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1. Factors to Consider
A web designer who has experience with custom WordPress design will have a much better understanding of the platform’s ins and outs. In turn, this will result in a more efficient website and a seamless transition from start to finish. It is also a good idea to find out if the company providing the WordPress website design has any experience with a similar industry to your own. This will save time and you will get a better result as you will be working with less hassle.
Begin your search for the best WordPress website designer by finding out about the experience and portfolio of a company. What better way to decide if a WordPress designer is right for you than to check out the type of work they have done in the past? You would know right away if you like their style and if it is a job you would like them to do on your WordPress website. Take a step further not only checking out weeks worth of a designer’s portfolio, but also ask to see some examples of work they have done in the past.
1.1. Experience and Portfolio
Experience and Portfolio” – Another important factor to consider when choosing a WordPress website designer is how long they have been working with WordPress. While experience in web design in general is important, a designer who is an expert in WordPress is a better choice. When it comes to your website, you want to be sure that the designer is available to take on your project. You’re paying for a service and your website is an investment, so it is crucial that the designer provides adequate support. Occasionally a designer will become overbooked or leave the job midway to take on higher-paying clients. Discuss with the designer what their situation is with regards to support and confirm that they will be able to complete the job in your desired timeframe. Also, because you are building a website, you need a designer who follows code. Nowadays, there are plenty of WordPress themes that have good options, but the most efficient way to edit a theme is to access the editing options in appearance. A designer who is familiar with PHP, CSS, and HTML coding will have a better understanding of what can and can’t be done to your theme and ultimately will offer you a more professional website and a wider range of features for your site. A good way to determine whether or not a designer is right for you is to review their portfolio. This can be the deciding factor in your choice of designer. You will need to find a designer whose style is practical for what you have in mind. Most designers have their own unique style, and a lot of them are versatile. Take the time to look at their portfolio and see if anything like what you’re looking for is there. Mentioning this is a very useful will be the deciding factor in your search. To summarize, when you decide to work with a designer, you are taking on a business partnership. The success of your website will be a direct result of how successful the partnership is. So there will more than likely be a need for a designer at some point in time, it is your own responsibility to ensure that you find the right person to work with and knowing what you want now will make the job much easier. A designer who has a clear understanding of your business goals and knowledge in WordPress will provide extra support and a higher quality of work for your website.
1.2. Expertise in WordPress
When seeking WordPress website designers, it is crucial that you ensure their expertise in WordPress. Whether you want a blog on your site or a more forum-style website, you’ll want to make sure they have experience with similar projects. The best way to determine this is by reviewing their portfolio and how they have handled similar issues in the past. It is often a good idea to hire a consultant to assist with research and development for complex issues. This increases your chances of finding a qualified professional to solve the problem. Finding a designer with the necessary IT skills to come up with a proper solution and effectively communicate it to you can be challenging but invaluable. Even simple service-type websites have specific goals for their site. Another important consideration is the level of quality you are seeking. This may seem obvious, but it is crucial to reflect on. Generally, the more you pay for a website and its maintenance, the higher quality you will receive. Clients often opt for cheaper solutions without fully understanding the potential consequences. Even small updates to plugins or changes to theme files can have significant adverse effects on a poorly made website. Always consider the complexity of the issue and the long-term goals for your website when deciding on the level of service. A good designer will provide an honest assessment of your situation and offer a suitable solution to your problem.
1.3. Understanding of Your Business Goals
Your developer should have an understanding of marketing and branding concepts. A website is a marketing tool. It is not there for the developer to express their personal design style, and it is not there for the business owner to express their web design preferences. The website’s sole purpose is to increase the business’s market share and to bolster the business’s image. A good developer will have years of experience working on business websites, and it will be evident in their work. A researching business owner can find out a lot about a developer simply by analyzing their work. Using experience as a metric to determine if a developer is good (or even worth their rate) can serve the business owner well. High school and college students are often creating websites as freelance work these days, and they often do not have an understanding of corporate goals because they have never worked in a corporate environment. These students may be great developers for personal sites, but they probably do not have the right experience to work on a project for a serious business.
In order for your website to truly support your business, it needs to reflect how you operate and promote your goals. A good site developer must understand what business is all about. Their comprehension of your business’s goals should be mentioned again and again. Too many site developers suggest a solution that does not in any way reflect the way the business operates or its long-term goals. A good site developer will have a method for determining your business goals. They will emphasize that the goals of a website are what will make the website a success. They will note that if a business does not have solid goals, then the website will serve no purpose. The website is not the end-all-be-all of business. A good site is only a part of a business’s long-term strategy. Once your developer fully understands your business’s goals, they can then start to define how the website will offer a solution.
