Finding the right web designer for your small business is vital to creating an online presence. If you have little experience searching for and hiring a web designer, it can be challenging to know where to begin.
You need to be able to find someone who can create the site you want and whose style fits with your brand. A web designer is an integral part of your team and should be considered as such.
This guide will walk you through some key things to consider when choosing a web designer and show you how we help our clients find their perfect match. There are many things to consider when hiring a web designer. We've compiled some essential points to help you find the right fit for your business.
1. Know Your Budget
As a business owner, you should know the value of your time. You will be delegating this project to someone else, so ensure they can do it right and quickly. If you are still looking for the right designer or agency, this can take months rather than weeks.
You should also know how much you can spend on this project. It's essential to have a budget in place so that you don't get sticker shock when talking with designers about their services.
Remember: budget is a critical factor in choosing a web designer. The size of your company and the services required will help determine how much money you'll have available for design work and maintenance over time.
2. Do Your Research And Read Online Reviews
Do your research and read online reviews.
Check if they have a blog. If so, check for articles that relate to the work you need to be done.
Check if they have a portfolio. Are their past clients happy with the result? Do their past clients recommend them? What are some of the common problems that arise from this type of work?
Check whether or not they have any social media presence (Facebook, Twitter, etc.). How many followers do they have, and what engagement rate is there? You can also search for people who can give you an honest review on Google+ Local or Foursquare (if applicable).
3. Check Out Their Portfolio
Once you've found a web designer, visiting their portfolio is essential. The quality of the websites they have designed will be a good indication of what kind of final product you can expect from them.
You will also want to see how many projects they have worked on; it may not be worth hiring if someone has yet to do one or two websites.
Your web designer should be able to give you an idea of what kind of website design services they offer, too—if they're building sites from scratch, that's one thing, but if they're also offering services like domain registration and hosting packages (among others), this could save you money later on down the line when buying those things separately wouldn't necessarily end up saving money at all!
Finally: make sure the portfolio is online so anyone can view it easily—printed portfolios are okay but not very convenient for people looking at them while standing in line at Starbucks!
Make sure the portfolio represents the type of work the web designer does. If they're a full-service agency, ensure their portfolio includes examples of website design and development; if they offer design services, ensure that all their samples are in this area.
4. Start By Looking at Their Portfolio
The next step is to look at the designer's portfolio. Look for a good balance of different projects; this will show you their versatility and experience in other areas.
Look for a good balance of different types of clients, too: if one client featured in their portfolio is a large blue-chip company, and another is an SME, they have experience designing sites like yours.
If you're looking for a web designer, ensure their portfolio contains website design and development examples. If they offer design services, look for examples of both types in their portfolio.
You should also check out the design styles being used by each site—this will give you an idea about what kind of designs are likely to appeal to your audience, as well as provide insight into how much time/effort might be required for you to create content that matches it.
Finally, look for evidence of any UI/UX design process being followed—anything from wireframes or prototypes to flowcharts showing how visitors interact with the site (and how these interactions relate around again).
5. Have a Clear Idea of Your Goals
A business goal could be "to increase sales by 10% in the first quarter of 2020." A personal goal might be "I want to learn how to use social media platforms to keep up with my friends and family."
If you want to increase sales by 10% in the first quarter of 2020, this goal needs to be broken down into smaller ones. For example, you could break it down into three actionable goals:
How can I make sure my website is optimized for search engines? (optimizing for search engines).
6. Look for the Right Personality
Once you've chosen a web designer, you must find someone whose personality fits yours. This is critical to ensuring that your business site reflects who you are and what your business stands for.
How do you find out if two people have a good personality fit?
Why is personality such an essential factor when choosing a web designer?
Because if you and your web designer don't get along, it will be much harder to work with them. You need someone easygoing, approachable and reliable. A good personality fit means you can talk easily and openly about deadlines, budgeting or project scope.
7. Find out What They Can Do With SEO
You may know that SEO is crucial to any website, but what exactly is it? Search engine optimization (SEO) is how you get your site to appear higher in organic search results.
It's important because if you don't have a good ranking, people won't be able to find you.
There are more subtle ways beyond keywords to help boost your SEO rankings.
User experience (UX) is one element that matters just as much as keyword density—if not more so when getting found by people searching for something relevant on Google or Bing.
This means optimizing everything from your home page layout and graphics design through how easy it is for users to navigate through each page of content on your site, all the way down to how easy it is for them to share content on social media channels like Facebook or Twitter without having first signed up for an account with you!
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