The difference between good and great web designers is the conversion rate increase achieved with the same traffic volume or the higher rate of traffic because the website is SEO optimized. The challenge businesses face is determining whether or not a web designer is capable of delivering on the promises they make. Here are four signs you’re working with a great web designer.
Their Portfolios Are Real Websites, Not Templates
The difference between good and great web designers are not the portfolio projects they demonstrate on their PCs but the working websites for other clients they can show you. The best web designers can give you specifics on the impact of their site.
Good web designers are like artists who show you cool potential book covers but cannot point to a best seller to prove that their design produced value for their clients. Enterprise web design is a plus, but even a few quality projects for other customers with proven results is good enough to stand out from the pack.
Word of mouth referrals may be useful, but be wary of someone referring a friend with minimal experience versus a professional website developer with a solid reputation whose work you’ve only seen when visiting your rivals’ sites.
Clear and Quality Communication
Good website designers take the time to understand what you want instead of building a website based on their vision regardless of what the client wants. The best web designers spend time upfront to understand what you want and what your enterprise website requires so that they don’t agree to a price for which they cannot complete a complex job. They invest time in understanding requirements so that they don’t deliver a beautiful website missing key functionality. They get the important information up front and communicate with clients regularly to ensure that the scope hasn’t changed and deliverable meet expectations. They contact you when they run into problems and never hit up clients for surprise charges or delays.
The best website designers have a single point of contact for your project and quickly return emails and phone calls if they don’t have regular status meetings.
Resources for the Job
A great web designer has the resources to complete the project for the price quoted on the schedule you’ve set. They’ll have the time to dedicate to your project without overtime or risking delays because they know the resources they have and what they need to complete the project as promised. They don’t need to subcontract work to unknown third parties they’ve never worked with before. If they don’t know how to build a web interface for a legacy IT system or code certain sections, they can tell you who they would hire for that task, an approximate cost, and the general approach that would be used.
A Reasonable Rate You Can Rely On
The great website designer isn’t the one offering the cheapest price. They offer a fair price. The assurance their clients have is that the web designer doesn’t jack up with a final bill with additional fees, extra charges or delays because your project isn’t their highest priority. They don’t give you a contractor’s bill for work you thought was included in the main quote.
The best website designers quote the price they will require you to pay and deliver the site you were promised. They have the time, talent, and connections to complete the project the quote on the schedule you need. They communicate regularly with customers after getting a clear picture of what the client both wants and needs.