What you need to know before hiring a web designer?

Hiring a web designer/developer can be intimidating especially for non technical folks. Hopefully this article will demystify the process, bust myths and make you confident in finding the right web designer for you web project.

First of all, if you decide to go with hiring a web designer or web design firm choose a real business. That is choose a registered business. Don’t get a friend or family member to do it for free or cheaply. If you care about your business, the best way to perfect your branding, get attention and increase customers is to get professional help.

Ask the right questions

You will need to do some research on your potential designer/developer. Normally, you would check out the designer’s portfolio and if you like their visual style decide to go with them but here are some other things you should consider:

Communicate with your prospective designer carefully

What kind of information you should give your designer. Too much information is never enough. Here is a list of things to take to the first discussion with your designer:

• Information on your customers, the demographics, their buying habits etc
• Information on your businesses. Your goals and objectives for the short and long term.
• Designs that you like
• Information on your competitors and what they're doing
• A feature list of the functionality your website must have

Conclusion

The checklist:

• Is it a registered business professional?
• Do they have a detailed portfolio of work that links to working websites?
• Do they have references and testimonials?
• Do you like their design sensibility?