Decisions to Make & How to Prepare for Hiring a Website Designer
Tips for how to prepare for working with a website designer for your business.
So you're ready to take the leap and have a website designed for your business or blog - amazing! If you're creating your website yourself you may be overwhelmed about where to start, and if you're hiring a website designer you may not realise there are some important things to prepare beforehand.
I'm used to working with clients who usually have no idea where to start with creating a website, so I'm happy to take them through the process. However, for a smoother and quicker start to the project, it might be a good idea to prepare the following things before reaching out to a designer.
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*Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links where I get a small commission if you make a purchase, so thank you in advance for your support! Please know I would never recommend anything that I don’t personally LOVE myself.
Why work with a website designer?
If you’re on the fence on whether to hire a website designer or give DIYing a go, below are some things you may want to consider. A good, experienced website designer will:
save you time & headaches
A large proportion of my website design clients come to me after having tried to DIY their own site, but realised it would end up taking them so long to learn how, and waste hours they could be spending working with clients or doing what they actually enjoy!
We all know how frustrating it can be when you start using a technology you’re not familiar with and things start going wrong, so save yourself the headache by working with a professional who knows what they’re doing!
Have years of skills & experience to achieve certain designs
Sure, you could set up a very simple website yourself using a template on Squarespace*, for example. But unless you have technical skills & design knowledge, it’s likely to be quite basic and look like a template (ie. you end up looking like everyone else who has used a template, so your brand doesn’t stand out!).
If you want to achieve more complex, custom designs and features on your website, and you want to create something that’s totally tailored to your business needs to help you stand out, you’ll probably need to hire a website designer.
understands User experience & User journeys
Part of being a website designer isn’t just making things look nice - it’s also about making sure everything WORKS well, functions properly, and makes it easy for your website visitors to take action to achieve your business’ goals. There may be tricks, strategies and psychology behind this that you won’t be aware of as a non-designer.
be aware of trends & best practices
Because this is what they live and breathe, website designers will be aware of emerging trends, helping you either stay ahead of them, or avoid them if they’re unlikely to be long-lasting (so your website doesn’t go out of style after a couple of months!).
A website designer’s knowledge of best practices is also important, such as the legal regulations of running a website and certain requirements your site needs to have to comply with GDPR and accessibility standards.
Save you money in the long-run
It may cost you the initial design and set up fee to hire a website designer, but in the end it can save you so much time (that you could be spending on revenue generating activities for your business) and result in many more clients and customers converting on your professionally designed site, that it saves you (and MAKES you!) more money in the longterm.
Read my post about how much it costs to build a Squarespace website for more info on costs to expect and my own pricing.
Once you’ve decided you are keen to enlist the help of a website designer for your project, below are some key decisions you’ll want to make and things to prepare before you reach out or get started…
1. Be clear on the purpose of your website
What do you want people to do when they arrive on your website? What is the journey you want them to take, and what is your main 'call to action'? Below are some examples of website purposes & ‘CTA’s:
To display a portfolio and get people to enquire and hire you
To sell products and get people to purchase
To provide information and get people to sign up to a mailing list
To post great articles and get people to follow your blog
To create intrigue and get people talking about you on social media
These are just a few examples, so what's yours?
For TBN Salon’s website, the purpose was to clearly show her hair gallery and pricing, and make it super easy for people to get in touch to book an appointment with her, so we included a clear ‘call to action’ in the top right of the menu,
2. Decide on a platform that suits your needs
There are many different website building platforms out there, and some of the most popular include WordPress, Squarespace, Wix and Shopify.
I’ve written in-depth before about why I use Squarespace as the website platform for my clients, but the key reason is how easy it is for my clients to use, update and maintain themselves after the project is complete.
My website design clients are typically non-techy creatives who don’t want a steep learning curve for making simple updates on their sites, or the worry of ‘breaking things’ that can come with other platforms.
Squarespace* is a fantastic platform that provides the flexibility and features needed for most businesses, however, things like membership websites, large directories / ecommerce stores with 1000s of products, or hotel booking systems for example, might require a more technically sophisticated platform like WordPress or Shopify. So it really depends on the needs and priorities of your business!
I've written a comprehensive comparison post about the differences between Squarespace and WordPress, so have a look for yourself!
3. Choose (and purchase) a domain name
A domain name is the link where your website will be visible. Eg. my domain name is byrosanna.co.uk. It usually ends in .co.uk, .com, .co, .net, or other variations like that.
If you're using Squarespace*, you can actually start designing a whole website without even needing to purchase a domain name (you just can't publish it). For this reason, it's important to make sure the domain name you want is actually available before you start designing, in case you need to do a spontaneous business name change!
You can easily buy a domain name cheaply on a platform like Godaddy, for example, but to learn more about domain names and where to purchase them, check out my 'Domains Explained' blog post.
4. Know your target audience
As with any branding or design project in your business, you need to have done your homework about who your customers are.
Without knowing specifically who you want your website audience to be, how can you design and write your content to appeal to them?
Try a target customer profiling exercise to get to grips with who you should be targeting, then consider which websites they like visiting and see what style of design appeals to them.
For Ania Trica’s website, we knew her interior design clients love natural tones and textures, and a clean design style, so we brought this into her website design.
5. Get inspiration for your website design
This is super helpful for you and your designer! Have a trawl around the internet and pay attention to the websites you're visiting. I’d suggest looking at a couple of sites in your industry, but mostly try and find businesses that do something totally different to what you do, as this can help you to find things that help you stand out.
Ask yourself these questions and make notes:
What do I like about the design of this website?
What do I dislike about the design of this website?
Is this something my customers would enjoy using?
Are there any special/quirky features they are using that I like?
How have they used imagery and branding in this website?
What elements could I add to this website to make it better?
6. Decide on the pages and features you might need
In order to fulfil the purpose of your website, what pages and features do you need to have?
If you plan on hiring a website designer, they can help to make recommendations, but it's definitely helpful if you have a rough idea beforehand in order for them to give you an accurate quote on how much the project will cost.
Some examples of pages (other than a Home page!) you might want could be:
About
Services / Work with me
My process / How I work
Shop
Gallery
Partners
FAQs
Blog/News
Contact
Email newsletter sign up
I've written a more in depth article about creating a great user experience for your website visitors, which includes details on choosing what pages to have in your website.
7. Start writing content & gathering images
Depending on how quickly your website designer can start work (some have a long wait list and lead times, so make sure you contact them in plenty of time!) you can do this part before or after booking your project.
Start planning what to write on each of your pages and gathering photos and images to use throughout your website. Your website designer might also be able to guide you through this process - for example for my clients I provide a ‘Content Guide’ with tips on what to include on each page.
