Truth be told, hiring a website designer is a lot of work, but it’s also the best thing that could happen to your business.

So you’ve already set up your online business and it’s up and running, Monday to Friday. You have all the marketing materials from business cards, brochures, business signage, logos, and promotional flyers to leaflets. There’s only one thing left. Your website!

Your website is your online business shop, a place where you can showcase your creations, and present yourself to customers. With a website, anyone and everyone from around the world can find your business. We’re slowly getting to the most important part.

 

web design

 

As a new online business owner, you’re probably wondering, “what do I have to do?” All you know is that you have to get the best deal there is, right? What you need is a website designer to answer and solve most of those questions.

Still, you can choose to forget all that and just do a quick Google search because Google has all the answers? Surprisingly, No! It’s an enticing shortcut to take but at least first try out:

The 10 things listed below and then you can have Google as your second option.

 

Do A Lot Of Asking

Asking around seems old-fashioned but you’ll find it’s very effective compared to doing a random Google search. Try to converse with people in your professional network to see if anyone can recommend a web designer. It’s always a good idea to ask someone you know well to give a few recommendations.

The web will give you a list of web designers both available locally and internationally to help you create a website for your online business. The second option could be you sitting somewhere with a potential web designer discussing what’s at hand compared to skyping them. If you’re this kind of person then your professional network should be able to direct you to the right person.

Google is the best “person” to consult only if your network fails to recommend a suitable web designer. You just type in “web design help” and it will direct you to multiple freelancing websites that link business owners to freelancers looking to work.

Another way around this is reaching out to a well-known industry, preferably one that you like. Finding one is easy. Just check at the bottom of your favorite website for the phrase/link” designed by” and from there you can directly contact the web designer.

As you do this also take advantage of the opportunity and know about your competitors. Find out what they have to offer, what is the difference between them, is their website good enough and what are they lacking? Finding out all this will give you an edge over your competitors.

 

Know Your Website Goals and Priorities

Now, you’re on your way towards engaging the website designer. Do you know how your site will sell your products and services? Or you want your site to focus just on providing information? This brings us to:

Deciding your Lead Magnet.

You need to decide on what you want your site to promote before the website is developed. This will help the designer to reserve certain spaces such as where to put highlights and promotions. Examples of lead magnets are:

Product/service discounts

Free product/services

Register and get a discount

Free consultation

It’s okay if you don’t know which choice to make yet. That’s a job for the web designer too. However, there may be extra charges for the ideas he will offer. Scared of the extra charges? Search the web for websites you like especially those that can present your brand well. As you’re doing this also draft an outline for what you expect your website to achieve.

Planning on a new website? submit our online form to get a quote (If you’re on a mobile device, scroll down to bottom to see form).

Create a Vision Board

A vision board is a collage of pictures and affirmations of what you want. Vision boards serve to motivate and inspire you to achieve your goals.

It’s up to you to either make your vision board virtual or an actual one that you can touch. It should at least include the colors you want to represent your brand, your preferred fonts, slogans, phrases, and graphics to use when marketing your business.

 

vision board

 

During this planning process consider issues such as;

Who will manage and monitor the website?

What will you do in case you can make adjustments?

How much is charged every year for the domain, hosting, and maintenance?

 

Create a Design Wish List

Do you want the web designer to create you a website from scratch or you have one already that just needs some updating? Creating one and updating the other are two different things. One is about creating something entirely new while the other is about making improvements.

If you’re looking to have a new site created then your list should be based on research i.e. number of pages, headers, buttons, menus, plus other visual elements you’d like to feature on your website.

It’s also necessary that you include social media buttons/brand icons to promote your website online. All of this when added up will help your website designer to estimate how much it will take and how much money you’ll need to pay to make your vision come to life.

 

Understand Your Budget

A lot goes into building a website. Because of the amount of work that goes into it, the cost of web development is usually lot more than you would expect. However, this should not scare you. To make things easier and less scary, just ask around and find out the different household rates for web design work and share it with your web designer. You need to know how much you can allocate for the website then set it in the range of minimum to maximum. Having this prepared will help you and the designer to estimate what will be spent instead of spending a lot or allocating less money.

Also, ask local business owners that already have websites how much they invested in getting their websites created. They may even share their designer’s contact information.

