Is your nonprofit organization looking for a new website? Before you enter into an agreement with a web designer, you’ll obviously want to take a look at his or her online portfolio to be sure the site that you envision will be feasible based on the designer’s sample work. Once you’ve decided the designer or firm could be a good fit, be sure to ask these seven critical questions up front to ensure a smooth development experience.
1. What is your process?
Before investing a great deal of time, money and energy in revamping your website, it’s important to understand the overall process involved. For example, what are the first steps, and what content do you need to supply? What are the turnaround times for this designer to create a design and build it out? What does the approval process look like? How many rounds of revisions will be included before additional charges will be incurred?
2. How long will it take?
Be sure to get a time commitment at the outset of the project so your can ensure you have the correct expectations as far as the overall timeline is concerned. If there is a specific date on which you need the site to be live in order to unveil the launch at an upcoming event, it’s a good idea to discuss this with a potential web designer before you begin the project in order to ensure the deadline is feasible, and you’re both on the same page.
3. What types of additional fees would I incur?
When it comes to websites, there are a couple fees that go along with the design of any site, namely website hosting and a domain registration. Website hosting is typically a monthly or annual fee which provides you with server space to store your site. A domain registration is typically an annual fee of $10-$15, which allows you to register and own the domain name of your choice. While some designers include these costs in a website package, others require you to purchase your own hosting and domain name. Either way, you’ll want to be sure your web designer can help walk you through this process.
4. Will the domain be in my name? Who owns the site when complete?
You should always have ownership of your domain as well as your completed website. Be sure this is stated clearly in the contract before agreeing to purchase services from a designer or firm. If you ever decide to move to a new website in the future, the process will be much smoother if you have direct access to the DNS controls for your domain. DNS controls allow you to determine where the domain points.
5. Does the cost include training so I can manage the site in the future?
Thinking about website maintenance and upkeep in the future is a critical consideration, especially for nonprofits. If your budget is limited, you’ll want to be sure you will not need outside assistance to make everyday changes to keep your content current.
6. Do you offer support in the future if something goes wrong, gets hacked or needs to be updated?
It’s important to understand what the anticipated costs will be should something go wrong in the future. While the appropriate security measures should always be taken at the outset, content management systems often require updates to provide ongoing security. No website project is a one-time expense, so it’s important to budget for these types of scenarios in the future. That said, it’s important to get a good idea upfront concerning what the anticipated costs could be in the future.
7. Do you offer SEO services?
Some web design companies will offer SEO within their website packages, while others will do basic SEO preparation, but do not offer it as a service. Still others do nothing to help with SEO at all. It’s important to find out what services are available from your designer, and what services you would need to purchase elsewhere. Since SEO is an ongoing process, it’s also a good idea to understand if you will receive any SEO services beyond the initial setup of the site. If not, can ongoing SEO support be purchased after the initial setup is complete? Finally, if your current site is doing really well in the SERPs, you’ll also want to discuss with your web designer what measures will be take to ensure your reputation in the SERPs will be maintained when the new site is built.
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