Let me just share with you what I do whenever I hear about a new restaurant or a new shop in the city. I’d be like, “I don’t want to waste my time on something not worth it”. Being the kind of meticulous consumer that I am, I look up that certain shop or restaurant first on the web before paying a visit.
And every time I don’t see an active web page of those shops and restaurants, I’d feel disappointed because I want to check out their products and their respective prices. For me it’s just useful because for instance, I don’t want to take too much time weighing in the options in a restaurant’s menu. When I step inside, I want to make sure I already know what I want.
Wait, hang on there, folks—there’s a whole lot take-home point in this story that would make a lot of sense. Times have changed and consumers these days hope to get to know more about a brand before making a purchase. Of course, in the past, consumers wanted the same thing. But now, it’s different in a way that there are lots of information available online including reviews, buying guides, and blog posts in various forms of multimedia content. Perhaps, this is one reason why consumers like me have become more meticulous than before.
The lesson is this: Consumers would become more interested about brands they could get to know more about. Usually, these are the brands that have an active online presence. So, what does that mean for you if you’re an entrepreneur or ‘wanna-preneur’? Almost every business now has a website. There are even blogs about odd jobs or odd interests. You’ll never want to get left behind especially if your target market is comprised by individuals who rely on information online!
Finding the Right Web Designer for Your Project
Of course, you can always build your own website. There are lots of templates you can choose from web-hosting platforms. You can even use some for free. And if you have some web design knowledge, go ahead and build your website from scratch.
But either of that is time-consuming. You can’t afford spending much time building a website when you should focus on running your business. Besides, if you only have a budget, pooling candidates and picking the right one among web design experts is a wise choice. Why is that so?
First of all, if you will be using a pre-created template for your website, it might include features that you don’t really need. It might not be perfectly suited for your brand identity. Also, working on the website on your own, you might not fully maximize your marketing potentials, whereas, a great web design company can strategically match your website with SEO and social media marketing techniques that would benefit your business.
When you work with an ideal web designer, you have full control on the design and creation process. As a client, you always have the final say. Because it is a fully customized website built from scratch by an expert web designer, you have better chances of coming up with something that suits your brand well—something that would be functional, user-friendly, and visually pleasing to your target market. Do you still find it challenging to decide whether you should DIY web design or hire a professional? Read this article.
That being said, you’ll want to find the best web designer for your website or any project for that matter. Remember, it’s one of your biggest marketing investments. So, choosing the best creatives for your website is crucial. How can you do that?
- Review your brand, your target market and your goals.
What are the needs of your target market? What are your goals for the project? Of course, if your business is already up and running, you have clearly defined the things related to those. But now that you want to come up with a website that can serve as your virtual business location, you need to take a serious look at those things again.
Doing so will give you a better idea of how you want your website to look like—what features you want to include, the content you want to publish, the tools you want to use, and the overall design that would help users to easily navigate their way through the site.
- That website you fell in love with? Find out who the designer was!
Because, the designer behind that website you like so much might just be the right one for your project. The fact that you love his work means that he has the potential to pass your standards or even exceed your expectations. So, find out who the creator was so that you have a strong candidate in mind.
- Pool several candidates and review their portfolio.
You can search qualified candidates among web design firms and independent contractors. When pooling potential candidates, take a look at their portfolio and determine whether they could give you an accurate estimate of how much the project would cost and how long would be the reasonable timeline. And oh, don’t be afraid to ask these essential questions: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/william-a-beachy/13-essential-questions-to_b_5453856.html
When checking out their portfolio, don’t just let those pictures impress you. Visit the actual website and check the features, content, functionality and user-friendliness of the site. For every marketing campaign, content is king. So, go for a web design professional who knows how to reel site visitors in.
- Communicate your goals effectively.
When communicating with your chosen candidates, be upfront with what you want—don’t let them do some guesswork, otherwise, you’ll likely reject their proposed ideas later on. Ask them what specific steps they would do to implement your ideas in the design and creation process of the website. This will help you narrow down your choices into the most ideal designer who can deliver the results you’re aiming for.
If your business doesn’t have a website yet, it’s about time you launch one. Building it on your own is fine, but hiring a more qualified professional specializing in web design is your best option.
