So much choice and so much to choose from! Paying someone to design and develop a web site is not an easy task today with all the competition in the market, let alone hosting and supporting your site. And what about search engine optimization? This guideline will help you ask the right questions before you decide to whom you are going to assign this task.

One of the very first questions you need to ask yourself is: Why do I need a web site? Several answers might pop up; to boost my sales, to make myself known, to have a reference for my clients, to start a new business,?the list can go on and on?but how do you determine what's right for you and your business?

The way to evaluate possible contenders for the job is to ask the right questions. Here are some questions you cannot afford not to ask.

In reference to the company that provides web services, you should ask?

1. Are they offering just web development, or, just web hosting, or do they have a vast range of services linked to the web industry??i.e. do they offer the whole spectrum of services linked with web sites?

2. How do their prices compare to other companies who are providing the same services?

3. How flexible are they to my requirements'a) do they offer extra pages? b) do they offer additional hosting? c) is support part of the price I'm paying?

4. Do they offer dynamic sites? Normally this would give an indication of how experienced their programmers are in developing sites.

5. Are there any references to ?search engine optimization? on their site? If not, most probably they are not going to write my site in a way that major search engines can find it and rank it highly.

6. Do they offer search engine optimization? This is very important if I need to rank high and make the task for prospective customers to find me an easy one.

These are questions you should ask and if in doubt don't hesitate to contact the company before investing your money in them. Most importantly they need to have fast and reliable support, although this can only be verified when it's too late, i.e. you have already paid for it.

Other decisions you need to take is how your web site should look like. Do you require a static site with a lot of content, or minimum content with impressive graphics, sounds and animations? This would obviously depend on the nature of your business and the way you need to promote your image. The company you choose need to have enough experience to help you make this decision based on your business? perspectives.

Whatever the case, as in nearly all things in life, a moment of reflection and some research are fundamental in order to make the right decision.