9 Qualities You Should Find In A Good Web Designer
Helloooo out there in marketing land! How are y’all? Things are busy busy busy in my little corner, so I have another awesome guest post to start your week.
Do you know James King? Maybe you’ve seen his guest posts on a number of other blogs. Or perhaps you’ve even used his service as a professional web design specialist.
If you’re ever in the market for a web designer, here’s some tips from a professional…
Hire a good web designer
Not long ago, I had a conversation with one my former managers regarding web design. She said “Anyone can build a website”, I thought that’s nonsense, because creating a website is much more than making a webpage look pretty. Since the boom of the Internet in the late 1990’s to present day, there has been a selective group of individuals that can use Front Page and this suddenly makes them professional web designers. Professional web designer takes a great deal of personal training, experience to be established as an expert.
A website is a like buying a used car. A used car may have lovely body, but do you know how well maintained the mechanical parts are underneath the bonnet? The exact same principle applies to a website. A car has many moving parts, although we can’t see these parts until we open the bonnet. A successful website has lots of complex codes happening behind the scenes. Our visitors only see our lovely design of our website and may not be aware of the technical expertise that has been applied underneath behind our design.
My point is this, you could see a nice looking used car, but the engine may be not optimized for optimum performance. A customer buys a website to gain results. A successful website needs to be optimized for optimum performance.
Qualities to look for in a web designer
Keeping up with new technologies - A good web designer must be always be keeping up with new technologies, there is no point hiring a web designer that is using out of date techniques. Web design is constantly evolving, continuous improving and it will never stop improving. The Internet is young and it is becoming increasingly important that web designers stay ahead to gain more clients.
Proactive in Search Engine Optimization - A good web designer must be fluent in search engine optimization, have a solid understanding of gaining traffic to websites.
Clients want their websites to be visible and gain a return on their investment, otherwise it is a waste of time. A good web designer must be business orientated, staying up with current treads and applying new methods of promotion and marketing. Any good web design must be SEO friendly.
Excellent design skills - A good web designer must be a great designer with interfaces. Must be experienced in Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Fireworks, Abode Flash and be able to optimize artwork for the internet.
Experienced in Programming Languages - A good web designer must be experienced in HTML, XHTML and CSS these are the basis coding languages for any website. However, there are some more advanced languages, but this depends on how complex your website wants to be.
Simple navigation - A good web designer must create an easy to use design and simple navigation. The web user must locate the relevant information fast without any confusion.
Accessible web design- A good web designer must be able to create accessible web pages. Does your website function correctly in: Internet Explorer 6, Internet Explorer 7, Firefox and other browsers? Web designers need to take into account the importance of accessibility and not eliminate any of their target audience.
Understand the needs of the target audience - Successful websites fully understand the needs of their target audience. A good web designer needs to know what the target audience wants. The client needs to address the importance of their target audience.
Excellent customer service - A good business person, must always address the needs of the client. Understand that the client is paying for results. Offer outstanding customer service and provide as much assistance as required for your clients.
You only get what you pay for - Prices of web designers can vary drastically. In any industry you get what you pay for. Some people won’t use my services, because they think I am too expensive and then get their 12 year old nephew to build a website for next to nothing. Then as time progresses they don’t understand why their website fails. You got to remember, that a good web designer, may have studied a degree and many hours of experience in personal time. A good web designer will charge more for the quality of their work, their experience and their levels of professionalism in that field.
This article is written by James King, a professional multimedia designer who runs his own web design company; atmmultimedia.com. He specializes in the field of website promotion, marketing, SEO , and helps website owners and bloggers maxmise their online presence on the Internet.
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Jaq @ Net Age Web Design
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sherry
April 6th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
Definitely make sure they communicate with you throughout the design process. Otherwise, they may go off on their own ideas, and come back with something you may not want, but still charge you for the time they worked on it.
~ Kristi
Kikolani´s last blog post..A Comprehensive Guide to Using RSS
Dennis Edell Reply:
April 6th, 2009 at 7:47 pm
@Kikolani, My designer is exceptional in this area; I’m very pleased with that.
James King Reply:
April 7th, 2009 at 4:35 pm
@Kikolani,
This is happened with some designers before. A designer, well a good one, considers the background work that the clients don’t see.
Communication is vital, thanks for your comment.
James King´s last blog post..Improve your blog when suffering from writer’s block
Michael Reply:
June 13th, 2009 at 9:07 pm
@Kikolani, yeah and your site will just be look likes his.
April 6th, 2009 at 11:30 pm
Very nicely written. One thing I try to do is make sure to get the client’s input on the main page before I’ll proceed from there, otherwise it could mean a heck of a lot of unnecessary work.
