What You Need To Know Before Hiring A Website Designer
Are you considering having a website for your business or a blog to voice your passion or for your business? I will be sharing with you things you need to know before hiring a website designer.
In this guide, you will know;
- Difference between website and Blog
- Things to know before hiring a website designer
- Material things needed to start a website
I did a web design job for a Nursing Agency some months back and it took longer than expected. You know why? Because I had to be telling the agency what and what I needed from them.
In this article, am going to enlighten you so that you know how you can be of help to your web designer in speeding up your work.
Differences between website and blog
There is not much distinction between the two but some people don’t know.
A blog is a type of small website or weblog as it was formerly called, that is run by an individual or a small group to keep people updated by sharing content on things they enjoy doing in a conversational style with a comment section for readers’ feedback. Blog entries are referred to as Blog posts.
People use the term Website and Blog interchangeably. the only difference between them is that blogs are regularly updated with new content. Whereas, websites are statically organized in pages and not updated frequently.
A blog can also be part of a website. Especially business websites where they write about new products, promo and all. All blogs are websites but not all websites are blogs.
These days, it’s becoming beneficial to have a website and/or blog for your business, side hustle, or passion. If you are not tech-savvy and do not know how to create a blog/website and yet need one for your business or passion, what do you do? You hire one. Before you do, there are some things to know before you hire a blog/website designer.
“Your website or blog represents your brand; it shouldn’t be done and managed anyhow.”
Things to know before you hire blog/website designer
These things also include the questions you are expected to ask before you give him/her the go-ahead on your project. Whether you get the contact of a web designer online or someone referred him to you, take note of the following;
1). Does he/she understand your business/passion?
As we move deeper into the information age, more people from various walks of life are venturing into web designing and development.
When your designer has deep knowledge about what your business or passion is, rest assured, he will give you his best to make sure you achieve your objectives.
2). Does he/she have a webpage?
It is expected of a web designer to have a personal/business web page where he connects with his prospects.
Tutorial bloggers and web designer write on things they have tried, found useful and helpful (which mean they have tried lots of things as far as blog or website is concerned).
So, if he/she doesn’t have a webpage, don’t expect much. How can he understand self hosted blog when he doesn’t have one?
3). How long has he been doing it and does he understands the platform you wish to use?
Although, this doesn’t really matter but it counts. Because the longer one does something, the more often he encounters some problems and the better he becomes. If he has at least 1 year experience, you are good to go. Experience matters too!
4). Even with the fact that you know nothing about it, will he be able to teach you and give you necessary support?
Blogging or owning a website seem simple, like a piece of cake but it’s not really as simple as it seems. If you are coming into the blogosphere with no understanding of what website/blog is, you need a designer that will be able to hold you by the hand and give you some stuffs (from choosing right niche, to SEO, to driving traffic, to keyword researching, backlink and so on). All these are things included in our Blogging Classes.
We monitor our clients till they get approved by Google AdSense and still give them PRN (when necessary) support including back links. Will your web designer be able to do all that?
5). What about his past works (portfolio)?
This is the vital part. You need to see his past works, assess before you make up your mind. His past works will tell you how good he his and his level of understanding as far as web/blog is concerned. You can choose your preferred design base on his past works or use a new one.
Wrapping up things to know before you hire a blog/website designer
All the aforementioned issues about hiring a web/blog designer are what we have on Alpha Web Agency. When you hire us, we help you with; choosing your niche, buying right domain, choosing right CMS (Content Management System), give you tutorial (free), free eBook and free blogging tips till we are rest assured you can do stuffs alone without any help.
You can hire us to have your website or blog done for you at a take away price with your budget in consideration.
Material things needed to start a website
I call them material things because they do not require money except your business logo. The material things are;
1). Pages: These are the About, Contact, Disclaimer, Policy Privacy, And Admins Pages.
About page is what your website is all about. This should be as clear as you can make it. The contact page is how your visitors can contact you. For a guide on how to write website pages that sell, click here <=
NOTE: These are some of the things a web designer will need, make them ready before consulting your web designer.
2). Business logo
Your web designer will need your business logo on the website. Make it ready too. If you don’t have, we also have a professional Graphics Designer we work with.
TIP: Header logo (horizontal versions) is preferred on the website to other forms.
3). Social media handles: Make sure your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, G+ pages are ready too. Your designer will need them. Depending on the plan you opt-in for, we can create them for you too.
NOTE: If your web designer must do these for you, be ready to pay more charges.
Wrapping up what you need before hiring a website designer
This article has highlighted the things needed to have a website either for your business or passion. For a recap, they are; the difference between a website and a blog, material things needed, and how to manage your website. We, at Alpha Web Agency, are here to make sure your business thrives on the world wide web.
