4 Common Mistakes Made When Hiring A Web Designer

You are ready to have a website built for your company and have decided to take the step of hiring a professional, smart decision! Your website is a cornerstone of your marketing efforts and should be a well-thought-out tool to share your product or service and attract clients. Many business owners make some common mistakes when hiring a web designer. Make sure that you avoid these errors when searching for the perfect web design company.

Hiring Based on Price

Typically, businesses have a budget for their web design project and the easiest way to compare is based on price. Like many things, not all web designers are created equal. Go into the hiring process with an idea of what you need your website to do for your business and make sure that you are finding a company that can deliver on your goals. A website design project requires a lot of communication so make sure you like the people you hire as you will be working closely together on your project.

Not Knowing the Cost and Process of Maintenance

 A website is not a project that is completed and then never touched again. There are continuous updates that are needed to maintain usability and even more important, security. As the website owner you need to know the process of maintaining your site and the cost to either do it yourself or the cost to secure a maintenance package with your web designer. Once you have a professional website created, we always recommend an ongoing maintenance package to our clients. Updates come out frequently and often a new update creates little tasks that can take a novice user a ton of time to complete, while your expert web designer will be able to fix quickly and efficiently so your customers do not experience any issues.

No Content Management System

 Unless you will never need to do anything with your website, you will need a user-friendly content management system. Some well-known CMS systems are WordPress and Expression Engine. A CMS allows a user to make changes to the website in a user- friendly platform. If you want to add a blog post or change a phone number, you can do it within your CMS without needing a vast amount of web design knowledge.

Not Doing Your Research

As with any service you hire you should do your research. Not only should you look for a company who can help you achieve your website goals, you should look into past work, client recommendations and their own site. Any reputable web design company will be able to share a portfolio of their work with you. Spend some time navigating those sites for usability and how you enjoy the site as a customer. You should also ask for recommendations/testimonials from past clients that speak to the process of working with their company. Finally, take a look at their own website, this is another great place to navigate around and see how you like their aesthetic, navigation and usability of a site.

It is best to hire your web designer before you are at an emergency point with your site. Good design does not happen overnight, and you will be able to enjoy a smooth process if you have allowed enough time for the project. Start the conversation early with your chosen designer and use our list of common mistakes to navigate the hiring process.