How To Choose a Web Designer
When starting your business, planning an event or building a brand the #1 questions is; how do I choose the best website designer? Well, we’re here to give you some core tips to answer that question and enable you to find a designer that fits your needs. We hope you choose us for your site however we understand that everyone has unique needs and our #1 goal is to make get you to the finish line.
Let’s get started.
Choosing the right designer can be a tricky process. The internet is full of web designers worldwide ranging from startup one-man-brands to established award-winning agencies. Some designers have single service platforms to provide more focus on each client while others offer a plethora of services as add-ons. Here at community design co., we offer a range of services but our main goal is getting your business online with a new or refreshed website. Searching on Google’s 1.8 million results for website designers can be extremely overwhelming. Do you choose the more established agency or take a risk and go with a new designer with fresh ideas? Which partner at the agency will give you the results your looking for? Not to mention the costs and hassle of redos.
Okay, okay, we’ve scared you enough. Here are some tips to help you make the right choice.
WHAT IS WEB DESIGN AND WHAT DO WEB DESIGNERS DO?
Before you begin choosing a web designer its best to understand exactly what they do so you know what to look for. Although referred to as ‘designers’, web design is not all about graphics and color palettes. Of course, aesthetics and building a website that looks great plays a principal role in web design, but that’s only one part of a multifaceted, specialist service that aims to support your whole business online.
A website that looks great is only one part of a multifaceted, specialist service that aims to support your whole business online
WEB DESIGNER VERSUS WEB DEVELOPER
Web designers have the technical knowledge and skills to build websites with UI (user-friendly) layouts, mobile responsive, secure and optimized for search engines. The great thing about using Squarespace via Community Design Co? Your site is already optimized for search engines. A good web designer will also strategically design sites to guide people through the buying process, and ensure sites connect seamlessly with other online marketing channels such as social media and e-mail.
With the all-encompassing nature of designing a website, some agencies split the task across two roles – a web designer to do the visual, graphic design, and a web developer to do the technical coding and building of the website. Having said that, most web designers have web development skills, and in some agencies, the whole process of design and development may be managed by one super talented person. This can also depend on if the agency specializes in specific web platforms like how we specialize in Squarespace site design. Using Squarespace means coding is kept to a minimum - allowing you to manage your site after launch without having any coding knowledge at all.
TIPS FOR CHOOSING THE RIGHT WEB DESIGN AGENCY
1. What’s your budget?
Before you start approaching web designers, it’s important to establish a basic budget so you’ll know what you can afford. As we mentioned before, there are a lot of choices and each designers pricing can vary. Many designers won’t publish pricing on their sites, so you will need to approach them with an outline of your initial requirements to get a cost indication. If you get a price that is out of your range, you can always discuss how to scale back your project to get a more achievable price point. It’s important to manage your expectations though and bear in mind good, fast and cheap will yield different results. Even the best web designers will only be able to deliver on two of these aspects in one project, so decide on your priorities.
If you are planning to hire us, we promise a transparent process from beginning to end from pricing packages to helping you build a custom package for your needs. You can always schedule a free consultation if you are unsure.
2. What are you website requirements?
The next thing you need to do is decide what your business needs are to determine if they align with your budget. Do you need an e-commerce site to sell goods & services? Do you want to allow online bookings requiring a scheduling add-on? How many pages do you need for your site? If you have lots of products, how would you like to organize them and are they being imported from another platform? etc. etc. You can do some competitor benchmarking for inspiration or look at similar businesses. This may seem a little daunting, but don’t worry, a good web design agency will help you through this process as getting the brief right from the get-go will ultimately save money and get you better results. This is a process we can discuss during a free consultation.
3. Where can I get referrals?
Don’t be afraid to ask for referrals from friends and family. They may know of a web designer as it can be good to work with someone with a proven track record. You can also talk to other local businesses too to see who they use. Browse the internet for websites that you like the look of or check out some of our demo sites here. Most designers will be credited in the footer of a site with a link back so you can find their details quickly and easily.
4. Do they have a portfolio or demos?
Some design agencies will have a web design portfolio of previous work on their websites, so you can browse and see if you like their work. Look out for ideas or approaches that you like and see if you recognize any of the brands/businesses featured. Click through and browse around the previous client’s site to see how it feels as a user too. Remember that not all aspects of a site may work for you so be sure to take notes of your likes and dislikes.
A good web designer will build a site that’s tailored to your brand requirements, so look for variety in their designs. If everything looks same-same, then you’ll get the same-same too.
5. Ready to give them a call or email?
Now that you’ve gotten a general idea of how to begin, there’s no better way to get to know a business than to simply get in touch. Pick up the phone or drop them an email. What vibe do you get? How’s their customer service? Do they seem like people you could work with? If you get all the good feels after your initial contact, follow up with a video call to get to know them better and discuss your needs in more detail.
6. What is the balanced approach?
All web designers know how to make an attractive design, but not all will have the skills and experience to consider the overall bigger picture. Your website is the pinnacle of all your online marketing (and even sometimes your offline marketing too). Your site needs to work together with multiple elements from search engines to social media to ultimately drive sales and traffic. So it’s important to look for a web designer that has a strong understanding of the overall process or who can connect you with a marketing manager. The best designer is one that can support your business online – not simply build a website. This looks like- offering site maintenance plans, revamps, refresh services, etc.
Searching for a web designer?
You’ve reviewed our quick tips to help you choose the right web designer for your business.
Now, if you need some inspiration, check out some of our websites now. At Community Design Co., we pride ourselves on our transparent and affordable approach to web design. We provide a custom approach to web design for each client, ensuring that our sites are user-friendly, fast, well maintained and hosted securely. One of our recent site redesign projects resulted in a 250% increase in conversion rate!
If you’d like to know more about how we can support your business online, get in touch with the web design team today.
