Top 15 tips for hiring a Web designer for your business

It is quite a daunting challenge to choose a best website designer for the growth of your business. Simply to say, your web designer must carry out your business with utmost seriousness. To create a website is a tricky process and it depends on the decision you make to choose the best one. Even the nontechnical people can easily create ecommerce and website platforms. But the knot lies in how to make it more attractive to draw customers that are apt for your business. For that, you must decide whether to choose “cheapest or the most expensive”, “national or international or local”, “a team of designers or just a person”. So many questions rush into your mind even before talking about design itself. So, what should be done to get a good designer? You must first put forward some questions before them in order to choose them or not. Are you aware of the important features that a good web designer must have? It is easy to select from the start instead of do-over’s which can be time consuming and costly. Here are 15 must have features for a right designer for your business growth.

Let’s check it one by one even if you are choosing a freelancer or a team of designers.

#1. Check the experience they have in designing

For start-up organizations, check what type of experience they have in designing. Whether they have experience in working with raw HTML or Joomla, WordPress, HubSpot, Squarespace, Drupal etc which are content management systems.  Patrick Biddiscombe, CEO, New Breed Marketing says “If you haven’t chosen a CMS yet, find a firm that can support you in the decision making process on what CMS makes the most sense for your business and your goals.” If they have more industrial experience, it will be apt for you and check if they have designed similar websites as yours. Experience in ecommerce hosting will be an added advantage if your firm deals with online credit/debit card payments and selling products online. Some platforms for ecommerce hosting are template based or proprietary based, (for example, Squarespace, Wix etc) while others are open sources (example: WordPress, Joomla, Drupal).

#2. Check out their previous works or portfolio

Request for the previous work done for their clients and links to those sites. You can check your requirements and tastes by reviewing your designer-to-be firm’s or person’s portfolio. If they are suitable then easily your requirements may match with theirs. So “when searching for a designer, ask for references from past customers, and look at the sites they have designed,” says Lisa Chiu, owner, Black N Bianco, a children’s formal wear clothing company.

#3. Are good in communication skills?

Now, you will be thinking why should we go with the designer who has good communication skills? Is there any relation between designing and communication? Definitely, yes. If they have sound communication skill, it will be easy for you to convey your ideas and if a person has good designing and development skills but don’t have communication skills, you will not have good experience. They must understand what you say about your business goals and how to outline a business proposal. For all these frequent communication and management about the process is a must.

#4. Check out references

You might be admiring some business associates for their best web designs. Keep in mind that those are your best source. Lisa Chiu, owner, Black N Bianco, a children’s formal wear clothing company says that if you are in search for a designer, ask for references from past customers, and check the websites they designed. Another method is to seek recommendations of a reputed firm and check whether web designer who have worked for them was good enough get hired for you too. Whether they met all deadlines and would work with them again. After narrowing down your list to choose the best one, you must have conversation with not less than two former or current clients.

#5. Do they have experience in SEO (Search Engine Optimization)?

It is a fact that owners of small business doesn’t look for separate organization to carry out SEO processes. So it is very important and even less expensive if you hire a web designer who has experience in SEO also. A right web designer knows design and SEO goes smoothly hand-in-hand. If you need your content to be indexed in the leading pages of Google and Bing, then you must have a website designed wіth “clean” code which utіlіzеѕ cascading ѕtуlе ѕhееtѕ.

#6. Do they have experience in SMM (Social Media Marketing)?

Social media properties will have to be meshed with your website design. Thus, if you select a designer who has sound experience in social media marketing will not only increase your business but also brand visibility. Social media pages and website are complementary to each other.

#7. You horizons must be broadened

Veterinary Hospitals Association communication coordinator, Stephanie Duncan has pointed out to ask who develops and codes the website and whether they are outsourcing or not. You will be wondering why we should know the location and person who is doing the work. Isn’t it? this is because the person may be located somewhere internationally and if anything goes wrong in coding you will have to wait for long hours to get it corrected as there will be long hours of gap in time zone. In order to avoid all these problems it is better to meet them in person to discuss and confirm they are best fit for you.

#8. “Cost” vs “Value” equation is quite important

While considering every work, ROI is the most important factor to be taken into consideration. And while considering ROI it is the value of the work for client that counts for the money you spend. Like we use in every business, we can say in web designing also “you get what you pay for”. Even though cost is important for every project it is not as important as justifying the cost with value in long term. At times startups web designing companies cost their customers in long run and professional web design companies offer value right from the beginning.

#9. Focus on content

Content is one of the most inevitable factors in web designing and also the overlooked one. Web designing companies can be categorized based on content:

1. Companies that rarely consider the content side and solely focus on design and their functionality.
2. Smart companies that focus on important and valuable keywords for an optimized content.

It is better to choose a company with content-minded functionality.

#10. Future planning

Launching your website with great design is actually the last day of designing. It is actually the beginning. You can publish content, check progress and look for some creative ideas by maintaining a relationship with web designing company. Maintenance of website must be done right from strict design elements to different digital marketing strategies. Do web design firm’s existing relationship with customers as they are the better sources.

#11. No more middle man

Do you wish to work with a third party you know anything about? Of course not. So simple don’t consider the middle man. Instead find a best web designing company who has their own web designers as staff. A company without in-house team of developers is the key to failure. A team without designers doesn’t understand the factor behind driving the site.

#12. Check whether they can meet the deadlines and provide security hosting

Before signing into contract make sure if the designer or the team of designers can meet the deadline. Also, “make sure you’re clear on the scope of what will be delivered, the amount of changes you can request, what’s required from your side to provide and the timeline for work to be produced “when discussing your project with an agency or designer,” says Travis Bennett, managing director, Studio Digita. Security hosting helps to keep away bad fellows by providing automatic software updates and rolling back ups. Even though it costs a bit more it is less than repairing a hacked website.

#13. Do they have Copywriting eye?

Good designers know the importance of client’s message, words and story development. They can even club the words with images in a magical way. When it becomes a compelling one, the visitor moves on with particular action like calling the company or any other choices. The content, tone and voice of the company must compelling enough to make sure that the business will reap benefits and be the best among competitors.

#14. You are lucky if they have proactive mindset

Completing every task done before their client expects and to stay ahead of clients is the feature of a good designer. They will be fast to report issues and find solutions. All this builds good relationships and trusts in a long run. Sometimes creative fancy designs (light font on dark background, CTA buttons blend to design etc) will not be the effective way to meet website’s objectives. When a client has asked the reason behind the design he opted for, only a good designer can explain why it doesn’t work and give a solution.

#15. You must own the design and content

Make sure you own the design and website content. If you have chosen a freelancer or a design team they must be willing to sign over all IP rights to your website says Adriana Herrera, founder & CEO, TapAloha, which provides data-driven public relations. If you don’t own the design and content it can hurt your ROI and it also may affect while selling the business. Any designer, say freelancer or company will sign over intellectual property rights as it is quite common. If they refuse to sign, it is a big no-no to that designer.

Summary:

Communicate and communicate…

In a nutshell, the best way to choose a right web designer is to communicate visually and verbally. Don’t be hesitated to demand same quality of communication for any of your queries. It is better to keep the phrase in your mind “Hire slow, fire fast”…take time to hire your right choice and if you don’t feel right about your choice, move on until you finds a good one.

Acodez IT Solutions is a web designing company based in India serving the needs of clients from the country and abroad. We have an experienced team of web designers to make innovative and creative websites that can create a strong customer base for your company. With our expertise, also in the field of inbound marketing services and mobile app development, we deliver nothing but the best results. For more details contact us today.