Six tips for your next web design project

Impactful web design produces websites that are interesting, easy to navigate, and have awesome visual appeal on all devices (responsive web design).

Web design and web hosting involve a lot of technical detail and planning, which you may not be able to navigate entirely on your own. For this reason, you must have a web host you can trust and a web designer or web design team, that understands your specific needs.

Here are 6 top tips to help you plan for your next web development project, which are handy to bear in mind when interviewing for your web design team.

Assess Your Needs

What kind of website do you want designed? An e-commerce site and a photographer’s portfolio website require very different designs and functionality. For example, if you want to set up an online store, you’ll need to think about security and protecting your customers from online snoops out to steal their credit card information. On the other hand, suppose you need a portfolio to showcase your photography. In that case, you’ll need less security but someone who understands image optimization so that your photos continue to look amazing online, but don’t slow down your website because of large files sizes.

Before you begin, think about what you want your website to do for you and your customers. Then, make a shortlist of things that are essential to the user experience and the kind of functionality you want to have on the back-end when you log in to your website.

Discuss web design experience with prospective designers

Just because your nephew says he “knows a bit of HTML,” this does not make him a competent web designer. When looking for a designer, look for someone who has good experience working on several projects, but is also experienced in working on projects from different kinds of websites. For example, if you’ve found a great website designer who has built a hundred other sites for florists, you can be pretty sure that–whatever your business needs–your website is going to look a bit like a florist’s. So try to find someone who can design for your needs and has experience creating websites in the field your business is in.

What you’re looking for here is someone who can guide you through the technical details and help you to actualize your web design vision. Again, experience is handy here because it’ll ultimately save you time and money.

Web design can get expensive; think about your budget needs

Some web designers charge by the hour; others may give you a quotation based on the scope of your project. However the web designer charges, ask them to show you similar projects they have done for previous clients to help you understand the costs you can expect from the project.

Have a one-page website idea? This might cost a lot less than a highly technical e-commerce site that requires custom coding and special server scripts. Less is often more on the web, but you’ll need an experienced designer and project management team to guide you to the best solution for your needs.

How good is their response time and their project management skills?

No matter how good your website is, things may still go wrong. Who do you call if it ever gets hacked? Who is responsible after the project is complete for the maintenance and upgrading of your website as your business grows? Whatever the case, you should be looking for a web design partner who can offer you service after the website design project is complete and who picks up the phone when you call them! Contact www.dev2host.com today (800) 790-6440

Is your web designer only interested in creating unique websites for their portfolio, or are they interested in sticking around for the long haul? When it comes to partnering with a web design team, look for someone invested in working with you long-term. Your business may change, and with it, your website may need design changes too. It’s always better to have a team standing by you, who already knows what you want and will not have to start from scratch.

How Skilled is your web designer?

Good web designers often have a range of technical skills and design abilities. They should understand a few web design languages like HTML, CSS, PHP, and Java. They should also understand design and be fluent in design packages like Illustrator and Photoshop (or something similar). Strong contenders should be able to move seamlessly through the various web design software packages with ease while creating the functional elements you need for a website.

These days, many web designers also have preferential systems that they work in, like WordPress, Magento, and BigCommerce. Don’t be intimidated by all the jargon and platform names here; each of these platforms serves different business and project need online, and it is essential to have a designer who can identify the best platform for your website, allowing it to scale and mature with ease while keeping the project budget manageable.

Talk to your web design team about what skills they have and the web design platforms they prefer to use, to see if your design project is a good fit for them.

What web hosting services can they offer you?

Web design always happens on a web host’s server. This means, if you want a website, it needs to be hosted on a server somewhere (www.dev2host.com). Web hosts usually charge a monthly fee for securing and hosting your website. This is very much a “you get what you pay for” kind of situation. We recommend checking out our dev2host hosting packages, to find an excellent fit for your project and budget.

Don’t be afraid to ask your design team for recommendations, either. It is quite likely that they will have a preferred service provider who can offer you an excellent hosting solution at a reasonable fee.

Whatever your project needs, spend some time figuring out your specific needs and bounce them off a few design teams to see who best matches your web design project needs. We recommend that you work with a web design team with their web hosting solution already planned. This may save the team time and your money when it comes to upgrades, changes, and hosting your website professionally.