It is no doubt very difficult and time consuming to find the great web designer to get the job ready for you in a well-timed manner, and there are ample of people who are ready to con you.
Find a great web designer
Here are 14 tips for you to educate yourself, so that you are aware what to look and ask for, when in the hunt for choosing the right web designer for your website design project.
1. Find Great Web Designer – Determine your requirements
Look out for your competitor’s websites. Establish some examples to suit your needs and desires. Identify what you want. This is particularly helpful when it comes to cutting down the cost.
2. Set up a budget
Make certain that you communicate your decided budget to your web designer so that he makes sure that he does not exceed a certain amount. A skilled designer or developer will be able to analyze the project and compare it with the budget. If required he/she is going to advise you whether the budget you have set is realistic or not to build your dream project at the given price.
3. Pick out all the potential web designers
When you are clear in your mind what you want and have decided upon the budget the next step is to shortlist all the prospective web designers. Having many options is very helpful in choosing the best.
4. Refer to their portfolio and references
It is very helpful if your web designer has formerly worked in your industry. However a well informed designer just needs few examples like some links to sites which relate to your website design, and they will very well know how to connect that into something similar. For the same reason many web designers charge high, because they are capable enough to grasp your idea concisely and get to the final product swiftly.
This in turn is also helpful in cutting down all the revision phases which directly saves a lot of time too. This creativity not all ordinary web designers have, at the time of interview ask them how long will it take for them to acquire to the finished product.
5. Establish a timeline
You for sure wish to get your project done sooner rather than later. Many times a web designer may call for few months to complete a project. This is actually not bad. This depicts that they are in demand for their decent work. If you require your website up and running by a certain date, incorporate a bonus for timely completion and launch.
6. Inquiring about the hosting cost
Designing and developing a website don’t come into hosting a website. Some designers/developers go for it but many don’t. The idea is going cheap is not always the best option. If your site goes down or is hacked you are definitely going to require the support. So choosing to go cheap will in turn give you cheap service. And am sure that’s the last thing that you are going to opt for.
7. Create a budget for photographs
Usually it’s the client who is accountable to supply the photographs concerning to their products and services. If you cannot find it on the web, then the option left is to buy stock photos. Set a budget for the same in advance. Designers are in charge for graphics: icons, banners, backgrounds, buttons, images that can be produced by Photoshop and Illustrator, not from a camera.
8. Ask for enduring webmaster fees
Don’t assume that your web developer will post blogs and make required changes without charging any fee. They usually charge hourly rate for it. The substitutes for this are either doing it yourself or ask your employ to do it for you. Many designers even provide you with tutorial videos. It’s advisable to ask them in prior about how to for managing your site in future.
9. Don’t limit your search locally
Your search should go for hundreds if not thousands of miles away. Don’t limit it till your hometown only. People usually go for it because they want face to face communications or they are afraid of being conned. The primary issue you would like to address is faith, reliability and professionalism. If your designer possesses all the three elements it shouldn’t subject where they are located, because at the end of the day, they will get the job done.
10. Search for Great Web Designer – Don’t go for freelancers
No doubt free lancers are cheap, but with that you are going to avail cheap product or customer experience when working with one. Freelancers will work for you only when they have time for it. This means that they don’t set up a priority lists. Whenever they find it convenient than only they will undertake your project, which in turn will require a good money to be paid. Hence this is the reason why they are too flaky and its tuff to get a hold of them.
It’s great to work with a team of, a project leader/manager, a designer and a developer. Their work is split into departments, which helps in getting it done smoothly and rapidly. There is a project manager which communicates with his clients, a web designer to take care of the website design, and a web developer to build the site through coding. Interacting with a team of experts is more beneficial as they work in an organized manner.
Think yourself EXTREMELY lucky if you have discovered a talented, consistent, and professional freelancer, because they are exceptionally rare to find. Treat those FREELANCERS well to sustain good business relations.
11. Check potential designer/developer on their expectation, integrity and professionalism level
You can observe any things about a web designer during the interview time:
Here’s what needs to be done:
- Ask them to make a conference call, set date and time. Now check if he/she is on time or not for the meeting, or they are late. And if they are going to be late do they call and inform prior to the appointment or call for rescheduling the meeting.
- Ask them to do a small task for you: for example ask them to submit their work at a particular deadline, and watch if they do it on time or not.
- Ask them to give you a call at an exact date and time. See if they do it or not.
If a designer doesn’t perform any of these three tasks, than it’s not wise have a contract with them. You cannot trust them to finish off your project in a timely manner if they can’t do any of one these three simple tasks described in the above? So be smart because one wrong decision will let down your entire business in just one go.
12) Anticipate making a deposit
An experienced designer or developer will surely hope for an advance payment of their service, it gives an assurance that the client will obligate the project and not walk away in mid of the project work, leaving the designer to sustain all the expenses and loss. On the other hand it is even a business custom to be followed by everyone.
13) Get it in writing
Establish a proper contract in writing, so that the scope is certain, schedules of payment is cleared, milestones are defined etc. these small details cause a lot bigger issues down the line if it not clearly understood and mentioned in writing by both the parties.
14) Be a good client
If you hope to work with a professional and talented designer, you have to convince him that you are a good client too. What are the responsibilities of a good client: provide them with their comments on due time, be available on meeting as decided by them and not blow it off at the last minute. Pay them on time. Give them appreciation if you think that the work is great and things are going according to your expectations.
You can even show your appreciation in the form of a referral, a bonus, thank-you card/letter or a great testimonial. All this will help in sustaining good relations with your web designer and will boost them up to complete the entire web development project with utmost zeal and enthusiasm.
So here are the steps which will not only help you in hiring a great web designer but also will help you in conducting your entire project work efficiently.
