Is there a protocol for securing the services of a web designer / webmaster?

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Balthazor

Gawd
Joined
May 18, 2006
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688
Hello,

I'm on the board of a relatively small pro-environment / pro-community NGO in the Florida Keys. I've been saddled with locating a person who can redesign our website, maintain and update it, as well as manage the domain and the very small amount of email traffic that goes through the domain.

What is the protocol for shopping around for these services? Do I write up a request for proposal and solicit proposals from candidates that way?

Thanks for the feedback and assistance!
 
You should start reading up on what it means to write a "statement of work" and a "request for proposal". Other relevant topics include "properly scoping software projects" and "interviewing potential software development companies".

Once done, begin interviewing software development shops -- not just individuals.
 
Some sort of VPN plus some sort of remote desktop protocol such as Microsoft RDP, VMWare VDI, an IP KVM, etc. As far as getting the quotes goes, dunno.
 
PTNL said:
You should start reading up on what it means to write a "statement of work" and a "request for proposal". Other relevant topics include "properly scoping software projects" and "interviewing potential software development companies".

Once done, begin interviewing software development shops -- not just individuals.
Click to expand...

Great, thanks, at least this is a starting point.
 
I answered the poorly worded question in a different way. I realize that it was not the correct way now.
 
Balthazor said:
What is the protocol for shopping around for these services? Do I write up a request for proposal and solicit proposals from candidates that way?
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The first thing any decent shop should do is to advise you to not run your own mail server but use Google Apps for Business instead. Free for up to 10 users, not sure what their NGO policies are, may be free for more users.

Other than that I'd suggest you contact your local chamber of commerce and get a list of local shops, then just make an appointment with a couple of them and see what's what. Ask around whom other businesses in the area recommend.

Yes, a trained monkey half way around the world can code the site for you, perhaps even only for the cost of a few bananas, but you want a relationship with people who understand what you do, why you do it, and who share your vision. You are much more likely to find someone like that in your local area/region.

You could also try to approach local colleges or technical schools and see whether there is someone who would be willing to create your site as part of a class project and/or as their senior internship project. Depending on the skill of the individual you could get some truly outstanding work done without to have to pay much, if anything, for it.

If you do contract it out then be prepared for sticker shock. Even if it is a small site, and small is relative, you are looking at several thousand dollars in effort.
 
manage the domain and email you could likely do yourself, it is not hard at all, go to networksolutions or godaddy and make an account and off you go... or gmail.

now the webhosting and web work, could become more complex if your not familiar with it, i would say you want to be careful and make sure any domain registrations and such as all done under your name / company name and NOT the people you contract, i have heard a few stories of a bitter web person shutting everything down cause they didnt like the answer they got from a company or held them hostage.
 
Thuleman said:
The first thing any decent shop should do is to advise you to not run your own mail server but use Google Apps for Business instead. Free for up to 10 users, not sure what their NGO policies are, may be free for more users.

Other than that I'd suggest you contact your local chamber of commerce and get a list of local shops, then just make an appointment with a couple of them and see what's what. Ask around whom other businesses in the area recommend.

Yes, a trained monkey half way around the world can code the site for you, perhaps even only for the cost of a few bananas, but you want a relationship with people who understand what you do, why you do it, and who share your vision. You are much more likely to find someone like that in your local area/region.

You could also try to approach local colleges or technical schools and see whether there is someone who would be willing to create your site as part of a class project and/or as their senior internship project. Depending on the skill of the individual you could get some truly outstanding work done without to have to pay much, if anything, for it.
Click to expand...

Thank you, I was considering this route as well. I've been looking at the websites of local businesses; and another, much larger NGO gave me a referral to a local website developer / manager, and I'll collect other names as well.

There is a community college down here, but I think if I were to consider a student's work I'd probably want to look at some of the four year schools or an IT-technically-oriented institution closer to Miami; this is worth consideration, and after the website is developed I can hand it off to a local company for web mastering and updates.

Are there particular website tools I should insist the web designer use or avoid? I was advised by one person to seek out a website developed using open source tools, but I'm not sure if that is being overly restrictive right out of the gate.
 
MrGuvernment said:
manage the domain and email you could likely do yourself, it is not hard at all, go to networksolutions or godaddy and make an account and off you go... or gmail.

now the webhosting and web work, could become more complex if your not familiar with it, i would say you want to be careful and make sure any domain registrations and such as all done under your name / company name and NOT the people you contract, i have heard a few stories of a bitter web person shutting everything down cause they didnt like the answer they got from a company or held them hostage.
Click to expand...

At the moment email and web hosting are done on mydomain.com, and it looks like I can probably train our single part-time admin person on how to handle this. Our email only consists of two email addresses and a few distribution lists; directors and members use their personal email.

The advice to retain registration in our name will certainly be heeded.

I had a bad experience myself when I attempted to register a domain for free through the now-defunct Microsoft Office Small Business opportunity, where they set you up a small website, domain, and email server for a tiny fee; when my credit card didn't go through because of a billing zip code typo, the domain went into limbo and I couldn't get access to it for a year, thanks to the poor customer service that couldn't fix the billing issue.
 
You go various internet websites where you can hire a contractor from India, Azerbaijan, China or some far off country for only $100 for quality work when all these greedy Americans want like $10,000. The websites make it really easy to coordinate with these people who live in different time zones and speak English as a second language.
 
aL Mac said:
You go various internet websites where you can hire a contractor from India, Azerbaijan, China or some far off country for only $100 for quality work when all these greedy Americans want like $10,000. The websites make it really easy to coordinate with these people who live in different time zones and speak English as a second language.
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Please some some actual examples of quality work done for $100.

