Choosing a Web Design Studio
Starting a website can be a daunting process. Many people simply pick a name out of the phone book or rely on advertising which has told you how good a web developer or design studio must be. But how can you know who will be the right fit for you?
Particularly if you are starting your first website, choosing the right web design professional may seem like a hard thing to do. Let us help you sort through some of the fluff. If you're not quite sure what you're getting yourself into, rest at ease. Green Turtle Studio can help you.
How does your potential website developer answer the following questions?
Does the potential web design studio have experience with the type of site you want to create? With the market you are targeting?
Particularly if considering an independent designer or developer- are they affiliated with any professional web design groups, or have partnerships with other firms or freelance developers with complementary strengths who will be available to fill in any potential gaps in knowledge or experience of your own web designer?
Does the potential web design studio have developers that use programs to do the work for them, or do they know the actual scripting languages?
Does the potential web design studio check that sites they create "validate" according to the W3C, so that you don't lose customers because they were not able to view your site on their Macintosh computer, or other alternate browser?
Will your site be checked in several different browsers on different operating systems to make sure that the design and layout hold up?
Does the web designer create sites that are search-engine friendly? Or conversely, do they promise unrealistic rankings?
As computer and internet technology is constantly changing- what sort of ongoing education does the web designer you are considering pursue?
Is your web designer helping you through the process of developing your website, explaining things as you go along, in a way you can understand?
Does your potential web design firm provide an agreement for you both to sign, which clearly lays out what their work will entail and locks in fees and a timeline for everything included?
Does the web designer respond to questions in a timely manner?
Deciphering the answers
Green Turtle Studio has experience with everything from blog homepages to complex e-commerce sites with online payment gateways, to community sites and also sites you can update yourself. We are members of Women Designers Group, the International Webmasters Association, the HTML Writer's Guild, and are associated with some of the biggest names in web standards and CSS development like Eric Meyer and Rachel Andrew.
At Green Turtle Studio we learn the latest web technology and edit code by hand. We then check our sites for validation and assecibility, and also check them on various browsers on the Windows, Macintosh and Linux platforms through BrowserCam.
Green Turtle Studio has received extensive training in search engine optimization, within the guidelines of what the search engines allow. We will not promise you any certain level of rankings because we do not use any methods to trick the search engines into a higher placement. We know that when that happens they will figure it out and ban your site. Green Turtle Studio cares too much about your long-term success than to take part in such deceptive measures.
And our extensive training has not ended. The web is constantly evolving, and we continue to learn from the people who are guiding those changes, to give you the best results possible.
To experience our top-notch service for yourself, request a quote or if you're not quite to that point yet or are not sure what you need, feel free to ask some preliminary questions. Upon signed acceptance of a quote, we will begin work on your site, guiding you with respect through each stage and keeping you informed of progress.
Whether you choose us or not, we hope these questions will help you in getting the best possible website creation experience.

