In this Podcast I share what to look at for when hiring for a website design and development project. You know you need a website for your business or you’re looking to update, but how do you know the person or team you’re going to hire will do a great job and deliver in a timely manner? Listen in to my foolproof strategies and hire someone who will deliver amazing results!
This is a topic that I really like because it doesn’t get discussed very often, but what I do get to hear very often is how the project didn’t come out well. How it was really frustrating where somebody didn’t have the files delivered on time or maybe there was even a big business divorce between the designer and the client?
Today, I will discuss a couple factors that will help you make a better decision on how to work with someone when it comes to web design.
First, let’s look at some statistics from Case Metrics. Forty-two percent of shoppers base their opinion of a website on overall design alone and fifty-two percent of shoppers will not return because of overall website aesthetics.
If your website is not looking good, you’re not going to get the attraction and the customers that you want. It’s really important whenever hiring somebody to design and develop your website, to hire the right team.
Now, let’s discuss the different resources you should consider when hiring to build out your site and what roles everyone plays.
I also understand that whenever hiring somebody to design a site, it also depends on what level you’re at in your business. If you’re starting out in your small business, you want something really clean and basic and you may actually even consider doing it yourself. If you’re already established and have a budget allocated for your website, you’re going to consider more of a team.
Let’s talk about the resources you have to choose from. If you do the site yourself, you can use online resources like Wix to do that. It can be done but it’s going to take a lot more time and it’s probably going to be frustrating.
You can also hire a single person, a contractor to work on your site, but what you need to consider is that they’re going to be the designer, the developer, and the SEO. Each of those individuals think very differently. A designer’s going to make sure that your website looks really nice but it may not function very well.
A developer is going to make sure that it functions very well but it may not be aesthetically pleasing, and the SEO guy is going to make sure that’s always going to be found but it may not look very good. These are all different parts of the brand. A designer is very artistic. A developer is more of a numbers person.
There are some things to consider whenever hiring a contractor. If you hire an agency and you have the budget to do that, usually you get a team and this team would probably include more than just a designer, developer, and SEO guy. You would actually have a copywriter and an editor.
You can also use online resources to create your website, but you have to remember that there could be a language barrier because the design and the work is being done on the other side of the world.
No matter who you decide to work with, make sure and look at their work, their portfolio and see what they have done for other clients. Also, get referrals and testimonials from them.
Finally, have a contract in place that has an understanding of how the project’s going to go through. The one thing that I don’t want you to do is to use somebody in the family or to use a best friend or to use a neighbor to do your site because a lot of times what happens is that it doesn’t go well.
There’s already a friendly relationship so it’s not looked as a business relationship and when things don’t work out very well, there’s a big divorce. I get to hear about these situations very often because after the project does not work out, they come to Merge Forward, our agency, and asked us for help to design the site.
I ended up meeting somebody at a networking event and we started talking and he said, “You know I’m an investor. I’m an entrepreneur, but I had the most frustrating time with my web site.” I said, “Well, tell me what happened.” They’re like, “Well, this guy that I knew that that was a friend of the friend and a neighbor, I ended up hiring him.”
I said, “Wait, let me guess, and the project was never done.” He’s like, “Yeah.” I said, “Wait and let me guess. You paid him a lot of money upfront and he promised all these things and it wasn’t done.
” He’s like, “Yeah, how did you know?” “Did you have a contract?” “No, because it was a friend of mine.” “OK. Was there a timeline?”
“No, but he kept promising stuff and promising stuff.” I said, “What happened?” He said, “It just didn’t work out.” It ended up being a business divorce, and he lost the money that he put into the project, a lot of time, a lot of frustration and at the end of the day, he had a really bad outlook on web design.
Whenever you are hiring somebody for a project, really make sure you know who you’re hiring. Make sure to get two or three proposals. Make sure and get their references and really take a look at their portfolio.
Let’s move into our three forward strategies for today. The important factors to remember when hiring.
Number one, do your research and find several options. Number two, look at the portfolio and get references, and number three, make sure and ask for all your art files at the end of the project.
The reason for this is if your web designer‑developer ends up going somewhere else, wins the lottery, who knows? Ends up on the other side of the world, a year from now, when you want to update your site or two or three years from now, you don’t have to go looking for him.
Our takeaway for this episode is, do your research and have realistic expectations up front. This will guarantee an easier experience when building out your website.
If you enjoyed this podcast, please share with your friends and colleagues, and if they are any other topics on running a business or building a brand you would like to hear about, please leave a comment.
Remember the time and energy you put into your brand determines the success of your business.
Thank you for your time,
Kasia Johnson, Forward Mastery
Keep rocking and dream big
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