other form of identity that needs to be reflected in your website?

20. Are you leaning towards custom artwork or photographs?

After the Contract Questions

21. Once I start designing your website I will need the following (this information will be kept in strict privacy):

a. FTP access information – username and password

b. Hosting company name and their phone number

There are a lot more questions that can be added depending on your specific market or design style. This is a general checklist that I’ve adapted from years asking these same questions and adding or removing questions as I go. I’m sure you’ll do the same, but this is a good start especially if you’re new to the freelance web design field.

1. The sites are easy to read.

If background colors or images are used, the text on top of the background should be in a color that can actually be read and easily seperated from its background and surroundings. Good websites use a color scheme that complements and is pleasing to the eye. White space between images and sections of text make a page easier to view.

2. The sites are easy to navigate.

A visitor should be able to find the information they are looking for without hassle and frustration. The site’s navigation buttons should be grouped together 99% of the time. If image links are used, text links should also be provided for those people who have images turned off on their browser or are using an older browser that doesn’t support images. (this is one of the common mistakes I see designers making)

3. Comfortably viewed.

A Web site should be easily viewable in all screen sizes without a visitor having to scroll horizontally (left to right). This isn’t always possible with some content, but every effort should be made to ensure compatability across all screen resolutions and popular browsers.

4. Good websites download quickly.

Graphics and sounds add download time to a Web page. It disturbs me that tons of designers feel that it’s ok to stack Flash and constant sound on a website. Don’t make your visitors wait too long for your site to download or they will click away. Also, keep in mind that everyone doesn’t have DSL or cable internet service yet.

5. Avoid dead links.

Make sure that links on all your pages are working, whether they are internal links to pages within your site, or links to external Web sites.  I can’t stress how very important solid linking is.

6. Good sites update often and try to keep fresh content.

People are more likely to return to your website if they find new and interesting material. Post articles on your site, offer a newly updated “Internet Only Special” or provide helpful links. All these things cause visitors to bookmark your site as a reference tool.

7. Good websites are clear and to the point.

Visitors should have a clear understanding of what your website is about when they visit. Studies have shown that people do not like to read computer screens, so keep your website interesting to read and to the point. People bore easily and clicking is easy.

8. Good websites have a target audience in mind.

Think about the people who would be interested in visiting your website. Don’t decorate with pink hearts and ribbons if your audience is made up of men.

9. Good sites provide a simple contact form.

Visitors are more likely to fill out a form to contact you rather than using an e-mail link. Always make things easy for your visitors, especially contacting you.

10. Good websites work in almost any browser.

Check your website in the most popular browsers to make sure everything is displayed properly. The top two browsers used are Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox, but I test in Safari and Opera as well.  Software exists that claims to check web code for compatability in many browsers and in different versions of those browsers. I’m sure every attempt was made to ensure this software is accurate, but i’ve yet to find one that is better than 70% accurate. That’s just not good enough.

To sum up, a great website isn’t about fancy graphics, javascripts and animations or even a lot of Flash and sound.A great website is about creating a useful and pleasing experience for your target audience. Do that and people will return over and over.

For your site to look professional, function correctly and meet search engine submission criteria you need a professional with experience. There are so many web designers out there right now, it’s nearly impossible to determine who is good and who isn’t. Anyone can grab a few templates from some free template site and create a nice portfolio. So how do you ever really know? Research, ask questions, and get them on the phone.

A good web designer will have some sort of formal education, whether it’s from taking online classes, self-study, or a taking a certification program at a local college. Some of the classes they should have under their belt are HTML and javascript – at the very minimum. There is much more to design than pasting clip art onto a page or tweaking a template. (actually, neither of those options are signs of a pro) Find out what kind of formal instruction your designer has.

Finding a designer that has the necessary skills is one thing, but finding a designer with talent is a totally different ballgame. A web designer needs to have that creative edge – which is usually a natural talent rather then something that’s learned. I know a lot about HTML, CSS, javascript, PHP, and a huge variety of software, but without my creative side I would just be some guy that knows all that stuff and couldn’t design a yard sale flyer.

Take the time to browse through the designer’s web site and portfolio. Are his or her designs something you like? Are they edgy enough for you or professional enough? Do they have a variety of styles or just the same style over and over with different colors or images? A good web designer knows what colors are right for the image you want to send out. A good designer also knows that too many “bells and whistles” are …..well, too many bells and whistles.

A good designer will be able to create fresh, interesting graphics from scratch, they won’t rely on over-used clip art and they won’t use other people’s designs.