Mitch´s last blog post..I’ll Write Articles For You; For A Price
Dennis Edell Reply:
April 10th, 2009 at 8:25 am
@Mitch, You do design Mitch?
Mitch Reply:
April 10th, 2009 at 9:13 am
@Dennis Edell, Well, I’d rather say I build websites for people, and for myself, so I do some design, more for small business purposes than anything overly fancy. I’ve never learned flash or any of the fancy background stuff, but building,… for sure. But I do know HTML and CSS.
Mitch´s last blog post..Google Affiliate Network
Dennis Edell Reply:
April 10th, 2009 at 9:18 am
@Mitch, Hmm, you’ve left me with a very interesting post idea.
Oh and never worry about not knowing flash…ugh.
April 7th, 2009 at 4:39 am
Looks like I’ve got a good designer : )
James King Reply:
April 7th, 2009 at 4:36 pm
@Best CSS Gallery,
Yes a good designer is hard to find, but once you’ve got one, your on the right tracks.
James King´s last blog post..Improve your blog when suffering from writer’s block
April 7th, 2009 at 4:43 am
My web designer has all of this and I am very pleased with him.
James King Reply:
April 7th, 2009 at 4:36 pm
@Ann,
Nice one,
James King´s last blog post..Improve your blog when suffering from writer’s block
Dennis Edell Reply:
April 10th, 2009 at 8:27 am
@Ann, Always good to hear Ann, and welcome to the community!
April 7th, 2009 at 9:32 am
Don’t forget the stuff that applies to any contract worker — look for working communication, ability to listen to what you want and then translate that into product, holding tight to deadlines, keeping you (their client) appraised of the job status, and free enough schedule to complete the job in a reasonable enough amount of time. If they have a portfolio, not that a designer has to be savvy enough to also be a marketing director, but testimonials are nice to see as well.
Matty Byloos´s last blog post..Cinefamily at the Silent Movie Theater: Cruising
James King Reply:
April 7th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
@Matty Byloos,
All the above is correct, testimonials are important. A good designer, must be aware of clients that are likely to change their mind, so if they are smart to apply technologies that allow changes quickly this is also a good feature to have.
Like I use PHP for some sites to make changes quickly.
James King´s last blog post..Improve your blog when suffering from writer’s block
Matty Byloos Reply:
April 7th, 2009 at 6:29 pm
@James King, Yeah — it sort of stinks that testimonials can be faked or edited for content, but at least they say SOMETHING about a potential stranger’s reputation and work habits. I think if you set up a few preliminary / discovery calls or Go-To meetings before embarking on a project with a designer, you can tell if they’re flaky. You also most likely just have to be your own project manager.
Matty Byloos´s last blog post..Cinefamily at the Silent Movie Theater: Cruising
James King Reply:
April 8th, 2009 at 7:29 am
@Matty Byloos,
Testimonials are subjective, they can be good, however, if there is an online service with testimonials and some contact details I will contact the writer of the testimonal.
A happy customer will tell you the truth. One of the most powerful asset a web designer can have is a very good portfolio, this always helps to tell if your work is good. My portfolio is massive. I have an A3 portfolio with print outs of all my work.
A good web designer, must have great people’s skills, great business skills and very good at educating at someone who is interested in your services.
James King´s last blog post..Improve your blog when suffering from writer’s block
Matty Byloos Reply:
April 8th, 2009 at 11:12 am
@James King, Totally agree with you. If the portfolio is solid, and the sites which have been designed are still live and functional, you’re on the right path…
Matty Byloos´s last blog post..Cinefamily at the Silent Movie Theater: Cruising
Dennis Edell Reply:
April 10th, 2009 at 8:32 am
@Matty Byloos,
…and free enough schedule to complete the job in a reasonable enough amount of time…
I think this is one of the most common complaints folks have; I know I’ve gotten lucky in this dept. myself.
April 8th, 2009 at 8:06 am
thanks for the good insights!
I am considering on hiring designer for my upcoming website.
Paul U´s last blog post..How to create your own RSS subscriber reminder
Matty Byloos Reply:
April 9th, 2009 at 6:56 pm
@Paul U, You can check my site out, and if the style is anything you like (at all) I can recommend the person who I work with. She’s been great!
Matty Byloos´s last blog post..Monk: Straight No Chaser (1988): I’ll Flip Ya’
April 8th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
This is great list Dennis and I can’t agree with you more! Getting right designer is crucial and finding one that meets all criteria you least can be rather expensive - good designers don’t come cheap - I know it
But it will be worth at the end!
Alex Sysoef´s last blog post..Twitter AutoDM, Let The Bashing Begin!
