Where to start to have a business web page designed?

[SlitheryDee]

I have a friend who has invented a product and he want to set up a slick, professional-looking website to help market and sell it. I have absolutely no experience in web design, but I thought I might a least be able to ask around and direct him toward a company that would do a good job at whatever is a reasonable price for such a job. He didn't give me very many details about what he wants out of the site, but I'm assuming he wants something very professional and easy to navigate, probably an e-commerce site that's capable of taking CC#s and placing orders along with some informational pages and product demonstration videos.

Are any of you familiar with companies who do this kind of work and do it well? Any examples of their work would be appreciated as well. What other steps will he have to go through to get this rolling? I don't know what his budget would be, but keep in mind that he's going to be starting a new business off of a regular hourly wage job and perhaps a bank loan + whatever government help he can get. I don't think he'd be willing to spend very much, but perhaps he'll readjust his expectations if the price for what he wants turns out to be expensive. Thanks in advance.

I didn't think a post like this fit exactly in any of the other forums, but if it does then mods please move it to wherever is appropriate.

Edit: clarified title

 

[yllus]

Honestly? Leave it to the pros:

http://www.templatemonster.com/

 

[troytime]

probably better off in programming
and you're both better off hiring a pro

 

[SlitheryDee]

Originally posted by: troytime
probably better off in programming
and you're both better off hiring a pro

My intention was to direct him to a good professional outfit to get this done. I was just wondering if anyone had a recommendation.

 

[Safeway]

Start with a host that bundles credit card handling. Then build the website.

 

[Superwormy]

I do design and programming consulting, and 99% of the time the most difficult thing is getting information from the client. Clients *rarely* really have any idea of what they want to do/how they want things to work. So, you'd be best off getting started by getting together a clear idea of what needs to be done.

Your designer is going to have piles of questions for you:
- Target audience?
- Budget?
- Target demographics?
- Business-to-business or business-to-consumer?
- What are other websites you like?
- What do you like about them?
- What don't you like about them?
- What are websites you *don't* like?
- Why not?
- What functionality do you need?
- Colors picked out?
- Do you have a logo?
- etc. etc. etc.

Your developers will have questions too:
- What functionality is required?
- What is the work-flow of the website (i.e. browse -> shopping cart -> checkout?)
- What do you need for back-end functionality?
- Who is the credit card company that's charging your cards (Authorize.net, QuickBooks, etc.)?
- Do you need hosting for the website?
- etc. etc. etc.

Get together a clear idea of what you want, and then go out and get some quotes. Meet with them. Talk to them on the phone. Feel them out. Get lots of quotes and go with the one that seems to be a good balance of experience/cost.

 

[xanis]

Originally posted by: Superwormy
I do design and programming consulting, and 99% of the time the most difficult thing is getting information from the client. Clients *rarely* really have any idea of what they want to do/how they want things to work. So, you'd be best off getting started by getting together a clear idea of what needs to be done.

Your designer is going to have piles of questions for you:
- Target audience?
- Budget?
- Target demographics?
- Business-to-business or business-to-consumer?
- What are other websites you like?
- What do you like about them?
- What don't you like about them?
- What are websites you *don't* like?
- Why not?
- What functionality do you need?
- Colors picked out?
- Do you have a logo?
- etc. etc. etc.

Your developers will have questions too:
- What functionality is required?
- What is the work-flow of the website (i.e. browse -> shopping cart -> checkout?)
- What do you need for back-end functionality?
- Who is the credit card company that's charging your cards (Authorize.net, QuickBooks, etc.)?
- Do you need hosting for the website?
- etc. etc. etc.

Get together a clear idea of what you want, and then go out and get some quotes. Meet with them. Talk to them on the phone. Feel them out. Get lots of quotes and go with the one that seems to be a good balance of experience/cost.

This man knows his stuff, listen to what he has to say. As a designer who knows a programmer, I'll tell that this is right on the money.

EDIT: Also, keep in mind that with this stuff, you definitely get what you pay for.

 

[SlitheryDee]

Originally posted by: Superwormy
I do design and programming consulting, and 99% of the time the most difficult thing is getting information from the client. Clients *rarely* really have any idea of what they want to do/how they want things to work. So, you'd be best off getting started by getting together a clear idea of what needs to be done.

Your designer is going to have piles of questions for you:
- Target audience?
- Budget?
- Target demographics?
- Business-to-business or business-to-consumer?
- What are other websites you like?
- What do you like about them?
- What don't you like about them?
- What are websites you *don't* like?
- Why not?
- What functionality do you need?
- Colors picked out?
- Do you have a logo?
- etc. etc. etc.

Your developers will have questions too:
- What functionality is required?
- What is the work-flow of the website (i.e. browse -> shopping cart -> checkout?)
- What do you need for back-end functionality?
- Who is the credit card company that's charging your cards (Authorize.net, QuickBooks, etc.)?
- Do you need hosting for the website?
- etc. etc. etc.

Get together a clear idea of what you want, and then go out and get some quotes. Meet with them. Talk to them on the phone. Feel them out. Get lots of quotes and go with the one that seems to be a good balance of experience/cost.

I expect him to tackle all that with whatever companies I can come up with. He's going to be paying them for their services, after all. To be honest, It's his deal and I'd like to not get involved beyond recommending companies as I'd more than likely be out of my depth. Sometimes I hate being the go-to guy for everything even tangentially related to computers...

 

[ViviTheMage]

Originally posted by: Superwormy
I do design and programming consulting, and 99% of the time the most difficult thing is getting information from the client. Clients *rarely* really have any idea of what they want to do/how they want things to work. So, you'd be best off getting started by getting together a clear idea of what needs to be done.

Your designer is going to have piles of questions for you:
- Target audience?
- Budget?
- Target demographics?
- Business-to-business or business-to-consumer?
- What are other websites you like?
- What do you like about them?
- What don't you like about them?
- What are websites you *don't* like?
- Why not?
- What functionality do you need?
- Colors picked out?
- Do you have a logo?
- etc. etc. etc.

Your developers will have questions too:
- What functionality is required?
- What is the work-flow of the website (i.e. browse -> shopping cart -> checkout?)
- What do you need for back-end functionality?
- Who is the credit card company that's charging your cards (Authorize.net, QuickBooks, etc.)?
- Do you need hosting for the website?
- etc. etc. etc.

Get together a clear idea of what you want, and then go out and get some quotes. Meet with them. Talk to them on the phone. Feel them out. Get lots of quotes and go with the one that seems to be a good balance of experience/cost.

Pretty much this. Get these in line, and I might have a few people for you to talk to .

 

[Spacehead]

My nephew & his wife do web design.

Here are a few examples of what they've done