The foundation of your business is more or less set, and now you need a web designer to take it to another level and to deliver your product in a different manner. The question is who can help you achieve that goal. It is important that you hire a superstar because your website is going to give a first impression of your business to potential customers. Here are some quick tips and pointers to help guide you through your search for that ideal web designer.

Web designers who charges a cheap fee for a design ARE NOT better.

You will get exactly what you pay for. A designer who charges $9.00/hour are charging you that rate either because they believe the quality of their work equates to that rate (which is borderline awful), or they do not treat their work seriously enough because it is just hobby to them. This also means you should avoid hiring through a freelancing platform or design contests. Hiring a cheap designer could result in having a site that has a hard time converting or even functioning.

Understand the pros and cons in hiring both agencies and an individual.

Business owners are conflicted with whether or not they want to deal with an agency or hiring a single person to handle their website. Both are great, but each have their own advantages. Hiring an individual designer is cheaper than hiring an agency, and woking with an individual makes it easier to get close and personal with the project and can have a large influence. On the other hand, although hiring an agency is pricier and harder to interact with the team in regards to the project, your site will more than likely be more innovative and structured. Find out which work style is better and how much involvement you want to have with your designer(s).

Find a designer whose work makes you believe they can get the job done.

Do not hire a web designer just because they have a web designer title. When hunting for a designer, browse through their portfolio. Find some pieces of work that impresses you and gives you evidence that they are suited for the job. Not only will this make your site development easier but you get bonus points from the designer for taking the time to do just that.

Make sure that the designer’s core values in web design are congruent with the degree of the problem you are facing.

A (great) designer has a set of values they follow throughout their career. Whether they are making sure that your site stands out in your industry, or reinventing the web in regards to your industry, you need to ensure that the way they go about delivering your site makes sense with your problem and the mission of your company.

Ensure that the designer has the skills you need to solve your problem.

It is imperative that you have the people who have the skills to design and/or develop your site. Skills include HTML, CSS, and Javascript. If a designer does not have the skills you need, it does not necessarily mean that they should not be hired. You can always hire someone else who is an expert at the missing skills to collaborate which always seem to work best.