Key Points

• Web design has 3 choices – DIY, freelancer, and agency, all have pros and cons, and all have different price points.
• Beware of family and friends as web designers, if going down this road – be sure to set up a contract, have milestones and deliverables, and payments against meeting those milestones. This is an area where things can go wrong fast. Insist you have revisions included and testing as part of your contract.
• Make sure SEO is included and training can be delivered once it is up and running, most agency models include this in their contract.
• It is essential that your contract states you will own the IP - there have been cases of designers and agencies that have in a dispute turned off access to websites, crippling businesses. You need to have full control and ownership when the job is done, and ideally, also be able to change content when you need to.
• Check in the contract that you own the URL and that you know who is hosting the site – make sure you know the annual costs for that so there are no surprises.
• This is a critical tool for your business, invest in it to make it right, and be prepared to upgrade and tweak regularly and redo as you and your customers' needs grow.