What To Expect When You Hire A Web Designer
Maybe you’ve tossed around the pros and cons or maybe you knew from the start that hiring a website designer for your business was the way you wanted to go — regardless, you’ve made your choice and you’ve decided to hire a web designer!
First of all, congratulations, huzzah, excitement!
This is a big step for you and your business — what I hear the most from clients when they’re finally online is that “it feels official, now.” It’s a big, exciting move to get your website (and therefore, your business) out into the world.
Figuring out how to correctly set up that online presence, however, miiiight not feel as exciting. It’s not an easy task, after all. Thankfully, a designer can help with that (they are experts!) so you can get back to, you know, actually running your business.
So how do you hire the right website designer? Well, that starts with knowing what to look for when you set out to find one!
While every studio is different, there are a few commonalities that tend to be pretty constant no matter who you’re working with — and ultimately, knowing these things will help you choose the right designer for you in the end.
By the way, you can sign up for a free trial of Squarespace here, and I also snagged you a lil’ deal so use code PARTNER10 for 10% off your first year of Squarespace!
Payment Terms & Contract
Okay, let’s get the less fun (though totally necessary) things out of the way first.
When it comes to payment, pretty much all designers require a deposit to hold your spot — designers take on limited numbers of clients at a time, so saying yes to you means they say no to others.
Deposits tend to range from 25-50% up front with the remainder due upon the completion of your website — after your rounds of revisions have been completed and the site is up to your standards.
This is also where the contract comes in. (Okay, it actually comes in in the very beginning, but you get my drift.)
Going back to “saying yes to you means saying no to others,” when you book with a designer especially one who is fairly in demand, they tend to book out weeks, even months in advance. And while wanting to start ASAP is totally normal (I mean, you finally made this big decision, so can’t we get on with it already?!), having a bit of time to gather your thoughts — and more accurately, your content — can actually be helpful for both you and your designer.
And, of course, with lag time like this (and an investment as big as the one you’re making), contracts can and should come into play.
Ultimately, contracts help you know what to expect; it will deliniate what is included in your package (payment terms, number of website pages, # of rounds of revisions, any additional functionality, the length of the project, site ownership rights, etc.) and what isn’t. Contracts protect you and the designer from getting into any uncomfortable situations over expectations.
This might go without say (though you’d be surprised) but…make sure to read the contract. I’m always happy to clarify things for clients with questions, or even make addendums depending on the situation, but not much can be helped if you’ve got an issue with something that was covered in the contract you already signed.
For instance, some studios retain “ownership” of the site, especially if you’ve signed on for ongoing support (meaning they’re usually on some sort of retainer post-launch to update your site for you); this typically means you may have admin privileges, but you won’t actually “own” your site. Other designers (like me) sign ownership over the the client upon completion of the site, regardless of ongoing support. One of the (many) important reasons you should definitely read the contract.
At this point it may go without saying, but just in case: I recommend only working with designers who issue contracts. Don’t pay them until you sign one!
Timeline
Though length of your project largely depends on the size and needs of your site, most average websites (between 5-10 pages) take anywhere from 4 - 8 weeks to complete. If online stores, blogs or schedulers are involved, it can take a bit longer. Most designers have multiple clients and projects going on at once, and to give
Another factor in the length of your project timeline is the platform on which your site is being build. Wordpress websites can take longer as Wordpress is a trickier, more complex platform — the same goes for websites that are truly built from the ground up, HTML style (though you probably could have guessed at that one).
Regardless, there’s usually no hard completion date — timelines are pretty accurately guesstimated and will be considered done when your rounds of revisions are completed. However, most designer will be able to give you a ballpark estimation so you can gear up for your launch.
There are a few select studios (like this one!) who have a significantly shorter, focused process — usually only taking only one client on at a time and finishing a website in two weeks, with a guaranteed launch date.
This two-week process is very appealing to many clients who are ready to have their business in the world (and one-on-one assistance & support from their designer) — however, it also means that feedback is required quickly and that website content needs to be compiled before the project begins.
With studios who operate within the typical 4-8 week timeline, revisions can be sent in a little slower and (if the studio is okay with it), not all of your content has to be in prior to the start of the build.
There are benefits to both processes — it simply depends on what you want and if you’re available to quickly give feedback on your site!
