It takes around 0.05 seconds for visitors to form an opinion about your site. This proves how essential a well-designed website is otherwise prospects won’t invest their time or money in your product. Because of this, it’s crucial to hire a professional to guide you throughout the process and ensure you prioritize user experience.
When choosing website designers, it’s crucial to assess their portfolio, expertise, and ability to align with your specific project needs. Engaging a consultant in web design could help you navigate this decision, ensuring you select designers who can effectively translate your vision into a successful website.
Stumped while picking the right person to ensure that your website design will be professionally handled? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Here are seven factors to consider while choosing a web designer.
1. Determine Their Credibility
Before comparing designer fees, the web designer must be credible. It’s wise to visit their office to check their certifications, awards, and whether their websites have received any recognition.
Ask the web designer how long they’ve been providing their services. Regardless of whether you’re touching up your website’s design or starting from scratch, a reputable web designer should have worked with a few clients in the past.
A fantastic way to glean their experience is by checking their portfolio. Although eye-catching design is always great, make sure they also focus on a user-centered design because that’s the key to landing more customers.
The web designer should be familiar with the latest industry trends and this should be reflected in their design approach and development process.
You should also check their portfolio to see whether they’ve worked on similar projects to yours. A well-established web designer will be happy to share their extensive portfolio which proves they’re confident about their work.
Don’t be afraid to visit the sites they’ve designed to see whether it reflects your company’s ideal website. And if you don’t see anything you like then they’re not the web designer for you.
2. Offers Responsive Designs
Around 61% of users will never return to a website that isn’t mobile-friendly.
The web designer must know how to optimize your website for every device otherwise you’ll miss out on valuable customers. Ask them whether they have experience building mobile-friendly sites and if they can do it for yours. If not, find a web designer who can.
3. Read Online Reviews
Aside from managing Google reviews, established web designers should have references and reviews either on social media or their website. Before the meeting, contact their customers directly and ask whether they were easy to work with, if they met deadlines, and if they did everything that the client envisioned.
But remember, overly positive reviews could be from fake accounts whereas negative ones could be from vengeful ex-employees. Decide which comments seem legitimate and use that to determine whether they’re a good web designer to work with.
4. Consider Their Expertise
Reputable web designers understand how important a robust digital marketing strategy is and they should have experience with it. Consider their longevity because you want a web designer who can adapt to the rapid changes in technology.
Ask whether they know about SEO and SEM then see if they’ve applied this knowledge either to grow their site or their clients’. Make sure that they’ve worked with both paid and organic results as these are both key to a website’s visibility.
Further, web designers must be familiar with popular content management systems (CMS) like WordPress otherwise you’ll have to contact web developers whenever you want to update your site.
5. If They Offer Support and Maintenance
Excellent web designers know that websites are never stagnant, they often need tweaking even after they’ve launched.
This is crucial because it lets you stay up-to-date with the latest trends in digital marketing so you can expand your reach.
Before signing a contract, ask them about the support they offer. Web designers should help you set up an email and inform you about security or software updates so you can integrate new features. Ideally, they should offer support out-of-hours and be responsible should a problem arise.
6. Consider Pricing and Payment
One of the most important factors is the web designer’s pricing range. Compare several so you can see what’s included in their payment plans and packages. For instance, many web designers prefer a 50% down payment whereas others ask for you to pay in increments.
Although a cheaper option is more appealing, note that the quality of the work won’t be as great. Take time to discuss with multiple web designers and find one that has an example of a design that best aligns with your company’s needs.
7. Listen to Their Ideas
Web designers are experts in their field so they should have ideas about how to build your website and share exciting options with you. Saying that, they must listen to your thoughts because you’re specialized in your industry, you understand your product, and you know how to sell it to customers.
Reputable web designers should take note of your ideas and figure out how to incorporate them into your design. If they don’t take your ideas on board then they’re not worth your time or money.
That’s Everything to Know About Picking Website Designers
Now you know what to consider when you’re picking website designers.
You must have a clear budget and an understanding of what you want before meeting multiple designers. Before sealing the deal, check out their customers’ reviews, portfolio, and make sure they have the expertise to do a fantastic job. Avoid choosing the cheapest option, go with the designer who offers a fair deal and support along the way. Good luck!
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