Working with a Web Designer: What You Need to Know

So you’ve started a business, or charity organization, or you want to sell your famous Snickerdoodle cupcakes online, and have decided that it’s time to get yourself a website. Hooray! Here are some very important tips to help you avoid disaster when working with a web designer:

• Make sure they are legit. Choose a professional web designer. Many people will go to their cousin’s neighbor’s nephew because he designed a website in high school and he’ll do it for $50 and a case of beer. Don’t do that. Your website is a professional asset, and an important part of your marketing and identity. You wouldn’t ask your cousin’s neighbor’s nephew to cut your hair, or fix your car, or remove that weird mole on your back, just because you heard he did that once… right? Also, Jimmy is not invested in your success. He might think throwing a website together is fun for a few hours and then disappear on you, leaving you with a blank home page and heart full of broken dreams.

• Make sure you have full access to all of your web assets. Once you’ve decided to build a website, you’ll have to purchase a domain name (like iloveglitter.com), and a hosting plan. Having access to these items means that you have all the log-in credentials associated with them. Say you bought your domain through GoDaddy, and your hosting plan at Hostgator. You would be given a username and password for each of these accounts. If your web designer is setting these accounts up for you, insist in the beginning of the project that you have these credentials in your possession, even if you have no idea what to do with them. I can’t stress this enough! I have clients who have had to start over from scratch with their websites and choose new domain names because they lost touch with their web person, and they never got that information from them. This can be a big set-back for your business. You’ve spent time getting people to come to your website, your Google ranking is great, and you chose the perfect domain name for your business – and now it’s all gone. Then comes the stressful, panicked scramble to get a new name, new hosting, put up a new site, and then make sure everyone knows about it. Not only that, when the site you lost control of eventually goes down because the hosting lapses for non-payment, people will think you’re out of business. Not good! Which leads us to the next point…

• Make sure everything is in your name. It’s very easy to slip up here. Your web designer’s job is to make things easier for you and it’s not uncommon for him to set up your accounts with his company credit card just to get the ball rolling. The intention would be to transfer all of the ownership over to you when the project is finished, but sometimes that doesn’t happen. Whether it’s just because it got lost in the shuffle, or because you didn’t think you needed to be involved on that level, this very important piece can fall off the radar. Always make sure your billing information reflects your name or your company name, and not the name of the person who set it up for you. The one who pays the bill owns your stuff.

Professional web designers do much more than piece together a website. For example, when we build a website for a client, we look at important aspects of their business such as their branding, budget, and marketing goals, to determine the best strategy for their website. When the site is done, it works with the rest of the business assets in unity, and all flows together to support the goals of the business. Building your website is a big and exciting step for your business, and it should be an enjoyable one! Hiring a professional ensures that you will get it right the first time, and help you to avoid the pitfalls that can cost you money, time and peace!

Thanks for reading!