Top 8 Tips for Selecting the Best Web Designer for Your Business Website
Goes without saying, your business website is a virtual window opening right inside your office. So, all the people visiting your website are glancing into your office, taking a glimpse at your business environment, worth ethics, customer dealing, etc. In a nutshell, your website plays an immense role in making an impression on the visitor. You lose that impact, you lose your visitor.
With the importance of websites maintained, let’s talk about how to build it in the first place. You are probably going to hire the services of a web designer from a branding agency, Dubai or USA based, if you are a multinational giant in the industry. Or, you are going to outsource the work to an individual website designer, qualified and skilled in the art. Whatever the case may be, you must invest good time and judgment in selecting a web designer for your business website. Since he/she is going to open that virtual window into your office, better make sure he presents an accurate and impressive view.
Here are some ways which can help you get to the right, golden egg website designer for your company.
- List Your Objectives Clearly
Before setting out on your web designer hunt, you must yourself know what you’re looking for. Clearly put down your expectations, goals, and feedback mechanism in writing. Then, either you can trace back the web designers of your competitor websites and approach their social circles, or advertise your goals and expectations in a brief. But being fully aware of what you want to achieve through the website is critical information that must come from your end.
Websites serve different aims for different businesses. For example:
- An e-commerce website wants returns on investments (ROI), conversion sales, and constructing and managing a customer base more than anything else.
- If you are launching a new company/business idea in the market, then your website needs to market the brand. Marketing includes building a lasting impression on customer and providing information about the products and services. You must also expect the web designer to plan to increase your visibility in the market.
- Explain Your Cost VS Value
After you’ve stumbled upon someone who is willing and capable of achieving the set goals for your website, the second thing that falls in line is discussing the budget. Like everything, the budget of website designing resonates with “You get what you pay for”. Setting on a budget can be tough business when it comes to hiring a web designer. You don’t want to save a couple of dollars at the risk of running an unkempt website. That would be a bad start and would only get worse from there.
So, to come to a reasonable budget for your business website, take a look at your advertisement costs in the past year or past five years. Compare this expenditure with the cost of the web designer you’re about to hire. And then come to a conclusion after you’ve seen his past work’s worth and the value they generated; not money, value.
- Don’t Fall for ‘Years of Experience’
It is entirely possible that a web designer who has been in practice for the past many years is still relying on outdated technology and techniques in his work. So don’t just track apparent records and history, track impactful records. One way of doing it is asking the designer for client testimonials, performance data, or case studies related to your work within your industry.
- Communicate and Learn
‘Communicate and Lean’, not ‘Discuss and Learn’. Well, for a reason. In discussion, you share your opinions as well as the other person’s. By communication, we mean get to learn the professional mindset of the web designer before you have invested in him/her. It’s highly important that you know why your web designer makes certain suggestions and how he plans to implement them.
Ask the web designer questions about his procedure, the technologies and methodologies they choose to use, and their rationale behind certain recommendations. You mustn’t be in the dark about a single component of the web project. It is the web designer’s job to explain the pros and cons of each of his/her actions before putting them to effect.
- Notice The Designer’s Questions
Funnily enough, a good judgment about someone’s in-depth information on website design can be made upon the information they ask for. If it comes to that, after meeting a dozen designers you will easily be able to pinpoint when a designer is asking the right questions about your business. Also, this tells you whether the designer has good insight into the field or he’s just another person making money through you.
- Recognize Content is Your Problem
No doubt, the aesthetics, art, and appearance of the website are part of its impressiveness. However, they come secondary to the content on the website. The outlook will probably go through many changes over the years, but if your content base is not strong, you’re making a wrong investment.
A skilled web designer will suggest working on your website content from day 1. The copywriting and content provided by the web designer’s team has to be plenty and filling. Even if the web designer is no offering content providing services, he should attempt to get to know your content providers before taking up the job. However, if the designer is putting art before content, he/she is not the one.
- Meet the Team
If you are rendering the services of a web design and development agency, you will probably be assigned an entire team rather than just a designer. Your team will include a web designer (of course), content writer, graphic designer, SEO technician, etc. Meet each of them in person and discuss your expectations from the website with them together. See how well coordinated they are.
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- Finalize the Feedback Mechanism
One essential thing about running websites is attaining feedback and evaluations. That’s the only way of knowing the amount of effort your web designer is putting in. So, be clear on how he will be gathering and providing you feedback.
Also, it’s wise to demand some control of the website. Having a CMS set up in your website by the web designer will hand you over direct access to all the information and editing tools.