 

Give Every Page a Title

This can include the number of pages you want your website to have, the goal of each page, how many words each page should have, and more. Keep in mind that the web designer may charge you by the hour as they help you answer some of these questions.

An example can be to start with these 5 pages for your website:

Home

About

FAQ’s

Product/Service Details.

Contact

In case something changes in your services or products or maybe you get new ideas or new page information, it can always be added. This will also cost you more money to update your website.

Content Creation

Before you go to any web designer, you should have the words for every page with you. If you can’t find the words to write, hire a writer to create content for you. The right content delivers the right message straight to your audience making them understand your products and services. The content has to be crafted in a way that engages your audiences and prompts them to perform certain actions. Just make sure to go with a polished and final copy in your first meeting with the web designer. It will quicken the process.

 

Organize a Creative Process Before the Meeting

You may already be using marketing tools such as Google Docs and Dropbox to manage files. All you have to do now is create a new folder and start collecting ideas, pieces, and any other important information needed for your website. The examples below are some of the items to be included in the new online folder.

website

High-Quality Pictures and Graphics

These include images you intend to upload to your website. You need to showcase the best pictures because visual content appeals to more than texts. Having customized photos specifically crafted for your company is a better choice.

Think about hiring a professional photographer to take high-quality product photos for you. These same photos can even be used to create other marketing materials such as brochures, magazines, and any other product you need to be branded.

Logo and Brand

Your business needs to have a unique logo for branding. Prepare your business logo and if you don’t have one, then contact a graphic designer or use a tool to design one that fits your website.

Your Copy

A shared file can help create other copies for multiple people to review. They can help track changes to the document and even view them in real-time. It’s also a lot faster.

Website Map

Do you know the technique of outlining what to include in your story before writing? The same approach works when planning for your website. You outline everything and how you expect it to appear. This is like your brand’s digital storytelling the world who you are and why they should purchase your services and products.

Every subset of the planning sitemap should have a page name so that you can see the layout of your site.

Your Audience

Your business must reach your target audience who will be coming to seek services and purchase products. These are your potential customers, that’s why your business needs to match what they are looking for.

 

Prepare a Website Agreement and Contract

A contract and agreement will protect you and the website designer’s expectations. You may think your project will take only a few weeks and it instead drags on for months. Having a contract in place will help you and the website designer benefit from the project based on what the contract states. It should not only include a timeline and budget but also how you’ll both be communicating. For example, do you expect progress reports every day, every week after a month? Then, are texts or emails your preferred means of communication? Or you prefer direct phone calls?

 

Collect Images

Gather images that you’d like to showcase on your websites as samples for what you offer. These can include logos, animated gifs, and illustrations. Make sure that these images are either taken by you or purchased from trusted sources because it’s very important for copyright issues. You just can’t copy and paste images downloaded from other sites and upload them onto your site! If you don’t have your images or photos you can purchase high-quality images from Shutter stock or similar websites that sell images for commercial use.

For illustrations, the designer to create some for your website. Remember pictures tell a story better than words would. As long as they appear professional and are well branded, you’re good to go.

 

Design a Launch Plan

By this stage, you should be having a proper sketch of your website. So, what’s next? You need to think about how you intend to use your website to your advantage which is promoting your business. Most people prefer launching their business through events, others create a buzz about their brand on various social media sites. Some people post customer testimonials on their new site to build trust and also share the link of the website on social media pages. How will you launch yours?

Before your website is launched, double-check and even recheck just to make sure there aren’t any grammatical errors. Also, test your links before sharing them to make sure they are working correctly. When your website goes launches you will want to look into how to increase web traffic through methods such as

Google-Cost Per Click (CPC)

Facebook-Cost Per Click (CPC)

Lastly, make sure that visitors can scroll through the website easily.

 

Conclusion

And those are the 10 things you need to do when hiring a website designer. The process requires time, money, and effort if you want to get the best.  It’s your business, so consider it worth the investment for future gains.

Get a Quote on Your Website Project

To get a quote please submit our online form (If you’re on a mobile device, scroll down to bottom to see form).

Are you getting the best return out of your current website? Need an extra pair of eyes to review your online business? Let our experts take a look at your current state and do a comprehensive digital marketing analysis at no cost to you. Please call us at (800) 379-2829 or contact us today and we will get to work right away.

