When I started designing websites\u00a0I thought\u00a0about the joys of designing. \u00a0It was all about the design. Well 17 years and a lot of websites later I’ve realized that the joys come from keeping my clients happy and a lot of that has nothing to do with the actual designing. Every day, \u00a0I have the pleasure of getting to know my customers\u00a0and their businesses and their business goals. \u00a0I get to learn a new job each time I’m hired. \u00a0I love that. \u00a0When I partner with a company I become a part of their team. Turns out, my joy isn’t only in creating killer sites it’s making sure my sites make my clients businesses succeed.<\/p>\n
If you’re shopping for a website designer,\u00a0please shop around. You need to look at portfolios yes, but also shop for how well they\u00a0fit into your organization. \u00a0Here are 6 tips to help.<\/p>\n
1. \u00a0Make sure they will\u00a0partner with you and your team.<\/strong>\u00a0Do\u00a0they treat you like an individual company\u00a0or\u00a0just another job.? You can get a feel for this in your initial meeting. Are you dealing with a sales person or someone who has some say in the design.<\/p>\n 2. \u00a0Make sure they’re easy to talk to<\/strong>. \u00a0If you don’t understand what they’re selling you in your initial meetings you won’t ever understand what you bought. \u00a0Don’t click with them? Move on and talk to someone else.<\/p>\n 3. \u00a0Make sure they answer the phone or call you back.<\/strong> \u00a0If they don’t call you back when they’re trying to sell you a website they certainly won’t call when you need help.<\/p>\n 4. \u00a0Do you feel comfortable talking to them?<\/strong> \u00a0Down the road, if you have a website problem your first thought shouldn’t be, “Ugh I’ve got to call that website guy.”\u00a0it should be\u00a0“I’ll call the website guy, he’ll solve this.” You’ll know if your comfortable or not in your initial meeting. \u00a0Not comfortable? Don’t hire them.<\/p>\n 5. Do they have great ideas to help your business grow?<\/strong> \u00a0When they give you a proposal are there reasons for decisions in design and layout? \u00a0They should be able to back design decisions with goals to reach target audiences and call them to action. \u00a0Ask them pointed questions like, “Why do you think that color is right for my product?” or “Why did you choose that photo?”<\/p>\n 6. \u00a0\u00a0Is the person you’re talking to condescending?<\/strong>\u00a0If you’re uncomfortable with computers, you shouldn’t be more uncomfortable with the person who is going to help you grow your business on the computer. \u00a0He should be willing to explain to you anything you need to know without acting arrogant or demeaning.<\/p>\n Shopping for a website designer is just like shopping for anything else. \u00a0There’s no mystery. \u00a0If they don’t feel right, call someone else.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When I started designing websites\u00a0I thought\u00a0about the joys of designing. \u00a0It was all about the design. Well 17 years and a lot of websites later I’ve realized that the joys come from keeping my clients happy and a lot of that has nothing to do with the actual designing. Every day, \u00a0I have the pleasure […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-website-design"],"yoast_head":"\n