Every company nowadays needs a working, stylish websites that reflects their brand and business personality. Without one, you’re losing out on thousands — millions! — of potential clients.
Many business owners, however, hesitate to hire a professional to handle this important task. Whether because they think they can do it themselves, or because they have no idea how to find a respectable person to do the job, they choose not to. This can be a huge mistake. If you know you can’t do it yourself, but you don’t know how to go about hiring someone, then take a look at these suggestions and then get the best website you can.
Figure Out What You Want
This is the important first step. Unless you really know what you want your website to do, look like and offer, then you will be left with one that doesn’t work or fit your company.
Take the time to think about every detail you can. What color scheme do you want to use? Do you want a sleek, modern look, or would a classical style be better suited for your business? Are you going to sell products online? Then you will need to think about the style of your online store as well. How about customer interaction? Do you want to offer live chat options, or just handle customer service by email or phone? Will you have a blog that you can use to engage your customers or will it just be a list of services and pricing that gets right to the point?
All of these questions — and more — are important to think about before you even start looking for a professional website builder like white label web design.
Don’t Forget About a Budget…
There are as many website builders as there are websites (well, not really), each offering different options and pricing structures. After you figure out what you want, you need to think about how much money you are willing to spend.
Naturally, the more options you choose and the more pages you have on your website, the more expensive it will be to build. But that shouldn’t stop you from going for the best site possible. Start out with an idea for your dream site and, if money is a problem, start paring it down from there. Many website builders will work with you on price, letting you know the things that are expendable to knock down the cost little by little until you are satisfied.
Don’t get caught up in pricing, however. A company that will build a complex website for far less than others is a sure sign that they are not very good at what they do. So find a middle ground between price and options, and you should be happy.
…And a Timeline
How soon do you need the website up and running? Building a site takes time if you want it to be great, even for professionals, so figure out when you will need it completed. The more time you give, the better the chances are that it will be perfect, so never save building the site for the last minute. The sooner you know when you need it, the better it will be.
The timeline can also affect pricing. Asking a designer to build a website in a few days will not run the risk of complications, but it can also drive the price up because the designer will need to focus strictly on your project. This isn’t fair to the designer or, when they produce a less-than-stellar site, your customers.
Do yourself a favor and plan ahead.
Keep What’s Yours
An oftentimes overlooked aspect of hiring a website builder is the issue of rights. You want to make sure that all content created on your site is yours and yours alone. Most web designers will sign over the intellectual property rights to you, but some will not. If you find one that doesn’t, it would be best if you parted ways and found another one to avoid future problems.
Make sure you do this before signing the contract. If you overlook this issue, then you may be liable for plagiarism or other legal entanglements in the future should the designer decide to cash in on your content usage. Not owning your rights can also hurt you with investors, as they will not want to back you.
Don’t try to tackle your businesses website on your own. Remember these key points and you will find the web designer that’s right for you.
Author
Anja Merret is a founding partner at Yeah Can Design Studio. She received a BA and an MBA from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban South Africa. She started her working life as a high school teacher but found business to be much more interesting. She has worked in business development for many years and has a special passion to help small to medium sized businesses to get online with a professional website that adds value to their business. She holds the position of client services and also enjoys her copy writing duties. The Design Studio is based in Berlin but serves clients from across the globe.
