Hiring a professional website designer is one surefire way to get the website of your dreams. It’s also a decision you can’t afford to make hastily. Before you hire a website designer, here’s what you should know.
What Are Your Website’s Objectives?
The first thing to understand is the website’s aims and purpose. What is the purpose of your website? What is the nature of the website? Ecommerce sites, websites where individuals may provide advice and expertise to others, websites where users can schedule and check appointments, and websites where you offer information about products and services are some examples of the various types of websites.
Understanding the website’s objective provides insight into the functionality required for the site. Do you, for example, need to incorporate a shopping cart and payment options? This is something that every designer should be aware of.
Do You Have a General Style in Mind?
Let the designer know if you have a colour scheme or blog that you like. If you don’t, you’ll need to discuss styles and layouts with them. You’ll want to be sure you’re on the same page about the site’s look, feel, and functionality.
Budget is an essential factor for any business owner to consider when choosing a site designer. Some designers will offer payment plans, in which you pay a percentage of the total cost of the site as it is being developed. This is a good idea if the cost of the website is going to be a lot more than expected. A properly designed and produced website should cost you at least $1,000.
Websites are expensive to create because they take a long time to complete correctly. There are lots of people eager to do it for less, but the lower the cost of the site design service, the more likely it is that you will need to hire someone else to come in and rectify it. It’s the same as hiring a low-cost builder and then a professional. Another issue to think about is security. A skilled website design company will know how to appropriately safeguard and backup your website, providing you with peace of mind.
What Pages are Important to Your Website?
How many pages do you want on your website? What is the objective of each page? How much copy, or words, do you expect on each page?
These are just a few of the questions you should ask before approaching a web designer, who will almost certainly charge you by the hour to assist you in answering these concerns.
Again, the ideal strategy is to discover websites in your area that you enjoy and try to replicate (rather than duplicate) their structure to develop something comparable.
If you’re not sure how many pages you’ll need, start with the following five pages that your clients anticipate seeing:
- Home
- About
- FAQ
- Specifications for a product or service
- Contact
If the framework exists to support it, your website will be a fluid marketing channel for your firm, which means you may change it as time goes on to keep it updated.
Remember that adding pages, modifying the format, or making significant design changes to your website will necessitate more design work. That is, hiring a designer to upgrade your website will cost you extra money. The objective should be to establish a foundational site that can be quickly updated with new material and does not necessitate structural adjustments.
Is Your Copy Ready?
If you want a professional website, you need to prepare everything featured on it. This means that you should have copy in either a word-processing document or text saved in publisher format. If you want to include pictures, you need to ensure you have permission to use them on your website.
Conclusion
Selecting a website designer is a lot like selecting a contractor to remodel your home. You’re going to get what you pay for. If you want a quality, professional website and have done your research to recognise reputable designers, don’t be afraid to splurge a little bit of extra money to get it.
If you are looking for help with website design, send us at BaseHost a message. We offer 24/7 customer support to our clients with no hidden costs. You can expect the best in graphic design from our team too if you call us now.