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Best practices for vetting outsourced website designers?
Many small businesses are choosing to outsource website design for cost considerations, but how can you tell if the designers that answer your ads are competent? Is there a test you can administer that will help you determine the designer's skill level?
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2 Answers
Courtney,
As a former freelance web developer, I can tell you the cost savings associated with outsourcing, I'm assuming overseas, is very alluring. There are two sides to this issue: Can they answer tough technical questions? And how is their work ethic? I suppose this is what rating and reviews on most sites are aiming to reflect.
I'd recommend two sites, one is better than the other. ScriptLance.com offers a meeting ground for project owners and freelancers. This site includes ratings, reviews, and other methods of improving accountability, however, through experience this does not pan out of 100% resource success. Sometimes not even close.
The site I believe a project owner will have the most success with is call oDesk.com. With oDesk.com, you are able to monitor your hired resource at the click of a button with random intermittent screen shots, software controlled work timers, etc.; making it easy to end a project early before losing more money if you are unhappy with what you are seeing. It's not exactly the working environment I'd prefer, but it certainly does remove the "trust" aspect that so many contractors have been known to toss out the window.
I hope that helps!
Courtney:
That is a very good question. It can be a very difficult decision to determine what designer or firm to use, and there are tons of choices. Matt makes some excellent recommendations as far as outsourcing which are very valuable. After navigating these sites there are a few things you can do to thin the crowd.
First, decide on what kind of site you want and the features it will incorporate (you will then be able to ask a potential candidate about incorporating these features). After you know what kind of site you need, you will have to do some homework regarding some basic concepts before discussing them with a potential candidate to field their knowledge. Be sure to tackle:
• SEO practices
• Web standards
• Social media hooks/integration
• Cross browser compatibility
• What tools they use (and why)
• How do they keep on top of current trends
• A decent sized portfolio
• References
After you examine their portfolio, you can go back to see where those sites rank in previous points. For example, pull the site up in different browsers. Does it break? See if the sites integrate with Facebook or Twitter and how. Can you find the site via online searches? Use different combinations of related words and test them. Most important, do you like the site? Is it easy to navigate? Does it make sense? Make sure the designer or firm can work with you and establish a set schedule with working deliverables along the way.
Also, ask around. With so many choices out there, you are bound to know someone who has had experience in making this choice. Seek peers out for a quick conversation.
Overall, treat this process like a job interview, because it is one. Would you want an employee working for you who couldn't address key points in their field?
Good luck in your search!
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