Here is what I did, just to disprove how incredibly dumb your reply was; I went on elance.com and searched for a HTML contractor. Then I listed the results by who earned the most money and the current top link was a company named SynapseIndia which earned over $1.9 million on Elance charging $20/hour. The second, third, fourth, and fifth results all charge between $15-$30 an hour. Based on that alone your claim for $100 for quality work is nothing short of ridiculous even if it was exaggerated for dramatic effect.

@OP
What you really want is someone to create a website using a CMS. That way you can do you own maintenance and don't need to retain outside help every time you need to change something.

Also, you may want to consider hiring an intern to get the work done. Depending on the unemployment rate in your area there may be quite a few people willing to work for free just to get some more entries into their portfolio.

Ultimately you need to decide how much you can afford to pay and then fit a provider to the funding you have available.
 
Thuleman said:
Please some some actual examples of quality work done for $100.

Here is what I did, just to disprove how incredibly dumb your reply was; I went on elance.com and searched for a HTML contractor. Then I listed the results by who earned the most money and the current top link was a company named SynapseIndia which earned over $1.9 million on Elance charging $20/hour. The second, third, fourth, and fifth results all charge between $15-$30 an hour. Based on that alone your claim for $100 for quality work is nothing short of ridiculous even if it was exaggerated for dramatic effect.
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Yeah, I didn't take this guy on, so no worries there.

Thuleman said:
@OP
What you really want is someone to create a website using a CMS. That way you can do you own maintenance and don't need to retain outside help every time you need to change something.

Also, you may want to consider hiring an intern to get the work done. Depending on the unemployment rate in your area there may be quite a few people willing to work for free just to get some more entries into their portfolio.

Ultimately you need to decide how much you can afford to pay and then fit a provider to the funding you have available.
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Great, a CMS sounds like what I need to include in the RFP (and after googling CMS, I now know what it is.)

The organization does have some funds set aside for a rainy day; I might be able to convince them to spend a few thousand, but certainly nothing approaching $10,000. I think there are enough other directors concerned about how sad the current website is that it shouldn't be tough to open the pursestrings a bit.

One advantage to being able to spend money, rather than going the academic route (as you suggested earlier), is that of accountability, which is why we aren't asking a member of the NGO to volunteer time for this project.

I appreciate the feedback.
 
Thuleman said:
Please some some actual examples of quality work done for $100.

Here is what I did, just to disprove how incredibly dumb your reply was; I went on elance.com and searched for a HTML contractor. Then I listed the results by who earned the most money and the current top link was a company named SynapseIndia which earned over $1.9 million on Elance charging $20/hour. The second, third, fourth, and fifth results all charge between $15-$30 an hour. Based on that alone your claim for $100 for quality work is nothing short of ridiculous even if it was exaggerated for dramatic effect.

@OP
What you really want is someone to create a website using a CMS. That way you can do you own maintenance and don't need to retain outside help every time you need to change something.

Also, you may want to consider hiring an intern to get the work done. Depending on the unemployment rate in your area there may be quite a few people willing to work for free just to get some more entries into their portfolio.

Ultimately you need to decide how much you can afford to pay and then fit a provider to the funding you have available.
Click to expand...

My reply wasn't completely dumb, it was completely sarcastic. There are some people who think they can farm out a software project like dirt cheap overseas and get something reasonable. It doesn't happen that way. Did you think I was serious?
 
aL Mac said:
My reply wasn't completely dumb, it was completely sarcastic. There are some people who think they can farm out a software project like dirt cheap overseas and get something reasonable. It doesn't happen that way. Did you think I was serious?
Click to expand...

Sorry but yeah, it wasn't clear to me that you weren't serious. Glad that you weren't though. ;)
 
Balthazor said:
Are there particular website tools I should insist the web designer use or avoid? I was advised by one person to seek out a website developed using open source tools, but I'm not sure if that is being overly restrictive right out of the gate.
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Interesting question. I can't think of anything in particular to avoid, but there are things in particular I would encourage. For a low-complexity site, WordPress and Drupal are good platforms, though not particularly entertaining to work with (in my opinion). For a higher-complexity site, I would recommend Ruby on Rails. I would also encourage you to find someone who will use tools that are well-used. You may not, for instance, want your guy to build a platform in Node.js/Geddy, not because that's a bad platform, but you may have a difficult time finding someone to work with that platform in the future should the need arise. The more common the tools are in use, the better.
 
wonderfield said:
Interesting question. I can't think of anything in particular to avoid, but there are things in particular I would encourage. For a low-complexity site, WordPress and Drupal are good platforms, though not particularly entertaining to work with (in my opinion). For a higher-complexity site, I would recommend Ruby on Rails. I would also encourage you to find someone who will use tools that are well-used. You may not, for instance, want your guy to build a platform in Node.js/Geddy, not because that's a bad platform, but you may have a difficult time finding someone to work with that platform in the future should the need arise. The more common the tools are in use, the better.
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Thanks, I'll check these out and keep them on top of my 'preferred' list.

The site isn't overly complex; it will have a few pages as educational resources for website visitors, an option to sign up for the emailed newsletter, links to relevant sites, and the current projects being worked on by the group. Memberships and donations via paypal are already set up, so that would just need a hyperlink; transactions wouldn't be handled by the site.

Still, I'll like at the functional differences between Ruby on Rails and the others, to see if there is any future-proofing we should consider.
 
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