5 THINGS YOU SHOULD ASK BEFORE CHOOSING YOUR WEB DESIGNER
A web designer is more than just someone who throws together a website on Wix that “looks good.” They know they should know the elements and principles of design, understand marketing copy, basic web development, and more. BTW if your website is designed on WIX you already have many problems and need a new website right away!
HOW DO I KNOW I’M CHOOSING A GOOD WEB DESIGNER?
Ask these 5 questions about Web Design
1. DO THEY INCLUDE SEO IN THEIR WEB DESIGN?
SEO is the foundation of good web design. Your web designer should know how to integrate keyword phrases that are related to your industry, that have a low competition in the search engines and a high number of searches for those terms each month.
2. DO THEY KNOW DESIGN? I MEAN REAL DESIGN.
Is your web designer trained in actual design? Do they understand the elements and principles of design? Even though you and your customers might not know what the elements and principles of design are you will instinctually know something is off if these elements and principles aren’t being followed.
3. DO THEY KNOW WEB DESIGN?
Web design is a combination of using the elements and principles of design, with user experience with optimal placement of call-to-action content. Ask them to tell you a bit about their process and why they do what they do when designing a website.
P.S. If a company or designer uses the term web design and web developer interchangeably run. They don’t even know their own industry. And yes, I have come across many marketing companies that have done this before.
4. DO THEY UNDERSTAND MARKETING AND MARKETING COPY?
Marketing copy aka the words you should be using to get your potential customer’s attention and guide them through your website is very important. These words are used
5. CAN THEY EXPLAIN TO YOU WHY YOU SHOULD USE A CERTAIN PLATFORM ON WHICH TO DESIGN YOUR WEBSITE AND BACK UP THEIR REASONING?
There are only 3 platforms that we recommend that small businesses should be using to build a website. Squarespace, Shopify, or WordPress.
Why not WIX or one of the other DIY web design platforms that have been popping up in ads across your social media? The short answer is they don’t jibe well with Google which means your website most likely won’t be found by potential customers. I don’t want you to Lose MONEY!
Will your web designer choose the best platform for you or for them? If your web designer is set on one platform such as WordPress time to look further. They are most likely making affiliate commissions on your WordPress template, your website hosting, and possibly your domain registration. It’s in their best interest to design a website on WordPress but not always in your best interest. Yes, I design websites on WordPress but don’t take an affiliate commission and I will only recommend WordPress to you if it best fits the needs of your business. A website designed on WordPress takes more time and will cost you at least $1,000 more plus added costs of plugins, templates, and hosting. It’s often overkill for most small businesses.
I look at your business and go over your needs. Most of the time Squarespace is the best fit for small business owners even e-commerce websites but there are some rare occasions I recommend Shopify or WordPress for my clients. I do what’s best for my clients not what’s best for my ego or affiliate commissions.
