10 Tips For Working With a Professional Web Designer


Getting the best from your web designer is easy. I have worked as a web designer for over 12 years. Here are some insider tips to give you better value and better results when selecting who to work with.

1. Meet with your web designer early. Discussing the business through with a professional advisor can help you target areas and keyword terms for your industry that are searched for the most, and you can structure ideas for a site around what is technically possible. Good design agencies and web designers don't charge for a consultation, but remember to keep it brief.

2. Plan - Anything you do before engaging a web designer will help you. Start with 3 pages, Home, Products/Services, Contact, and build from there.

3. Communication - In person if possible. Working closely with a web designer, and someone that understands your objectives is important. Working remotely with a web designer is possible, and a telephone meeting or SKYPE video call is always available from good designers, but for the best results, having the opportunity to meet face to face, and discuss the process is always a very good use of time.

4. Find the best web designer you can afford. If you have unlimited budget, go to one of the top agencies. You will get great results. If you have a limited budget, or need better value you might consider a smaller company or freelance web designer. Often smaller companies work for the large companies, and manage the project, so you will be cutting out the middle man.

5. Budget - Be realistic with your budget. Share what your budget is, as an honest web designer will be able to advise what is possible. Asking for a random quote is likely to result in the web designer picking a ballpark which might be completely over what you are prepared to pay, or suggest a cheaper website that will be completely incapable of meeting your expectations. Better to ask. "I want ???.... what can I get for £££".

6. Experience - Hire someone with experience and examples that they can show you. Today it is very easy for anyone to call themselves a web designer and install a cheap template, going to someone with experience will often result in lots of extras such as snippets of free code that they have used on other sites, cutting edge search engine coding techniques, and of course a professional finish.

7. The Triangle - A:Cheap, B:Quality, C:Fast turnaround. Expecting all three is rarely possible. Choose your most important 2 from this list and use this as a basis of discussion with your web designer. If a company says that they can deliver all three, they are probably lying or unrealistic.

8. Start Small - Build a foundation for the future and let the site grow, don't do it all at once and expect it to be done forever straight away.

9. Building a Site is the START - Promotion is a marathon, and your domain authority, like your business reputation will take time to establish. Commit to putting time into the site regularly to maintain it and promote it, or allocate budget to a company to do this for you.

10. Support - Consider service and support. If you are confident with DNS (setting up domain names etc), or acquiring your own hosting this can save you money which you can invest elsewhere. If you are not confident doing this, choose a technical web designer who you are confident can solve technical problems as well as making your site look pretty.

 

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