In search of a good web designer

When choosing a designer, you should think about whether you want to work side by side or if you can telecommute and communicate by phone. Some factors to consider when hiring a website designer are:

Do they ask you a lot of questions about your business? They should be interested in knowing more about your business. Since they will be designing a website that represents their brand, they should take the time to get to know you better.

Visit the sites they have created to see if they are your type of designs. Do they all have a particular feel or are they flexible in their designs too?

Ask them if they did everything from programming to actual design to graphic work.

If they don’t do graphic work, ask if they can recommend a graphic artist for you.

Do they follow a process that is well planned and that brings you everything through the design phase? Will they keep a record of the things that were discussed and decided?

Are you familiar with SEO and internet marketing? Make sure the site they are building can meet their most important business and marketing needs. (A visually appealing website is useless if it doesn’t generate income.)

Ask about the designer’s fees, including the estimated price of the site they will create. However, you should first analyze the features and content that you like so that they can provide a good estimate. It would certainly cost more to include autoresponders, a blog, email address setup, logo design, membership site, newsletter, SEO, or shopping cart (or if you have multiple web pages).

Ask about billing. Do you have to give a deposit? Will you get an invoice every month or upon reaching certain milestones?

Check to see if they will stay within your budget or suggest plugins that will increase the price of your website. Always keep in mind that you are responsible for your budget and not the designers.

Visit some of their past and present clients and ask about the process. You want to hire someone with good communication and project management skills. They should pay attention to what you like and not just give you advice. In addition, they must communicate with you in a timely manner through emails and phone calls.

Will they continue to maintain your site even after creating it and how much will it cost? There are designers who just want to create websites, but they don’t maintain them. If you want to keep it for a lower price, you can hire a virtual assistant or virtual assistant to do the job, as long as you have website programming skills. Learn about the types of programming used on your site. This way, it would be easier to find someone to update it.