Questions To Ask A Web DesignerSo you’re thinking of hiring a web designer and you want to make sure you ask the right questions.  Well, asking the right questions implies not asking the wrong questions.  Here you go.

 

6 Ill-Advised Questions To Ask A Web Designer

  1. Can I get an animated logo? Animated graphics (other than imbedded video) went out of use about five years ago.  As we mentioned in Small Business Web Design 2013: Webward Logos, the trend is heavily toward simplicity on logos.  Less is more.  This concept goes for those sliding ticker type messages that used to be big back in the dark ages of Internet Past.  Leave those things to your favorite cable news station.
  2. Can I get a site counter? Site visitor counters were cool in 1999.  Not so much anymore.  If you want to show how popular your site is, get a lot of folks to comment on your blog posts and show the number of comments at the top of your posts.  Or build a big following on social media an display the number of likes, shares, and tweets on your website posts and pages. [sam id=”5″ codes=”true”]
  3. Can you build this in less than 6 months? Website designers are notoriously slow, but your hands are not tied on this.  We’ve developed a system we call One Week Website.  We schedule website week and for that week you are, for all intents and purposes, our only web design client.  So we get the job done quickly and professionally.  There is no reason you should have to wait months for the project to get done.
  4. I could build this myself.  Why should I pay you to do it? It may or may not be true that you could make a website look and function well. But if you are not a professional in the industry it is going to take you a lot of time to learn how to do the things we can do very quickly.  We know what tools to use to accomplish your goals.  We know best practices.  We know what content you need on your site. We know what’s working on the web today.  We know this because we live and breathe web design for a living.  Though it isn’t a perfect analogy, asking that question of us is like asking a lawyer why you should pay him.  Theoretically, anybody could master law if they had enough time to study it.  You pay us because you have a business to run and a life to live.  We get the job done well and quickly (One Week!) and your website is live and making money for you that much sooner.
  5. Can I see your professional credentials? Unfortunately, there aren’t really any professional organizations which hand out degrees or credentials which apply in our industry. Computer Science and design degrees may not be bad, but there are a lot of guys and gals who get them who aren’t worth a flip.  The better question is  “Can I see your portfolio and talk to some of your past clients?”  You can see our portfolio here and read some testimonials here.  And make sure, if you talk to some of their past clients, to ask how long it took the designer to get the job done and launch the site.  Design is only good if it goes live on the web in a timely manner. Now, when it comes to Inbound Marketing, there is one professional credential that matters.  We are a Certified HubSpot Partner.  HubSpot puts their partners through many hours of training on not only how to use their Inbound Marketing software, but what the best practices are for Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Social Media, Email Marketing, and more.
  6. Can you just make my site look good?  That question implies you don’t care that it functions well.  The point of your website should be that it attracts and converts visitors into leads and customers for you.  That means you should have lots of Calls To Action, premium content for download, and opt-ins for social media and email campaigns.  That’s all part of Inbound Marketing and a good web designer should at least put you in a position to do those things, if not handle those tasks for you.  Your site needs to be built on an easy-to-use Content Management System (CMS) like WordPress.  You need to be able to edit and update your site content on a regular basis.  Some web design firms offer regular maintenance retainers for this purpose.

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