6 Costly Mistakes to Avoid When Hiring a Web Designer
When shelling out a couple of thousands, the last thing you want is your website not turning out the way you want it.
Often, a failed website project is the fault of neither the client or the designer. Rather, you have different expectations, caused by various processes and opinions about website design.
As a business owner, you want to avoid the common pitfalls that lead to hiring the wrong website designer for your business.
This post will give you 6 costly mistakes to avoid, plus what you should do instead.
Let’s dive in.
Mistake #1: Pick a web designer based on their portfolio
Portfolio sites like Dribbble and Behance are popular choices to find designers.
The issue with this approach is website effectiveness can’t be judged by its look and feel.
A lot of designers’ mockups are creative concepts for showcasing skills but aren’t practical for business goals. In contrast, some websites might not look flashy but serve business and user needs well.
Moreover, just because a designer has great design skills doesn’t mean they can create a good website for your specific business needs. Design is a collaborative process that requires strong communication between the designer and the business owner.
Instead of evaluating designers based on portfolio, check their customer reviews and testimonials.
Jump on a call with them to see if they are communicative and receptive.
A good web designer will have a clear process and be able to tell you their approach to ensuring your website's success.
Mistake #2: Not knowing what you are paying for
A website project can range from dirt cheap to 100K because of different scope.
Because a website has various components, you need to have clear expectations of the outcome deliverables. Here are the main considerations:
Will you get a website or just a mockup of a website? Not all website designers will develop the site for you, which means you might need to also hire a developer.
Is it a custom design or a template? Designs based on templates are much cheaper than custom designs, but they tend to look cookie-cutter and not always fit your business requirements.
How much support will you get asides from the design? There are various planning steps to ensure your website's success. A good web designer will help you plan the right strategy and content on top of just the design.
Do you get to provide feedback? This sounds so obvious, but make sure your contract includes at least one round of edits. If the designer doesn’t have a lot of past projects, ask for 2-3 rounds of edits to be on the safe side.
What website features are included? Sometimes the design agency will require additional costs for certain features. Common extra fees I’ve seen are setting up CMS and third-party app integration. So make sure you know specifically how many pages you are getting and if there’s any feature that requires additional fees.
Mistake #3: Not considering future maintenance
Website is not a once-and-done event.
As a small business owner, you may want the ability to update the website by yourself. Think company updates, marketing campaigns, outdated information, and such. This is even more important for new businesses as you continue refining your products and services.
If your website is custom coded, you will be relying on the web designer to help you make updates. There will be fees and wait time for the update to be done. Even if this doesn’t cost a lot, it may deter you from keeping your website updated.
For Wordpress users, you will need to keep your plugins updated to avoid issues. This can quickly become a mundane task that takes up your valuable time. This means you will need another company to help you with maintenance work.
If you think these are going to be problems for you, pick a website builder that you can easily use without the designer.
Ask the web designer whether you will be able to update the site in the future and if yes, to what capacity. If possible, ask them for training so that you can manage at least some aspects of the website by yourself.
Mistake #4: Not considering all costs
If you’re working with a budget, make sure you take into consideration all aspects of a website, not just the design. Conduct budget planning before you go out and hire a web designer.
Here are some costs you want to consider:
Domain cost.
Some domains can cost over a thousand dollars, so do a domain search first or even secure your desirable domain name before deciding your design budget.
Platform costs.
Ask the design agency which platform they will be using for your website and find out the monthly fees for it. This is especially important if you have an ecommerce site as the transaction fees between different platforms can make a difference in your bottom line.
Photographer or stock photos.
You definitely need high-quality images for your website. Brand photographers can cost anywhere from a couple of hundred to several thousand dollars. Alternatively, stock photos are much less pricey. You can buy a monthly subscription and cancel after your website project is done. Consider your business needs and decide how much you want to spend on photos.
Copywriter.
Content can make or break your website conversion. If you don’t feel confident writing, set aside some money for a professional copywriter. If you’re planning to write a copy by yourself, find a web designer who can offer you some guidance and support with content.
SEO specialist.
Just publishing a website won’t automatically bring in visitors. To get traffic from search engines, your site needs to be optimized for search engines (SEO). You can do SEO after finishing the design, but doing SEO right from the design phase can prevent unnecessary rework.
Your design agency might include SEO as part of their package. If they don’t, consider getting help from an SEO expert. More on this in mistake #6.
Mistake #5: Confusion between different types of designers
There are many labels of designers: graphic designer, brand stylist, brand strategist, UX/UI designer, digital designer, web developer, web designer.
Though there are overlapping skills, they aren’t the same.
Each design area takes years of practice to become proficient. Though many designers can offer different services, working with specialists will give you the best results.
As a rule of thumb, UX/UI designers and web designers know the most about creating a good website. But don’t count on them for your logo and print design needs.
If you don’t have any existing branding, work with a brand designer or a graphic designer first, then get a web designer.
If you want to hire one designer for all your design needs, make sure this person has several years of experience. Check their portfolio and real client results.
A good generalist designer is likely to cost more, but it can be worth the convenience.
Mistake #6: Not considering SEO
If you want to use your website as a marketing tool, you have to think about optimizing the site to get traffic from search engines (SEO).
Not all web designers build websites with SEO considerations. This means you can end up with rework and extra costs down the road.
Additionally, it takes time for SEO efforts to start bringing in results. Having SEO built into the design process can help you get results sooner.
Ideally, you should find a website agency with SEO capabilities. Though this will cost you a bit more upfront, you will make the investment back by the free traffic from search engines.
Final Words
Hiring the right website designer takes time, but it pays off when you get to have a great collaboration and a website that helps you reach your goals.
My final recommendation is to start looking for a designer a couple of months before you actually need the website. This could just be browsing designs on social media and subscribing to a couple of designers’ mailing lists.
Don’t wait till you need a website asap to begin because good designers are often booked out months in advance.
Hope this article has been useful for you! For more good stuff, check out Resources Library or explore recommended articles for you below:
If you’re interested in custom website design, check out my Squarespace design services.
