When you are ready to create or upgrade your website, it is important to choose a company with the right mix of skills and experience. Generally, you'll find two types of companies: the graphic artists who will create a pretty site, and the technical programmers who will create a functional site. What you need is an appropriate blend of the two, but most importantly you need to find a company with expert marketing and business development skills.

Depending on whether you want to sell products, just advertise a bricks and mortar business or something radically different, will govern the skill set required of your chosen Web Design Company.

Most Web Design Companies will be able to design a simple site advertising a business but may not be very good at constructing sites that use an eCommerce Solution to sell products online. When looking at the portfolio of each Web Design Company, pay attention to the type of sites they are making. If they have never built a site with an eCommerce Solution, don't pay them to learn how to!

The portfolio is a good place to start with all Web Design Companies. While looking at each site on their portfolio, make sure they are of a good quality and contain a link saying they were designed by the Web Design Company. Also check all the way through the portfolio, a common tactic of Web Design Companies is to place their best work first and hiding their not so good work at the bottom of the pile. Looking all the way through will give you a better idea of their consistency.

Designing websites today isn't quite as simple as it should be. People Surfing the web use a number of different web browsers e.g. Internet Explorer, Mozilla, Firefox etc. try looking at every site you view in these browsers to make sure they all display correctly.

Phone up a Web Design Company and have a good discussion to see if you get on. You don't want to be working with someone you find hard to get along with.

Ask the Web Design Company if they have any referrals and speak to them as well, asking what their experience was like.

Check the legalities of the web design service, who will own the site after it is completed, who will own the copyright? All of these things will have further implications, especially if you want to start using another Web Design Company due to problems.