In fact, if you want to hire a great web design company and also get a great-looking website yourself, you should look at hundreds of sites yourself before you even think about designing your own site – or having someone design it for you. Here’s what you should be looking for:

1) Start by looking for your local competitors through a search engine. Do this by typing in your city and a keyword into a major search engine such as Yahoo or Google. For example, if you are a Florist in Boston, type in “Boston Florist” and “Florist Boston.” Open every website that appears in the first page of results. Bookmark all of these websites.

2) Now, look further by looking for national competitors. For example, if you are a Florist in Boston, type in just “Florist” into a search engine. Your results will show you the top-ranked results nationally and globally. Again, open every website that appears in the first page of results and bookmark all of these websites.

3) Use a website such as Alexa to evaluate the rankings of your own company and to compare the rankings of your competitors. If some of your competitors rank lower than you do, eliminate them from your bookmarked section.

4) Type in the URLs of well-performing web sites into search engines such as Google and Yahoo. Generally, you will find that the best-ranked sites are also the ones with the most incoming links. This is not a coincidence. Ask yourself: Which competitors are most talked about? Which ones get the most mentions on blogs and other sites? Are the references negative or positive? Are the references paid links or feeder sites or links from customers? Is there some way you can generate the same number of links or encourage the best sorts of responses you see?

5) Now, start to evaluate the websites that get the highest amounts of traffic. What are they doing right? How attractive are the sites? What design elements do they use/not use? How much content does each site have? Which keywords does each site use (and in what percentages)? What are the navigation systems like? What headlines are used and what graphics? Look for patterns and you will quickly notice that all the successful sites do a few things in a similar way. Use some of the same techniques and you will also enjoy great rankings. Also, do not forget to ask what the websites are not doing – what could you do better or more differently? Check with your visitors and conduct some market research to make sure that this innovation will be appreciated – there may be a good reason your competitors do not have that design element on their own sites.

1) Team up with an expert web design company. Look for a company with plenty of experience and knowledge of today’s design trends and today’s technology. A good web design firm will not only help you to put together a great-looking web site, but can also help you understand web design and can even help promote your completed web site.

2) Talk to graphic artists and web design professionals you know. You likely know someone who is involved in graphic art or web design – it could be a family member or the friend of a friend. This is great news. Ask this person about design elements that interest them and trends they expect to see soon.

3) Talk to other businesses – in your field and outside of it. Where do these businesses turn when they want web design help? Which web design companies do they work with? How did they choose their website look?

4) Look at other websites. Which websites do you enjoy visiting and why? What websites in your industry get great rankings? Which industry websites do you like and why?

5) Read about web design. There are plenty of websites, blogs, books, and magazines about web design and online marketing. Browse through a few to find a few you like and then start reaping knowledge about web design from the experts.

6) Talk to your customers, clients, friends, and family. What websites do they love to visit? What do they hate to see on a website? What annoys them about websites? What do they look for online? Sometimes, the best answers come not from web design experts but from people who use the Internet – after all, these are the people you are trying to reach with your website.

7) Start keeping a notebook. In it, list URLs of websites you like and URLs of websites with terrible design you want to avoid. List design elements you like and dislike and note any information you learn. Jot down the names and numbers of professionals who may help you and make any notes about your web design ideas here. When you sit down to design your web site or meet with your web design firm, you will have lots of ideas on paper that you can share.

Even though you are very busy, learning something about web design will help you communicate more effectively with your web design company and will help you make the right design choices for your website. Learning a little about web design can go a long way towards getting you a great company website, and sources for insider knowledge surround you every day. Start learning today for a better-performing website tomorrow!