1.4. Client Testimonials and Reviews
When you have shortlisted a number of potential WordPress designers, another important factor to consider is client testimonials and reviews. Client testimonials can be an excellent way to evaluate the designer’s credibility and dependability. Look for a detailed account of the client’s experience; how the designer was able to satisfy the client’s needs and if they were easily approachable. Look for specific feedback, good testimonials are usually “I love my website and I will be contacting you further to improve it” while testimonials to avoid would be “I love my website”. Testimonials which include statistical data regarding an increase in sales, readership or social media followers can provide these claims are true are also very valuable. In saying that, often a designer is likely to only post positive testimonials on their website. This is where reviews on third party websites such as Google Places or TrueLocal can be valuable. These reviews are able to be verified as legitimate, making it difficult for the designer to post fake reviews. They are also not able to be deleted by the designer.
2. Research and Evaluation
An online search can be the most time consuming of the evaluation techniques, but often it is also the most effective. Think about the keywords that are likely to get you the best results: if you are looking for a designer local to you, try including your area in the search term (“website designers in Birmingham”). If you are looking for a specific type of designer, for example a designer who has experience in e-commerce sites, include this in your search terms. Take time to look through the search results, simply opening the top 5 results and picking a designer from those is not the best way to gather information on the work available to you. One of the best ways to find a good designer, or to find someone to do any kind of work is by personal recommendation. If you know someone with a great website, ask them who did it. When asking for recommendations it’s important to find out what it is that they liked about that specific designer. Ask about how easy they were to work with, how the pricing was and whether they felt that they got good value from the work that was done. If you have a very detailed idea of what it is that you’re looking for from a designer (perhaps you’re looking for a redesign on an existing website), it may be a good idea to focus on finding example sites that are similar to what you want. If you find a site that is exactly what you’re looking for, find out who did that site.
2.1. Online Search and Recommendations
Begin online research. There are a number of avenues to pursue in locating a qualified website designer. Other small business owners may recommend designers, but it is more likely to find a designer by browsing sites that you find attractive. Alternatively, if you see a website that you particularly like, you can contact the site owner and ask them to recommend their designer. Also, if you attend a website you can usually find contact information located on the bottom of the page. Another source is the Directory of Independent Web Designers and Developers. It is a directory of web designers and developers that are of a higher quality and have experience in their respective fields. Listings are by no means comprehensive, but it’s a good place to start.
2.2. Comparison of Designers
Comparison is the second and most important step towards finding the right designer. Each designer/company has their way of presenting their designs and their service structures. Most of the time it’s the potential client’s lack of knowledge in asking the right questions that results in disappointment at the end of the project. The aim here is to prepare a set of questions and compare the answers to rank the potential candidate. Ask about their old projects, their success ratio, their turnaround time (time to complete project), their service after the project completion, and their work availability. It’s better to get an exact price or a pricing structure on the work instead of an hourly rate to prevent financial disagreement later. You must also inform the candidate about your future project plans and make sure that they can cope with any long-term commitment. This is important as it’s not uncommon that changes of designers during projects result in high confusion. Once you have all the answers from the candidates, make a list of their answers and compare them against each other. This will give a structured comparison of each candidate. Candidates should be ranked based on answers and potential. Many people also prefer to do reference checks here, but in a freelance industry, I feel that this is somewhat unnecessary as it’s not uncommon that candidates will only present their best clients and many past clients could be unknown. After all this, you should have a clear candidate for your project. If it is not clear, then go back and refine your search as there are many designers who have potential but lack exposure. Never settle for the best of a bad bunch as this will only result in disappointment.
2.3. Reviewing Previous Work
When reviewing a potential designer’s previous work, it is important to look to see if the sort of work that they have done in the past is in line with the type of work that you are looking to have done. With this, it is most useful to look at designers who have experience in developing WordPress sites. If the designer has a portfolio, it may be a good idea to go through and see if their previous designs are still live. Each website that a designer has created should have a credit to the designer usually in the footer of the website. If after viewing the designer’s portfolio you cannot see a credit on a said design, it may be best to contact the owner of the site and ask if they were happy with the work that the designer provided. Oftentimes, businesses are happy to recommend the services of a designer that they have been happy with. A recommendation is a great way to get some clarity on the quality of work that your designer is capable of. This is also the case with any service and is why references are given to potential employers. A highly recommended designer with a lot of experience may also be a more expensive designer, but it is important to weigh the quality of design with the cost. A well-designed website could potentially bring in more business and as a result more sales or customers.
3. Communication and Collaboration
With regards to the ‘how’ the project will be managed, this might be something that you need not be too involved with, though still worth considering. Project Management tools can be extremely beneficial in ensuring optimum productivity and efficiency – for example Basecamp or ActiveCollab. Also, if the website is part of a wider software project, you might even consider integrating the design with the development using something like Redmine to allocate design tasks.
