Website design requires planning, talent, coordination and a great team. If done correctly, you’ll get results. Website design starts with a solid brand and works from an understanding of your customers’ needs to a sitemap and framework that’s easy to use, easy to love and drives results.

Before hiring a professional web design company, here are 8 tips so your website will get results:

1. A Professional Web Design Company Should Make The Fine Print Easy
Professional web designers usually charge fifty percent up front and fifty perfect at project completion. They should accept checks, major credit cards and oftentimes, easy installment payment options.

2. Professional Website Designers Use Innovative Technology
Look for web design companies that employ the most innovative and efficient technology. This might consist of open source tools and plugins, such as WordPress or WooCommerce for eCommerce sites. Look for the use of tools that will enable your businesses to achieve a strong brand while also staying lean and efficient.

They can design fully custom sites in-house and from scratch

3. Professional Web Design Companies Can Build Custom and Templated Options
Good website designers typically have the ability to design fully custom sites in-house and from scratch, as well as more template options when required either for budgetary or due to time constraints. When template options are used, custom elements should always be used, such as custom colors, imagery, typography, site navigation and content. This is to avoid the cookie cutter look and to create websites that represent the brand.

4. Professional Web Developers Recommend Hosting Options
Many web design companies will host a website in-house while others recommend and help setup hosting with web hosts that excel at what they do. The first option you’re typically being resold hosting and sometimes don’t have control of your hosting account. With the second option, you aren’t charged middleman fees and are the account owner on your account. It’s important to know the difference and choose the scenario that best fits your needs.

They develop the platform while providing you the tools to manage and scale the website yourself 

5. Professional Web Design Companies Build So You Can Scale
Good website designers develop the platform, including the look and feel of the website, and ideally the content and SEO strategy, while providing you the tools to manage and scale the website yourself as you go. Publishing tools such as WordPress do just this. This way, ongoing web developers, or like in the old days “webmasters”, are unnecessary. When the time comes that you need major changes to graphics or design, you can employ the use of these folks, but for the day-to-day management, you can be self-sufficient.

6. Professional Web Designers are Transparent with Costs and Timelines and Stay on Track
Good web design companies will provide project estimates and timelines up front and stick to them. We’ve all heard stories about the website that never got finished or ended up costing an arm and a leg in hidden fees. Make sure you know all costs up front and have those included in your contract.

They are easy to access and easy to work with

7. Professional Web Site Designers Are Easy to Work With
The best web designers are easy to access and easy to work with. You typically can communicate with them via email, cell, Skype or chat.

8. Professional Website Design Firms Build SEO Friendly Sites
WordPress was built on a blogging platform, so it is very SEO friendly, and with a little content strategy and coaching from your website designer, your website should be able to hit the search engines quicker.
What have we left out? Background checks? Seeing past work, client testimonies. I’m sure there’s more. We’re all ears.

As always, have fun out there.
Best, Christina