Hiring a website designer can be a big investment for your company. Read this article to know what your should ask your website designer to make sure you hire the right one.

Oh man, investing in a new website is a big, expensive deal. Not only do you need to be prepared for the costs, but you’ll need to know whether the designer is a fit, what their timeline looks like, and what all is included with their service.

Suffice to say, hiring a website designer can be an expensive endeavor for your company.

Read this article to know what you should ask your website designer to make sure you hire the right one.

1. Does the Designer’s Portfolio Fit Your Brand?

Everyone’s style is different–nothing wrong with that. But, you should find a designer who has an aesthetic that matches your own. Otherwise, you risk being disappointed with the result, no matter how skilled a designer you’ve paid for.

2. Find Out About the Build Process before Hiring a Website Designer

Ask this question, and you’ll quickly find out whether your designer is a seasoned pro or still a little green.

Pro designers can easily walk you through the process and guide you through step-by-step. Being able to communicate their procedures in advance will give you some assurance that your site is ready on or before the scheduled launch date.

3. Find Out if You Can Talk to Clients Past

On-site testimonials are great, but their presence on a site does little to provide quality assurance. Site owners can delete (or fail to include) negative reviews.

Instead, see if you can get a few names from the designer and ask questions. Find out if the website designer submitted deliverables on time, what it was like to work with them. Was the process easy to handle? Were the prices reasonable?

4. Is SEO Part of the Deal?

Search engine optimization isn’t just the realm of content creators and copywriters; it’s a huge part of the web design pie. Beyond selecting a set of keywords and trying to rank for them, Google looks at a number of design elements when considering a site’s placement.

Find out if the designer knows the ins and outs of things like visual hierarchy, user-experience, form design, page layout, and more. We recommend going through this guide from Search Engine Land, so you have a baseline for your burning SEO questions.

5. Can They Help With Lead Gen and Traffic?

Building on the SEO consideration, driving traffic and creating a sales funnel for capturing leads is part of the design process.

Your design firm should be able to help you figure out how site visitors will move through your website, and determine where they are most likely to click a link or enter their information.

Another way to phrase this question is by asking how the new design will help generate revenue for your company. There should be landing pages that are easy to find with clear calls-to-action.

6. How Many People Are Involved in the Process?

Depending on the size of the firm you choose to work with, your team may consist of several people. Some roles may include a project manager, a designer, a content specialist, and a developer.

In some cases, you’ll have to provide all of the content for the website, and the designer takes care of the framework and the website aesthetics.

In other cases, you may work with a company who writes your web copy for you. Ask yourself what your needs are. The more people involved in filling different roles, the higher the cost. Still, if you’re short on employees who can fill in the blanks, a full-service firm may be worth the investment.

7. Will the Website Be Mobile Responsive?

These days, over half of all websites are viewed by mobile phones. So, if your site doesn’t come equipped for mobile interaction, you could be alienating a huge chunk of customers who prefer to browse on a smaller scale.

8. How Much of this Project will Be Done in House, Versus Outsourced?

This might not matter so much from a talent perspective, but knowing how much of the process is outsourced can help you get a sense of whether too many separate pieces will slow down the time until the big launch.

If the designer relies on third-party contractors, you’ll want to know who they are and what portions of the site they will be working on.

9. Where Will the Photos and Graphics Come From?

Having photos that showcase your company offerings are a must. However, custom photography is expensive and time-consuming, leaving many businesses to rely on stock photos to do the heavy lifting.

Ask designers about their access to public domain photos, as well as potentially taking some professional shots to enhance your site. If your firm of choice has a graphic designer on hand, consider having some custom infographics made.

10. Does the Company Offer Custom Designs or Use Templates?

Often, web designers give clients the option to choose whether they’d like to work from a template or get a custom design. The latter option, of course, is more expensive. But, it helps brands establish a strong identity and provides a unique look.

On the flip side, other brands require a simple website or do business in person more than online.

Talk with the designer to get a sense of how much custom builds will cost versus using a template. In some cases, you might not need a unique design.

Hiring a Website Designer in SoCal? Try Working with Dymic

There’s a lot to consider when hiring a website designer. In fact, ten questions may be just the tip of the iceberg here. That said, Dymic can answer all your questions about web design, even if you’ve got a million.

Our firm is a full-service digital agency. Not only do we design websites, but we also take on reputation management, local search, and all things digital marketing.

Web design studio with responsive web site promotion. Computer display, laptop, tablet and smart phone mockup on office desk. Plant and coffee beside.

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