Small Biz Web Design

born_blonde

Just from a design perspective, the most important thing is to do your thinking up front - the better the brief the better the end result. Write a brief, think about your brand what 3 words best describe it, who is the target market, what are you trying to communicate and what do you want the result to be. Think ahead what will you need in 1, 2, 3 years etc.
Also the more thinking you do the less chance any Designer will waste time ( and your money) getting the brief clear.

katskorner

born blonde makes a fair point. However I will say that it is not a waste of time ensuring the brief (requirements) is correct as this in itself saves lots of time in the long run. It is worth spending the extra time ensuring both parties are clear on what is needed for the duration of the project and also what contengency enhancements might be needed and how they will be handled if they do arise. Otherwise you end up with the 'oh can we just have this too' scaenario that invariably impacts more than it should because it has not been thought through enough to be considered correctly with the rest of the required functionality. Experienced designers and developers should ensure that the requirements analysis is done thoroughly at the start.

lellie

When I design sites for clients I always write a full specification and do some basic design images - so they can see what they're getting before they agree to it. Working together to plan the site is definately worth it

Paul_H_4

Depending on how advanced you want your website you can find a cheap layout on http://www.templatemonster.com and then edit the text to suit you needs.

ukbill69

Ive seen on https://www.session9.co.uk that they offer charity discounts.