As we move toward an increasingly digitized world, where small business owners have to compete with e-commerce giants, the need for a properly functioning website is more important than ever. If you’re a small business owner who’s looking for web design services, you may find yourself overwhelmed by a lot of technical lingo that makes it difficult to parse through what matters for you and what doesn’t. But how can you tell the difference between a web designer who has your best interests at heart and one who has taken a lot of nonsense and wrapped it up in an attractive package? We are a web design company in North Carolina, and today we’ll be discussing the best tips for hiring a web designer, and how to know when a company has your back.
They Listen to Your Ideas…
While your web design service should ideally be an expert in their field, that doesn’t take away from the fact that you’re an expert in yours. You know your target audience, your product, and your business’s core values, and a designer should be willing to find the tools to help you realize your vision in a way that makes sense to your business. For example: if you’re a high-end retailer in New York City specializing in a niche clientele, you might have a disconnect in trying to explain your industry to a web design company in North Carolina, or vice versa. That said, it helps if you’re able to articulate what those ideas and values are at the outset, so be sure to have a concise vision for what you’re looking for and who you’re trying to serve when you meet with your designer. This will save you both a lot of future headaches.
…But They Have Ideas of Their Own, Too
While you may know your business, your web designer knows design. It’s important to work with a design service who is able to take your ideas and vision and work with them in a way that allows for a coherent design that will propel users through your site. You don’t need a yes-man. If you find yourself meeting with a designer who doesn’t have options to bring to the table on their own, then it might be time to look elsewhere.
They Understand Responsive Design and Content Management
With more and more users accessing web content from smartphones and tablets than ever before, having a designer who is familiar with responsive design is crucial to the success of your website. With four out of five users shopping on smartphones, poor mobile design could be driving potential customers to your competitors instead. The same goes for content management. These days, the vast majority of websites are run out of content management systems such as WordPress, which is crucial if you want to be able to manage your own content, such as blog posts, social feeds, or galleries. If your web designer suggests things like separate mobile sites or static HTML pages, then that’s a strong indicator that they’re not up to date on current technologies in design, and your site may suffer as a result.
They’ve Worked at Local and National Levels
Whether you’re a national or local business, you need to work with a website designer who is familiar with both aspects. Let’s return to our earlier example from before: while it’s true that a web design company in North Carolina might not have the experience in dealing with the niche clientele of a New York City retailer, a good designer will be able to transcend any experiential barriers in order to deliver a product that’s right for the client they serve. A designer’s ability to do this speaks less about the area in which they work and more about their ability to anticipate the needs of their clients, and translate those requests into design that is clean and beautiful, a valuable skill in a design service.
Your website is the face of your business, and you want it to be taken care of by someone whose vision you can trust. If you’re looking for a web design company in North Carolina that can propel your business into the future, contact us today.
