A month or two goes by and you realize the Web site needs a new navigation button and a new link across all Web pages. You ask your kids to bring-up the site on the WebTV so you can figure out where to put the new button. Then you notice it looks strange, things are jumbled, that scrolling news box doesn't display and that fancy cascading navigation doesn't work at all. You grow concerned when you think of the money you paid your sister's nephew (who's now off in college in Nebraska) to design the site. You suddenly realize, you've got problems.

This example is not meant to scare anyone. It is unfortunately, an all-too-often occurrence in this business. Because most people are not Web designers, it is difficult to know what kind of design and implementation services you are getting for your money. Complicating matters worse is the breadth of experience (or lack of experience) of those that claim to be Web site designers. And while most consumers are intimately involved in the design and implementation process, very few have the qualifications to check the quality of the work being produced. As the example above illustrates, the end (simply viewing and clicking your new Web site) did not justify the means.

Before you hire anyone:

• State your objectives and budget in a requirements document. Work with a professional consultant or project manager to develop a business plan for the site.
• Know that good graphic designers are not necessarily good implementers (code writers.)
• Know that good implementers are not necessarily good graphic designers.
• Work only with established (and if possible, local) companies.
• Check the background, references, and affiliations of those companies.
• View the Web sites produced by these companies from a variety of computers, connections, browsers, and set-top boxes.
• Research your rights to dispute the quality of the work produced before signing a contract.

• Get a written design document that details:
  • what your Web site will look like
  • how it will function
  • what technology it will incorporate
  • what standards it will attempt to address
  • what browsers it will be designed to accommodate
  • how the design will address scalability
  • how the design will address search engine optimization
• Get a contract. Understand that if you request a fixed-price contract, the price will usually be higher than if quoted as time and material. If the project's needs change, update the contract and the design document.
• Understand all phases of the design and implementation process.
• Implement and stick to a formal set of project milestones and approval cycles.
• Ensure that any code written for your Web site meets the Internet standards as set by the World Wide Web Consortium. If there are deviations, find out why (some deviations may be necessary for browser compatibility.)
• Get involved in the quality control aspect of the job. Check the work across a variety of computers, connections, browsers, and set-top boxes. At a minimum, check the work across the browsers that are important to your main market (i.e., the WebTV demographic may not be important to a B2B Web site but Internet Explorer and Netscape surely are.)