Where to begin?
So you decide you want to have a website made for your business, blog, idea, product, service, or whatever it is. Great! Our world is moving deeper into the digital age with no sign of stopping, so yes you are correct to decide on getting a website.
Choosing a web designer or web agency is a super important decision, but how on earth do you decide who is the right designer for you? (I have had so many clients who tell me how they have been burned by other web designers/agencies).
As a guy in web design and marketing, I would like to tell you what I would look for in a web designer.
1. Enthusiasm is key.
I’ll start with some personal experience. First of all, I have some tattoos. As you may know, when someone gets a tattoo it’s typically a permanent decision! Before I got anything done some people I trust strongly advised me to do my homework on the artist before I hire them. They told me to look at their previous work, and when I talked to the artist be careful to see if they sound enthusiastic about your tattoo idea. You don’t want an artist working on you if they have no passion. Just trust me on that.
The same is true for a web designer.
There is a good chance you already have an image of what your website looks like in your head. When talking to a web designer, listen to their voice to see if they are getting excited about your project idea.
Personally I don’t just get excited about the visual design of a website(although that is a very cool and important factor). I get excited when talking to someone about their website because I start to see the potential this person has to have a website as a tool that generates them more customers!
Would you rather work with a designer who is passionate and enthusiastic your website, or just getting this job to pay the bills for another month?
2. Do they have a portfolio?
Ok, I don’t care if it’s like an “official” portfolio all laminated in a leather binder. What matters is that you can see examples of a web designer’s recent work.
You may look at their previous work and realize this person has exactly what you think is required to capture what you want your audience to see on your website.
On the flip side doing this is a great way to weed out a designer if their work isn’t stellar. Pro tip: if you look at their past work, don’t just look on desktop, look at the websites they’ve created on desktop, tablet, as well as mobile. You might be surprised how many websites are not optimized for one of those versions.
I know of another web company locally that does really well for themselves, yet their blog posts on their own website are not mobile optimized!
3. How long will my website take?
When interviewing a web designer ask them for a timeframe in which you can expect your project to be completed if you end up hiring them.
I’ve heard of people being told next day delivery from start to finish for their website. Beware of this because there is a lot more that goes into a well thought out, planned, and executed website. This type of website will end up being a cookie-cutter site that doesn’t even try to stand out.
On the flip side, I’ve also had a client who previously hired another agency for their website and it had been a year and a half, and it still wasn’t complete!
Just be sure you have a timeframe.
Depending on the size and scope of a website, and how many projects we are currently working on, I will typically tell my new clients their website will be done in approximately two weeks to two months. I think that is a reasonable amount of time for a website to be completed.
4. Web accessibility and your website.
Did you know big company websites like Target and Winn-Dixie among others have been sued and lost because their website was not accessible to people with disabilities?
Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act (29 U.S.C. § 794d) requires that Federal agencies’ electronic and information technology is accessible to people with disabilities, including employees and members of the public.
Now you see that it speaks of federal agency websites specifically, why then did companies like Target get… targeted? (I’m a dad, I had to).
There are lawyers out there looking for websites that are not compliant with regulations for Americans with disabilities. They are searching for ways to prosecute those website owners who most likely didn’t even know this could be an issue.
Ask your web designer or agency when talking to them what they do to protect their clients, and while a smart web designer will have a disclaimer saying they are not legally responsible for the content of your website, wouldn’t it be good to hire someone who will design with ADA compliance in mind?
5. GDPR regulations (yes, more legal stuff.)
Ok, let’s pause. If you have made it this far into the post I’m glad you’re still with me. Take a break and view the following image.
Alright breaks over! on to number five!
General Data Protection Regulation effects primarily the European Union, but stick with me. It depends on the type of business you have and who you are trying to reach. If you are an international reaching company this is a serious issue. If you are just serving a local area in the US or Canada it’s still important, but not as critical, right now anyway.
This is basically the act of making your website more transparent with what you do with peoples private information. If you collect any type of analytics from your website, you are tracking cookies and your visitors need to know what you are planning on doing with their data and accept it.
At this point you may be starting to realize a website is more than some pictures, text, and then you’re done! You know, how companies like GoDaddy advertise? Yea I went there.
6. Speaking of words and pictures
It kills me that people think a website is just an internet business listing in the yellow pages where people who hear about you can look you up and see who you are, what you do, where you are, and when you’re open.
There is so much more to a website than that. If you talk with me I will ask if your website conversion ready. If yes, then how are you driving traffic to your website? If no, what do we have to do to make your website conversion ready?
the image above is the top of a website’s front page with a very clear call to action above the fold(before you have to start scrolling down). In fact, that same call to action is in two places, so it doesn’t matter where you are looking, it will be seen.
I use that example because the majority of appointments this business gets is from their website through the book appointment form.
For many reasons such as stated above, this website is conversion ready. So now we just focus on our SEO campaign to drive traffic to their website so they can get even more customers. But that’s another conversation.
The fact is, if your website is just basic info with no clear conversion plan your website will lack results. By the way, a contact form on a contact page may get you an occasional lead but it’s a far cry from what you could be doing.
Talk with your potential web designer or agency and ask them what they recommend if you are not sure, a good designer will help you come up with a plan.
7. Is basic SEO part of the web design package?
Basic SEO would be a minimum of completing meta tags and descriptions, and optimizing header tags, even if they are not your ideal keywords. This way even if you don’t choose to do any search engine optimization, when Google finds your website it will make you look better online. It could be the difference between someone clicking on your website or your competition.
For instance, this is what a Google website listing might look like without that basic SEO optimization:
Below is what your Google link could look like with some basic meta tag optimization:
This could make a world of difference if your web designer does this as part of the initial design process. Although you may want to choose a web designer who also has some knowledge of marketing. As I think you can see there is a difference.
8. What will you use to build my website and will I have access to it when it’s done?
Ok, last points! Almost there!
What content management system(CMS) will your agency use to build your website? WordPress? Wix? Joomla? Whatever it may be, look up the agency to see if they are building your website with what seems to be their own code, or are they using an opensource CMS that you can learn to use or hire another web designer who will be able to work with it down the road. The reason I say this is because many dishonest agencies will create their own CMS software to trap you into staying with them.
I personally love using WordPress as it’s so well known and flexible.
This one is important! After your website is complete, does the person or team you hired give you login access to your domain, hosting, and the website itself? Find out before you even begin work if this is the case. Once you pay for a website, it is yours and they should not hold it captive.
Are you locked into a contract? Again, find out before and if there is a contract locking you in for a certain amount of time, run. I’ve had clients tell me they were locked into a six-month to a two-year contract that had fines if they tried to leave. Run away as fast as you can.
I hope this helped.
If you are currently in the situation of deciding who to hire to make your website, I hope this helps you make a more informed and pain free decision.
If you want to talk to me about making your website call me 413-896-4806. I love helping people make websites for their business that work for them as a sales tool, and actually get results.
