hire web designer

If you run, own or manage an enterprise, and you don’t have a website, it means that you could be losing business without even knowing it. 

This being the age of social media, a large number of start-up entrepreneurs may feel that it’s enough to create a strong social media presence. They can ensure enough buzz on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, and sell their products/services on Etsy or e-Bay. 

So what’s the problem?

  • Without a functioning website, you don’t have control over the platform or the content because the information you offer needs to comply with the requirements of the platforms.
  • You’re also dependent on another company’s policies about the kind of content that the customer can see, or they may charge extra for such content. The analytics from social media aren’t adequate for real measurement of performance and conversions. 
  • Selling on third-party sites is not very easy because converting visitors from “interested” to “want to buy” and “loyal” is a whole other ball game.
  • Standing out from the crowd isn’t easy on social media, given the millions of businesses that feature on it. It’s also difficult to convey enough about yourself, your values and history. This means that personalization is restricted. 
  • You may also find it challenging to link to Amazon/Yelp reviews and feedback. Most importantly, today’s customer expects you to have a website, and it could call your credibility into question if you don’t have one. 

Benefits of Having A Website

Digitally savvy small and medium sized businesses earn twice as much revenue per employee and record four times higher revenues compared to the previous year’s. 

Americans spend nearly 24 hours in a week online and nearly 5 hours a day on their mobile phones/tablets. Nearly 30% potential customers report that they wouldn’t consider doing business with a company that doesn’t have a website. 

Almost 90% of people report that they search online for a local business before they step out of their homes. Unless you meet your customer where they’re spending the most time, you could lose out. 

Nearly 70% of customers engage with websites to do business. This is a big pool that can’t be ignored. Whether yours is a B2B or a B2C, purchasing is heavily influenced by digital.

Potential clients want quick answers to questions such as Who are you, What business are you in and what do you offer, How can I contact you. Your website can provide these instantly. 

However small or large your business, websites are a major marketing asset. You may feel your customers aren’t digitally savvy enough, but statistics show that 89% American adults use the net, and 77% use mobile technology. If you don’t invest in creating and maintaining a website, you’re trying to swim against the tide.0

That’s why it’s essential to hire the right talent in Sacremento web design

How To Find The Best Website Designer, Fast

1. Know What You Need: There are several different types of website designs available and it’s important that you take the time and effort to analyze exactly what you want your website to do for you. For instance, do you need an e-Commerce website, business website, or entertainment one? A media/portfolio website, brochure type, for a not-for-profit organization, educational, or infopreuner website, a web portal, community forum website or a personal one?

2. What Designer To Hire: Again there are various options that you need to consider, based on your financials, preferences, and business goals. Freelancers are a great choice, as they’re talented, creative, innovative and out-of-the-box thinkers. However, they tend to work simultaneously on several projects and may not always be globally skilled in all aspects of design and development. Taking the website design agency route provides the benefit of multiple skillsets, consistent and reliable quality, professional dealing with a composite team. However, they can be more expensive. Another option is to outsource overseas. While this can be a much cheaper choice, it’s also highly risky as you can’t be sure of quality and confidentiality. Communication with overseas designers could also be difficult if they don’t speak your language.  Essentially, the choice hinges on your budget and your unique requirements. It’s wiser to hire an experienced website designer because there are fewer chances of expensive mistakes, re-inventing the wheel, misunderstanding and miscommunication. Experienced designers can also deliver faster, as they have done such work before. You may have to pay more, but you could get better, swifter results. 

3. Ask The Right Questions: Prepare a comprehensive list of questions you want to ask regarding:

  • Portfolio
  • Tech skills
  • Soft skills and communication skills
  • Experience in your industry/sector
  • Additional services besides web design, such as SEO, Behavioral marketing and conversion strategy
  • Website architecture: landing pages, navigation, SEO best practices, responsive design, content management system
  • Customized or template design?
  • Details on design process, and how much input is required from yourself
  • Images and content sourcing
  • Downtime during transition if it’s a design remake/refurbish
  • Costing
  • Deadlines and timelines
  • After launch support

4. Your Involvement: Hiring a website designer and then leaving the entire job to them isn’t a great idea, because this cannot be a plug and play process. You need to be involved at all stages of planning, design, testing and deployment. Ensure that your designer is comfortable with complete involvement from client side. If there’s a design you admire, you can hasten the planning stage by providing real-time examples. Similarly, explain clearly about what you don’t like. Must-haves and nice-to-haves, colors, fonts should also be part of your initial discussions, and get all these concepts down on paper.

5. Check reviews and ratings: Finally, trust your gut instinct, but also confirm it with external sources such as industry reviews, client feedback, market news, awards and recognition, word of mouth reputation for ethics, communication and professionalism. Set your budget and firm up on it before you sign up, but be reasonably flexible on peripherals, while retaining the core concepts.  

By Anurag Rathod

Anurag Rathod is an Editor of Appclonescript.com, who is passionate for app-based startup solutions and on-demand business ideas. He believes in spreading tech trends. He is an avid reader and loves thinking out of the box to promote new technologies.