Choosing a Website Designer

When you have fully decided to establish and expand your business online, the most important factor you need to consider is not about how aggressive your advertising techniques will be, but how your business will appear online. The best way to portray a positive business aura on the internet is to create an excellent and appealing web design. If you are not blessed with a talent in web designing, there are plenty of web designers in your neighborhood and on the internet. The basic premise in choosing a web designer is to come up with a good website that is powerfully designed to attract customers, never to drive them away. Choosing a web designer, therefore, is as serious as building up your presence online.

The people you need to know

Unless you are an expert in web design, it is always to your advantage to know and understand the functions of people whose work is associated with web design:

• Web Designer. The web designer is mainly responsible in helping you determine the page layout, the colors of your site, graphics, text location, navigation and how your web pages will cross-link with each other. Aside from web designing, he may also provide you with the actual computer programming and graphic artwork for your site. In other words, the web designer is the project manager for your web design.
• Web Programmer. Another important person involve in helping you establish a strong presence online is the web programmer. This person is responsible in creating the code from web design to make your site run smoothly.
• Graphic Designer. The graphic designer is mainly responsible in creating good graphics for your site, which includes the page layout, colors and other stuffs for your site.
• Internet Marketing Consultant. Finally, you have the internet marketing consultant who will help you determine if your website is able to achieve your overall marketing strategy and most importantly how to generate more traffic and sales.

The ultimate purpose why you need to know the functions of these people (web designers, programmers, graphic artist, etc.) when choosing a web designer is the fact that you can actually get all the skills needed from the web designer himself. This can significantly lower your cost.

In exceptional circumstances, many people who are into web design actually offer copywriting services. But when you are starting up on your online business, it may be good to write the text yourself so that you can perfectly tailor your site’s content with your web design. If writing is not your thing, you can always hire a professional copywriter for up to $500 per page or $5,000 for a 10-page Website.

Who is a good web designer?

Deciding to work with a good designer does not depend on whether he is working remotely for you or locally. Take the following criteria when choosing a person to do your web design:

• A good designer will always ask about your business. He wants to get to know you and your business very intimately. In fact, he can only come up with a web design that reflects your business if he is able to fully listen to your marketing strategies.
• A good designer will allow you to visit his previous clients. This is important on your part since by seeing his designs you are able to judge prematurely how your web design will look like.
• A good designer sticks within your budget. Notice that many web designers will later suggest new add-ons, not primarily to make your website look pretty, but to ultimately increase the cost. In all cases, you are responsible for your budget, not the web designer.
• A good designer works within the deadline. However, many good designers are already booked four to six weeks ahead, and so you really have to wait until they are free to accommodate your project.

A good designer will allow you to contact his previous clients. This is very important because you will personally discover the designer’s communication and management skills. In the end, a good designer listens to you, not the other way around.

The design of your website is crucial to the success of your online business. It is important that you screen potential web designers before actually hiring any of them to work for you. The most important thing in choosing a web designer is that he is able to create a web design that truly reflects your business—within your budget and timeframe.