To avoid this, it’s wise to select a designer with a solid track record, and to keep communication at a level where you are always aware of what is being done, and why. Also, you should make sure that the designer is fully understanding what it is that you want his work to achieve. A great way to do this is through regular update meetings. These do not need to be in person of course, but short voice conversations will help ensure that nothing is lost in translation, and also gives both parties the opportunity to ask any questions.
This is the most important aspect in my opinion. It’s imperative that the project stays on the right path through clear and regular communication. It’s no good selecting a designer who cannot meet your specific requirements, or worse still, simply ‘disappears’ for a few weeks, only to return with something that you were not expecting, and ultimately, do not want.
3.1. Clear Communication Channels
Miscommunication can be avoided through clear communication channels. The way that information is transferred from one person to another can be interpreted in many different ways. Avoiding the use of mediators or messengers reduces the chance of misinterpretation or message skewing. This is particularly helpful when there is an open channel between the client and designer. When talking to each other and written messages are done in a face to face or real-time setting, immediate feedback and information exchange is made possible. This is helpful in the event a problem arises and a solution is needed to be quickly found. Email is an indirect form of communication, taking a longer time for information transfer, it is best used for providing detailed or longer information, or as a reference for past conversations. Phone and voice chat are useful for immediate contact, and talking with each other can help clarify misunderstanding through tone. It is important to document the conversation through email or a chat log for future reference.
3.2. Project Management Tools
Project management tools are essential for UX teams to keep everything organized and easily accessible. These tools help manage scheduling information, personas, scenarios, data analysis, team decisions, and design ideas. It is recommended to find a single tool that can handle all of these functions to avoid spreading data across multiple applications. This simplifies the process, improves information retrieval, and may even reduce costs. Pivotal Tracker is an example of a great tool for UX teams. It allows teams to plan out different parts of a project in “sprints,” which helps in setting and organizing project goals within a manageable timeline. Pivotal Tracker also facilitates the organization of “stories” used in user storyboarding. Each story can be tagged and organized according to user needs, and additional detailed information can be added and revised over time. Pivotal Tracker is also integrated with various version control and continuous integration tools, ensuring that each developed feature and updated version of the product is tested and reviewed in relation to the intended story.
3.3. Regular Update Meetings
The client and the WordPress website designer must agree when to have an update meeting. This meeting should happen at least once a week. During the meeting, the designer should show the client what has been done, and perhaps do a live demonstration on the WordPress website. This way, the client can give feedback, perhaps do some design testing, and decide on any changes that the designer might not be able to express through the discussion of an email. These meetings are crucial, as the client is heavily involved in the design process and also because the WordPress website designer is able to deliver a result that is more likely to be exactly what the client wants. Some people today still can’t believe the fact of just how widely used the traditional email still is. It is not uncommon for people to use Yahoo email notifiers to be told that they have received new mail in their account inbox. This is very unreliable in delivering messages as spam is filtered and sometimes new mail does not reach its destination. To counter this problem, the client and the WordPress website designer should consider using an instant messaging program such as Skype. With a live contact list, mood displaying emoticons, and instant notifications of mail sent, it has proved to be a very effective piece of software. An upgrade from this would be to actually remotely chat by voice to one another. This involves less waiting time and can deliver more fluidity to a conversation. Regular update meetings usually take place at a specific time on a specific day. To avoid missing or forgetting meetings, it is good practice to make use of reminders and calendar software. Google Calendar is a good web application that allows people to keep track of events and receive notifications of these events through email. With this in place, a client and a WordPress website designer can clearly define when an update meeting will take place.
3.4. Collaboration with Design Process
When collaborating with a designer, the chances are they will be carrying out the design process in Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator or equivalent. Many designers are now using Adobe XD which is a great tool for previewing designs and collaborating with clients. In order to give the designer an idea of how you want the design to look, it’s a good idea to create a mood board of designs you like with notes of why you like them to share with the designer. Pinterest is great for creating mood boards from web designs you like. The designer should then be able to take these ideas and create a design to suit your requirements. An alternative to a mood board would be to ask the designer to find 3-5 designs of existing websites as an example of the layout they plan to create. This is a quick way to capture an idea without spending too much time creating something you might not be happy with. The main thing is to be vocal and not afraid to express if you don’t like something. Any good designer will appreciate constructive feedback to make sure the end result is something that you are happy with.
4. Pricing and Contract
Pricing and Contract This is one of the most crucial issues to consider when hiring a web designer and can greatly affect your experience with your website. Different sites will require different things. Graphic design sites tend to be very complex with custom graphics, and require lots of time. A small business website may only need a few pages and a simple graphic, and should not cost as much. Be sure to talk to your potential designer and describe to him/her exactly what you want your website to be. Any movable features, custom graphics, and complexity should be discussed at this time. This ensures that the designer has a clear idea of what you want and can give you an accurate price for your project. Always obtain a detailed price of your project. An hourly rate can be very unpredictable. Always think and plan ahead; it is very common to need adjustments made to your site in the future. Be sure that these prices are discussed beforehand. A good web designer will take your initial discussions into account when charging you for future adjustments.
