Website design in Durham, NC: Scope and Hiring

Prepare a brief before requesting proposals

Describe your customers and the main action you want them to complete. An appointment business might need booking, confirmation, and cancellation steps. A shop might need hours and directions, a catalog, or payment and delivery. Ask each designer to explain how the proposed pages support that action.

List the pages and functions for launch. Assign someone to supply service descriptions, photographs, product details, and policies. Separate required features from later additions. For each integration, identify the account owner and ask who will configure it, test it, and resolve problems after handover.

Durham County Library's business-help page directs owners to business databases, market-research resources, startup roadmaps, and local partner workshops. Use these resources to clarify customer priorities before asking a designer to propose navigation and page content. [2]

Compare costs and control of your website

Request separate line items for design, development, copywriting, content entry, integrations, testing, and training. Have bidders identify exclusions, revision allowances, and charges for added work. Compare launch costs and recurring charges, including hosting, domain renewal, paid software, maintenance, and support.

Specify who controls the domain, hosting, administrator access, and connected accounts. Request business-owned accounts under your business email and written transfer terms. Ask the designer to show what you can edit yourself and explain which changes require paid help.

For a redesign, request an inventory of existing pages and a plan for preserving addresses or redirecting them. Agree on content approval, design approval, testing, and handover milestones. Include a backup and recovery procedure, and identify who can authorize launch.

Agree on accessibility demonstrations

The U.S. Department of Justice says ADA requirements apply to goods and services that businesses open to the public offer online. Its guidance identifies barriers such as poor contrast, missing image alternatives, inaccessible forms, and mouse-only navigation. Include these features in your discussion of scope and acceptance. [3]

Ask the designer to demonstrate the main customer task using a keyboard. Review form labels, instructions, and error messages. Check text enlargement and required-field cues that do not depend on color. Record unresolved issues and agree who will correct them before launch. [3]

DOJ recommends combining manual checks with automated accessibility tools and warns that a clean automated report does not mean everything is accessible. Request both forms of testing. The cited guidance excludes the newer state and local government requirements from its coverage; use its business guidance for this discussion. [3]

Plan checkout around pickup and delivery

Give the designer your product list, pickup location, intended delivery areas, and tax-adviser instructions. Ask your adviser to approve expected results for sample orders before the designer configures checkout. Include discounts, shipping charges, and refunds in the scenarios you want reviewed.

NCDOR's general sourcing guidance assigns a product received at the seller's business to that location. For a product received at a purchaser-specified location away from the seller's business, it assigns the sale to the receipt location. Request demonstrations of pickup and shipped orders using adviser-approved rules. [5]

The chart compares published general combined sales-tax rates for four regional counties. Use it to discuss location-sensitive checkout testing. These rates apply to items subject to the general rate; they do not determine whether your products or website-design contract are taxable. [4] [5]

NCDOR instructs sellers collecting county or transit tax for multiple counties to report amounts by county through its online filing application or Form E-536 with a mailed return. Ask the designer to demonstrate the county-level information your bookkeeper needs before accepting the store. [5]

General combined sales-tax rates for regional checkout planning

Choose the scope to request

Your hiring checklist

1. Choose the main customer action and list the pages needed to complete it.
2. Assign responsibility for copy, photographs, product details, and policies.
3. Send bidders the same brief and request itemized launch and recurring costs.
4. Confirm business control of the domain, hosting, and administrator accounts.
5. Agree on manual accessibility demonstrations and responsibility for corrections.
6. Obtain adviser-approved tax instructions and request pickup and delivery tests for a store.
7. Approve a launch and recovery plan, then request training and handover documentation.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much should I budget for the project?

Set a spending limit and obtain itemized quotes for your scope. Compare design, development, content work, integrations, and testing across proposals. Ask each bidder to separate launch costs from recurring hosting, software, maintenance, and support charges, and explain how they price revisions or added work.

Can I get local help before hiring a designer?

Durham Tech offers free, confidential business counseling and free business-skills seminars. Durham County Library directs owners to business databases, market-research resources, and local partner workshops. Consider these options if you need to clarify the audience and marketing purpose of your website. [1] [2]

Does an automated accessibility report prove the site is accessible?

DOJ cautions that a clean automated report does not mean everything is accessible. It recommends combining automated tools with manual checks. Ask for demonstrations of keyboard access, form labels, error handling, and the main customer task before approving launch. [3]

Should checkout charge Durham's rate on every order?

Have your tax adviser confirm the applicable treatment. NCDOR's general sourcing rules distinguish products received at the seller's business from products received at a purchaser-specified location. Give the designer separate pickup and delivery scenarios and require a demonstration of the approved configuration. [5]