Web Design has gone through many transitions over the years and recent trends have many website owners opting for flat images, lots of white space and simplicity of design and there is a clear reason why. Your customers are highly visual and there are some basic psychological principles that influence how much they like your design and therefor how long they stay on your website.

Less Is More – The Power Of White Space

The buzz of the internet is so busy and aggressive that it can be overwhelming. Make your website a calm and professional place where white space is allowed to fill the gaps. Make your visual content simple yet powerful, your words inspiring yet concise and allow consumers to relax as they browse your website. Cut the clutter and get down to business!

Focus On What’s Important

shutterstock_129113954-updated

Draw attention to headlines, key phrases and calls to action with creative headlines that are bigger and bolder than the rest of your text. Take snippets of important text and highlight them by adding color or changing font, just make sure not to go overboard, remembering that simplicity is still key.

Use Color To Influence Perception

Colors inspire emotions and for a majority of people there is a clear connection between specific colors and specific feelings. Make sure to keep the psychology of color in mind when choosing your brand colors and your web design colors. For instance, yellow is seen and friendly and fun where is red is attention grabbing, black is authoritative and green is calming. There are many color connections and combinations so do your research and combine the right colors with the right amount of white space for a killer website that people want to visit over and over again!

Get social with your web design

Keep your website fresh with live streaming content from your social media accounts and make sharing a snap with colorful easy to use social sharing buttons. These days your company’s social media accounts are just as important as your main website; so why not pack a double punch and integrate the two?

Individual sharing content via social media on a mobile device while standing in the desert.

Individual sharing content via social media on a mobile device.

 

Customers thrive on status updates from companies

Many customers are relating to brands and businesses via social media these days. Checking our news feeds has become such a part of daily life it is there that customers are most easily connected to you. If you are diligently updating your social sites you can take advantage of these views by integrating your social media and website. You will create more continuity, a larger fan base and help boost your SEO.

Allow social sharing to be as commonplace as the update itself

Individual sharing content via social media on a tablet.

Make sure your accounts are linked and you have adequately marketed your social media accounts on your website. Link to your accounts using the popular logos of your favorite social media platforms that people can easily identify. There are lots of free and paid logos of various styles you can use to create a more cohesive look with your brand.

In the mobile era, updates should be available everywhere

iPhone with Siri loaded on screen.

Rather than simply sliding in a link to your social media account you can go one step further by adding a live feed to your Facebook or Twitter account. Depending on the type of business you have than Instagram or Pinterest feeds might be relevant as well. This way there is a part of your website that is consistently refreshing and populating with new content. You can even allow users to “log in” to your website using their Facebook or Twitter accounts for a customized experience.

Content optimized to share will increase SEO

Social media optimization.

Make your content easy to share by including a great title, eye catching photos and a prominent set of social share buttons. You can easily add sharing options with apps, widgets or by asking your favorite web designer to include them for you. You’ve already worked hard to create share-worthy content so don’t take a step backwards by making it difficult or cumbersome for a user to spread your content like wildfire!

Web design is oftentimes thought to be a less complex thing than it actually is. There is a common misconception that website designers simply slap together a site that’s merely pretty, failing to see that intricate processes and functions that the site has behind the scenes that makes that website more usable to the everyday man and woman. Without taking into account how user friendly a site really is that the web design fails at creating a website that is beneficial to the business it represents and the visitors that come to the site in the first place.

What Makes a Web Design User Friendly?

Usability is about creating a website that is easy to read, view and navigate from the homepage to every other page on the site; beyond the task of making the site look appealing, there is the task of carefully formulating a place where visitors can come and traverse from page to page and blurb of information to blurb of information with ease. Sometimes making a website have easy usability depends on the you create it and in the article “10 Usability Tips for Web Designers” you can see first hand what make a web design the ultimate in user friendly.

Web design is at heart an artform; it creates an ease of use, appeal and summitry that allows site visitors to traverse the website without any problems and feel as if they want to stay on the site for a longer period of time. For small businesses, the overall website design is important as it helps to create a lasting impression on a wider audience of people and therefore aid in making the business a true success story compared to competitors.

