How to Contract a Web Designer

Factors and information to help you find your perfect web designer or web design company.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. There are many ways to go about finding a web design company or web designer: the phone book, online searches, ads you’ve seen on TV or out on the streets and of course a friend’s referral. The easy part is finding unlimited resources, the hard part is discovering the right company or designer for you and your website needs.
   
   Before you put the pedal to the metal and go out willy-nilly searching for the ultimate designer, there are a few key items that you should already in hand, before making the first move in contacting a potential designer or design company.
   
   1. Do you know who your target audience is?
   
   Knowing who your website is targeting will help not only sell your products or service better, but will also help the designer layout and design the proper look and feel for your site. For example, if your site is targeting businesses or business executives your site may be more structured, text/fact based with not a lot of bells and whistles. If on the other hand your site is targeting a younger generation of hipsters (lets say those interested in the music or entertainment industries) then your site may be flashy with lots of bells and whistles to attract their attention more than just stating the bland facts about your company or services.

2. 2. What products and/or services will you be selling or offering? What purpose will your site serve?
   
   Most websites are hubs for promoting products and services online. Knowing what products you’d like to sell or services you’d like to offer, will give you a general idea of what type of website you need to have built. Knowing a little bit about the coding behind the design of your site, (or at the very least a basic understanding of what type of code is needed to get the job done), will help you find the designer you need the most. Most designers have an area of expertise (and some are jacks-of-all-codes), so knowing whether your site needs to be built primarily in HTML, Flash, CMS, CSS, PHP or a mixture of everything will help you narrow down your search to more specific designers and design companies. Having a basic idea of what type of site you want (ecommerce, personal, etc.), will also help the designer not only know what code he/she needs to be proficient in, but how to layout and design your site effectively. Also, if you want your site to be search engine friendly (SEO compliant) or accessible (to those with impairments) you may have to hire a separate company or specialist that deals strictly in those areas.

3. 3. How do you want your site to look and feel?
   
   Having a basic floor plan or idea of how you want your site to look and feel will help strengthen the relationship between you and the designer. This also ties in with knowing who your target audience is, as most sites are designed with a specific market in mind. Designers love it when their clients know exactly what they want and how they want it done, but most also like a bit of creative leeway and freedom in the design department. So, before you start looking for a designer, have a basic idea of what color combinations you like the best, what images you’d like to use and where you’d like to use them, what fonts you think would work best, etc. You may also have to hire a separate designer to design your official logo or brand, if you don’t have one already made. In most cases websites are carried over from your print materials and pre-existing brands (if you have them), such as letter heads, business cards, promotional materials, and other printed matter. (Sometimes, the opposite happens and your print branding is based off of your website design). Either way, websites and printed matter generally go hand in hand. If you’re starting from scratch, but have an example of a pre-existing website, photograph, or template that you’d like to see your own site parallel (or mimic) be sure to send it to the designer right off the bat. Having a basic idea of what you’re looking for will help the designer design the perfect website for you.

4. 4. Do you have all the content for your website (images, text and bells in whistles) in hand?
   
   Though it’s the designer’s job to make your site function and look its best, you’re responsible for providing the designer with everything he/she needs to get the job done. So, before contacting a designer make sure you have all the content of your site ready to go - that includes everything from the body text to images to videos to blogs, etc. At the very least have the text portion ready to go, the designer can always help with additional content as needed (and may even be able to provide cheap and reliable services to boot). Having everything ready for the designer before even contacting him/her will also speed up the design process and get your site posted to the World Wide Web faster!

5. 5. What type of designer do you want and who can you afford?
   
   Knowing what type of designer you need, whether it is a seasoned professional, a recent graduate, a freelancer, a student or a hobbyist will also help you narrow your search AND more importantly will go hand-in-hand with your budget. If you have a big budget and want the best of the best, then you’re more likely to opt for a seasoned professional. If you have a moderate to low budget and still want the best of the best, you’ll probably opt for an experienced freelancer. And if you have a very slim budget or no budget at all you’ll probably opt for a recent graduate, a student or a hobbyist (but as the saying goes, sometimes “you get what you pay for”). Also, you may need to look for very specific designers or design companies based on what your site needs – CMS, HTML, Flash, e-commerce, SEO, logo/branding design, etc.

6. 6. What is your proposed timeline for the project’s completion?
   
   Every designer and design company is different, and each will offer a different turnaround time. Some maybe able to knock off your site in the matter of days and others may not be able to complete it for months (but hopefully it won’t take them years!). Having a pre-determined idea of when you’d like your website fully completed by will also help you narrow your search for a designer. If you have a product coming out on a specific day (lets say Christmas for example’s sake) then you may want your website completed by Dec. 1st so you have time to promote the new product coming out, etc. Even if you don’t have a product or service to push right away, it is still a good idea to give the designer a timeline or project deadline to keep them on the right track.

Tips & Warnings

• Before you begin your hunt for the ultimate web designer or Design Company, keep in mind the following important and often overlooked factor: Do your research first!
• Know what product/service you want to offer, who you are offering it to, how you want to sell it via your website and what is needed to make your website functional, beautiful and compliant will in the end lead you to falling into the hands of your perfect designer!

[tmarieb]

on 9/27/2009 Very Good Article.

[debbie36]

on 4/12/2009 Excellent advice! You really do need to understand what the purpose of your website is, who you want to reach, and what action you want your audience to take when visiting your site. Thanks for writing such a good article :)