Does Your Web Designer Know Precisely What You Want?

Your web site can be the first impression any potential customer gets about you and your business. This makes your web site an essential marketing tool for your business. Hiring a professional web designer with the skills to deliver your vision for your web site is the first step. The second step is to make sure the web designer has a clear enough picture of what your vision is to deliver your web site the way you envisage it.

This is where it can be problematic. It can be difficult to express a vision, to put into words an idea or a thought. It can be even more difficult if you do not have any firm ideas of how you want your website to look.

There are two elements to a website, the appearance and the content. The appearance has to draw visitors to your website and make them want to find out more. The content has to get your message across to every visitor in a way that keeps their interest and persuades them to use your services.

To decide on the appearance of your web site, try looking at other successful websites, especially ones in your field to get a feel for what a good web site looks like. Try to pinpoint any common themes that run across the successful websites. You can then apply variations of these themes to your own web site. Your web site should look unique, but should encompass current successful design structures. Once you have decided on the general look and feel for your web site, you will need to convey this information to your web designer. You could even give them the links to sites you like and explain which elements you want to see variations of on your site. Be as descriptive as possible to make sure your web designer really understands what your vision is.

Decide on the content of your web site. Remember to make the content easy to read, informative and interesting for visitors, yet at the same time search engine friendly. Your web designer should be able to help you with a guide to how to write your content in a way that makes it search engine optimised. You need to find a good balance between writing for visitors and writing for search engines. Once you have decided on the general thrust of the content, give the information to your web designer. The content can have a bearing on the overall design and layout for your website. A good web site should have a balance and harmony between the content and the design.

It is a good idea to give your web designer as much information and in as much detail as you can. Give instructions in writing where possible to minimise any risk of misunderstanding.

Once your web designer has a clear understanding of what you are looking for, allow them the creative freedom to work around your ideas. A professional web designer is highly skilled in the field of design and can add value to the design process.

Try to stay involved in the design process as much as you can. Ask to see regular updates to the design and make sure you are happy in the direction the design is taking, especially in the early stages. Let your web designer know if you are unhappy or unsure of any part of the design. It can be frustrating as a web designer if a client lets you spend many hours working on a design that they did not like from the beginning. From a web designer’s perspective, I like clients to be upfront with me and let me know what they like and dislike as soon as possible, before I spend too much time going in a wrong direction. I like to involve the client in the design process as much as possible.

The design process is a two-way interaction, the designer and the client work together. Input is required from both the client and the web designer to create a web site the client is happy with and the designer will be proud of.