What to look for in a person before I hire them to do my web site.

Searching for a web designer/developer can be  time consuming. But there are simple things to look for while in the decision process.

First let us explain the difference between a web design and a web developer. A web designer is a person that plan out the web site. Web developers are the ones who actual put the web site together. A web developer builds, and usually updates the web site.

There are some basic skills that help define a web designer or developer.

Developer:

• understand the behind the scenes of your web site, meaning the code.
• can optimize your site to search engine standards
• can optimize imagery for the site
• can make sure your site looks good in multiple browers
• familiar with the different programming languages used in web development
• usually have some form of experience with programming

Designer:

• can plan the design of the web site
• knows what to suggest for best utilitizing the web site for businesses

Experience Levels

Junior Level:

• has atleast 1 web site under his/her belt
• can update a web site

Mid-Level:

• has up to 2 years experience developing sites
• has up to 2 years experience with maintaining web sites
• keeps up-to-date with the current standards for the development of that site
• can optimize the web site
• have some minor experience with scripting

Expert Level:

• has 2 or more years experience developing sites
• has 2 or more years experience with maintaining sites
• has experience with commercial web site development
• provide a portfolio of previous work
• has developed atleast 1 e-commerce web site

The person you are looking into hiring usually will provide a small biography of their past web site experiences, any educational background information, and references.

This person usually continues their education in the web design, development/programming world so they are up-to-date with the current trends and standards.