I have been designing websites now for a long time, I think that I created my very first page back on Geocities — it used frames, had a dancing elmo on it and was covered in animated GIFs. I thought it was the coolest website ever, how funny.

I have not actually done very much web design in recent years though. With so many free wordpress themes out there, and the majority of my blogs running wordpress, it is very easy to get lazy and that is exactly what I have done. Free themes are all well and good for sites like mine, but hardly professional for people who are more series about their sites/businesses, having a unique design is surely a must?

Q-Industries is a web design company that offer stunning design work, web marketing as well as other web development services. I have just been looking through their portfolio of work available to view on the website and I am very impressed. I could see them doing a really great job on my boss’ business site — it was designed by a friend of his and is currently ‘passable’ at best. I keep telling him he should get some professionals in to really make the site stand out, but he doesn’t pay much attention to me apparently.

…make sure you know the people you are paying are good at their job.

I consider myself an average web designer, meaning that I understand HTML and CSS, can use Paint Shop Pro to create graphics and am capable of designing a basic website suitable for use on a personal blog or basic site — but when it comes to professional, more creative web design, or something that would be used for a business site, I’d definitely not be confident enough that I could pull something decent off.

Last year my other half’s boss asked me to design his website, I explained that I didn’t feel confident enough to do it, so he asked another friend instead who is actually qualified — he paid him £300 for the design and I couldn’t believe my eyes when I first saw it, it looked like it took an hour at most and was easily something I could have done. It used deprecated code, was littered with spelling and grammar errors and didn’t even work correctly in all browsers — and most importantly looked average at best.

If you are going to use a web design company make sure you look for a trusted name in the web design field. A site that will create 100% original, unique and custom templates for professional sites is essential. Also make sure you can view their portfolio online to see the work they have previously done — it must be of a very high standard and well worth the money they are asking.