Ok, we decided education and creativity are important, but be sure that knowledge is backed up with solid experience. Take the time to not only view the designer’s portfolio, but also drop an email to a former client or business. Ask questions like: Was the designer timely and efficient? Did they answer e-mails promptly? Did the designer make an effort to keep them up-to-date on the progress of their web site? Are they happy with their web site design and the customer service of the designer?

A web designer should listen to your thoughts and ideas about how you want your web site to look and they should ask questions and offer suggestions. The designer should also offer their thoughts as to why a certain idea might or might not work.

Ok, now we know the designer has skill and some necessary education, but are they charging too much? Web designer fees vary. A good rule of thumb is to weigh the designer’s price with the amount of experience and the quality of the web site that designer produces.

To sum up, choose your web designer with the same care as you would a building contractor for your family home. Ask about their qualifications and carefully review their work. Ask for references and then actually check the references. Remember that the design of your web site is a direct reflection of your business. Never settle for a template or generic clip art. If that’s all the designer offers then move on to another designer. Remember, the professionalism of your web site design might be the deciding factor that makes or breaks your success.

The biggest issue with website templates is that there’s a good chance several people or companies will have the same web design. So you aren’t a unique business if Coffee Shop A has a website that is basically a copy of Coffee Shop B’s website. 

Another issue with website templates is the fee. There are a lot of really good looking free templates out there. Most people opt for the pay versions however. You purchase a website template for X dollars and you can do whatever you want as long as the credit for the site design stays intact. Another option is a much larger fee, but claims that you will be the sole owner of that template. How do you know for sure?

Now let’s think about the poor graphic artist. Designers like myself work very hard to keep all of our work original and tailored to the client’ business or personal stats. We charge more than template companies to design a website, but you know it’s original becuse we have a contract.

With a graphic designer you have the option to make changes (on a much larger scale) that often can’t be made to a template because you don’t have the source files used to create the template.

Look at it this way, you have a 5 year old boy, but you want a girl. So you clone the boy and have the DNA tweaked to produce a girl. That’s what you get when you buy a template or use a freebie.

Don’t use templates. Get a graphic artist, check their references or portfolio, call them on the phone, and get a website that fits you or your business and isn’t simply a copy.

In closing, Google web design firms or graphic artists and browse some of their portfolios. Some of these firms offer “we have a template for any business”, that’s not a web designer nor a graphics artist. Check several of the websites in their portfolios and see how many look alike. I would be willing to bet that you won’t find many.

Several people have made comments to me such as, “I didn’t know you knew latin” or “What does that mean?” Truth is that I have no idea what it means and I don’t know any latin. I use an online generator to generate the dummy text and I simply paste it into places where I feel it’s needed. If you’d like to learn more or need dummy text, check out Lorem Ipsum. It’s pretty handy.

There’s a nifty little online tool I like to use that really speeds up color finding for me. Technology has spoiled us all but this has taken it to a new level. Check it out at ColoRotate.  Their online color tool is amazing. I won’t go into much detail simply because there are so many features. Graphic and Web Designers will love this one. I’m not sure if it will help when painting your house.

It’s bad taste for a wedding photographer to help themselves to a meal or buffet at a wedding. It isn’t bad taste if you offer food. It works out well for all of us. For starters, the photographer is more likely to hang around longer than contracted for. No drop in blood sugar means your photographer can keep going longer. I’ll admit that I get tired shooting weddings. You’re up and down and you run about trying to get in front of the couple and so forth. It takes a lot out of a person.

Its not necessary or even common, but why not plan an extra plate for your photographer or ask them to help themselves to the buffet? I can’t see where it would hurt anything and the extra cost of feeding your photographer is minimal when you consider that you might get a free hour or so of reception coverage. Do try to keep them away from the bar especially if it’s an open bar. That could be a disaster.

Perform any and all hair removal prior to a shoot, but leave at least a day or two between when you wax or shave any sensitive areas and your shoot date. You don’t want irritated patches of skin due to shaving. Caking makeup on those areas is not the answer.

Get a manicure. Hands will often find their way into headshots.

Take care of your smile. We can’t have your headshots including brocolli from lunch.

Try to avoid heavy exposure to the sun and don’t drink any alcohol within 48 hours of the shoot. You’ll be red and bloated with puffy eyes. That’s not going to be attractive.

Don’t “dress” for your headshots. Actors will sometimes show up in costume . While this is your choice remember that you can use the same headshot multiple times, but  wearing a costume will limit it’s uses. Don’t wear any jewelry that’s too shiney or big.  Never wear rhinestones.

Make sure you know where you are going and allow plenty of time to get there. Flat tires happen and photographers are often very busy.