You’re ready to start building a website for your business, but maybe you’ve never actually built a website before. A quality website takes time, skill, and knowledge to ensure it is designed to attract visitors and convert them into clients.
When you go to a website and the content, design, or layout of the site don’t catch your interest, you’re not going to stick around. The same goes for the visitors to your site. So to keep leads on your site, you have to give them a quality website experience that holds their attention.
These are several things that a web designer can help you with when planning, mocking up, and creating your professional site. Today, we’re going to talk about five things you should do when choosing a web designer for your site.
#1. Do Your Research
You will need to have the answers to the questions below when looking for the right web designer.
- How extensive will this project be?
- How many pages will your site need?
- Are there any specific features that you want on your website?
- Do you need help with SEO and copywriting, or just the design of your site?
- What’s your budget?
- What are some examples of websites that you like and don’t like? What elements do you like and which ones do you want to avoid?
Now you can start looking at your options. The first thing you should look at when considering potential web designers is their portfolio. Make sure to visit the actual sites they have featured in their case studies, don’t just look at the thumbnail or hero image they have featured.
Make sure to browse these websites on a computer as well as your phone. Pay attention to how fast the pages load (this is important for SEO). The speed at which the page loads will give you insight into the quality of the website. And make sure it is easy to navigate and understand the information you need quickly. If your experience is subpar – your website’s may be, too.
If there is something that you want that you don’t see in a portfolio, make a note of it and ask the designer if it is something they have experience with and can do. Their portfolios aren’t necessarily a comprehensive list of what they can and can’t do, so it always pays to ask.
#2. Find a Web Designer Who Will Communicate With You
It is standard to have an initial meeting to discuss your goals, how you want your website to look, and to go over your budget. But the conversation shouldn’t stop there. Throughout the process, your web designer should keep you updated and request feedback from you during the design process to ensure the project is on the right track.
No one knows your business better than you do. You know what you are selling and how to present it to your target market. So if a web design company won’t listen to you, they aren’t the right fit.
Your web designer should also offer up their own ideas in addition to your own. You want to work with someone confident and knowledgeable who isn’t afraid to present that knowledge to you to ensure that you get your dream website.
#3. Make Sure They Offer the Services You Need
If you don’t have copywriters, SEO experts, and marketers on staff, you will need a design agency to provide those services. Many full-service web design companies will have a marketing team that can assist with creating website content, optimizing SEO (search engine optimization), and helping you with branding, to name a few. If this is something you need, make sure to ask about it during your interview.
#4. Make Sure They Are Tech Savvy
While having a tech-savvy web designer may sound like a no-brainer, the designer you choose should know the most up-to-date best practices for creating user-friendly websites. And they should be committed to adding to their skills.
Make sure that, in the web designer’s portfolio, they include examples of responsive sites. A responsive site means that the website is optimized when accessed from any device. Not only does a responsive website improve user experience on every device they use, but Google has started ranking websites based on if they are responsive or not and has been using mobile-first indexing since mid-2019.
Also, make sure that your web designer designs your site in a content management system such as Drupal, Magento, or WordPress. If they do not, you will likely have to reach out to them every time you need to make an update to your site. If you want your designer to manage and maintain your site, this may be less of an issue for you, but either way, it’s ideal to have the tools to make changes on your own if you need to.
#5. Make Sure You Like Them
It’s essential to stay within your budget. The web designer’s portfolio is important. It is also important that they are knowledgeable. But the most important factor is that you actually like them!
If you hire someone you don’t initially get along with or like, you’re not going to want to work with them. And in the long run, your website will suffer. Find a web designer who gets what you are aiming for, is open and communicative with their ideas and their feedback on your ideas, can iterate on your feedback, and makes you feel like a priority.
Ready to Draw Leads That Convert? Call Kangomedia.
At KangoMedia, We design websites and digital marketing campaigns that convert website visitors into leads and paying customers so that you get a positive return on investment.
Clients that work with us often see dramatic results in the form of an increase in website leads, requests for quotes, service calls, and sales. Businesses choose to work with KangoMedia because of our focus on growing their business. We are more than a service provider, we are your partner in growth.
Give us a shout, and let’s talk about your business.