Web Design and the Small Business

However, all too often small businesses get caught up in the overall trappings of the business rather than allowing the web design to effectively create a site that helps instead of hinders. Doing so makes the chances of a successful site very slim, endangering the business’ overall structure and profitability because of one small aspect of design that wasn’t give enough care and thought when it was created. In today’s world a website is the lifeblood of a business whether they have a brick and mortar headquarters or are strictly an online business. Without an effectively designed website all the hard work of the employees may not be able to overcome the lost of profit found in a site that lacks the ability to draw in and keep visitors.

Web Design Blunders Small Businesses Make

When  it comes to website design there are many mistakes a business can make, but check out the article “5 Web Design Blunders of Small Businesses” to see the worse ones a business can make. Understanding where others business’ have gone wrong in their overall web design can help to make your business site as effective as possible whether you choose to design your site yourself or go through a professional web designer.

Creating a modern web design is never as simple as you would expect. Sure, you could slap together a few ideas, keeping the overall design minimal, but giving it a modern and functional twist takes a little effort and skill. Website design or web development, is a big process that incorporates art, design, functionality and usability to achieve a goal that the business/website was created for. With incorporating those things a web site design will fail to be anything more than a passing site that few people see or easily use.

Modern Web Design: What is It?

When the term “modern” is attached to something whether it is interior design or electronic manufacturing, brings to mind simplistic lines, ease of use and an overall ideal of less is more. When it comes to modern web design those qualities are refined and distilled so that every aspect of a “modern” website design is created a site where beauty is seen and used in a simple, but elegant way. From minimalistic imagery to an overall “clean & sophisticated” look, modern web development is all about creating a website that goes the distance in being everything it needs to be without truly overdoing the design aspect.

Tips to Help You Create a Modern Web Design

In the article “5 Pillars of a Successful Modern Web Design” you can get useful tips on how to incorporate a modern website design into your overall site development. Sometimes just a handful of truly useful tricks and tips can help to make a web design successfully modern and successfully usable to those who visit the site.

Web design today can come in many different forms; from busy designs that have so much for the eye to look at to simpler website designs that use minimalism to truly and effectively convey a distinct message to the site user. Web development is something that has a certain “to each his/her own” quality to it, but sometimes the best websites use simplicity to be beautiful, functional and successful in equal turns.

Why a Simple Web Design May be Better?

A simple web design may be a better choice for you because it allows you and your site to effectively convey a message and direct users to certain areas that are the most crucial to your site. Without the busy designs that can confuse and mislead visitors, a website can successfully ensure that every visitor finds exactly what they need and sees exactly what you want them to see even if they only spend a few minutes/seconds on a specific page.

Learn Tips to Help Simplify Your Web Design

In the article “5 Tips To Simplify Your Web Design” you can learn the ways in which simplicity helps a website to succeed and how to implement them. Web design and a simplistic approach are just one way to design a site, but for the most part some of the most successful sites utilize these tips to succeed.

A web design is comprised of art and functionality that serves a purpose… to create a better user experience for the visitor and to increase the success of the business or group it serves. When it comes to website design there are a lot of tips out there to help improve a site from in the interior which the visitor never sees to the exterior that builds an impression on the visitor as they traverse the site. All of these tips can be useful to improving web site design, but did you know that you can use brain science to not only improve a web design, but back up those tips as well?

The Brain and it Interprets Web Design

The brain is a fairly mysterious thing even after countless studies conducted by scientists, doctors and researchers. Even though today we no more than ever there is still so much to learn, but luckily the things researchers have learned can be used to back up even the most mundane thing like how a brain interprets and views web design. From where our eyes travel when we load up a website design page to how “herd behaviors” can be used to increase social perception, how the literacy of the user effects the success of the page and much more. The way the brain tends to react to web development has allowed web designers to better create sites that speak to the user with more success than ever before.

Web Design Tips with Brain Science in Mind

Using your brain to improve web design seems like a given, but using the way your brain tends to react to a website design isn’t as common even if it should be. In the article “6 Web Design Tips Based on Brain Science” you can get six useful tips that are centered on how the brain reacts to better improve the way web development is done. Web design with the brain in mind just might be the success you and your website are looking for.

