How to Find a Good Web Designer

There are many issues to consider when looking for a good web designer to build your website. Check web designer reviews and references, and find out some of the qualities to look for.

What is "web design"? It's simply the design and creation of a website. Anyone who thinks he or she can create a website can call themselves a "web designer". But there is a big difference between designing a website and publishing a generic template.

A web designer who uses someone else's template and simply adds your information to it is like a burger flipper at a fast food restaurant calling themselves a "chef". There are lots of so-called "chefs" out there. And like the $1 special at a fast food restaurant, you can often get one of these template websites for a very low price. But is it worth it? Like the ingredients in that fast food burger, you have no way of knowing exactly what you'll be getting, but you'll probably pay for it in the end!

Issues to Consider When Looking for a Web Designer

There are many issues to consider and questions to ask when you're considering hiring a website designer. Here are just a few:

• Do they handle the website development in-house or do they outsource it? Many "web designers" outsource all the work to other countries. So they may charge you $3,000 to build a website, then pay some firm in India or China $200 to do the actual work, and simply pocket the difference without lifting a finger. Unfortunately, this practice results in a website with a lot of errors, including spelling and grammatical errors. Many (most?) large website companies outsource their work.
• How will the website be created? If it's a template, what template will the web designer use (WordPress? Wix? Weebly? Joomla? Or any of the other myriad of template types), and does he/she have a portfolio on their own website of other websites that they built with this template? Websites that are outsourced are almost always built with templates.
• How flexible is the template? Will the designer be able to, say, move an image over slightly, make the page longer, add a column, or other such changes? Many templates are rather static, meaning that certain changes simply cannot be made.
• Does the web designer know html and css coding? It is imperative that the designer know at least basic coding since templates are never a one-size-fits-all solution and some customization may be necessary.
• Is the designer familiar with search engine optimization and the proper way to word the website title, description, and make changes to body content so it helps your website's search engine rankings? The cheapest website is a waste of money if nobody can find it on Google!
• What company will they use for web hosting and your domain name registration? Using a super cheap, subpar hosting and domain company could result in your website intermittently going down or not displaying properly. Will you own the domain name, or will they? Or will they expect you to handle the web hosting and domain setup yourself?
• Will they be available to make changes to the website in the future, or at least provide you with login information so that you (or a future web designer) can access the website files?
• Do they have at least basic image editing and optimization skills? Are they able use your photos and make them look good on the website without slowing down your website's speed? Or can they only use "stock" images?
• After your website is published, can the designer offer services to help promote the website, such as online marketing and social media marketing services?
• Does the web designer have his/her own website?
  • How does their website look? Are there typos, incomplete pages, or elements that don't work?
  • Does their website show a portfolio of other websites he/she has designed, with links that allow you to visit those websites?
  • Do the websites he/she has claimed to design have their name at the bottom as proof that they did indeed design this website (some unscrupulous web designers have been known to claim websites built by other web designers' as their own!)

Unfortunately "dropping the ball" can be common with some bargain basement web designers. If you start working with a web designer and find it difficult to get through to him/her, calls are not being returned, and changes are not being made in a timely manner, obviously this is a bad sign. Web design may be a part-time gig and this person is going to school or working full-time, or is a stay-at-home mom busy with her children's daily activities. Other times you may be dealing with a very large company that may use subcontractors or outsource its work to other countries, so you'll rarely talk to the same person more than once.

Full-Time Web Designer

You want a web designer who does web design full time. This means that your web designer's livelihood depends on doing the best job they can and keeping their clients happy. It means that your web designer is more likely to stay in business than someone whose career is not web design and is just doing websites between jobs, to pay for college, or part-time after they've come home from their full-time job and put the kids to bed.

You want a web designer who is proactive. If you're a small business owner, it's easy for things to fall through the cracks. Your web designer should understand this and reach out to you to get the information needed to start and complete your website, not the other way around.

You want a web designer with integrity. Anyone can make promises that they may not be able to deliver. An honest web designer will tell you that no matter how good your website is, it's not going to automatically put you in the number one spot on Google or get you dozens of calls within the first month (at least not without additional services, which will not be free). An honest web designer is willing to lose a potential client rather than lie and tell them what they think they want to hear just to get the job.

You want a web designer with technical expertise and creativity, because web design is both an art and a science. The website has to be visually appealing but must also work correctly. Technical know-how without artistic creativity, and creativity without technical expertise, will not be enough for a great website.

Does Actual Web Design Instead of Using a Template

Speaking of creativity, you want a web designer who will actually "design" your website. This means using an original layout and design that he/she created, instead of using a template that was designed by someone else.

Web Designer Knows Website Code like HTML, CSS and Javascript

You want a web designer who knows how to hand-code "old school" style. This means being able to type html and css code by hand, which VERY few website "designers" these days know how to do. A thorough working knowledge of html and css means that your website can include detailed customizations that would be difficult or impossible to do otherwise.

You want a web designer who has experience not just with web design but with everything else that goes along with it that can help your website perform better and rank better in search engines, such as image/photo editing and enhancement, search engine optimization (SEO), online marketing, social media, and more. Your website is only one facet of your online presence, and many years of experience is required because technologies are always changing.

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