These are some things to take into consideration when you are planning to hire a professional to design and develop your website. It is important to plan ahead and to consider issues that you may encounter with your website. This will save you time and money in the long run. But remember to find the “right” person for the job, this may take time and commitment. Do your homework, ask questions and you will be sure to find the perfect web designer for your project.
4.1. Detailed Pricing Structure
When should payment be expected? Designers will have various payment terms. Some require a down payment before beginning work. Others can provide terms of Net 30 or Net 60. It is typical and beneficial to pay on deliverable, meaning your payments are tied to completing a certain amount of work. This ensures prompt and efficient work on your site. Payment tied to specific, measurable, time-based results is also good. One example of this could be a $100 bonus if my website is launched within 2 months. This incentive-based payment structure benefits both parties.
Provide a detailed pricing structure for your WordPress website. This can save you a lot of time and headaches in the future. Make sure they include enough specific information. A common complaint from people who have worked with a designer is that they were unclear on costs and what the expected deliverable would be. Ask about what’s included in their quoted price. Is it just a slapdash design or is that price inclusive of design, development, and on-page SEO implementation? Make sure everything that you expect to be delivered is written in the price quote. This will reduce the probability of “project creep” where your designer does extra work and asks to be compensated for it. Given that you had no agreed-upon price for the additional task/project, creep typically sours the connection between a client and a supplier. Any real professional would honor their initial agreement.
4.2. Scope of Work and Deliverables
Describe in as much detail as possible what you want done. Ask the designer what he/she understands the current state of the site (if it is a redesign). Have him/her write a brief statement on the current state, and how he/she understands the new site. This will be a good reference point in the future. Make a list of all the specific tasks and deliverables you want completed. This should come together with the timeline, and what is the payment scheduled tied to the deadlines. Make it clear to the designer that any deviations from the timeline may result in a delayed payment. Note: keep 10-20% of payment deliverable based so that you have leverage for any slight overages in time/money. This way there is incentive to complete the project. But also make the incentive to finish the project a return bonus. For example, if he/she finishes the project within x% of the original time/money estimate, offer a 10% return bonus on the payment.
4.3. Contract Terms and Conditions
In terms of contract for the design work, it is important that the designer offers a comprehensive terms and conditions contract that is to be signed. The contract represents an official agreement between the client and the designer on the agreed upon terms of the project, and is there to protect both parties. It is important that the contract reference the detailed proposal, and include a copy of any additional correspondence concerning the project. The contract can be used for pricing quotation if there is a dispute on the agreed price and it also acts as an official guideline on what the client can expect from the designer i.e. a visual mockup of the home page, or the designer will keep working on the design until the client is completely satisfied. Finally, copywriting and permissions, the contract must state that the work carried out by the designer is unique to the client and shall not infringe on any copyright laws. Another note on pricing is automatic billing. It is commonly seen amongst freelance designers that they prefer this method for obvious reasons. The client should be willing to adopt this method however if they are uneasy about it, they could agree on a fixed price to be paid at the end of each stage of the project. This however should be avoided if possible as it may cause complications on the actual duration of each stage.
5. Conclusion
Lastly, we welcome feedback on what’s worked for you when finding the right website designer and any additional input on what’s helped you secure a designer. This will help us further build upon a resource and guidance to assist others in their journey towards finding the best website designer.
We would like to give a special thanks to those in the WordPress community who contribute to this effort. We appreciate the dedication and the insight they’ve provided towards this article. This includes professional web designers, web developers, and small business owners, bloggers, and artists who’ve shared their experiences in their search for a website designer.
By asking the right questions and doing a little bit of research, your chances of being completely satisfied with your website’s design are much greater. Don’t rush to a quick decision. Always spend as much time as you can afford on perfecting the choosing a designer. As stated numerous times, using these guidelines will help you make the best informed decision on who’s right for you. Remember the choice is always yours and you should never settle for anything less than perfect when it comes to the design of your website. Always keep the future of your website in mind when making your final decision. The idea is to find a long-term designer to ensure that the quality of your website is reliable and always at its best.
In conclusion, finding the best WordPress designer for your website can be a daunting and overwhelming task. Whether you know what to look for or not, it’s still a difficult task to find a starting point. Eliminate the stress of a potential bad choice in hiring the wrong designer and thoroughly use these essential tips before coming to a final decision. In conclusion, the most important thing to remember is to always find a designer who will do their best work. How can you tell if someone will put 110% into your website? By following our tips and guidelines, you will be able to interpret what kind of a designer someone is and if they’re the right fit for you.
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