Mobile phones with Internet connectivity are very popular these days. The Internet is no longer just for desktop computers and laptops but also for mobile phones. It is for this reason that mobile responsive websites are also becoming a hot topic in terms of Web Design. There are varying opinions as to whether mobile responsive websites are better than creating a separate mobile site. For the benefit of those who are not familiar with what a mobile responsive website is, it refers to a website that is compatible on various devices, from desktop computers, to tablets and smartphones.

A mobile responsive web design is better than a separate mobile site in many ways. For instance, it is better for Search Engine Optimization. Search engines recommend its use. In fact, search engine giant, Google, recommends a responsive design for websites. A preferred web design is one that serves different types of devices using the same set of URLs and only altering the CSS to render a website on a specific device.

With a responsive design, all content will be found in the same place. You wouldn’t be directed to a separate mobile site when you are using your smart phone. While you can use plug-ins that enable websites to work in mobile sites, the website may still look awkward. The content looks better with a responsive Web Design. It is also easier for viewers to read the content. Users don’t have to pinch or zoom their way through a website the way they do when the site isn’t optimized for a mobile phone. With a responsive design, your website is optimized no matter the size of the screen or device. Since the same style can be used for both the mobile phone and desktop computers, it also makes the website easier to maintain. You don’t have to copy and format content to suit various web properties. This is very useful for websites with a lot of content. Mobile devices also keep upgrading. With a mobile responsive website, you do not have to update your website design every time a new mobile phone comes out in the market.

Whether you opt for a responsive website design or create separate mobile site, it is important for you to develop a website with mobile phone users in mind if you want to stay competitive. According to research, there is an increase in the rate of mobile usage and mobile purchases and this trend is not likely to go down in the future. Therefore, a website that puts mobile phone users in mind will be really effective in driving traffic to your site. While this type of design may still have limitations, it can be a smart solution for website owners who want to widen their businesses’ market reach.

Need help planning an effective and user-friendly web design? eBizUniverse is composed of a team of experienced and knowledgeable professionals who can help you build a website that suits your business needs. You can send an email to [email protected] or fill out our contact form to learn about our services.

When you are deciding on a web page layout, one important factor you need to think of is whether you are going to use a fixed width or a flexible width layout. Thinking about this ahead of time will help you come up with the appropriate web design.  In the past, when people were still using those CRT screens, it probably wouldn’t have made much difference. But these days, with the varying widths of monitors, it has become harder than ever for web designers to decide on the best way to display websites. Which one is better, fixed or variable width? Each has its own pros and cons. By understanding them, you will also be able to make an informed decision.

Fixed Width

Pros

  • Whether the screen is large or small, the basic web layout for the webpage remains the same. This is preferred by those who want to provide a consistent image for their audience.
  • Fixed width web layouts have better control for line lengths. For larger monitors, tables can be used to prevent text to become too long.

Cons

  • Some parts of the page may not be viewed or may have horizontal scrolling. This happens when the browser is smaller than the page grid. Vertical scrolling is very common while many users find horizontal scrolling to be uncomfortable. That is why web designers want to avoid the need for horizontal scrolling as much as possible.
  • Fixed width web layouts may result to large empty spaces. Vertical scrolling may have to be done more than necessary.

Flexible Width

Pros

  • Remember that websites are displayed in varying monitor resolutions. In keeping the web layout flexible, it can be customized accordingly
  • The page will fill up the whole screen with no awkward empty spaces on either sides
  • You don’t have to choose a target monitor resolution when designing the layout
  • It is functional to a great number of users

Cons

  • On large screens or monitors, the text line length may look awkward as it fills the width of the browser. Text that is supposed to be in a form of a paragraph will become a long line of text, which can be very uncomfortable for readers.
  • While on large monitors, some elements may tend to float around, but on small monitors, elements may look cramped. Both scenarios make the layout less efficient and in a way, more difficult to navigate through.
  • Flexible web layouts allow the page to be customized for every display, but it also makes it unpredictable. Users may have varying experiences for the same webpage.

If you are a website owner, you may ask the help of a website designer to determine the best layout for your website. You should also take into consideration the devices used by your readers or visitors to access your website. If a lot of your readers are using their mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones, to visit your website, it may be a good idea for you to use a flexible width layout.

For more information on web design and development, you may fill out our contact form or send your inquiries to [email protected]