Seven Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Website Designer

Your company’s website is the public window into what your brand offers. Equivalent in nature to window shopping, it conveys an image to the world, and you have approximately 15 seconds or less to grab a visitor’s interest before they decide to move on or wander in (scroll down). 

The purpose of website design is to create the perfect user experience that draws your site visitors in and gets them curious to know more, eventually leading to a high conversion rate by providing them with a targeted online encounter to meet the consumer’s needs.

Keeping this in mind, your investment in a website designer is one of the most crucial investments you can make when creating your marketing strategy. The last thing you want to do is hire someone who does not understand you or your customers, spend months of time and thousands of dollars preparing your website to launch, and then find that you hate your designer’s work. 

Asking the following questions before you enter into a contract will help you avoid website launch surprises and ensure you have the best website design services available

Is the Website Designer Local?

Unless you want to spend hours videoconferencing or risk major time-wasting miscommunications, you need to have your website design services, for example, in Atlanta, if that’s where your business is. 

That way, you can have in-person meetings to ensure you are both on the same page. Your website designer’s job is to make visible your vision, and face-to-face meetings often facilitate more precise communication. 

Do You Already Know Someone?

You may already know someone who can help you with your vision, and the familiarity you have is a head start to making your goals clear. If you already know a web designer in Atlanta, give them a call to see if they are a good fit for your company. Using your network first is a great way to participate in community-based business building and helps develop lasting relationships that are useful to everyone involved.

Do You Understand Your Goals?

It is important to really understand the purpose of your website. In most cases, the general purpose is to generate more money for your company, but it usually goes much deeper than that. 

Before even setting out to find website design locally, it may be a good idea to sit and write down a list of goals for your company’s website. If you have already started looking for a designer, then are they able to help you understand your goals?

Does the Website Designer Understand Your Goals?

If your wires are crossed here, they will be impossible to untangle from this point forward. Make sure your goals are clear to both you and your web designer. As mentioned in item number three, you may have such good chemistry with the website designer you are considering that they could help you understand your goals better. Use this as a resource even if you choose a different designer in the end.

Does the Web Designer Have a Full Marketing Team?

You may already have your brand identity fully hashed out and a marketing team that you love. Regardless, it is nice to have a website designer that understands not only the aesthetic value of a website but also the marketing value. Yes, you want your website to be pleasant to use and look at, but you also want it to be part of your revenue-generating strategy.

What Is The Cost?

Website design services often end up costing more than planned, especially since you are not a professional designer and thus cannot possibly know every intricacy of what you need upfront. 

When a designer gives you an estimate, it is based on the quality of the information you provided and the information they gathered about what you need. Make sure you are both very clear about what you expect, and what they are offering.

What Are The Policies Regarding Price Changes?

You do not want to go through all the rounds of your web development only to get a bill much larger than expected in the end. Make sure you know what to expect regarding communication if something you ask for changes the final price of services rendered. 

Final Thoughts

The best website design services understand that your business has unique needs and goals, and they will cater to your exact specifications. Communication and chemistry are essential when it comes to website design because your designer is responsible for bringing out your brand identity for the whole world to see.

When looking for website design locally, for example, one in Atlanta, or even elsewhere, make sure you understand your designer, and they understand your brand. When you can build a relationship that reflects your business, you can be confident that your designer will develop a website that reflects the same.