How do we go about finding someone to make a website for our company?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ken
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Ken

Ken

Ken

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Hi,

It will be like OcUK except we won't have a shop front so we'll basically be a pure play etailer.

We're interested in the kind of things we should be looking into at this stage during our search for a designer/company. The main question on my mind right now is what's the best way to go about looking for said designer/company.

We're new to online retail as we are a trading company.
Thanks in advance for any help/advice.

:)
 
I'd be careful first of all as OcUK might see you as a threat if your serious about starting up a direct competitor ... although if it isn't computer stuff your selling then fair enough.

I would look around your local area for good web design companies, but a better solution would be to employ a small, dedicated web team to work on-site, then you would pay them an annual salary in order to keep the website up and running incase of technical faults.

Either way you'll be wanting to get a brief together for what the website should look and feel like, write up some details and provide links to other sites you like.
 
Thanks MagSafe. :)

It won't be a competitor to OcUK. The on site team sounds a good idea and we'll start looking at companies in our area. How do we judge them in terms of whether they're qualified to make what we need to a good standard?

Say we narrow down the number of potential designers to a few, how do we decide who to go with? Do we decide based on their past designs and who they've worked for?
 
If you're not after an "off the shelf" style solution, then your best bet is probably to go to an agency who can provide candidates strong in web technologies, but bear in mind that designing an online shop from scratch is not a small project and could take a while.

If you went to a development firm, then they will probably have something existing they can re-badge and customize for your particular situation. The drawback here is that you'll most likely have to pay a considerable annual fee for a support contract to keep it running.

As for picking a developer, its like anything, make sure you get plenty of positive references. There are large numbers of cowboys out there who pretend to know what they're doing and will leave you with a huge mess of barely functioning rubbish. If they won't supply you with contacts to obtain a reference, then there is usually a good reason why (i.e. they know they'll get slated).
 
Also, bear in mind that "Designer" and "Developer" are usually two seperate jobs, people who can do both to a high standard are usually few and far between and will command a premium.

Obviously if you go to a web firm then this isn't something you'll have to worry about, but it's something to consider should you be looking to hire someone.
 
I think OCuk already have a bit of competition. I've seen another company up there at IMEX, so that's makes two competitors within 30 yards of OCUk.

Although, they only have a "presence" and OCUK is basically an etailer with a small counter. Spie once said that 95% of business is internet.

I've seen a LOT of small computer businesses fold. The secret to OCUK, is well, you're reading in it now.

Like said above, if you're gonna get a design house for a custom solution then it will be a while and lots of brass, X-thousands I would imagine
 
If you want a bespoke system then you'll be looking certainly at £10k+, however if you'd prefer a customisation of an existing system, such as Actinic/X-Cart/Zen Cart (all decent pieces of software) then you could probably get away with spending half of that :)

To work out who's good....look at their past work, talk to past clients, see what kind of load the sites they've done are under (ie, if nobody's using it - how does anyone know if it's any good?), etc :)
 
Be careful of the associated liabilities also. Ensure you have somebody who knows what they are doing. Don't want stray customer details all over the net now do we.
 
I used www.getafreelancer.com (kind of like ebay for freelance work) when finding somone to make a site for a friend of mine. The person I chose did a great job and continues to help when we have problems.

He was from the ukraine though which sometimes made communication a little difficult, but nothing we couldnt work out.
 
Really good info guys. Thank you very much!

I'll have a look into all this and I'll report back if I have any further questions. :)
 
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