Before approaching a website design company you should have a good idea of the kind of website you need to ensure you get a proper price and no hidden or surprising fees during the course of the design work.

The types of websites that exist:

Informational:

An informational site is essentially a website that provides information on your business, company, services without selling any products online.  Examples of informational sites would be realtors, restaurants and even web design companies as they aren’t actually selling a product but bringing about awareness of their services and products they offer.

An informational website is open to the creative freedom of any design you want and use of any mixture of technologies such as flash, DHTML, java script, RSS, PHP, ASP and more. To keep a site SEO friendly it’s best to build a website in HTML, PHP or ASP but not all flash or frames.

Typically sites are built in HTML and the other technologies enhance the look and experience for your visitors.

  • Flash can be used to animate and liven up a website or used to convey an important message. 
  • DHTML and flash navigations allow for professional and customizable menus that can include drop down and slide out options to organize your site in an easy to navigate, attractive package.
  • Java Script drives mouse over effects, photo rotations and other basic functions to more complex features that allow an interactive site.
  • RSS can be used to pull in news feeds and other information that will update automatically.
  • PHP and ASP are technologies that run databases.  Should your site need a database to store and show information dynamically such as lists, products, locations and other information that would normally require a large number of pages.

Ecommerce:

Should you wish to sell products on your website you will need an ecommerce website. Ecommerce websites are growing at staggering rates and so are online sales.  More and more businesses are seeing the values of selling online.

There are many ecommerce solutions to choose from, including open source software, paid software, custom designs and monthly plans.  Each option has its pros and cons and will be dependant on your budget, design requirements and size of store.

  • Open source software is the least expensive option, however is limited in designs and functions.
  • For a one time fee you can purchase ecommerce software that typically includes some design templates but will usually need the design work or at least finishing touches of a web designer.
  • Customer websites can be designed allowing the most flexibility of any ecommerce solution.  These options are becoming more and more affordable with the new technologies a custom ecommerce site is an option to consider.
  • There are many companies offering monthly subscription solutions.  The monthly fee typically covers the use of the software, hosting and support.  These options usually include basic templates and design work would be additional.   

To determine what is the best option for your ecommerce store you will need to determine your budget, design needs, right down to how many products you intend to sell.  Again, like the informational websites you need to ensure your solution is SEO friendly, although most ecommerce softwares are now ensuring they are SEO friendly.  

Blogs:

Blogs, like this very site are growing in popularity daily.  There are 2 blog solutions each with their own pros and cons.  

The first is with a blogging software there are free and paid softwares all with their own pros and cons.  Most come with a standard design but there are the options of buying a template or having a custom design made. 

The second option is with a 3rd party blogs.  With these blogs you simply sign up for an account, choose from a selection of templates and start your blogging.  These are usually very simple to use but leave very little room for customization or personalization of the blog.

With either choice the customization of a blog is limited, but is a great addition to any site or a great site on its own.

Understanding what you are looking for and what you will need will help ensure a web design company will understand what you want as well as ensure they provide you proper pricing and lastly that they have the capabilities of building what you want.