Revisions & Ongoing Support
All designers offer the time and/or opportunity for you to provide your feedback on their design — ultimately it’s your website, so it should look and function to your liking!
Revisions (a.k.a edits or feedback) are usually offered in 2 - 3 “rounds” — meaning they’ll send you a “first draft” of your site, you’ll request edits and provide your thoughts on changes, they’ll make those changes and then you’ll repeat this process 1 - 2 more times.
If you need or want more rounds of revisions after your initial ones have passed, designers will certainly allow this — it just tends to be at an additional cost (so again, read those contracts to know how many you’ll have!).
In situations like my two-week process, revisions are unlimited within our final week — this means as fast as you can get me your edits, the more changes and tweaks we can make.
Some studios also offer ongoing support once all of the revisions have been made and the site is out in the world. This means that your designer will be “on call” to swap out photos or text, to add a page or feature to the site when need be, to add or remove products from your online store or basically any other “updating” needs you have for your site.
Ongoing “maintenance plans” are usually either on a monthly retainer or by the hour — it all depends on the designer and your specific needs. While this isn’t typically necessary with Squarespace websites (Squarespace makes all of their site updates themselves), it’s certainly a worthy investment for Wordpress websites, as Wordpress updates typcially require a decent knowledge of your website’s back end and often requires coding experience.
Onboarding Process
“Onboarding” is fun business jargon for “process of getting information from a client so that you can accurately and efficiently do your job.” For example, if you worked with an architect, an “onboarding process” might involve an interview with you to figure out what features you’d like in your house or what materials you’re open to using, a photo album of houses you love with notes on why, a meeting with their in-house accountant to discuss your budget…you get the picture!
You’ll probably want a little info on what the onboarding process looks like with your web designer, too. This is where you’ll find out what they need from you — and this is an important step!
Even if you’ve always know that you were going to hire a web designer, you still probably have some ideas around how you want it to look, what information you want front and center, what pictures you want displayed, etc. These are all things your designer will want to know to. Hence the onboarding process!
Most designers will have this information on their own websites — somewhere you should be able to find info on what it will look like to work with them once the contract is signed. Some designers have this information in an FAQ, most have it on their “Work With Me” or “Services” page (that’s where I keep the run-down on my process!)
Do they have a questionnaire they need you to fill out? Do they want to talk to you on the phone before your design begins? Do they need your copy and photos pre-design or can you send them along after the design has begun? Do they want you to send along an “inspiration board” or do they just need your brand colors/text/logo? These are all great questions, and ones that are part of the onboarding process.
Some designers offer free consultation calls as well so that you can ask them your questions directly! I’m a big fan of this, too, because then not only do you both get a sense of one another (you of what it would be like to work with them, and the designer of what you’re looking for!), you also get to know each other a bit before you begin. Connecting with and learning from clients is my favorite part of the process, so that’s why I have free consultation calls available — other designers will too!
Some designers will even have resources or educational material to send along beforehand (big, helpful bonus!), which brings me to…
Bonus: Educational Support
A good thing to check for with any designer you’re looking into is whether or not they offer any additional resources or education support when it comes to your website. Some website designers have pre-design resources, other designers have post-design goodies to send your way, some have none and some have both!
For instance, I have both: once my clients have signed their contract and paid their deposit, I send them access to my resource page where they’ll find four guides that will help them gather inspiration and information needed to put their site together:
a Media guide
a Website Inspiration guide
a Website Road Map guide
an Ideal Client Avatar guide
a helpful Welcome Packet
a personalized Pre-Design Questionnaire
Bonus: a Squarespace Online Store Organizer for clients with online shops
Once the build is done, I send my clients:
a Squarespace Resource Guide
a recording of our Squarespace lesson
Other exclusive thank-you-goodies just for my lovely clients! :)
Other designers have their own version of this — and if they don’t mention anything, you are absolutely allowed to ask!
Another piece of educational support is a lesson (as I mentioned above) — some designers offer them as part of their package, as an add-on or as a separate offering entirely. If you end up going with a Squarespace designer (highly recommended, not that I’m biased…), lessons can be a great thing to look for in a designer since Squarespace is a fairly intuitive platform that can be taught with relative ease so that you can really take over your site once it’s built.
And remember — don’t be afraid to ask questions about any of the above! The right designer understands what a big deal setting up a website is for a small business, and they’ll be happy to walk you through it. Happy (designer) hunting!
