Here are some very important questions to consider when choosing a Taiwan web designer or a 'web solutions' company in Taiwan. Working with the right Taiwan web design company is one of the most important choices you will make for your web site.

1. Have they developed other sites with similar functionality to the web site they would be developing for you? If so, have them show you some so you can test them for yourself. It is especially important to test their portfolio of ecommerce sites, membership sites, and message boards if that is what you are looking for.
   
   
2. Are they a full service web design company? Do they just hand you a disc, or do they upload the web site for you, and have everything functioning correctly on the web server? Make sure they can handle all aspects of your project.
   
   
3. Do they own the shopping cart and/or other software on your website? Can you take it with you in the future if you change web design companies? What parts do you own and what parts of the website are copyrighted to others? Can you imagine loading 3,000 items into a shopping cart system and then finding out you can't take it with you, if you decide to change companies?
   
   
4. What are the guarantees if you find months later a particular function of the site does not work correctly? Get any guarantees in writing. Web design is intricate, so issues may not be immediately evident.
   
   
5. Do you have a particular person you speak with when you call, or are you randomly thrown at anyone in tech support, left to explain your situation over and over?
   
   
6. What are the hourly rates for future updates? Some web design firms charge hourly rates as high as $99 per hour. Make sure you know the price of your web design updates in advance so you know what to expect in the future. How many changes will you need to make per year? Make sure to figure this in with your quote, and leave a little padding for unexpected changes.
   
   
7. How long will it take them to complete the job? This is an important question. Get an estimated time frame for the web site development. I have seen people wait a whole year for their job to be finished. This is usually an estimate; Because of the nature of web development it can be hard to calculate. Just make sure it is at least within reason of your expectations.
   
   
8. Will they be using UNIX or NT based servers for your web hosting? Will there be any applications that you will be using that are ASP or PHP? If there will be ASP, SQL, or Access applications I would recommend a Microsoft NT server, and for PHP, MySQL, Perl and CGI applications, I would recommend a Linux or UNIX based server.
   
   
9. Will you be able to take the domain name with you if you want to change web hosting or web design companies? Make sure you can take it with you if they register it for you. I would recommend buying the domain name yourself. It is fairly easy to register a domain name. Once you set up your web hosting you can then login to your domain name account manager, and then point the nameservers to your web hosting companies DNS servers.
   Your nameservers will usually look something like this. Example: ns1.nameserver.com and ns2.nameserver.com
   
   
10. Will they be performing any search engine optimization on your site? If so, make sure they don't use hidden text or anything that could get you banned from search engines in the future. If they are claiming they are going to build you hundreds of "doorway pages" I would recommend going elsewhere. Proper web site optimization is a way of cleanly building a web site so it that works well with visitor, search engine robots and spiders, by not blocking them. See the webmasters guidelines on Google and Yahoo if you are unsure about something.
    
    
11. Are they performing the web design in house? You should know if the people you hired are actually the ones performing the work. They could be subletting the work to a third world country. If you have a complex web site, and then they lose their relations with this overseas company, they may not know how to fix a technical problem with the site.
    
    
12. Does the price seem too low compared to other bids you have obtained? Too low of a price should be a good warning sign. If you have received several bids how can one be so much lower?
    
    
    • They maybe a beginner without the experience to handle your job properly. Experience plays heavily in having a well developed and easy to use site. Small changes can make big differences in your customer sales conversion ratios.
    • Something might be missing in thr bid. Read it closely to make sure all items are included that are in the other bids. If you're not sure, have the web company use the same bid specifications at the other one.
    • Are past clients happy? See if you can get some testimonials from past clients. This may give you a better representation of what to expect.
      
      
13. It is a template or an original work? Are they designing your site from the same pre-made templates other sites maybe using? Is it an original work of which you own the rights to? What if you thought you were purchasing a custom web site and then saw other sites using the exact same design?
    
    
14. Is web design their full time career, or is it just a side job? This is where experience really shows. Working on web full time makes a well rounded designer who knows how to deal with unexpected situations. Remember you are hiring a professional to do a professional job. Would you hire a part time lawyer to help you with your business legal issues? This web site represents your company's image.
    
    
15. How many years have they been in business? The Internet is an easy place to go in and out of business cheaply. Hopefully your business will be around for more than a year, so think long term.
    
    
16. Do they have proper contracts for your web site development? Have your attorney prepare contracts for you if they don't. You need to get your contracts in writing to protect both you and your developer. Things usually go smoother when everything is clearly spelled out.