Step by Step Guide to Finding a Web Designer

The process of launching a website is easy. Register your domain, find a website builder, choose a theme, and launch.

Once you’re online, you won’t immediately get the website hits. You see, aside from establishing an online presence, you’ll have to market your business. Plus, you need to have a compelling and professional website design. First impressions matter because 94% of visitors consider design a factor if they want to browse more. 

That’s why you need to find a web designer that will have your visitors browsing your website’s different pages. Who knows, they might become your prospects and loyal customers.

In this article, I write the five easy steps you can follow in finding your web designer.

1. Assessing Your Needs

Before you press enter on that search bar, ask yourself this question, “what’s my purpose of creating a website?”

You need to identify what kind of website you should have. That way, you can attain an objective. Plus, you won’t waste resources.

For example, are you selling your products online? Then you’ll need an eCommerce website. In this case, you’ll need to choose an eCommerce platform like Shopify or WooCommerce to post your products. You can choose a theme or find a web designer to make your website stand out. That way, you’re not only getting more traffic, and you’ll enhance your eCommerce marketing strategy.

If you want a mini-site where you can post information about your business, you can have a brochure website. Think of it as a way to boost your online presence without spending too much cash. It could even act as a lead generation site since you’ve posted your contact details and services or products also.

An expanded version of a brochure website is the standard business website. It’s where you can put more content and generate more leads for your business. Your website could also serve as your marketing tool, so people have more awareness of your company.

You can use website builders like WordPress, Squarespace, or Wix for the brochure or business websites. They’re user-friendly website builders and you can launch your site immediately.

Once you’ve addressed your needs, you need to find inspiration on what designs you need for the website.

2. Identifying Your Design Expectations

Before you find a web designer, you need to know what type of design you want..

Any graphic designer will expect clients to provide a project brief or detailed information. It’s to provide a draft or finished work that meets clients’ expectations.

Here are websites you can check out to get website inspiration from:

• aThemes
• Elegant Themes
• CSS Design Awards
• Site Inspire

This way, you get an idea of how you want your website to look. You don’t want to find a website designer, hire one, and say you’re not sure what you want. You need to be prepared when that time comes.

3. Determining Your Budget

Let’s face it. You can’t build a free website that would capture your overall brand identity design. You’ll have to spend some money on this because you want a website that would attract customers or users.

The most affordable website design price is at $100. If you have the cash to have a website designed intricately, you might pay an upwards of $40,000.

If you’re still new or a small business, you don’t have to set aside $40,000 to get the best website design. You can find a web designer perfect for your budget.

4. Finding a Web Designer

Web designing is no longer just the look of the website. Web designers have the technical know-how to make your website functional. Plus, if you’re not familiar with CSS or HTML and tweaked the site, you might encounter some issues. That’s where the web designer comes in.

They’ll make sure to follow website design elements such as:

• Navigation
• Optimization
• Responsiveness
• Branding
• Content

Luckily, you can find a web designer with one search. You’ve got different options for a website designer depending on your budget and preference.

Types of Web Designers

Freelancers

Freelancers are the most common choice because they charge less than agencies and design services. They can say yes to and work on your project immediately if you think they’re compatible. Plus, many like to hire freelancers because there are no long-term commitments too.

You can find freelancers on Upwork or Fiverr where they show off their portfolio. This way, you can gauge if their work would match with the aesthetic you’re going for on your website and business.

As accessible freelancers are, some have difficulty in terms of communication and reliability. That’s why most businesses would opt for a design agency.

Design or Full-Service Agencies

You have two choices for agencies. 

There are design agencies and full-service agencies. Both types have a team of designers ready to meet your requirements. Unlike freelancers, they can accomplish their work much faster.

Design agencies have become the preference for most brands because of their team, expertise, and recognition. They focus mostly on the design aspect and ensure they capture your branding too.

Meanwhile, full-service agencies not only work on the design. As the name suggests, they also offer marketing, advertising, and SEO services. You could hire this type of agency if you want to maximize your online presence and increase your traffic.

Agencies do charge much higher than freelancers. It could become a disadvantage for new or small businesses because you want to spend it on essential expenses. That’s why some would resort to designing services.

Design Services

Once again, you’ve got different options for this.

The first option is the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) graphic design service. Of course, since these are DIY options, you can use them for free or pay a low cost monthly. However, doing your design could cost you more money.

In some cases, some design services would use a design contest. As the client, you’ll submit a design brief where you’ll detail what you need. On the other hand, some would require you to pay upfront, and designers on a specific tier will design your proposal. Once you get designs, you’ll choose the one you like most and get the assets.

However, this method has come under fire for being unethical. For one, the designers who don’t win won’t get paid. Two, you might receive poor quality designs, which is something you don’t want.

That’s why it’s much better to opt for an unlimited graphic design service.

The great thing about hiring or using a design service is the team’s understanding of design elements for any website. They know the elements needed to ensure you have a well-designed website. Also, they’ll make it functional depending on your purpose (e.g., marketing, lead generation, online presence).

Plus, when you have design services, this eliminates the hiring process. You won’t have to lose any more time finding the right designer. These services hire only the best of the best website designers. On-demand graphic design service will meet your budget and requirements.

5. Selecting Your Web Designer

As you find a web designer, you need to look at that web designer’s portfolio before choosing your web designer. Most freelancers, design agencies, and design services provide a portfolio. It’s how they can showcase their previous work and even feature their clients.

This way, you can further review if your web designer is the perfect one for your small business and website.

Once you’ve got an idea of what your potential web designer could offer, you can decide who or what you will hire.

Freelancers

If you’re choosing a freelancer, they’ll have to undergo a hiring process.

• Visit any freelancer website
• Choose freelancers that can fulfill your design requirements
• Interview them
• Ask for references

Here are some handy questions you can ask during the interview:

1. Where do you find inspiration for your work?
2. What are your strengths and weaknesses as a designer?
3. How do you handle pressure and deadlines?
4. What are your favorite projects to work on?
5. What mistakes have you learned from, and how did you handle it?

After the interview, you can select the perfect freelancer for your business. Then, once you’ve chosen one, they can start the process and provide you with a web design that suits your needs.

Design Agencies

Like design services, design, or full-service agencies have a team prepared to tackle any design challenges. In most cases, you would meet an agency first. From there, they might have a proposal ready and send it over.

If their proposal is right up your alley, you’re ready to forge a relationship with the agency. Then, they’ll start designing your project and other collaterals you might receive.

Design Services

As mentioned previously, you don’t have to find a web designer if you choose a design service.

In this case, you’ll have to go straight to the design service’s pricing page and request for a demo. You’ll know what to expect from the design service.

If you’re convinced over the demo, you can finally choose a subscription that meets your budget. Since it’s a subscription-based model, you can cancel anytime you’ve gotten all the designs you need.

Looking to get started on your new website or have a website redesign? Lead Pixels is here to help you out with your design needs. You can request anything like branding and marketing collaterals and illustrations! Get your Lead Pixels subscription here today.