Selecting A Website Design Firm | Cape Town

Cape Town is a creative city and has an ever growing number of freelancer web designers & companies. So how do you navigate all options to find a website development company that is best suited to, and really capable of meeting your particular projects needs?

The answer is not short and some might suggest that I might be a little biased towards our company. My responses is that we have on many occasions walked away from a various projects where we felt it was not our speciality, and we therefore understand that there are various companies for various needs.

I have the view that as the Internet has matured, one or more important differentiation points in the industry was the separation of designers and developers. The design aspect as it suggests is the equivalent of desktop publisher for the Internet, core skill sets include being able to deal with all creative aspects of a website (the Look and Feel). Yes, designers can code but they are usually more creative individuals who are not capable of building hugely advanced websites. Developers on the other hand are less creative and capable of dealing with more complex programming languages and website requirements. They are more mathematically inclined than the typical designer.

Now that I have made this important differentiation, the first selection criteria would be to try and determine which of the above two skills your project requires.

1. Do you need a brochure website with fairly basic functionality? Then yes, you need a designer.
2. Do you have an extensive number of products which you market through your website, perhaps with regular price changes? Then you will probably need a programmer.

My next point is references. Can your potential website company offer strong references, and I don't mean a few happy customers or positive remarks from closely affiliated sites. I mean a number of strong well known clients that are really happy with their end result.

Ask the company for a client list or try and find their clients online. Feel free to contact their clients directly for a completely unbiased view. It's the few unhappy clients that you really want to speak to, to determine possible pitfalls when dealing with a particular company. Also remember that finding one or two clients that are not 100% ecstatic does not necessarily mean that the company might not be the right supplier for you. Rather try and figure out why there might have been a problem before making a ruling. And when you have finally made up you mind, get more references.

Your new website should be a pleasant experience and mostly this is the case. Please do not be deterred by my above comments, but rather be attentive in the supplier selection process. Should you require any advice on a particular project feel free to contact me.