Dennis Edell Reply:
April 10th, 2009 at 8:42 am
@Alex Sysoef, Definitely thank James for this list, lord knows I know little about it. lol
I wholeheartedly agree with you on it being worth it in the end though. I’m about to unveil a pretty major upgrade myself!
April 8th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
My dilemma in choosing designers is that they are either too focused on colors and layout and don’t pay too much attention to functionality of they go overboard with web2.0 features and ruin basic SEO of the pages.
I would give maximum importance to communication because an implementation can’t go right unless communication is clear.
Jeet´s last blog post..Are you tired of looking for dofollow blogs?
James King Reply:
April 9th, 2009 at 3:30 am
@Jeet,
That is where I focus on SEO, and communication. Too many designers are targeting pretty designs and layouts. There is much more to web design than pretty colours.
Web design is like organising a Broadway show, there is lot of moving parts that you don’t see behind the stage, like lighting, make up, designers, artists, script writers, etc.
The problem is only the client sees what is on the screen.
My last website http://www.gograndbornand.com has been very successful for communication and lots of back end skills, this is what gets me clients.
I’ve currently got my skills avaliable, if anyone is interested.
James King´s last blog post..Improve your blog when suffering from writer’s block
Jeet Reply:
April 9th, 2009 at 11:51 am
@James King:
That’s almost a full length blog post in that comment
You are right about ‘first judgement’ of designers is done by looking at how ‘pretty’ your designs are.
BTW, you might want to remove an extra comma from Grand Bornand website. I like the photograph widget on the website. I am not a big fan of inline CSS
Jeet´s last blog post..Are you tired of looking for dofollow blogs?
James King Reply:
April 10th, 2009 at 11:56 am
@Jeet,
Extra comma? Where are you referring too? The widget is a flash plugin that I’ve bought from istockphoto.com.
The gogograndbornand.com site is a good example of a home page. Sadly, I have to work with for a company and I work with sales people. The sales people are selling websites. They’ve been doing it for 9 months now. They really annoy me. One of the reasons why I want to set up my own company.
One asked me: “So what is a web page?”, I thought, “you’ve been selling a product for 9 months and don’t know nothing about? huh!”.
A home page is like the front page of a newspaper or magazine where the juicy headlines are on the front to capture the users attention.
Dennis Edell Reply:
April 10th, 2009 at 8:48 am
@James King, The thing is, a lot of folks are focused (worried) about potential advertisers not liking an “ugly” site.
I did a post on this as well, please feel free to leave your thoughts…
http://www.directsaleswebmarketing.com/do-advertisers-judge-you-by-design-what-do-you-think/
April 9th, 2009 at 11:39 am
Great post but it think with one error, a good web designer doesn’t need to posess all those skills to make him/her a good web designer. In many businesses the skills are divided up into programmers, designers etc, although each may have a basic knowledge of the other skills as long as they can do their part of the project well the end result is that a client will get a great result.
James King Reply:
April 10th, 2009 at 11:58 am
@khaled,
Many employers expect to have a designer with more and more skills. Employers want the most out of someone and the best. So there is a lot of competition. Either you are a “jack of all trades” or a “master of one”.
In a team, there will be a designer, a copy writer, a developer and other members.
April 9th, 2009 at 8:20 pm
Awesome post. I absolutely agree. Having the right designer is everything. So what if you pay a little extra- remember that you get what you pay for!
Dennis Edell Reply:
April 10th, 2009 at 8:50 am
@Blue Lizard, Welcome to the community and thanks for the comment!
Please though, to ensure proper linking of your URL, add a name to the keywords in the name field in the future.
April 10th, 2009 at 4:07 am
Really great tips to select good web designer. Looks like it ,I’ve got a good designer : )
Dennis Edell Reply:
April 10th, 2009 at 8:51 am
@marc lohan, Congrats! Always good to hear people are happy.
April 10th, 2009 at 6:31 am
Yes google have a number of criteria for a good website. It’s best to do things naturally.
Very good post.
Dennis Edell Reply:
April 10th, 2009 at 8:51 am
@Your Profit Centre,
Welcome to the community and thanks for the comment!
Please though, to ensure proper linking of your URL, add a name to the keywords in the name field in the future.
April 11th, 2009 at 9:49 am
I think its not only about the web looks good but the person must know how to maintain the web too.
Sherry´s last blog post..Car for me
Dennis Edell Reply:
April 12th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
@Sherry, Good point. The designer should be ok with being “on call” for fixes and updates.
Sherry Reply:
April 12th, 2009 at 7:38 pm
@Dennis Edell, on call sound like a doctor job
Sherry´s last blog post..Car for me
James King Reply:
April 15th, 2009 at 2:33 am
@Sherry,
Sometimes it is needed emergency service if the server has gone down.
James King´s last blog post..Link Love - Week 4
Sherry Reply:
April 15th, 2009 at 6:42 am
@James King, sounds like it fit to be call on call!
Sherry´s last blog post..Car for me
April 23rd, 2009 at 12:58 am
my sites not as pretty and appealing as yours but i’m glad i built my own blogging website from scratch especially with no prior experience it was all a trial and error process and did pick up a few learning curves as a result because of it
i didn’t know who to hire so instead i built it myself to save myself from the headaches that come with having another person do the work for you as you might not like their design or the work they did in which can result in clashing heads with one another process
i did learn a lot from this post because i at one time was looking for a good web designer but the guy was way to expensive he wanted about 300 dollars per page and i was like are you out of your mind if i were to pay you that much you better make it excellent and appealing as well but i passed
i sure learned a lot from your post since you had a lot of clear cut ideas that truly defined what qualities to look for when searching for a decent web designer
almir´s last blog post..Vital Tips That Can Aid Any Blogger
April 24th, 2009 at 6:56 am
$300 per page is day light robbery. I design a three page website as little as $300.
James King´s last blog post..The Mass Media Marketing Marathon
April 28th, 2009 at 10:07 pm
What to look for in a Web Designer
Someone who
provides you with references of satisfied clients (if he or she is a professional)
provides you with examples of online work (even a volunteer should have this)
speaks in as non-technical terms as possible
is committed to creating a site that someone in-house or a volunteer can make regular changes to without needing assistance of the designer
is willing to work with staff and volunteers in the Web site development, listening to their wants and needs for the site
This can add idea for you guyz..
Matty Byloos Reply:
April 29th, 2009 at 10:03 am
@charlotte-opm music, I appreciate how much of the practical side of this potential conundrum you’ve managed to cover. Obviously, you’ve been in the trenches before on a design project! Communication is highly important. Non-technical jargon is huge as well. References to satisfied clients is a terrific idea.
Matty Byloos´s last blog post..Thoughts on Orson Welles: The Trial
May 5th, 2009 at 2:35 am
I actually do agree with what your manager said. Almost anyone can build a website nowadays–from elementary kids to those in their Golden years. HTML is one of the easiest languages to learn, and with WYSIWYG editors abundant in the net and offline, it’s even easier.
However, “building a good/creative/acceptable website”–now that’s different. That requires honed skills and understanding of the play of structure, design, functionality and content management. A good web designer must not only know how to design, code and develop–he must go beyond that.
May 8th, 2009 at 1:36 am
You are so right with your tips in finding a good web designer. Thanks for posting.
June 3rd, 2009 at 9:13 pm
i think it will be good if you can update it with a real time. has anyone made a program that you can update your blogs/websites in a real time?
Dennis Edell Reply:
June 4th, 2009 at 7:54 am
@Michael, Can you claify what you mean a little?
I mean, you can update your blog in real time, but then any readers ropping by will see also…you may not want that.
There is also a really cool plugin you can use to work on a theme in the background while keeping your current theme live…your readers have no idea.
October 5th, 2009 at 2:13 pm
James King,
There is no difference designing web site for visitor and SE like google. Because google requests over 200 factors from one web site to accomplish that could be visible on first page google’s SERP-s. These 200 factors google adopted from studying normal visitor behavior.
As time goes and competition for gaining first page on google SERP-s becomes stronger, demand for skillful web designer will be bigger. Luckily for us good web designers.
So good web designer without knowledge of SEO, on-page and off-page optimization in the near future will extinct like dinosaurus.
I like your statement - “One of the most powerful asset a web designer can have is a very good portfolio, this always helps to tell if your work is good.”
Latest SEO news from google is bringing “jump to” link into the search description snippet. So visitor can jump directly to the relevant section of web page.
Dennis Edell Reply:
October 23rd, 2009 at 4:46 pm
@Web dizajn-Milos,
Hey Milos, sorry it took so long to reply. I thought I’d pop in and say, welcome to our little community; hope to see you ’round more often!
October 28th, 2009 at 11:30 pm
Ooh oops i just typed a huge comment and when i submitted it it come up blank! Please please tell me it worked properly? I dont want to sumit it again if i do not have to! Either the blog bugged out or i am an idiot, the latter doesnt surprise me lol.
Dennis Edell Reply:
October 29th, 2009 at 9:09 am
@Fuzu, Sorry my friend, I got nuthin…what exactly did you do?
Welcome to the community and I hope you stick around anyway.
October 30th, 2009 at 8:46 pm
Hi just thought i would let you know i also had a problem with this blog coming up blank as well. Must be gremlins in the page.
Dennis Edell Reply:
November 1st, 2009 at 10:07 am
@willie a. gordon, What was blank?